From the Reach

Not only is there not a BAD track on it, but I would go one step farther and say there is not a mediocre track on it. Excellent slide and vocals by Sonny and a stellar guest artist list. Actually an amazing list. The best thing about this cd is the variety in the tracks. By having such a wide variety of guest artists, the songs tend to have a little bit of flavour from each artist but it is still a Sonny Landreth work of art. Excellent from beginning to end.

RHB

I usually look at CDs with a lot of guest artists with some trepidation but I was pleasantly surprised. I expected great things from Mr. Landreth and in that I wasn't disappointed but the selections really suited the guest artists without the material sounding forced into their style - that speaks to the sensitivity and versatility that Sonny shows in pairing the material with the musicians. Excellent production values as well and Sonny's band is excellent.

With all the 5 star reviews I thought this was going to be exceptional, yet.... I find I'm left feeling an exceptional guitarist has packaged a neat and slick product filled with heart and soul, but no magic and mystery... (the Mississippi vs the bayou perhaps)

This CD is flawlessly produced, made up of neat and tightly knit songs (plus 2 cookin' instrumentals) from this Louisiana slide master, accompanied by a whole barge of notable guests (including guitarists Eric Clapton, Robben Ford, Eric Johnson, Mark Knopfler). Yet the result, while pleasant, leaves me wondering who's playing what? The guitar work is consistantly beautiful (whoever's doing it), but the lyrics at times are a bit hoaky ("cheezy" my 13 yr old daughter said), and the tunes veer a bit too much down the mainstream - Deep Purple, even Boston(!) comes to mind.... Often I'm reminded of the sound and general vibe of Phil Lesh and Friends and even David Gilmour's solo work (with lyrics like, "But I can see from the lookin' back - I wouldn't know this if you hadn't done that - There ain't no map to the great unknown - It's all a part of the goin' on", and "The key to freedom is to open wide - Hope has wings baby let it fly", and "With you all the way - On any path you take - Draw from the well - With help from hidden hands - Blue angel"), but Sonny is muscially/technically/artistically a head above them, and he pulls it off pretty well.

Sonny is a great guitarist and I'm enjoying this new CD, but I think I wanted him to take me into some of the more remote and mysterious regions of his bayou infused soul. Maybe even at night...instead I feel like I took the mid-day allstar tour, but wait, now I remember, I think I was looking for GRANT STREET.....

I've been a Sonny fan for a long time, but always felt like he was hovering just below the surface of "big time"...he's breached it like a whale with this album.

Wow! If you like really good rock with a heavy blues influence this is definitely worth putting in your collection. Guest artists like Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton , and Vince Gill just add to the gumbo that this Louisiana musician serves up. Good music still lives!