Bluesman Sonny Landreth is going to melt Sand City into glass, then shatter the glass.

Guitarist Sonny Landreth was born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, so he brings with him the down South traditions of searing Delta blues, upbeat zydeco and electric guitar. Over the course of 11 solo albums (his latest is an all-instrumental barn burner) and collaborations with Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson, Johnny Winter, Buckwheat Zydeco and others, he's amassed a whole mess of respect and fans. That will only grow when the "King of Slydeco" plays 4:30pm Saturday at West End Celebration's main stage.

His song "Congo Square," named after a part of Louis Armstrong Park in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans, pays homage to the diaspora that melded African, European, Native American and Creole music into a hybrid that gave birth to, among others, jazz. It's a hot rave-up that moves fast over a galloping beat, showing off all at once Landreth's depth of tradition, his musicianship and his fiery technique, which made Eric Clapton marvel, "[He's] the most underestimated musician on the planet and also one of the most advanced."

Maybe one technique that dazzled Clapton was Sonny's wearing of the slide on his pinky on his left hand so that the rest of his fingers can work the fret, while using a thumb pick on his right hand. That gives him more dexterity, a bigger vocabulary, different ways of attacking the music, with flurries of licks and picks, slaps and taps. And Clapton's not the only one who heard the searing talent that Sonny churns out of his Fender Strat—John Hiatt, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers and Clifton Chenier have all brought the maestro into their mix to stoke their electric blues fires.

He makes his guitar's strings sing, cry and bend to the point of breaking, a piercing sound that can ignite the air at outdoor festivals, his face equal parts mad scientist glee and lab tech concentration. Hopefully he will not entirely incinerate the stage and amps—a whole mess of other acts have to play the next day.