Trucks’ talent reaches beyond his age
From his resume, Derek Trucks could be 50: slide guitarist with The Allman Brothers, leader of The Derek Trucks Band for 10 years, married with two kids. But the 25-year-old Trucks is just getting warmed up and taking it in stride.
“As long as you feel like you have that fire, whatever acclaim you do or do not get is not that important to me,” Trucks said from his home in Jacksonville, Fla. He’s definitely no stranger to flattery.
The guitarist, whose namesake band is headed to Moscow, Idaho, on Wednesday, was voted “Young Gun” of 2004 in Guitar Player’s annual readers poll, and Rolling Stone named him one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” Still, perhaps his greatest honor was being asked to join The Allman Brothers when he was 19.
Playing slide guitar in one of the most high-profile rock bands from the ‘60s and ‘70s does not come without baggage, mainly a set of expectations and a pre-established sound created by the late Duane Allman. But in The Derek Trucks Band, he’s got all the creative freedom he wants, and he takes his liberties: sampling blues, jazz, soul and, increasingly, sounds from India and Africa.
“For me, doing The Allman Brothers gig, I love it, it’s great. It’s something that’s been there for a long time,” he said. “It’s not something I feel like I’ve created from the ground. With our band, I feel like we have a lot of freedom to experiment.”
Trucks spends roughly 300 days each year on the road with The Derek Trucks Band and The Allman Brothers, which means occasionally bringing family on the road. His wife, the Grammy-nominated blues vocalist/guitarist Susan Tedeschi, accompanied The Derek Trucks Band to Moscow, Idaho, for its summer 2003 gig, though she did not perform.
Trucks was decades younger than the other players in The Derek Trucks Band, which he put together when he was 14.
“I’m sure they felt it was odd,” said Trucks, adding that it took a couple of years for him to take a full leadership role. “Usually what you do either holds up or it doesn’t.”
Things obviously have been working out.
The Derek Trucks Band – Trucks (slide guitar), Todd Smallie (bass,vocals), Yonrico Scott (drums, percussion, vocals), Kofi Burbridge (B-3 organ, keyboards, flute, vocals) and Mike Mattison (lead vocals) – plays a 9 p.m. show Wednesday at John’s Alley in Moscow, Idaho. Tickets are available at John’s Alley for $15 in advance and $18 at the door.
Expect to hear samples from last year’s “Live at Georgia Theatre” that Trucks says showcases sounds most indicative of what will appear on the band’s next studio album, which the band members hope to record in April.
“Things have been moving in the right direction,” he said. “There are a lot of original tunes floating around. I figure, at 25, and as much as we tour and play, there will be a lot of records.”