Derek Trucks
(born June 8, 1979) is a Grammy Award nominated American guitarist, [1] songwriter, and record producer. He is a long-time member of the Allman Brothers Band and also leads the Derek Trucks Band. The The Wall Street Journal
has described him as "the most awe-inspiring electric slide guitar player performing today". [2]
He first attracted the attention of the music industry as a nine-year old child prodigy on the guitar, [3] first playing with his uncle, drummer Butch Trucks, and by age 12, he was sitting in with Buddy Guy, and several other famous musicians, [4]
touring with The Allman Brothers Band for a decade, before finally becoming an official band member in 1999. That same year, he met blues singer Susan Tedeschi, and the two married in 2001, beginning a family. He continues to play with both The Allman Brothers Band and as bandleader of the The Derek Trucks Band, which he founded at age 15. In recent years, Trucks and Tedeschi have merged their respective bands on occasion, billed as the "Soul Stew Revival".
Trucks is known best for his specialty as a slide guitarist, his stoic focus while performing on stage, his reverence for the legacy of roots and blues musicians whose influence can be felt in Trucks' music, as well as his familiarity and integration of a wide variety of musical genres. He has performed and collaborated with a number of bands and musicians of note, guesting with other artists on tour, in festivals, and recording sessions.
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DEREK TRUCKS TICKETS
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Early years and family legacy
Derek Trucks was born
June 8,
1979, in
Jacksonville, Florida, in a family with deep musical roots.
[5] Derek's uncle is drummer
Butch Trucks, one of the original members of
The Allman Brothers Band who has continued to perform with them since the band was founded. From childhood, Derek listened to his parents'
vinyl recordings of
Eat a Peach
from those original bandmates of The Allman Brothers Band, and
Derek and the Dominos
, featuring
Eric Clapton and
Duane Allman, which was the source of his name, "if not the spelling", Trucks says.
[6] [7] He has a younger brother, also a musician, who is a
drummer, named Duane Trucks, who frequently tours with him and his band. He is also the great-nephew of the professional baseball player
Virgil Trucks.
thumb and Derek Trucks
At age nine, Trucks first bought a used
acoustic guitar, which he found at a
yard sale for $5.00, and secured his first paying
gig by age 11.
[8]
Within the year, Trucks began playing with professional musicians and working as a
session player, increasingly with high profile rock and blues musicians. He was touring with The Allman Brothers Band, at age 11-12, with his father acting as chaperone and road manager.
Before he had reached his twentieth birthday, Derek Trucks had played with some of the most influential musicians of the time, including
Bob Dylan,
Joe Walsh and
Stephen Stills.
[9]
Influences
thumb
Trucks' early repertoire was heavily
blues-based, inspired by older bluesmen like
Howlin' Wolf and
Albert King,
jazz musician Miles Davis,
Sun Ra,
John Coltrane,
Django Reinhardt,
Charlie Christian, and
Wayne Shorter. In recent years, the influence of traditional Southern
Sacred Steel can be heard in Derek's slide work. Trucks credits Allman Brothers' primary founding member and guitarist
Duane Allman, and
Elmore James as two of the most significant
slide guitarists that initially influenced his early style. Aside from slide players,
Freddy King, and
B.B. King were some of the original
blues and
roots music based influences that Trucks has also mentioned.
[10]
Trucks developed a love of Pakistani and East Indian music, influenced by the sound of artists like
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, prompting him to study at the
Ali Akbar College of Music in
San Rafael, California, which is where he learned to play the
sarod, with lingering strains of
Indian music in his guitar work as well.
[11]
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Trucks began to form his own band in 1994, and as of 2009,
The Derek Trucks Band now boasts six members, and with each tour and album, earns higher praise from critics and audiences alike. Trucks continues to act as
lead guitarist with his band, as well as one of two permanent guitarists in The Allman Brothers Band, as of 1999. Highly regarded with the slide, Trucks was ranked 81st in
Rolling Stone Magazine's
2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time",
[12] the youngest musician to be included at age 24.
