Roots musicâs reigning creative power couple: Derek Trucks poses with one of his beloved Gibson SGs and Susan Tedeschi holds the Gretsch White Falcon used for the new albumsâ sessions.
As their fans know, Tedeschi, whoâd built her career on stinging Tele tones and one of the most soulful blues voices in modern music, and Trucks, an electric slide prodigy who first made waves as a solo artist before joining the Allman Brothers Band, met in 1999, fell in love, married, and started a family. In 2010, their careers united as well when they formed TTB with a rotating cast of equally exceptional musicians. Many tours, four studio albums, a Grammy, and eight Blues Music Awards later, TTB has become something more akin to a rambling roots-music collective than a band.
Tragedy struck the ensemble in February 2019, with the death of original band member and multi-instrumentalist Kofi Burbridge (brother of former TTB bassist Oteil Burbridge). The group was devastated. Then, while still dealing with the loss of their dear friend, Covid put a hard stop to the entire music industry. Something had to give.
Tedeschi Trucks Band - I Am The Moon: Episode I. Crescent
âAfter the loss of Kofi and Covid, we felt like we needed to hard reset to figure out where we were,â Trucks observes. Away from the road, Tedeschi and Trucks poured their energy into the relationships that matter mostâtheir own family.
âWhen the lockdown happened, our son was moving on to college,â Tedeschi says. âThere was a real sense of, âThis is our last real hang time with him.â It was really nice to be in a place with our kids where none of us could go anywhere, and we actually got to spend real quality time together.â
According to Tedeschi, sending their son off into the world inspired one of I Am The Moonâs songs, âLa Di Da.â But Covid and a difficult goodbye were only two of the energies coalescing into what would be TTBâs most ambitious project.
Meanwhile, Mike Mattison, TTB vocalist and guitarist, was immersing himself in the seventh-century poem Layla and Majnun, credited to Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi, and the 1970 album it inspired, Derek and the Dominosâ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. The band had already been examining the musical side of these works and had recorded a live rendition of the Layla album, with guest Trey Anastasio, at the 2019 Locknâ Festival. That performance was released as Layla Revisited Live at Locknâ in May 2021. The poem is considered the Eastâs Romeo and Juliet. It follows two lovers through a timeless tale of passion, joy, separation, and death. Eric Clapton and Duane Allmanâs collaboration focused heavily on Manjunâs side of the story. And Mattison wanted to give it a twist.
Initially, TTBâs members began to work on the I Am the Moon album cycle apart during lockdown, but they amassed at Derek and Susanâs home when it was time to record.
Photo by David McClister
âHe had been kicking around this idea of taking the Layla concept and flipping it on its headâthinking about the story from Laylaâs perspective,â Trucks says. âHe reached out to everyone in the band with a suggestion that we all dig into the poem while weâre at home, before we could really get together. The concept was to keep everyone tight.â
With the members immersing themselves in Layla and Majnun, the creative juices quickly began flowing. But to capture the results, Tedeschi and Trucks would need to bring the entire band together. So, after a whirlwind of quarantining, vaccines, and negative test results, TTBâs players moved in with Susan and Derek. âThey came down and lived with us, the core of the band,â say Trucks. âOnce a few of the songs were written, that creativity started really inspiring everybody and sparking ideas. It had its own gravity at that point. Iâve never been a part of anything quite like it.â
âIt was nice having no rules and no time constraints and being able to let things flow and happen organically.ââSusan Tedeschi
Many songs and arrangements were created in the moment, right on the studio floor. According to Trucks, that gave the recordings the energy of being onstage. âWe track with the core of the band. Itâs two drums, bass, me and Sue, and keyboards. Sueâs usually in a vocal booth, either with a guitar and a quiet amp in the room or an amp in another room. Iâm set up in the same room as the drummers with a big tent around my amp. So, it felt a lot more like it feels onstage when weâre exploring.â
While many songs were brought in by individual band members, Tedeschi agrees that the relaxed, open environment was crucial to the songwriting process. âIt was really cool to hear some of the things that the other musicians were coming up with,â she says. âThe boys would play the riff or something, like on âAll the Love,â and it was really fun to sing against. I was trying to take in everything that was going on in the moment, as well as the poem. So, as Derek was saying earlier, it was nice having no rules and no time constraints and being able to let things flow and happen organically.â
Derek Trucksâ Gear
Trucksâ primary instrument for I Am the Moon was the fourth prototype for the Gibson Custom Shopâs Dickey Betts SG VOS.
