Bassist Dave Ranson was one of the first to be blown away by Sonny Landreth's six-string prowess. He was 12 or 13, and he went to a party where the budding virtuoso, a whole year older, was playing with his band.

"He might've been 14, maybe even 15. I know I wasn't drivin'," Ranson recalls, thinking it was a tune by the Ventures he first heard coming from the youthful combo. "We just went, 'Wow! These guys are good.'"

More than three decades later, Ranson ...