Songlines (The Derek Trucks Band album)

Last updated
Songlines
Songlines.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 21, 2006
Recorded2005
Genre Blues rock, Southern rock, world fusion, jam rock
Length53:52
Label Columbia
Producer Jay Joyce
The Derek Trucks Band chronology
Live at Georgia Theatre
(2004)
Songlines
(2006)
Already Free
(2009)

Songlines is the fifth studio album by American slide guitarist Derek Trucks and his group the Derek Trucks Band. This is the group's first studio album to feature an expanded sextet.

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
All About Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [2]
One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers BandStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [4]

In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek wrote: "Songlines is the finest moment in the Derek Trucks Band's recording career. It's a fully mature, deeply reckoned studio album that bears repeated listening to reveal all its subtlety and the beauty of its creation." [1]

Ben Ratliff of The New York Times called Trucks' guitar work "a delicious pleasure," and stated that the album "improves on the five that preceded it," noting that "There's more texture, more layers of sound, and the producer, Jay Joyce, has artfully dirtied it up with reverb and mixing techniques." [5]

The Washington Post's Geoffrey Himes described the album as "the best jam-band album of the new decade," and noted that it "has set up the baby-faced kid in the blond ponytail as the movement's most likely leader into the next decade." [6]

Writing for All About Jazz , Doug Collette commented: "This album completely captures the diverse strengths of the group and its leader... Trucks' deceptively unassuming presence becomes the focal point that inspires his band, elevating Songlines to an absolutely stellar level." [2]

In an article for JazzTimes , Bill Milkowski wrote: "A remarkably expressive player, Trucks continues to explore on his instrument outside the confines of his regular touring gig with the Allman Brothers. This adventurous CD is the next step in his ongoing journey." [7]

Reviewer George Graham remarked: "Some jam bands can go on for hours without much interesting music happening. Derek Trucks... has never been one to fall victim to jam-band noodling. His palette is wide, his playing is imaginative and his band still rocks." [8]

Track listing

  1. "Volunteered Slavery" (Rahsaan Roland Kirk) – 2:05
  2. "I'll Find My Way" (Trucks, Jay Joyce) – 4:23
  3. "Crow Jane" (Skip James) – 3:53
  4. "Sahib Teri Bandi/Maki Madni" (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) – 9:53
  5. "Chevrolet" (Ed Young, Lonnie Young) – 2:24
  6. "Sailing On" (Toots Hibbert) – 3:47
  7. "Revolution" (Jay Joyce) – 3:08
  8. "I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled and Crazy" (Darryl Carter, Charles Hodges, Don Robey) – 4:33
  9. "All I Do" (Trucks, Mike Mattison, Todd Smallie, Yonrico Scott, Kofi Burbridge) – 6:31
  10. "Mahjoun" (Trucks) – 2:27
  11. "I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)" (Dick Dallas, Billy Taylor) – 4:07
  12. "This Sky" (Trucks, Mike Mattison, Jay Joyce) – 6:31

Personnel

Additional keyboards performed by Jay Joyce.

Production and crew

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References

  1. 1 2 Jurek, Thom. "Songlines - The Derek Trucks Band". allmusic.com. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Collette, Doug (February 17, 2006). "The Derek Trucks Band: Songlines". All About Jazz. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  3. Paul, Alan (2015). One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band. St. Martin's Press. p. 441.
  4. Fricke, David (March 6, 2006). "The Derek Trucks Band: Songlines: Music Reviews". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on November 27, 2007. Retrieved March 17, 2023.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. Ratliff, Ben (February 20, 2006). "New CD's". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  6. Himes, Geoffrey (April 7, 2006). "The Derek Trucks Band 'Songlines'". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  7. Milkowski, Bill (April 1, 2006). "Derek Trucks Band: Songlines". JazzTimes. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  8. Graham, George (March 8, 2006). "Derek Trucks Band: Songlines". GeorgeGraham.com. Retrieved March 17, 2023.