When it comes to Sonny Landreth, even Eric Clapton is a fan. “He’s probably the most underestimated musician on the planet and also probably one of the most advanced,” Clapton says. Within the last year, Landreth performed at Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas, the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. He recently performed with Jimmy Buffett at Fenway Park and appears on Buffett’s first number one album, License to Chill. Landreth also received a long overdue nod with a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Recording for his seventh album, The Road We’re On, released on Sugar Hill Records.

Grant Street , Landreth’s latest effort for Sugar Hill, finds the slide guitar master on his first live recording and back at his old haunt in Lafayette, La. “Making this album was a homecoming,” Landreth says of the 2003 recording. When Grant Street Dancehall opened its doors on the Fourth of July in 1980, Landreth performed with both bands that evening - Red Beans & Rice Revue and the king of zydeco, Clifton Chenier. It was the beginning of a long history with the converted fruit warehouse.

“For the first time, I got the opportunity to open shows or hang out with a lot of my heroes, like Ray Charles, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Son Seals, and John Hammond Jr. Those were powerful shows and great times. I wanted to tap into that for this live album.”

Since the early 90s, Landreth has had a yearly gig at Grant Street in April for Festival International in Lafayette. “This album is more about catching the kind of spontaneity that only happens in the heat of the moment.” And he couldn’t have picked a hotter place to record Grant Street. Even in April, with air-conditioning and a dozen industrial fans, the club has a reputation for a hot atmosphere, even hotter music, and cold beer.

Landreth enlisted the help of his longtime collaborators R.S. Field and Grammy Award-winning engineer Tony Daigle to produce Grant Street. The album features over an hour of Landreth’s original music dating back to Blues Attack, with three previously unreleased titles, and a 10-minute version of his Louisiana anthem, “ Congo Square.” For more than 30 years, Landreth has penned his own poignant songs, drawn from his south Louisiana roots and the area’s rich storytelling tradition.

“This one is for the fans, “Landreth says. “I deeply appreciate them. If it wasn’t for their support, I wouldn’t be able to take the band out on the road.” And for those who haven’t heeded Clapton’s testimony to Landreth’s talent and soul, Grant Street is sure to convert them into true believers.

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