Was on a flight from Memphis to Houston and saw a guy with a guitar on his back. Thought I recognized him. Once off the plane I saw him at the snack store and asked if he was Sonny Landreth. i think he was surprised to be recognized. Sonny could not be nicer. A very humble guy who can share the stage with anybody and shine.
Ain't Sonny just the cat's meow? Slide on a Gibson Firebird, gotta love that stuff. And yeah, he seems to just kick it into gear when he plays with John.
@@williepard , this must have been their first tour in support of Slow Turning; it was the only time I personally saw Sonny play through a Firebird, though there's video on RU-vid of him playing one for Firebird Blues, in memoriam to Johnny Winter. I remember seeing them playing on TV (SNL) way back then, and Sonny had a firebird then too. Otherwise, he's almost exclusively a Strat guy, other than occasional flirtation with a Les Paul (copy?) equipped with robotic, motorized, automatic-memory tuning.
John Hiatt and Ry Cooder are a match made in heaven. Sonny Landreth is a suitable substitute. For me he’s always overplayed, and does things because they sound impressive, not necessarily because they sound good. That said, I’d kill to be able to play as well as he does.
Sonny must be the only guitar player who could step into Ry Cooder's shoes and capture the spirit of the original while still doing it his own way. Brilliant.
@@billalbritton4972 Listen to the original and Ry Cooder's sound is immediately apparent. He and Sonny Landreth are both wonderful slide players, but they have distinct sounds.
My first exposure to hiatt was to get the bring the family from the library. I never listened to it until the day it was due. I put it in the player and heard only the opening licks on this song, turned it off, took the cd back and went out and bought all of his music and have been listening to him ever since. Fantastic.
I've been going to rock , blues and country music concerts since the mid-'60s and I'll say without any hesitation that Sonny Landreth is the best slide guitarist I've heard live or on record.
This one brings back great memories. I saw this band open for Little Feat in Manchester, NH ('87?, '88?). It was the first time I saw Sonny and I was blown away. Great player and a really great guy to boot.
I've heard lots of slide players in my 63 years. Sonny and Derek Trucks (and Duane) are the ones I keep coming back to. Luckily, two of those folks are still making music.
Sonny Landreth might be the best slide guitar player on this (or any other) planet. This is the backing band he used on his breakout "Bring the Family" tour in 1987. He always picks unusual, but very talented musicians to back him up. Check out the Fugitive Popes and the Guilty Dogs, too. Outstanding!
@@toslinked, The same foursome recorded again about 6 years later as Little Village; The record was merely okay, strangely lacking in energy, but I have a bootleg CD of one of their live shows and they were fantastic.
@@toslinked , There are a couple of very good live TV performances from Little Village on RU-vid, primarily playing "Don't Bug Me When I'm Working" and "She Runs Hot For Me". There's also a performance of "Crying In My Sleep" which wasn't on the record but presumably came from Nick Lowe's back catalog; it's the most powerfully caustic "break-up" song I've ever heard. It's also found on my bootleg CD, along with a stunningly sad and poetic version of "Lipstick Sunset", where Ry wrings more feeling out of his slide guitar than you'd ever think possible. It's a shame they weren't able to capture that same level of energy on the studio recording. The rumor I heard was that somebody in the group wanted more money and that's why they never came together to do a second record. It might interest you to know that before John hooked up with Sonny and the Goners to record Slow Turning there was an abortive effort to record it with David Lindley and bassist John Doe of the band X. Lindley said in an interview that they were playing live in the studio and there was way too much leakage between the microphones and it didn't sound good, so the session was shelved; However, somebody apparently had access to those tapes, and if you search on RU-vid you can find an audio-only recording of several songs from that session including the song Ride Along.
I saw this band at Liberty Lunch in Austin in '87 and for anyone who has never seen or heard Sonny Landreth live you are in for a treat. And this was 27 years ago! You should hear him now. I've seen Ry, David Lindley and yes, Roy Rogers, and I love them all, but Sonny outdoes them all for dynamics and innovation.
Hiatt used to host "Sessions at West 54th" back in the `90s....he played with The Goners one night (Reuben Blades was guest host), the version of "Memphis" that they played that night was by far the best I`ve ever heard. Sonny made that guitar sing....same with "I`ll Never Get Over You". I`ve never seen that video here or anywhere else....
Not any more, unfortunately; John's voice is pretty much gone these days. My wife and I are huge fans and have seen him play many times, going back to 1989, but after listening to some recent live performances on RU-vid from the last few years we decided not to go hear him on in this year's tour, preferring to remember what he was like when he was at his best.
@@salmonesque , Sonny's singing voice was never as strong as John's and has become a little weaker with age, but at this point his voice is actually stronger than John's. We've seen Sonny play a number of times over the years, with his high school buddy Dave Ranson on bass and the fabulous Brian Brignac on drums ( I looked him up, He is much in demand as a producer, recording engineer and session player, to the point where I don't know where he finds time to sleep!)
The only folks we listen to regularly who have kept their vocal prowess up are John Fogarty, who sounds pretty near to how he was decades ago, and Richard Thompson, who sounds every bit as deep, resonant and powerful as he ever did, maybe even better.
Possibly the loudest gig I ever attended: Sonny Landreth in Honolulu about fifteen years ago. Having lived through a lot of sixtes live bands; quite a statement.
