Derek Trucks

Last updated

Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks slide-Allman Bros Band 2009.jpg
Derek Trucks with Gibson SG in 2009
Background information
Born (1979-06-08) June 8, 1979 (age 44)
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s)Guitar, sarod
Years active1990–present
Labels
Member of
Formerly of
Website www.derektrucks.com

Derek Trucks (born June 8, 1979) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and founder of The Derek Trucks Band. He became an official member of The Allman Brothers Band in 1999. In 2010, he formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, blues singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi. His musical style encompasses several genres and he has twice appeared on Rolling Stone 's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He is the nephew of the late Butch Trucks, drummer for the Allman Brothers.

Contents

Early life

A young Trucks (right) with musician Livingston Taylor Livingston Taylor and Derek Trucks.jpg
A young Trucks (right) with musician Livingston Taylor
Trucks age 9-10 with the Gregg Allman band Young Derek Trucks.jpg
Trucks age 9–10 with the Gregg Allman band

Trucks was born in Jacksonville, Florida. According to Trucks, the name of Eric Clapton's band, Derek and the Dominos , had "something to do with the name [Derek] if not the spelling". [1]

Trucks bought his first guitar at a yard sale for $5 at age nine and became a child prodigy, playing his first paid performance at age 11. [2] [3] Trucks began playing the guitar using a slide because it allowed him to play the guitar despite his small hands as a young guitarist. [4] By his 13th birthday, Trucks had played alongside Buddy Guy [5] and toured with Thunderhawk. [3] [6]

Career

Trucks formed The Derek Trucks Band in 1994, and [2] [7] by his 20th birthday, he had played with such artists as Bob Dylan, Joe Walsh, and Stephen Stills. [8] In 1999, he toured as a member of Phil Lesh & Friends. [9] After performing with The Allman Brothers Band for several years as a guest musician, Trucks became a formal member of the band in 1999 [2] and appeared on the albums Peakin' at the Beacon , Live at the Beacon Theatre , Hittin' the Note and One Way Out . In 2006 Trucks began a studio collaboration with JJ Cale and Eric Clapton called The Road to Escondido and performed with three bands in 17 countries that year. [2] Trucks was invited to perform at the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival, and after the festival, he toured as part of Clapton's band. [2] [10]

Merging talents

Trucks built a studio in his home in January 2008, which he and his band used to record their album: Already Free . Trucks and his wife, Susan Tedeschi, combined their bands to form the Soul Stew Revival in 2007, and performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June 2008. [11] [12] [13] [14] In late 2009, Trucks and his band went on hiatus, after which the band dissolved. In 2010, Trucks formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife. [14] [15] On January 8, 2014, Trucks announced that he and fellow guitarist Warren Haynes planned to leave the Allman Brothers Band at the end of 2014. [16] That band announced its retirement, with Trucks playing as a member through their final show on October 28, 2014, at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.

Musical style

Trucks credits guitarist Duane Allman and bluesman Elmore James as the two slide guitarists who influenced his early style, but he has since been inspired by John Lee Hooker, Ali Akbar Khan, [17] Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Wayne Shorter, Toy Caldwell, Johnny Winter, Freddie King and B.B. King. [17] [18] [19]

His music is rooted in blues and rock, embracing jam band, Southern rock, and jazz. [20] [21] Trucks plays an eclectic blend of blues, soul, jazz, rock, qawwali music (a genre of music from Pakistan and western India), Latin music, and other kinds of world music [22] Trucks became a fan of Khan, a Hindustani classical musician known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod and popularising Indian classical music in the West, often in conjunction with sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar. Trucks studied at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California. [23] [24] Speaking of Khan, Trucks says "there are two recordings, which are part of my 'desert-island' disc… One is called Signature Series Volume II . Whenever I need to wipe the slate clean, I listen to it." [25]

Trucks playing a resonator guitar Derek Trucks.res.xas.jpg
Trucks playing a resonator guitar

