Scene and Heard

Susan Tedeschi

Derek Trucks

A dramatic leap forward for two of the music world’s most dynamic performers,  singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi and guitarist Derek Trucks, introduced their new 11-piece ensemble—Tedeschi Trucks Band to rave reviews earlier this spring in advance of their first full CD release together.   In June, Tedeschi Trucks Band debuted big with their inaugural album, Revelator, (Sony MASTERWORKS) breaking into the Billboard Top 200 Chart at #12, bringing both artists to their highest first week sales and charting of their careers. Recognized for their outstanding live performances and supported by an all-star lineup of musicians, the group is currently on tour across the U.S.

Tedeschi Trucks Band celebrated the release of Revelator with a soulful and anthemic performance of the album’s first single, “Learn How To Love” on both The Tonight Show and Conan followed by a flurry of positive reviews.  In a 4 Star review, Rolling Stone praised the album as a “masterpiece” while USA Today called the album simply “Outstanding.”  In recent concert reviews, Kansas City Star wrote “the stunning vocals of Tedeschi and the awe-inspiring guitar work of Trucks were showcased to perfection.”  Boston Globe declared the “show a triumph,” as Charleston City Paper described the concert as “staggering, uplifting, and damn near soul-saving.”

As husband-wife couples go in the world of music, it is a challenge to find a duo as well-fitted and naturally prolific as that of Tedeschi and Trucks. They are both heavily steeped in the blues tradition, yet open to far-ranging influences including rock, gospel, jazz and world music. Tedeschi and Trucks have each shared stages with legends including Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock and Buddy Guy, and they often perform together with the Allman Brothers Band – which Trucks joined full time in 1999.  Last year they each received Grammy nominations in the category of “Best Contemporary Blues Album” for their 2009 albums, Tedeschi for Back To The River and Trucks for Already Free (which he won).  Now they have joined forces as a true musical family.

Revelator, co-produced by Trucks and Jim Scott (Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers), is filled with smoky, blues-dipped rockers and heart-stilling ballads that show off, respectively, the gutsier and softer side of Tedeschi’s vocal ability, plus a series of emotive, story-telling solos shaped by Trucks’s uncanny agility on slide-guitar. Revelator echoes of so many great traditions—Delta blues and Memphis soul, Sixties rock and Seventies funk—organically flow together, blending with an entirely original, modern sensibility.

Tedeschi Trucks Band has been headlining shows in the U.S., Australia and Europe this year behind the new album.  The group features harmony singers Mike Mattison (vocalist with Derek Trucks Band) and Mark Rivers, brothers Oteil Burbridge (noted for his years as bassist with the Allman Brothers Band) and Kofi Burbridge (longtime keyboardist/flutist with The Derek Trucks Band) with drummers J. J. Johnson and Tyler Greenwell, trumpeter Maurice Brown, tenor saxophonist Kebbi Williams and trombonist Saunders Sermons.

View video highlights here:

9/24 Louisville, KY Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium

10/14 Brookville, NY Tilles Center for the Performing Arts

10/15 Lynn, MA Lynn Memorial Auditorium

10/16 Buffalo, NY Sun Center for the Arts

10/18 Burlington, VT Flynn Theatre

10/19 Albany, NY Hart Theatre

10/21 Newark, NJ New Jersey Performing Arts Center

10/22 Rochester, NY Auditorium Theatre

10/23 Kingston, NY Ulster Performing Arts Center

10/25 Toronto, ONT Music Hall

10/26 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre

10/28 Washington DC Warner Theatre

10/29 Bridgeport, CT The Klein

11/13 San Paolo, Brazil SWU Music & Arts Festival

11/18 Denver, CO Fillmore

11/19 Phoenix, AZ JW Desert Ridge Blues Festival

12/31 San Francisco, CA Warfield