Guitar sidemen can fall prey to several breeds of record-making carnivores – virtuosity to the point of pedantry, a mysterious lack of lyrical depth, that unexplainable one-off looseness.
Sonny Landreth side stepped all those pitfalls by delivering this terrific solo re-introduction in May 1992. Outward Bound sounded like something that needed to be made.
Lyrically, this brilliant Louisiana-bred slide guitarist doesn’t stray far, but still hits home with lines about the Pontchartrain, cheres, parishes, bayous and the Napoleonic Code. Landreth is well-known around those parts, and often returns for local shows – including showcases in his hometown of Lafayette’s signature cultural event, Festival International.
More striking was a sturdy three-man core band, who appear with Landreth’s longtime boss John Haitt on two songs – including the galloping “Common-Law Love.” They ended up holding everything together on Outward Bound, while still deftly freeing up Sonny Landreth to do the fancy fretwork on electric and acoustic bottleneck, lead, rhythm and dobro.
A high point was “Yokamona,” the instrumental at the center of Outward Bound. It had all the acuity of Haitt’s contemporary Little Village project – except Landreth never let his behind hit a stool. It was fun, yet didn’t lazily lose focus.
Moments like that one ensured that Outward Bound never became another perhaps-expected guitar blowout. Instead, Steve Conn was given the space to make subtle, but important contributions throughout on Hammond B-3, piano and accordion.
It all served to highlight Sonny Landreth’s lanky, clear-eyed approach, of course, but without making Outward Bound simply for and about the slide.
- ‘Together Through Life’ Remains One of Bob Dylan’s Most Low Key, Organic LPs - April 15, 2024
- Why Joe Jackson’s Retro ‘Body and Soul’ Said So Much About His Future - March 14, 2024
- How Rudolph Stole the Show on ‘The Temptations Christmas Card’ - December 25, 2023
