Reviews

On his two visits to Australia in the past eighteen months Derek Trucks has had the chance with both Eric Clapton and his own band to prove that his reputation as one of the hottest guitarists in the world is well deserved.

There was some symmetry in the fact that Trucks has spent time with Clapton. After all, his Uncle Butch was in the Allman Brothers Band and a young Derek was recruited for duties with them. For both bands he could almost be seen as a surrogate for the late Duane Allman, whose presence was also so important to Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs.

While Trucks’ slide playing with Clapton and the Allmans was impressive he is really most at home with his own outfit. This is where he can allow his own eclectic tastes to be fully indulged. Over the course of six studio albums he has explored the Southern rock that was the bread and butter of the Allmans but he has added his own excursions into jazz, blues and Eastern music.

The debut eponymous album of 1997 included compositions by John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter. Out of Madness in 1998 featured a version of The Meters’ ‘Look-Ka Py Py.’ Joyful Noise in 2002 featured Ruben Blades, Solomon Burke and Rahat Nusrat and Fateh Ali Khan. Songlines (2006) opened with the Rahsaan Roland Kirk tune ‘Volunteered Slavery.’ That’s very cool.

In this context, Already Free is almost the most cohesive solo album that Trucks has so far made. It is certainly closest to the work of his mentors and has that loose feeling of an early ‘70s rock album.

Trucks is accompanied by his long-time band mates Kofi Burbridge (keyboards), Todd Smallie (bass), Yonrico Scott (drums and percussion), Count Mbutu (percussion), and vocalist Mike Mattison. Guests include Trucks' partner Susan Tedeschi, guitarist Doyle Bramhall II (who is also in Clapton’s band and here co-writes three songs and co-produces several tracks). It is an impressive line-up and one that is surprisingly not more successful, especially amongst a younger audience. I would have thought this outfit kills a lot of other bands masquerading in the jam band clan.

The opening track is Bob Dylan's ‘Down in the Flood,’ which starts with an acoustic guitar under Mattison’s gritty vocals before Trucks expands things with electric guitar and Burbridge enters with organ. It is a powerful rendition of a song that first appeared on The Basement Tapes. (It is ironic that there have been a number of Dylan’s songs used by contemporary musicians recently to comment on the state of the world while Bob himself seems more intent on selling – and debasing - his own music for television commercials).

Next up is a cover of the late Paul Pena's ‘Something to Make You Happy’ – a song that suits the band format perfectly. (Pena wrote ‘Jet Airliner,’ a hit for Steve Miller). The Spooner Oldham-Dan Penn classic ‘Sweet Inspiration,’ sports a keyboard intro and some fine harmonies from Mattison and Tedeschi that recall Delaney & Bonnie (not a bad influence to have).

All of which is not to take anything away from the original songs which are uniformly strong and probably represent the biggest and baddest slab of Southern rock you are likely to hear this year. Trucks’ slide guitar on ‘Maybe This Time’ (one of the Bramhall co-writes) is tasteful indeed, as is Doyle’s lead vocals. ‘Don’t Miss Me’ almost comes straight from the Allman Brothers Band school of rock with some lyrical slide playing against a heavy backbeat. ‘Get What You Deserve’ is a thumper in the Stevie Ray Vaughan tradition and features a twin guitar attack with Bramhall guesting. Tedeschi takes lead vocal duties on the ballad ‘Back Where I Started’ (co-written by Trucks and Warren Haynes). The quiet title track closes the album with a sparser instrumentation and a reflective close to what is an impressive work.

When I spoke to Solomon Burke a few years back about Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, with whom had had recorded, he marvelled at their talent and remarked on how noisy their household must be with two such great guitarists in it! It is indeed a talented combination and, while Trucks has gained some profile from his stints with the Allmans and Eric Clapton, Tedeschi certainly does not stand in his shadow.

A Grammy winner in her own right, singer guitarist Tedeschi is making the sort of albums that Bonnie Raitt once did – and still should - but now seems unlikely to make again, unless she gets back to basics.

On Back To The River, this exceptionally talented singer, songwriter and guitarist shows why she won a Grammy nomination a decade ago for Best New Artist. Like her husband, who features heavily here, it is really surprising that her career has not taken off in a bigger way because she is certainly at the forefront of her chosen field with a terrific bluesy voice, powerful guitar style and fine song writing ability.

Back To The River is produced by George Drakoulias (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Black Crowes, Jayhawks) and also features Gary Louris and Doyle Bramhall II. The album opens with a bang on the raunchy ‘Talking About,’ written with Trucks and Bramhall. The title track is co-written with Tony Joe White. There is a brilliant ode to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in ‘700 Houses’, plus a potential hit single in the politically charged ‘People’ (which she wrote with Sonya Kitchell). There is even a mighty version of Allen Toussaint’s ‘There’s A Break In the Road.’

If you are ready for Tedeschi, then she is ready to take up the blues mantle where Bonnie Raitt left off. This is the best album Raitt won’t release this year!