[13] [14]
Career
With The Allman Brothers Band
After sitting in and touring with the Allman Brothers Band, from age 10-11, Derek Trucks was formally made a full member of
The Allman Brothers Band, in 1999, after over a decade of performing with the band as a special guest. With The Allman Brothers Band, Trucks has performed on three live releases, which include the
platinum-certified Live at the Beacon Theatre DVD
, as well as the
studio album Hittin' the Note
in 2003. Most recently, the Allman Brothers Band performed in March, 2009 for fifteen days, marking the band's 40th anniversary, and dedicating it to the late Duane Allman, with many special invited guests that, this time included the likes of
Levon Helm,
Johnny Winter,
Phish, and
Eric Clapton, to name a few, performing some of their songs, in addition to the usual musical fare by the Allman Brothers Band.
The Derek Trucks Band
The Derek Trucks Band was formed in 1994, and has been one of Trucks' primary musical outlets ever since.
Each of the members have different musical backgrounds and influences, including Trucks himself; he became acquainted with the music of
Ali Akbar Khan, with lessons in playing the
sarod, in addition to discipline, which in one manifestation, shows in Trucks' posture on stage. It is his conviction that all of his focus must be on music, and it accounts for his lack of movement on stage, where he rarely moves from the same position for the duration of each song.
Personnel
The current members of The Derek Trucks Band are:
- Derek Trucks – guitar
- Kofi Burbridge – keyboards, flute, and vocals
- Todd Smallie –bass and vocals (1994-present)
- Yonrico Scott – drums, percussion, vocals (1995-present)
- Mike Mattison – lead vocals (2002-present)
- Count M'Butu – percussion, a variety of drums
The slide
Derek Trucks has been hailed as one of the greatest slide guitarists since
Duane Allman. Several other guitarists who have played in The Allman Brothers Band, including Duane Allman,
Warren Haynes and
Dickey Betts have all shared a mastery of the guitar and a fondness for the slide guitar. In 2007, Trucks was pictured on the cover of
Rolling Stone
(#1020) in February 2007, along with
John Frusciante of the
Red Hot Chili Peppers, and
John Mayer. Named as one of the "New Guitar Gods" and nicknamed by
Rolling Stone Magazine
as "The Jam King", Trucks'
signature move, according to
John Mayer, is "making the guitar sound like a female singer from like, the '50s or '60s, just belting it out".
Asked about his choice of becoming a slide guitarist, Trucks has explained that when he learned to play at a young age, the strings were painful, and his small fingers too tender to adapt quickly, and the slide made it easier for him to advance on the guitar.
[15] Trucks uses
open tuning, a practice familiar to other famous slide players, that, a generation ago, included
Ry Cooder,
Lowell George, and
Robert Johnson.
Duane Allman's
bottleneck slide was originally made from a
Coricidin bottle, but since such pill bottles aren't manufactured anymore, Trucks has remarked that the only way to get them is to look for them in antique stores, or buy the re-issues. Instead, Trucks has employed the use of replication of the late Allman's bottleneck slide. His, made of
Dunlop Pyrex, a substance including plastic that produces a sound resembling the bottleneck slide Allman used without the difficulty of tracking down just the right kind of bottle, slicing the neck at just the proper place and angle, and having to concern himself with keeping it safe from shattering.
[16]
The sound
The Derek Trucks Band plays an eclectic blend of blues, soul, jazz, rock,
Pakistani East Indian music,
Latin music, and other kinds of
world music, drawing on the wide variety of the different musical influences of each member. The Derek Trucks band, according to one All-Music reviewer, are a "group of musicians that share a passion for
improvisation and musical exploration".
Trucks, in a 2002 interview commented that "When you hear people like
Coltrane, and the search that he was on, I think that's what it's ultimately about... I heard it on a
Sun Ra documentary, he was always talking about making a 'joyful noise.'"
Crossroads Guitar Festival
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thumb, Derek Trucks,
Steve Jordan,
Eric Clapton,
Willie Weeks in 2007 at the
Crossroads Guitar Festival
Early in 2006,
Eric Clapton initially called Trucks to arrange a
recording session with him for a proposed album with
J.J. Cale featuring
Billy Preston for a few days. Despite meeting and guesting with a pantheon of rock and blues' elite, this was Trucks first occasion to meet Eric Clapton. While working in the studio together on
The Road to Escondido
, Clapton found a quick compatibility, and invited Derek's band to open for him while on his upcoming
2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival world tour. An added perk was offered; the
The Derek Trucks Band and Trucks' wife, vocalist
Susan Tedeschi, opened for Clapton, and supported
Johnny Winter's performance onstage. Trucks was invited to remain on stage, however, on Clapton's set as his accompanist on guitar. "He asked me that [to tour] out of the blue", Trucks said. "I think he was just looking for a new guitar foil to play off." He continued, saying, "I was weaned on
Derek and the Dominos
... I experienced a moment of realization that I was in Clapton's actual band one night during "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad," when I looked over and saw him there playing!"
