Lanier Sammons
“Waitin’ for the Bus”
Released on 10/20/23, Lanier Sammons’s cover of ZZ Top’s classic “Waitin’ for the Bus” reimagines the song from the ground up. Slowed down, moved to piano, and reharmonized, the iconic riff goes ambient. Combined with haunting harmonies and atmospheric production, the new arrangement gives a fresh meaning to the weary commuting narrator’s words. The central guitar solo pays tribute to Billy Gibbons’s playing on the original track by finding a very different sort of virtuosity to match the new feel.
Arranged, performed, and engineered by Lanier Sammons
Cover art by Timothy David Orme
photo by Cynthia Apps
Bio
Lanier Sammons composes for film and for the concert hall in addition to writing songs, and he has engineered and/or produced for a wide range of artists (Giacomo Fiore, Bitter Party, Post-Haste Reed Duo).
As a performer, he got his start as lead guitarist for Seven Bridges in his home town of Macon, Georgia before playing with bands in New York. Relocating to Charlottesville, Virginia to pursue a Ph.D. in composition, Lanier joined Dzian!, playing Southeast Asian surf and garage rock. Another move to Santa Cruz and then Monterey in California found him as a member of the Zimbabwean marimba ensemble Sadza and their Afro-pop incarnation SadzaMoto.
Lanier teaches as Associate Professor of Recording & Technology at California State University, Monterey Bay.