Two entirely different styles in slide guitar discipline, when comparing Ry Cooder and Sonny Landreth that is. They both have entirely unique styles. Both "the best" at what they do. Then again, music is not a contest.. I'd say: They're both Amazing and will be, if not already legends. Love hearing and seeing them play =)
Incredible!!! I've head cassettes of a few of these shows that I've been listening to for 25 years and to "see" this is unbelievable...Thanks so much for uploading!
I was at the first show (if i remember correctly) of the Bring The Family tour at a great, SMALL venue in Columbus, Ohio called Stache and Little Brothers. THE BEST show I have ever seen and I've seen a buttload of 'em. JH did the "lobster dance" and we all (bout 200 of us) joined him dancing on the tables. Crazy. I ran into John at the Willie Nelson tribute in Nashville a few years back and did my version of "the dance" for him . The look on his face was priceless....Great artist , Great show!
I too saw John first in 1985 in Columbus at the the Agora as it was called then. Wish I could remember who played guitar for him but pretty sure it was not Sonny. He was great but really loud. Small crowd that night. Very early in his career. Saw him 10 years ago or so in Cleveland at HoBlues. Saw Sonny 2 years ago and he was great but with John and his songs they are a force of nature!
Saw Ry Cooder kick this in the ass at The Wiltern in '82. Still got Little Village t-shirt... "Don't Bug Me When I'm Working". Some guy once asked when I saw The Village people? ... Guess you had to be there.
Unfortunately John has pretty much lost his voice at this point.😮 My wife and I have seen him play many times, beginning in 1989, but we elected not to go see him on the most recent tours and prefer to remember how good he was when his voice was at its peak.
I saw him & The Goners after this (in 1988 I think) when he opened a show for Robert Cray at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. I wasn't impressed with Cray but half way into the 2nd song (I think it was this one), something happened that I can't explain well. The band started cooking...and I mean COOKING!! I and everyone else in RCMH was absolutely ecstatic with their performance.
Saw them open for Robert Cray at Radio City Music Hall in late 80s. One of my top 10 concerts of all time. I felt sorry for Robert Cray. His performance, while very good, just could not match these guys.
There's footage on RU-vid of Sonny and the Goners playing at the Pistoia Blues festival in Italy where , as sonny tells the audience, it took 3 flights for them to get to the show, they hadn't slept, and none of their equipment arrived; Sonny was playing with a Strat and a Marshall borrowed from Robert Cray. He still sounds great however!
To those who complain below that they don't like Sonny's playing here, or that this version doesn't have the "groove" of Ry's laid-back playing on the original studio version, I'll remind you that John is in charge here and it is he who approves the arrangements and rearrangements when he goes out on tour with a band. I have seen him play live dozens of times over the years with at least a half dozen different bands and personnel, as well as solo, and with a songwriters' circle, and he often changes the tempo, and the arrangements, to suit himself and whoever he's working with at the time ---- and probably also to prevent himself from getting bored and just going through the motions. If any of you have a problem with this then you'll have to take it up with John. Not to mention that of all the bands and musicians he has worked with over the years, Sonny and the Goners are the ones he keeps coming back to. For what it's worth, I've seen Ry Cooder play a half dozen times, including several times with David Lindley; I've also seen Lindley play many many times including 4 gigs with ElRayo-X back in the Eighties as well as duets with Wally or Hani.....I've seen Johnny Winter and Roy Rogers and John Mooney and Leo Kottke and Martin Simpson and many other fine slide players......I love them all equally! They're all very different stylistically, and choosing one above all the others is a bit like having to choose which of your children you love the most. That said, if you're talking about technique that takes slide guitar to somewhere that it's never been before, and that no one else probably even thought was physically or musically possible, in my opinion that honor belongs to Sonny. If it's possible for somebody else to take it even farther ahead from where Sonny has brung it, I would be absolutely thrilled to hear it done!
@prosound442 That's the cool thing about Rock N' Roll. If done right, they could bring in four or so musicians from EXTREMELY different backgrounds to make awesome music together. Tom Waits does a similar thing in his band.
After many years of hard work, of life in the underworld, and obvious disappointment, in 1987 John Hyatt leaves the pits with a large, but big Album, "Bring the family", which will decide definitively the excellence of songwriting, so as evidenced by the flood of covers that will follow later. To promote enterprise, and with an exaggerated badget for a "loser" as he did, the man start on tour with a band finally worthy of note (and not with the usual alcoholics, alcohol well for John is an old acquaintance ). According to the regulations, the location type is a collection Clubbino size, a small group of fellow adventurers and the first row at 10 cm from the stage. Among the others a young Sonny Landreth on Gibson Firebird, here almost at the beginning or almost one then that will give us great guitar themes. I was reminded, because that tour will also run in Italy ... November 1987 Rolling Stone Club , 200 people max + me, a beast cold outside, a large warm the soul within .... Too bad missing Ry Cooder Nick Lowe (in practice, the Little Village, which will be some time later). ....John at his top
They still are. What country currently has better songwriters than Todd Snider, Hayes Carll, Jason Isbell, Justin Townes Earle, and Ryan Bingham? I might just move there.
Now guys you're forgetting Derek Trucks another very fine slide player. Ry Cooder, Sonny Landreth all are great with different styles, killer styles I might add. lol
