Sonny Landreth is a blues rock musician who grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana. With an extensive music career dating back to the early ‘80s, Landreth proves to be one of the most seasoned local musicians, including his multiple New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival appearances. The Daily Reveille sat down with Landreth to discuss his upcoming Jazz Fest performance and music history.
The Daily Reveille: Have you ever performed at Jazz Fest before?
Sonny Landreth: We’ve been playing it for a long, long time. I started off playing with other groups way back when they first started Jazz Fest and it was probably around ‘81 or ‘82. The band we had at the time started playing together.
TDR: Do you think you take more of your musical influences from Louisiana artists or Mississippi artists?
SL: It’s both, but growing up here I got to actually hear the great local players live, whereas most of the influences from Mississippi I listened to on records. At one point, I got my first real instrument, which is the trumpet. I started playing trumpet when I was 10-years-old, but my first love was the guitar. By the time I was 13, my parents caved on that. I pretty much never looked back since then, and I always wanted to play in a band and write my own songs. A big part of that that really helped me was playing trumpet. Because I had an academic instrument, I learned to read music and got exposed to the world of jazz and classical music. As a wind instrument player, you have to take a breath, so all of your phrasing revolves around that. When I started playing the guitar, I approached it differently, thinking in terms of concept.
TDR: How have you seen jazz and blues music evolve over the years?
SL: Well what’s really great is the fact that there’s still a lot of people not just aware, but appreciating the original, old, Delta blues and all the other different forms. There’s festivals all over the country and in fact around the world, but there’s also other groups coming up, like the Cajun musicians here that have young players. And I think that’s great because music needs to evolve and mutate with new ideas and new energy.
TDR: How many albums have you produced?
SL: It depends on how you count them, but I think there’s 11. I actually recorded a long time ago, in 1973 in a studio in Houston, Texas. I did an album I wrote and it was a concept. I finished it, and then I went back in and recorded several tracks to get out of the contract I was tied into at the time, so none of that saw the light of day until many years later.
TDR: How have you reinvented yourself over the course of your albums?
SL: That’s important because you don’t want to stay in the same bag too long and get stale. I’ve always loved all kinds of music. Anything that was done well, you should be able to appreciate it. You take all of that in, and it’s really important to be able to crystallize the influences and to have a more singular sound that has a lot of influences. I think that’s a lot more interesting. It just depends. Some of them are more blues oriented, like the new album is the first time I’ve got back to the blues in a long time, although it’s always been part of every project I’ve done. Whereas the last album was all instrumental and involved using an orchestra. They’re all different and I learn something from all of them.
TDR: Do you have a new album in the works?
SL: Yeah, the one that’s getting released. I think the official release date is June 9th. It’s called “Bound by the Blues” and I’m hoping to have the launch for here in Louisiana at Jazz Fest. I’m hoping to have the CDs then.
TDR: What can people who haven’t heard you expect from your set?
SL: Well I like to include somewhat of an overview of the different albums over the years, but as time goes on it gets a little more complicated. To wrap that up in a 55 minute set is truly impossible. There’ll be some of the pieces that have been in our set for a long time, and then we’ll do a couple of the new tunes as well. We’ll probably do about three or four off the new album.