Sonny Landreth: Levee Town

(Sugar Hill/Elite)

Herald rating: * * *

Review: Graham Reid

Landreth made his reputation as rockin' country guitarist, notably on slide (I've seen him live, believe the hype) and his previous South of 1-10 and Outward Bound are worth catching up with if this one, a typically rockin' song-story collection elevated by that great guitar work, appeals.

But while little here sticks as it did on its predecessors — other than the attention-grabbing guitar — you can tell a lot about people by the company they keep: Bonnie Raitt, John Hiatt, Danny Kimball and Jennifer Warnes presumably could have said they had better things to do than guest if they didn't think Sonny wasn't someone special.

Just not that special this time, though.