Trucks plays guitar in an open E tuning, [26] using his signature glass slide by Dunlop, modeled off of an old Coricidin bottle but without the seam. [27]

In 2006, two vintage (1965 and 1968) Fender Super Reverb amplifiers, a Hammond B-3 organ, two Leslie speaker cabinets, and a Hohner E-7 clavinet were stolen from Trucks and later recovered by the Atlanta Police Department. [7]

Reception

Trucks has appeared twice in Rolling Stone 's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". [22] [28] [29] He was listed as 81st in 2003 and 16th in 2011. A 2006 article in The Wall Street Journal described him as "the most awe-inspiring electric slide guitar player performing today". [24] In 2007, Trucks appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone for an article called the "New Guitar Gods". [18] [ dead link ] Trucks is a creative guitarist according to his uncle, the late Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks: "He never does the same thing twice". [30] The Washington Post in 2009 described Trucks' guitar style as "notes and chords that soar, slice, and glide, sounding like a cross between Duane Allman on a '61 Gibson Les Paul and John Coltrane on tenor sax". [31] The Derek Trucks Band's album Already Free debuted at number 19 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, [32] and number one on the Internet chart, number four on the rock chart, and number one on the blues chart. [11] [32]

In 2010, The Derek Trucks Band won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album for the album Already Free. In 2012, Trucks and Tedeschi won the Grammy Award for Best Blues Album for the Tedeschi Trucks Band's debut album Revelator . [33] On February 12, 2012, Trucks accepted a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award along with 10 other members of The Allman Brothers Band. [34] [35] On February 21, 2012, Derek Trucks and his wife joined other blues musicians for a performance at the White House for President Obama and his guests. [36]

In September 2012, John Mayer and Derek Trucks joined B.B. King on stage at the Hollywood Bowl for an encore version of B.B.'s song "Guess Who". Concluding the performance, B.B. King made several remarks about Trucks's guitar work, ending with, "That's about as good as I've ever heard it—as good as I've ever heard it, and I mean it". [37]

Personal life

Trucks' late uncle, Butch Trucks, was a founding member and drummer of The Allman Brothers Band. His younger brother is Duane Trucks, who is a member of Widespread Panic and Hard Working Americans. [6] His great-uncle, Virgil Trucks, was a major league baseball pitcher in the 1940s and 1950s, winning 177 games in his career. [38]

In 2001, Trucks married singer and musician Susan Tedeschi, and they had a son in March 2002 and a daughter in 2004. [39] [40] [41] Trucks is a fan of the Atlanta Braves, the Florida State Seminoles, [42] and his hometown Jacksonville Jaguars. [43]

Discography

With the Derek Trucks Band

With the Allman Brothers Band

With The Tedeschi Trucks Band

Collaborations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Clapton</span> English guitarist, singer, and songwriter (born 1945)

Eric Patrick Clapton is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. He ranked second in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson's "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". In 2023, Rolling Stone named Clapton the 35th best guitarist of all time. He was also named number five in Time magazine's list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Allman Brothers Band</span> American rock band

The Allman Brothers Band were an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman, as well as Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley (bass), Butch Trucks (drums), and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson (drums). Subsequently, based in Macon, Georgia, they incorporated elements of blues, jazz and country music and their live shows featured jam band-style improvisation and instrumentals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern rock</span> Subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana

Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar speculates the term "Southern rock" may have been coined in 1972 by Mo Slotin, writing for Atlanta's underground paper, The Great Speckled Bird, in a review of an Allman Brothers Band concert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek and the Dominos</span> English–American blues-rock band

Derek and the Dominos were a short-lived English–American blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by singer-guitarist Eric Clapton, keyboardist-singer Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon. All four members had previously played together in Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, during and after Clapton's brief tenure with Blind Faith. Dave Mason supplied additional lead guitar on early studio sessions and played at their first live gig. Another participant at their first session as a band was George Harrison, the recording for whose album All Things Must Pass marked the formation of Derek and the Dominos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duane Allman</span> American guitarist (1946–1971)