Photo by David McClister
Guitars
- Gibson Custom Shop Dickey Betts SG VOS prototype No. 4
- 1965 Gibson ES-335
- 1960s Supro tuxedo finish
- Vintage National resonator
- Vintage Gibson Roy Smeck acoustic
- 1930s Gibson L-00 with DeArmond pickup
- Various vintage Martin acoustics
Amps
- Early â60s Fender Deluxe
- 1950s tweed Fender Deluxe
Effects
- Leslie cabinet
- Vintage Echoplex
Strings & Slide
- DR Customs
- Coricidin bottle slide
That freedom also applies to Trucksâ solos. âTheyâre all improv, mostly,â he says. âThe solos are live on the floor because theyâre whatâs leading the track at that moment. Some of the solos you definitely think about more than others, but a lot of them, they happen naturally. That seems to be the best way.â
Though Trucksâ thick tone and inimitable slide work are all over nearly every song, Tedeschiâs rhythm playing drives the whole project. And when the two cut heads, as on âPlaying With My Emotions,â itâs pure blues-rock magic. ââPlaying With My Emotionsâ was actually in the moment,â Tedeschi remembers. âDerek looks over at me and is like, âPlay!â Iâm like, âOh, okay.ââ [laughs]
âI havenât used any Echoplexes or Leslies and things like that on our stuff. One of these days, Iâll get into it.ââSusan Tedeschi
âItâs fun when, thematically, that makes sense,â Trucks says. âBut it wasnât written or scripted when we went to that. Me and Sue, we play the dueling-guitar stuff live. An old friend, Colonel Bruce Hampton, would call them guitarguments.â [laughs]
âPlaying With My Emotionsâ perfectly illustrates both playersâ approach to tone. Trucks is all about his signature, driven slide sound, which is perfectly offset by Tedeschiâs cleaner-yet-still-biting Tele.
Susan Tedeschiâs Gear
Tedeschi played her 1970 Fender Stratocaster for the sessions. TTB fans regularly see this guitar, as well as her longtime favorite, a â90s Telecaster, in concert.
Photo by David McClister
Guitars
- 1990s Fender Telecaster
- Late 2000s Gretsch White Falcon
- 1970 Fender Stratocaster
Strings & Picks
- DR .010s
- Fender Heavy
Amps
- 1964 Fender Deluxe Reverb
Effects
- 1968 Vox Clyde McCoy wah (gift from Jorma Kaukonen)
âI was using my Tele through my â64 Deluxe [Reverb],â she says. âWhatever came out in that moment is what you got. I had every intention to go back in later and re-do it, but it never happened.â
If youâve seen Tedeschi onstage, youâve probably seen that Telecaster. Itâs also featured on the cover of her breakout solo album, Just Wonât Burn. But, as Trucks remembers, the Tele wasnât her only go-to for these sessions. She also played her 1970 Fender Strat, and a Gretsch White Falcon on âCircles âRound the Sun.â
Trucks employed a wider range of instruments to cover the musicâs acoustic, resonator, and electric tones. âI think on âFall In,â Iâm using a National that we ended up running through an old Supro amp,â Trucks says. âAnd I have this old Supro [a 1960s tuxedo model] guitar that I use as well. We used a lot of different acoustic guitars. I have a 1930s Gibson L-00 that has an old DeArmond pickup, like Elmore James, that I used a few times. I think on âEmmalineâ I was playing that. I have an old Gibson Roy Smeck. And there are a few old Martins that we use.â In the studio, Derek goes for early-1960s Fender Deluxes.
âMe and Sue, we play the dueling guitar stuff live. An old friend, Colonel Bruce Hampton, would call them guitarguments.ââDerek Trucks
Although they use similar amps, Tedeschi and Trucks take wildly different approaches to their sounds. âI havenât really done a ton of experimenting yet,â said Tedeschi. âI haven't used any Echoplexes or Leslies and things like that on our stuff. Those are all really fun, but for the most part, on this record, Iâm playing vibrato or a wah. One of these days, Iâll get into it. I donât know why I havenât. I do enjoy doing that.â
While sticking to tones with plenty of vintage vibe, Trucks explores a bit more. His only rule is it has to sound great in the track. âA lot of times, me and Bobby T [longtime TTB recording engineer and road manager Bobby Tis] would experiment,â he says. âI would always have a second amplifier upstairs being recorded for some extra room sound. A lot of times, we would put a vintage Echoplex on it for a little bit of smudge. I would use that old Supro sometimes with that setup. I would plug into the Leslie quite a bit, too, for certain overdubs or a song like âCircles âRound the Sun.â It think that song is my guitar going through my Deluxe and an actual Leslie, which is a pretty great sound. Then thereâs one or two songs where I took the solo on a tweed Deluxe. But itâs funny. You can get a sound on the floor that sounds incredible, and then you take a solo and you realize itâs either too little of something or too much of something.â
Rig Rundown - Tedeschi Trucks Band
Tedeschi has used her Tele for gathering autographs over the years. Easily readable are signatures from B.B. King. Hubert Sumlin, John Lee Hooker, and Clarence âGatemouthâ Brown. Check out the live gear used by Derek and Susan.
