A SMALL COTERIE of guitarists like Vince Gill, John Mayer, George Benson and Bonnie Raitt hit the show-biz trifecta: instrumental wizardry, vocal virtuosity and, it must be said, good looks. Add advanced songwriting skills and that list gets even smaller. Canadian Joey Landreth is among the few who possess all four attributes. He crafts harmonically interesting songs with great pop hooks, sings them like a soulful angel, and couches them in guitar textures and slide solos that have made him a poster boy for the six-string worship set. And yes, he is a handsome devil.
Landreth’s command of harmony originates with his father, a singer-songwriter and bass player for hire who started his son on guitar. “He was into heavily harmonic music,” Landreth says. “I was learning VI-II-V-I turnaround variations before ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’” Joey and his bass-playing brother, Dave, cut
