Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, both individually and as a unit, are musicians about whom words can barely do justice. Something of a power duo, Tedeschi and Trucks have been slaying it onstage separately for decades.
Trucks — nephew of Allman Brothers’ founding drummer Butch Trucks —started playing guitar at age 9 and made his serious debut on the stage with the Derek Trucks Band in 1995. While his solo band was widely recognized as one of the best Blues acts of the late ’90s — even garnering a Grammy — he is most known for his work as lead guitarist of The Allman Brothers Band, joining in 1999 at the age of 20.
Tedeschi, who also rode a terrific solo career through the ’90s as a Blues frontwoman on guitar and soul-wrenching vocals, met Trucks on an Allman Brothers tour when her band was opening.
They married in 2001, and by 2009 they were testing out their combined energy on stage under the name Soul Stew Revival. Realizing immediately that there was something undeniably powerful in their collective sound, the musicians both left their individual bands in 2010 to form the Tedeschi Trucks Band.
Five years later, the band is fully fleshed out with 11 total members: Kofi Burbridge on keys and flute; Tyler Greenwell and J.J. Johnson on drums and percussion; Mike Mattison and Mark Rivers on harmony vocals; Kebbi Williams, Maurice Brown and Saunders Sermons on horns; and Tim Lefebvre on bass. The same lineup now has three albums behind it — 2011’s debut Revelator, 2012’s live album Everybody’s Talkin’ and 2013’s Made Up Mind. With every member bringing strong, varied influences and serious commitment, the band is as hot as ever and only getting better with every show.
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