If there was a guitarist who grew up learning guitar at the knee of Son House while listening to Sun Ra records, who toured with Jimi Hendrix, became a star in his own right in the early Seventies and is now putting the finishing touches to a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career, that guy would probably sound a lot like Derek Trucks. Only thing is, Derek Trucks is still six months shy of 30 and seems to just be getting started.
That's not to say he hasn't done a lot already in his 29 years. He's sat in and toured with his Uncle Butch's band--The Allman Brothers Band--since he was around 10; he became a full-fledged member at 20. And he's played with such luminaries as Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joe Walsh and Stephen Stills. Some of those guys he performed with while still in his teens.
Listening to his distinctive guitar style, it's not hard to figure out why so many of rock's biggest names want to have him around. The owner of a wicked slide approach that's perhaps only surpassed by Ry Cooder, Trucks makes his axe sing with all the soul and urgency of Aretha Franklin.
Trucks' insatiable hunger for making music leads him to several notable sideman projects ever year; last year alone saw him contributing to some great new albums by Scrapomatic, McCoy Tyner, as well as Trucks' wife, Susan Tedeschi. But Trucks main creative outlet has always been his own outfit, The Derek Trucks Band, and has been for the last fifteen years...fully half of his life.
The Derek Trucks Band has been a pretty stable group; Todd Smallie (bass) and Yonrico Scott (drums) have been around since near the beginning, while keyboardist/flautist Kofi Burbridge has played with the band for ten years, now. Percussionist Count M'Butu joined a few years after that, and the current lineup got rounded out by Scrapomatic vocalist Mike Mattison in 2002.
Article comments
1 - Josh Hathaway
I have picked up Songlines and set it down on three or four occasions. I'm going to have to get that and this and give them an audition.
2 - Tom Johnson
I love Trucks' playing. I had a couple of his earlier albums, kept listening hoping for the lightning to strike and it never did. Something didn't connect. Beautiful playing by Trucks, a great band, and even the vocals didn't get in the way when they were present, but the circle didn't come 'round fully and offer up great songs that I wanted to listen to over and over. They just seemed like formless jams. Maybe he's progressed and grown since those earlier albums. I sure was disappointed after seeing him play on some TV show - the power on display on stage was absolutely not captured in a studio recording.
3 - Pico
No formless jams at all on this record, Tom. Even Songlines isn't all the "jammy" although where it is, it's more interesting. But Already Free is by far the most oriented toward presenting concise, memorable songs. You won't hear the band stretch out much at all, but Trucks still manages to leave behind some great licks that work well within the songs rather than sounding like excuses to show off. And the singing is great all around; Mattison, who didn't appear until Songlines, is straight up a top notch vocalist.
4 - John
A great review of this spectacular album.
5 - Triniman
I just saw perform last night in Winnipeg. I may write a review. This was my second time seeing him, this time to a larger audience. He is still quiet and unassuming, barely looking at the audience at all and speaking only to introduce the band members. There was quite a variety in his playing, from various blues, Indian, funk, and spectacular jazz in the form of My Favorite Things. That 20-minute jam was the highlight for me, but for others it was the blistering Keys To The Highway. I had a hell of a good time. See them live if you can.