[16]
Trucks was elated; he mentioned some concerns he had regarding his responsibilities with The Allman Brothers Band (
Gregg Allman in particular), but his worries were unfounded. Commenting afterward, in 2007, he said, 'The Allman Brothers Band has been really great this past year working around Clapton’s schedule. I’m really grateful. They understood it was something I couldn’t pass up.' As a result, in 2006, Trucks found himself playing in three bands in 17 countries.
Equipment and style
Trucks avoids processing and effects, preferring to get the purest tone possible by connecting his guitar (a modified Gibson USA SG '61 reissue with factory Vibrola, which has had the tailpiece modified and a stopbar tailpiece installed) directly to his
amplifier, a 1965
Fender Super Reverb loaded with four Pyle Driver MH1020 speakers. He modifies his tone with the controls on the guitar.
In early 2006, an equipment trailer with Trucks' gear was stolen. Some of the gear was recovered from a field outside
Atlanta, including the 1965
Fender Super Reverb (an
amplifier he's been playing with since he was a young boy), a 1968
Super Reverb (one of the backup amps), a
Hammond B-3, two
Leslie rotating speaker cabinets, a
Höhner E-7
Clavinet, and a few other minor items.
He said, fortunately, nobody was home at the time, he "was away
gigging with the Allmans", so nobody was hurt.
Trucks regularly plays without a
plectrum, or "pick". He generally plucks or strums (together or independently) with his thumb as well as his index, middle, and ring fingers. Electric guitarists using this method are rare: most prefer to use a pick.
Howlin' Wolf's
supporting guitarist
Hubert Sumlin,
Mark Knopfler, and
Jeff Beck are among the notable exceptions who play without a pick. He uses custom gauge DR nickel-wound strings on both his SG and resonator guitars: .011, .014, .017, .026, .036, and .046. Most of his guitars are tuned to open E. Although he still prefers Super Reverbs when playing with the Derek Trucks Band, currently Trucks is playing
Paul Reed Smith amplifiers almost exclusively when gigging with the Allman Brothers Band.
[18]
Personal life
In 2001, Trucks married
singer/
guitarist
Susan Tedeschi,
[19] and the couple have two children. Charles Khalil Trucks, born in 2002, named for
saxophonist Charlie Parker, guitarist
Charlie Christian, and author
Khalil Gibran. Sophia Naima Trucks, born in 2004, takes her unusual middle name from a
John Coltrane ballad, which was also the jazz legend's first wife's name. The Derek Trucks Band recorded a
cover of "Naima" on their first album, seven years before her birth. Trucks' marriage to Tedeschi is an atypical domestic life, with both Trucks and Tedeschi frequently touring. The pair endeavor to perform as much as possible together, often merging their respective bands, along with others—including Trucks' younger brother Duane Trucks, singer Mike Mattison's band
Scrapomatic, and
saxophonist Ron Holloway, (formerly part of
Dizzy Gillespie's final
quintet) who has performed since 2005 in Tedeschi's band, which they bill as "Soul Stew Revival". Tedeschi is a blues artist whose vocal delivery has been compared to
Janis Joplin, and
Bonnie Raitt, in part, she maintains, because they share the same influences. Having opened for bands of notable renown, Tedeschi holds her own with The Derek Trucks Band. Since both Trucks and Tedeschi are so frequently on the road, the two children are often with them, growing through their school years on the road, just a little younger than when Trucks himself began touring as a child.
Soul Stew Revival
thumb and Derek Trucks
Trucks and Tedeschi began combining the talents of their two bands during the celebration of New Years' concerts, seeking ways to spend more time together. They have received such positive feedback, that they began booking concerts more frequently together. Derek has estimated that he spends 300 days a year on the road, so they have carved out additional time to tour as Soul Stew together. He continues, "There's a lot less sleep, but the kids are old enough now to be on the road and it's not a complete drain. It's a lot but it's great to have the family together."