Howard Duane Allman was an American rock and blues guitarist and the founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

<i>Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs</i> 1970 studio album by Derek and the Dominos

Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is the only studio album by the English–American rock band Derek and the Dominos, released on 9 November 1970 as a double album by Polydor Records and Atco Records. It is best known for its title track, "Layla", which is often regarded as Eric Clapton's greatest musical achievement. The other band members were Bobby Whitlock, Jim Gordon, and Carl Radle (bass). Duane Allman played lead and slide guitar on 11 of the 14 songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Layla</span> Song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon

"Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded with their band Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their only studio album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970). Its contrasting movements were composed separately by Clapton and Gordon. The piano part has also been controversially credited to Rita Coolidge, Gordon's girlfriend at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Tedeschi</span> American blues musician

Susan Tedeschi is an American singer and guitarist. A multiple Grammy Award nominee, she is a member of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, a conglomeration of her band, her husband Derek Trucks’ band, and other musicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oteil Burbridge</span> American musician

Oteil Burbridge is an American multi-instrumentalist, specializing on the bass guitar, trained in playing jazz and classical music from an early age. He has achieved fame primarily on bass guitar during the resurgence of the Allman Brothers Band from 1997 through 2014, and as a founding member of the band Dead & Company. Burbridge was also a founding member of The Aquarium Rescue Unit and Tedeschi Trucks Band, with whom his brother Kofi Burbridge was the keyboardist and flautist. He has worked with other musicians including Bruce Hampton, Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, Bill Kreutzmann and Derek Trucks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doyle Bramhall II</span> American guitarist

Doyle Bramhall II is an American guitarist, producer and songwriter best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Roger Waters. He is the son of the songwriter and drummer Doyle Bramhall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Derek Trucks Band</span> American rock and blues band

The Derek Trucks Band was an American blues rock group founded by young slide guitar prodigy Derek Trucks, who began playing guitar and touring with some of blues and rock music's elite when he was just nine years old. After experimenting as an adolescent with musicians he met between tours and recording sessions, Trucks founded The Derek Trucks Band in 1994. With family ties to The Allman Brothers Band, Trucks continued to experiment and play with others, carefully assembling his own band over a period of several years. Led by Trucks and loosely based in his family home in Jacksonville, Florida, the band generally consisted of six members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Holloway</span> American tenor saxophonist

Ronald Edward Holloway is an American tenor saxophonist. He is listed in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz where veteran jazz critic Ira Gitler described Holloway as a "Hard bear-down-hard-bopper who can blow authentic R&B and croon a ballad with warm, blue feeling."

<i>Joyful Noise</i> (album) 2002 studio album by The Derek Trucks Band

Joyful Noise is the third studio album by The Derek Trucks Band, released on September 2, 2002. It features an eclectic mix of music, ranging from gospel, blues, jazz fusion, Latin music, to East Indian music. Many of the songs feature special guests, including Trucks' wife Susan Tedeschi, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, the nephew of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and a respected singer in his own right, and soul artist Solomon Burke. The album was produced by noted producers Russ Kunkel and Craig Street and was recorded at the Bearsville and Sunset Sound Studios. This is also the first album to feature the songwriting and musical talents of the band's newest member, Kofi Burbridge; keyboardist, flautist, and backing vocalist for the band, as well as brother to Oteil Burbridge, bassist in The Allman Brothers Band, with whom Derek Trucks is also a member.

