By the time that Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi decided to merge both their marital and musical lives together and form the large ensemble that bears their name in 2010, they already boasted formidable resumes.
Tedeschi as a blues mama singer/guitarist who could conjure both the heartbreak of Etta James and raucousness of Janis Joplin. Trucks as a child slide guitar prodigy who led his own group while simultaneously serving as a full-time member of the Allman Brothers Band (his uncle, drummer Butch Trucks, was a founder) beginning at the age of 19. In fact, it was when Tedeschi opened some gigs for the Brothers that the pair met, fell in love, and married in 2001.
TTB was—even to its founders—a wild experiment. A large group that would carry on the legacy and spirit of the Allmans/Grateful Dead/Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen proffering a loose structure of originals, covers, and extended jams. When I interviewed Trucks around that time, he laughed that one of his biggest concerns was just making that week’s payroll.
Well, the now-dozen strong lineup is really poised to break through larger with the recent release of Future Soul. Their sixth studio record (if you could the four EPs of their Layla-poem inspired series as one) pushes the sound forward. It’s also landed them high-profile gigs on The Howard Stern Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live! Hell, I even heard the band’s music in the lobby of the Marriott St. Louis Grand last week.
After a successful annual long run at the New York’s Beacon Theatre, Houston was just the third stop on the Future Soul tour. But trying to predict what they’d play based on the Fort Worth and Dallas shows would be futile. Of the 19 and 21 song setlists at those shows, only one made an appearance at both.
The band came out blasting with a quartet of tracks from Future Soul (whose very cool cover depicts the pair as superheroes about to battle a giant robot). They alternated the bombast of the title track and “Crazy Cryin’” with the softer edges of “What in the World” and “Who Am I.” Both great vehicles for Tedeschi’s plaintive voice. And here’s a case where the “new songs” definitely did not trigger a mass exodus to the bathroom.
Of the other originals, “Anyhow” (like their best-known song—it’s been in TV commercials!) got an airing. But it was the chugging workout “Made Up Mind” and groovily syncopated “Ain’t That Something” with Tedeschi trading vocals with keyboardist Gabe Dixon that came off best.
It was a covers-heavy evening, and perhaps no contemporary band is better at honoring the spirit of the original recordings while putting their own spin on it than this one. Standouts included a Mike Mattison-sung take on Chuck Willis’ emotive “I Feel So Bad”; a spirited, transcendent “Everyday People” by Sly & the Family Stone; and full throttle workout on Blind Faith’s “Had to Cry Today.”
Though the apex was probably their take on “Loving Cup” which spotlighted Elizabeth Lea on trombone among others. In some ways, it even superseded the Rolling Stones original take. Opening act Lukas Nelson (Willie’s boy) ambled onstage to play guitar on the last handful of tunes, but more memorably duetted with Tedeschi on Leon Russell’s “A Song for You.” I would buy a box set of just TTB covers.
As is their tradition, at some point in the night, each and every backup player got a chance to shine. Brandon Boone’s booming bass on “Had to Cry Today” and an extended band jams that featured Kebbi Williams (sax), Isaac Eady and Tyler Greenwell (dual drummers—keeping in that ABB and Dead vibe), Emmanual Echem (trumpet), and Alecia Chakour and Mark Rivers (vocals) shined.
Another thing that stood out came as something of a surprise. And that was with Derek Trucks himself. Of the five TTB shows I’ve seen so far, this one seemed to allot the shortest time to his Slide Guitar Heroics. And it left me actually wanting to hear more extended sounds emanating from his Gibson SG. He is simply one of the greatest guitarists around today.
The Woodlands Pavilion was not super packed. The lawn was closed and I’d estimate that the seats were about 75% filled—and many of their inhabitants sporting gray ponytails or T-shirts of jam-centric groups.
But it was an audience united by love for this band, including my nearby seatmate Rob Currie. This was his ninth time seeing TTB (including at Red Rocks, lucky bastard!). “I loved the thread that wove through it all” he told me. Noting how one tune could seamlessly blend into another. And whether planned or improvised, the 12 players onstage had an innate understanding of the music, the pacing, the vibe, and each other.
I am not a religious man, not in any sense spiritual. But in the case of any show by the Tedeschi Trucks Band, attendance is indeed a distinct form of church. Let us pray their road goes on for many more years.
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