Blacktop Run, Sonny Landreth, CD

2020 release. Sonny Landreth's album Blacktop Run mixes genres and styles across a landscape of lyricism and rootsy grooves. A percussive burst of acoustic resonator guitar pushes the narrator on a journey "between the life I left and the edge of next" in the title cut of guitarist, songwriter and bandleader Sonny Landreth's 14th album. As the singer feels the wind at his back, a rising bass line intersects Landreth's vocalizing to stretch the fingerpicked tune into Far Eastern melodicism. The south Louisiana artist's groundbreaking work has long mixed familiarity with experimentation, and this 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.