<i>Already Free</i> 2009 studio album by The Derek Trucks Band

Already Free is the sixth studio album by The Derek Trucks Band. It was released in the United States on January 13, 2009 by Legacy Recordings. A European release followed on February 20, 2009. The album has received very positive reviews, and debuted at #19 on the Billboard Top 200 reached #1 on the blues chart, #1 on the Internet chart, and #4 on the Rock chart. This marks the band's highest debut on the Billboard Top 200 chart to date. The album won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album, marking the band's first Grammy award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Nelson (musician)</span> Musical artist

Paul Nelson is a Grammy award winning American blues and rock guitarist, record producer, and songwriter. He has played and or recorded alongside artists such as Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and members of the Allman Brothers Band. He was the hand picked guitarist to join Johnny Winter's band in 2010, performing on and producing several of Winter's albums, including the Grammy Award-nominated I'm a Blues Man, Roots, and Step Back, which won the Grammy Award for Best Blues Album, debuted at #1 on the Billboard chart for Blues Albums, and Independent Albums, and debuted at #16 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, marking the highest spot in Winter's career. Nelson is also a Blues Music Award recipient for Best Rock Blues Album, and has been inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the KBA award from the Blues Foundation. He received a Grammy nomination for his work as producer and performer on Joe Louis Walker's, Everybody Wants a Piece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tedeschi Trucks Band</span> American blues and blues rock group

The Tedeschi Trucks Band is an American blues and blues rock group based in Jacksonville, Florida. Formed in 2010, the band is led by married couple Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. Their debut album, Revelator (2011), won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Blues Album. The band has released five studio and three live albums.

Matthew Dutot Slocum is a keyboardist who collaborates predominantly with southern jazz, funk, fusion and blues musicians. He has worked with Susan Tedeschi, Widespread Panic guitarist Jimmy Herring, Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbridge, The Magpie Salute, and Railroad Earth among many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kofi Burbridge</span> American musician (1961–2019)

Kofi Burbridge was an American keyboardist and flautist of the blues and blues rock group Tedeschi Trucks Band.

"Anyday" is a song written by British rock guitarist and singer Eric Clapton and American singer-songwriter Bobby Whitlock for the Derek and the Dominos album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs which was released in 1970. Over the years, the tune was newly interpreted by both Clapton and Whitlock who also released their takes on the song on both studio and live albums in 2003 and 2016.

<i>The Fox Box</i> 2017 live album by The Allman Brothers Band

The Fox Box is an eight-CD live album by the Allman Brothers Band. It contains the complete three-concert run recorded on September 24, 25, and 26, 2004 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. It was released on March 24, 2017.

