Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi

It’s not very often that we get to write about “music history” in relation to a 37 year-old. Just how much damn history can a youngster like that have made, really? Well, quite a bit, as it turns out in the case of Derek Trucks, already regarded as one of the greatest guitar players of all time.

Derek Trucks allows that Eric Clapton’s pseudonym in Derek and the Dominos might have had something to do with his given name. He was born in Jacksonville, FL, on June 8, 1979, and is the nephew of legendary Allman Brothers Band drummer, Butch Trucks. A child prodigy on guitar, Derek bought his first guitar at age 9, and was a paid performer by the time he was 11. At 13, he played with Buddy Guy, and went on tour with Thunderhawk. Derek’s small child hands were both a boon and a blessing. They forced him to play slide style, which would come in handy down the road playing Duane Allman’s licks. Of course, by that time his hands had grown into the instruments of a fully capable virtuoso. 

Most often described as a blues rock or Southern rock guitarist, those labels don’t do justice to the wide variety of styles that inform Derek’s playing. Jazz, blues, gospel, rock and Indian influences can all be heard in Derek's music.

Derek formed his first band in 1996, at age 16. Over the next four years, he played with the likes of Bob Dylan, Joe Walsh, and Stephen Stills, and as a guest guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band. In 1999, he became a member of the ABB. In 2006, he collaborated with Eric Clapton and JJ Cale on The Road to Escondido, in 2007 played the Crossroads Guitar Festival and went on tour as a member of Clapton’s band. The Derek Trucks Band released 7 studio and 3 live albums, and won a Grammy for Already Free (2009). Derek has done over two dozen collaboration albums. Besides Clapton, he’s worked with Gov’t Mule, Elvin Bishop, Widespread Panic, Bela Fleck, Buddy Guy, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Jerry Douglas and others.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Susan Tedeschi is a musical force in her own right, forming her own blues band in 1993, at age 23. She and Derek were married in 2001. They combined their bands into the Soul Stew Revival in 2007,and played the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2008. In late 2009, Derek put his band on hiatus, and dissolved it in 2010. Since then, Susan and he have led the Tedeschi Trucks Band, now a 12-piece monster. They have four albums to their credit, including Grammy winner Revelator (2011).

In January, 2014, Derek and guitarist Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule), announced they would be leaving the Allman Brothers Band at the end of that season. On October 28, 2014, they played their last show with the Allman Brothers during the band’s annual residence at The Beacon Theatre in NYC. The Tedeschi Trucks Band is currently on tour, with dates at Rose Music Center in Huber Hts., OH, on July 29, and PNC Pavilion in Cincinnati, OH, on 7/30. The tour will conclude with the band taking the place of the ABB for a fall residency at The Beacon.

Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes with Allman Brothers Band (October 28, 2014)

Rolling Stone ranked the 100 Greatest Guitar Players of All Time for the first time in 2003. The rankings were revised in 2011. Derek Trucks appears on both lists. He has moved up from #81 to #16. Only time will tell where Derek will ultimately land. After playing at a B.B. King tribute along side the master blues guitarist, King said of Derek’s playing: “That’s as good as I’ve ever heard it.”

Happy Birthday, Derek!