The Mississippi born slide guitar icon Sonny Landreth will be releasing his new studio album, ‘Blacktop Run’, on February 21st, 2020 via Provogue Records. ‘Blacktop Run’ follows his previous Grammy nominated album ‘Recorded Live In Lafayette’ (2017) and his back-to-back Blues Music Awards for Best Guitarist and Best Blues Album for ‘Bound by the Blues’ (2015). Now based in south Louisiana, his groundbreaking work has long mixed familiarity with experimentation, and his latest ten-song collection stretches from hard-edged electric instrumentals to wistful acoustic ballads. The project’s range is the fruit of a renewed collaboration. Producer RS Field, who helmed Landreth’s trio of breakout albums, joined the six-stringer and co-producer Tony Daigle to finish the record. “His brilliance and creative energy recharged us,” Landreth said of reuniting with Field. “We came up with new and better ideas, and that’s what we wanted,” he added. “It couldn’t have gone better.” A quartet of instrumentals highlight the expressive power of bassist David Ranson, drummer Brian Brignac and multi-talented keyboardist/songwriter Steve Conn. “Groovy Goddess” takes the listener into harder-edged jazz-rock territory, showcasing the slide guitar prowess that has twice landed Landreth on the cover of Guitar Player magazine. “Honestly, I think the purest form of music is improvised,” the bandleader says. “When it flows, it’s exhilarating. It just seems to come out of nowhere and connect your heart and soul to your fingertips.” After two Grammy nominations, multiple appearances at Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival and wide-ranging acclaim from fellow players and fans worldwide, Landreth is looking forward to playing the new material live. “It’s all about telling the story,” Landreth says, “and as long as I can find my way up that path, I’m all in.” As the songwriter’s narrator sings in the title number of Blacktop Run, “A new day is dawning and I have never felt so alive.”