References

  1. Clash, Jim (2007). "Rocker Derek Trucks". Forbes Magazine's Adventurer Column. pp. Video version. Archived from the original on October 8, 2009. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Tatangelo, Wade (January 4, 2007). "Derek Trucks on playing with Allman, Clapton, Dylan". McClatchy Newspapers. Retrieved June 4, 2008.
  3. 1 2 "The Derek Trucks Band Biography". Jambase.com. 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
  4. "Derek Trucks: At Guitar Center – Influences and Slide". Guitar Center TV. June 1, 2010. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2010.
  5. Braiker, Brian (January 20, 2009). "Derek Trucks Q&A: Guitar Hero on Jamming With Legends and Covering Dylan". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 21, 2009.
  6. 1 2 "The Derek Trucks Band Artist Bio". Promotional talent biography. Entourage Talent Associates. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  7. 1 2 Tennille, Andy (February 5, 2006). "Finding His Path". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
  8. Skelly, Richard (2006). "Derek Trucks: Biography". MSN Music. Archived from the original on January 13, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
  9. "Derek Trucks Songlines". Jambands.com. March 16, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  10. Leslie, Jimmy (June 2009). "Derek Trucks (FEATURES: Blues) Interview". Guitar Player Magazine. New Bay Media.
  11. 1 2 "Derek Trucks/Soul Stew Update". Jambase.com. June 29, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  12. Derek Trucks Band Live at That Tent, Bonnaroo on 2008-06-16. mrsoul. June 16, 2008. Retrieved August 12, 2008 via Internet Archive.
  13. Tennille, Andy. "Derek and Susan, It's a Family Thing". Jambase.com. Retrieved September 28, 2008.
  14. 1 2 Bryson, Alan (June 7, 2010). "Susan Tedeschi: Dreams and Legends". All About Jazz. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
  15. "Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Reveal Band Lineup". Jambase.com. March 29, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  16. Doyle, Patrick (January 8, 2014). "Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks Leaving Allman Brothers Band". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  17. 1 2 Fricke, David (February 12, 2007). "The New Guitar Gods Mayer, Frusciante, Trucks on their Inspirations". Video and front page interview as one of the new "Guitar Gods" naming Trucks as the "Jam King". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 8, 2013. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
  18. 1 2 Fricke, David (February 22, 2007). "The New Guitar Gods: John Mayer, John Frusciante and Derek Trucks". Rolling Stone. No. 1020. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
  19. Wilcock, Don (November 29, 2012). "Derek Trucks and the Difference Between Discipline and Obsession". Americanbluesscene.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  20. "Derek Trucks Band on Mountain Stage". Interview and Band Performance on National Public Radio. 2009 NPR. May 11, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  21. Machosky, Michael (August 19, 2009). "Derek Trucks backs luck with hard work". Pittsburgh Tribune Review. Archived from the original on August 23, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  22. 1 2 MSN City Guide The Derek Trucks Band Archived October 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Allmusic accessdate 2008-08-18
  23. Bhattacharya, Sumit (February 13, 2006). "New rock guitar god is Indian shishya" . Retrieved June 1, 2008.
  24. 1 2 "Six-String Creation: The Derek Trucks Band". National Public Radio. NPR.org. March 25, 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2009.
  25. Bhattacharya, Sumit. "Derek Trucks on Ustad Ali Akbar Khan". Rediff. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  26. "Derek Trucks Interview". Muzicosphere. May 9, 2009. Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  27. Schiebel, Christopher D. (December 30, 2022). "Derek Trucks Guitars & Gear (2023 Update)". Guitar Lobby. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  28. Rolling Stone The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time 2003-08-27
  29. "The Derek Trucks Band music, videos, stats, and photos". Last.fm. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  30. Wright, Jeb (2009). "The Moogis Industry: An Exclusive Interview with Butch Trucks". Classicrockrevisited.com. Archived from the original on June 27, 2009. Retrieved November 17, 2009.
  31. Suarez, Ernest (May 29, 2009). "'Already Free,' Trucks Rolls on the Guitar Hero Pays Homage to the Past". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2009.
  32. 1 2 WNEW; CBS Radio, Inc (2008). "Where Rock Lives; Derek Trucks Band". Derek, Conan and Cash. CBS Broadcasting. Archived from the original on August 13, 2010. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  33. Lovejoy, Heather (February 14, 2012). "Jacksonville's Tedeschi Trucks band wins Grammy for best blues album". The Florida Times-Union . Retrieved April 26, 2012.
  34. Sterdan, Darryl (February 12, 2012). "Grammy award lifetime achievements". jam.canoe.ca. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  35. Marco R. delia Cava (February 7, 2012). "Allmans are all in for Grammys". USA Today . Retrieved April 26, 2012.
  36. "Performances at the WHITE HOUSE". whitehouse.gov . Retrieved February 22, 2012 via National Archives.
  37. "BB King with John Mayer, Tedeschi Trucks, Finale, Hollywood Bowl 9-5-12 part 1 - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  38. Gammons, Peter (February 27, 2010). "Gammons: Music connects Trucks family Former Tigers great, kin share love of the game". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  39. Mayshark, Jesse Fox Mayshark (March 5, 2006). "MUSIC; Ramblin' Man and Woman, Married With Kids". Arts. The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2009.
  40. "Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival". Jambase.com. 2007. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
  41. Spies, Jessica (July 16, 2010). "An Allman Brother does his own thing". The Patriot Ledger . Archived from the original on March 29, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  42. "Instagram". Instagram. Archived from the original on December 23, 2021. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  43. Armonaitis, Dan (October 19, 2012). "Derek Trucks on his great uncle Virgil, the infield fly rule and other baseball thoughts | Sound Observations". Soundobservations.blogs.goupstate.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.