[20] The Soul Stew Revival can be heard on the internet, in
streaming music, with various sources, such as their performances from the
Bonnaroo Music Festival, in
Manchester, Tennessee, on June 16, 2008.
[21] As of 2008, the Soul Stew Revival has officially grown to an eleven-piece ensemble for the summer including a three-piece
horn section.
[22]
Recent work
Trucks recently toured with the Allman Brothers, and performed with his band throughout the following remainder of 2008. In addition, the band toured through the summer of 2008 as part of the Soul Stew Revival, with Mattison's band,
Scrapomatic opening in most performances.
January, 2008 saw the completion of a new studio in the rear of Trucks' home, and The Derek Trucks Band released their latest album,
Already Free
on January 13 2009.
Already Free
debuted at #19 on the
Billboard Top 200 Chart, and #1 on the Internet chart, #4 on the Rock chart and #1 on the Blues chart. This marks the band's highest debut on the
Billboard Top 200 chart to date.
Discography
With the Derek Trucks Band
- The Derek Trucks Band
(1997)
- Out of the Madness
(1998)
- Joyful Noise
(2002)
- Soul Serenade
(2003)
- Live at Georgia Theatre
(2004)
- Songlines
(2006) (Legacy Recordings)
- Songlines Live
(DVD) (2006) (Legacy Recordings)
- Already Free
(2009) (Legacy Recordings)
With the Allman Brothers Band
- Peakin' at the Beacon
(2000)
- Hittin' the Note
(2003)
- Live at the Beacon Theatre
(DVD) (2003)
- One Way Out
(2004)
Recording collaborations
- Storm Warning
(1994), Tinsley Ellis
- The Circle
(1996), Planet Earth/Carey Nall
- Come On In This House
(1996), Junior Wells
- Searching for Simplicity
(1997), Gregg Allman
- Live... With a Little Help from Our Friends
(1999), Gov't Mule
- Croakin' at Toad's
(2000), Frogwings
- Project Z
(2001), Project Z
- Live in the Classic City
(2002) Widespread Panic
- Wait For Me
(2002), Susan Tedeschi
- Little Worlds
(2003), Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
- The Best Kept Secret
(2005), Jerry Douglas
- Hope and Desire
(2005), Susan Tedeschi
- The Road to Escondido
(2006), J. J. Cale, Eric Clapton
- Skin Deep
(2008), Buddy Guy
- Here and gone
(2008) David Sanborn
- Sidewalk Caesars
(2008) Scrapomatic
- The Blues Roll On
(2008), Elvin Bishop
- Back to the River
(2008), Susan Tedeschi
- Lifeboat
(2008), Jimmy Herring
- Guitars (McCoy Tyner album)
(2008), McCoy Tyner
See also
References
- Finding His Path
- Six-String Creation: The Derek Trucks Band
- Derek Trucks Biography
- Derek Trucks Q&A: Guitar Hero on Jamming With Legends and Covering Dylan
- Derek Trucks on playing with Allman, Clapton, Dylan
- Rocker Derek Trucks
- Six-String Creation: The Derek Trucks Band
- The Derek Trucks Band Biography
- Derek Trucks: Biography
- The New Guitar Gods: John Mayer, John Frusciante and Derek Trucks
- New rock guitar god is Indian
shishya
- ''Rolling Stone Magazine'' The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time 2003-08-27
- MSN City Guide The Derek Trucks Band Allmusic accessdate 2008-08-18
- ''last.fm'' The Derek Trucks Band On Tour
- Trucks, Derek Multimedia Interview, 2002 with Trucks about The Derek Trucks Band, their album, Joyful Noise Official Website
- Derek Trucks (FEATURES: Blues) Interview
- Derek Trucks (FEATURES: Blues) Interview
- http://www.prsguitars.com/amps/derektrucks.html
- Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival
- Tennille, Andy, ''Jambase'' Derek and Susan, It's a Family Thing Accessed 28 September, 2008
- Derek Trucks Band Live at That Tent, Bonnaroo on 2008-06-16
- Soul Stew Update Derek Trucks/Soul Stew Update