Very few Gulf Coast musicians stirring up any kind of dust during the ’60s avoided the hustle of Louisiana-born, Texas-dwelling producer Huey P. Meaux. Sonny Landreth was no exception, hooking up with the “Crazy Cajun”—as Meaux referred to himself—at the dawn of his career. Landreth brought with him a virtuoso slide guitar style similar to Duane Allman’s and an approach to his instrument that brought comparisons to Leo Kottke. But his seamless proficiency, then, as now, was not without its drawbacks, as solo pieces like “Don’t Cry For Me” and “Sunrise” demonstrate. Left to his own devices, his fluid runs often become a technically brilliant crashing bore, with nary a trace of visceral energy. Yet when he digs into the songbook of swamp pop pioneer Jimmy Donley, as he does on ten of the 20 songs on Prodigal Son, the results are some of the most soulful moments of his career. Meaux’s hustle is no doubt at work here; he produced Donley prior to his tragic 1963 suicide and the fact that he owned his catalog certainly would have encouraged him to have Landreth raid his discography. Nevertheless, Landreth tackles the beautiful melodies and simple lyrics as if he penned them himself, his soulful voice and guitar accompanied by a crack rhythm section. Thankfully, he takes almost no liberties with Donley’s tunes: they’re are tackled simply as songs, rather than vehicles to showcase his guitar skills. In this way, Prodigal Son not only provides a fascinating glimpse into Landreth’s early career, but unwittingly gives Donley’s genius a brand new audience.