Trucksâ standout moment comes early in the four-album collection as he guides the band through the only instrumental, I Am the Moon: I. Crescentâs closing track, âPasaquan.â Clocking in at over 12 minutes, the song is part Allman-style jam, part Middle Eastern melodicism, and part Floydian expanse. With a song like that, Trucks knew the band had to nail it. It had to sound electrifying.
âI didnât want to play it more than once or twice in a row, ever,â says Trucks. âI wanted to make sure that, when we did capture it, it would be spontaneous. We really took wildly different approaches each time we played it.â Trucks also took an uncharacteristic approach to both his gear and technique on âPasaquan.â
âI used a 1965 335 on it and tuned down to D. I realized there was no other way to get that sound. Itâs made for that tune. And itâs all fingers. Over years of being onstage with the Allman Brothers, youâd have to improvise quite a bit in different ways, so you get your chops up for that.â
About the chapters of I Am the MoonâI. Crescent, II. Ascension, III. The Fall, IV. FarewellâTrucks says, âWe had this episodic concept pretty early on, and we had the album titles pretty early on. We were listening to a lot of vinyl, and I started realizing that all of our favorite records were cut for vinyl, which is 35 or 40 minutes. We knew we had the right amount of material for that, and it worked.â
âWe track with the core of the band. Itâs two drums, bass, me and Sue, and keyboards.ââDerek Trucks
All four episodes were released a month apart to let listeners absorb each album of the saga to its fullest. But together, a beautiful story of love, distance, creation, and saying goodbye unfolds. This approach to releasing the albums paid off, and fans embraced the music faster than any previous TTB title.
âWhen we did the first show of this summer tour, I think we played two of our old original tunes, and then we did the whole Crescent record, start to finish,â Trucks says. âWe were a little bit shocked at how well it went. Usually, when you break out new material, thereâs a little bit of air that goes out of the room. This time around, it seemed like people connected with it pretty early on. Even when weâd get done playing the new stuff and go back to some of our older stuff, it didnât have the same weight.â
âThe poem was interesting, because you have a lot of different correlations with family and how everybodyâs affected by each other,â she says. âHere, Layla is in a situation where sheâs in love, and she has to be able to let go of it. She has to be able to say goodbye even though she doesnât want to. I thought it had a parallel to being able to let go and say goodbye to my son. It was the perfect story and the perfect concept for that time.â
YouTube It
Watch Susan and Derek and their comrades in song play the title track from their multi-media extravaganza, I Am the Moon. Oh, and be sure to hang for Derekâs epic slide solo at 4:25!
Following its lineage of effect pedals recreating specific tones of the 60âs bands, Aclam has developed an overdrive pedal for fans of Cream and Eric Claptonâs fabulous sound heard on songs like "Sunshine Of Your Love," "I Feel Free" or "SWLABR."
The Woman Tone features a touch sensitive plexi style overdrive, designed with F.E.T transistors and tuned to roar like the 100W Marshall full stacks Cream used, but definitely the cherry on the cake of this pedal is the Woman Tone knob. By turning it counter-clockwise youâll gradually get that silky sound he attained with his Gibson while soloing. It is engaged via a footswitch, so players can switch from on sound to the other.
Features
- Custom humbucker pickup simulation circuit to accurately recreate the Woman Tone
- Woman Tone knob controllable via footswitch
- Touch sensitive plexi-inspired overdrive using discrete components
- Artwork by The Foolâs Marijke Koger
- Smart Track Fastening System
The Woman Tone Effect Pedal Official Demo: A tribute to Eric Clapton's legendary sound!
The Woman Tone pedal is available for $339 at retailers in the US and 359⏠(VAT included in the EU). You can also get yours at Aclam's online store: www.aclamguitars.com.