It's not hard to see why Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks are married. If the love chemistry between them is as hot as their musical chemistry, then call the fire brigade — the Jacksonville home studio where they recorded their debut effort as Tedeschi Trucks Band, Revelator, must be on fire. But seriously, when together, these two subtle powerhouse musician's musicians achieve a fusion of feeling that's not only magical, it's palpable, especially in a live setting.
If Susan Tedeschi was my lover, I'd make her use that smoky-sweet voice to sing me to sleep every night and inspire me to start the day with soul every morning. A few years ago, I met and photographed her for CL at Jannus, and she blew me away. I remember trying to describe her to people: "You know all those little things that singers do with their voices maybe once or twice in a song – they hit a super high note or do some sort of extreme octave fluctuation vibrato combination? Susan does that ALL the time in EVERY song with virtually EVERY note.” It's really incredible to witness.
Rolling Stone recently rated Derek Trucks as the 16th best guitar player in the world and they weren't kidding. His rabid fanbase (mostly 'guitar dudes') continually yelled his name throughout Thursday night's show at Ruth Eckerd Hall with almost religious zeal. Despite being the obvious face of the band, Susan gave Derek gracious space to do his thing, too, and when he finished each solo, her voice worked as the perfect exclamation point to the sentences his guitar spoke.
The coupling of the jam band party mood and the smell of a joint being fired up by the 40-somethings behind us hearkened me back to memories of too many Grateful Dead shows I vaguely remember seeing back in the early 1990's, and an imagined memory of the way crowds must've revered guitarists like Eric Clapton way back in the day.
Not surprising that Miami's own version of guitar gospel, the Lee Boys, were called on to open the show. When Susan broke it down at the ends of several of the songs, the feeling in the room was reminiscent of an old Southern church, bringing the seated crowd to their feet in a way that felt more like repeated standing ovations than mere excitement.
The pair often handed the duties off to the stellar nine-piece band backing them up, trading lead vocals and spotlight in a way that displayed the musicianship of each member in an "overall sound of love." Tedeschi boasts about the sound and introduces their band in a series of promotional videos on their site.
Despite the all-star group effort, Tedeschi's soulful fire the real centerpiece of both the album and the band's live shows, though Derek's impeccable fretwork takes a close second. Combining their talents was a brilliant move and while there were moments of excessive jamming, these were the sort of jams I could really get into.
Keep your eyes peeled for more from this dynamic duo. Revelator may be the album and this could be the tour to catapult both of the artists to the sky-reaching levels they sent the audience to Thursday night.
Setlist (according to bt.etree.org):
Everybody's Talkin'
Midnight In Harlem
Learn How To Love
Qualified
Space Captain
Three Hundred Pounds Of Joy (tribute to Hubert Sumlin)
That Did It
Darlin' Be Home Soon
Nobody's Free
Bound For Glory
Uptight
Why Don't We Do It In The Road
Love Has Something Else To Say
E
Wade In The Water
This article appears in Dec 22-28, 2011.