When someone has been studying the guitar for several decades, he or she enters into a new phase of playing. Gone is the self-consciousness, transcended are the attempts to cram everything you know into everything you play, vanished is the gap between technique and intent. Your playing starts to reflect who you are, directly, in a manner that betters the spoken word. It becomes, without being too precious about it, the language of your soul.

Willie Haddath was playing in area bands as far back as 1974, and many of those groups - Black Cat Blues Band, Shakin’ Smith and His Blues Band among them - have become legendary names in the world of blues-rock. For 20 years, Haddath helmed Willie & the Reinhardts, and for many of those years, that group kicked the weekend off in grand style with torrid happy-hour sets on Friday in Mohawk Place.

Haddath’s playing has reached a level of maturity that places him in league with many of the greats. Evidence of his prowess is abundence in “Tidal Wave,” a new disc (by Haddath.)

The album was recorded in Nashville earlier (in 2009,) and features a host of renowned session musicians from that fabled city in supporting positions, among them singers Jimmy Hall, Johnny Neel and T. Graham Browne. The disc in its entirety is marked by fiery interplay, searing guitar solos, and soulful singing, but an inspired rendering of the Neville Brothers’ classic “Wild Injuns” stands out as particularly noteworthy.

Jeff Miers (News Pop Music Critic / Buffalo News)

Best known around town as the frontman for beloved band Willie & the Reinhardts, blues guitarist Willie Haddath began his musical career playing in local bands in 1974. He’s put in time with popular acts such as 10 Gauge, Black Cat Blues Band, and Shakin’ Smith, as well as 20 dedicated years with the Reinhardts. He has opened for music greats such as Johnny Winter, James Cotton, the Night Hawks, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and numerous others. He’s in the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, Class of ‘93, and is one of the most accomplished and often booked musicians around.

Alan Victor (Artvoice Magazine)