Live Music Alert: The Derek Trucks Band, Fargo Theatre, June 22

Derek Trucks

Through most of his life, Derek Trucks has been considered a guitar prodigy, and for a time I’m sure the musical world waited with held breath to see what would change this young player. Trucks, however, has demonstrated innovation, maturity, and immense staying power. And, through it all, he has remained an intensely likeable and humble musician.

His talent, like that of Joe Bonamasso and Jonny Lang, was recognized when he was quite young, getting his first paying gig at 11. Trucks’ uncle was in the Allman Brothers band so it was natural that young Trucks gravitated to Southern rock and blues. That grounding eventually led to him sitting in with nearly every blues great around and recorded on plenty of albums, even touring 26 countries one year with Eric Clapton. He joined the Allman Brothers when was twenty, but it was his own band where he felt the most at home and could experience the most creative growth.

The Derek Trucks Band

The Derek Trucks band formed when Trucks was a teenager, and soon became a place of grounding, surrounded by equally talented musicians, some of whom were also very young prodigies. Kofi “Punky” Burbridge started flute at six and later picked up keyboardss. “Punky was playing really young with jazz bands and sitting in with city orchestras. When he was at 10 years old, he was out there doing it,” says Trucks. “Yonrico Scott, our drummer, was playing in church quite young.” Scott, though twenty years older than Trucks when he joined the band, started playing drums at seven. Todd Smallie, the bass player, also had experiences similar to Trucks.

Having members of a band who shared the stares and the brouhaha of early performance put him on an equal footing with his band mates and also showed him that there was some staying power after the first flush of ability. But after being on the road with these players for over 15 years, Trucks says, “Somehow, we remain steady in an ever changing world.” He also realizes that being almost thirty, he’s not the young kid anymore.   “At this stage in the game, you’re expected to have it all together by now,” he admits.

But part of that being so grounded must come from the stability of his family, especially his wife, roots performer Susan Tedeschi. Two years ago, they packed their children, his mother, and his younger brother into touring vehicles and went on the road, combining Tedeschi’s fiery guitar work with Trucks and adding her powerful voice and Trucks’ brother’s drum work. This allowed them both to create music together but also to do some writing together.

Trucks recently put the finishing touches on his seventh album, Already Free, a 12-song album full of great instrumental work but some very tasty lyrics and vocals by Mike Mattison with a couple of guests, including Doyle Bramhall II, Oteil Burbridge, and Susan Tedeschi.  Count M’Butu returns on percussion but also sings. And, Trucks himself lends his voice to the track, “Get What You Deserve.”

Perhaps it is his own experience with singing or a deep appreciation and sensitivity to his wife’s ability that motivated Trucks to ask Susan Tedeschi to sing on one cut, “Back Where I Started.” “When we first wrote the tune, it was just instrumental,” he says. “I love the feel of it and the vibe. Warren Haynes was down to the studio, and I played him the track. He had some lyrical ideas, and he sang the track. It was great, but I just kept hearing Susan on it. I kept hearing a woman’s voice.”

Susan Tedeschi--photo by Dereck Trucks

So he asked her to lay down the vocals. But he made one request. “She usually records late in the day,” he says. “I asked her if she felt comfortable coming out early in the morning. Her voice first thing in the morning is entirely different.” Since the studio is in the Trucks’ backyard, it wasn’t much of a hardship. “We took kids to school and just the two of us went out to the studio at about 9 am,” he says. “It was just so great catching her really fresh. I really love her performance on that tune.”

The entire album was a collection of just such collective moments. “Most of the tunes on this record were collaborations with me and Mike Mattison on a lot of tunes and Doyle Bramhall II and me on a handful of tunes,” Trucks says. “We constantly had people coming and going in the studio, writing with whoever was there.”

Though that can be a very vulnerable undertaking, Trucks says that trust is at its core. “Everybody that played on this record is a really a close friend, an extended family almost. It’s a very comfortable feeling, having your wife out there singing and writing tunes, and band mates, and people you’ve lived with half of your life,” he says. “It’s easier to write with people you know and trust. You don’t have to worry about looking or feeling like an ass. You just throw ideas out….You surround yourself with people that are on the same page and looking in the same direction. We don’t have a lot of time for ego-driven music. There’s plenty of that out there.”

Already Free is a departure from his previous album, the more organic, world-based Songlines. The world influences are there and the experimentation is ever present. But the meat of this album is about people and finding a place in this world and with each other. Trucks also says that he wants people to get something from his music. “We realized a long time ago—a lot of times it’s just naturally your mindset—that music should be uplifting. Sometimes you want to play music that maybe takes you out of that comfort zone, that is slightly uncomfortable. But there should always be that release. It should be what church does on a good day, what it’s supposed to do. You put yourself, your ego, your troubles aside for a little while. It’s meditation when it’s peaking.”

With that in mind, Trucks decided to tackle a Dylan tune, “Down in the Flood,” on this album and will most likely close the show with that tune in flood-ravaged Fargo, knowing it will have an emotional impact. “When we first decided to do that tune, we were thinking about Katrina. I thought that song has a whole new meaning, post Katrina,” Trucks says. “Then there was a flood in Iowa and around you guys. It kept hitting me how with great writers like Bob Dylan a song could take on so many different lives, could really encompass so many things. That song takes on a different light when you are looking at it from that view.”

When The Derek Trucks Band plays in Fargo on June 22, fans should remember a quote that’s in the liner notes of Already Free. It says, “Music is like a river…that has come down to us through time, bringing nurture to man’s soul.” The Derek Trucks Band surely brings us life-giving water.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 8:13 pm and is filed under Issues, June 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.