At the tender age of 20, Derek Trucks became an official member of the Allman Brothers Band – the same band that inspired him to pick up the guitar in the first place.
Some 24 years later, now a grizzled veteran at the age of 43, Trucks is still on the road. These days, he takes the stage with his partner in both music and life, Susan Tedeschi, leading an ensemble unit aptly named the Tedeschi Trucks Band.
Ever-busy, Trucks is pounding the pavement, unleashing music from the group's latest record, I Am the Moon. "We've been out for a good part of the year, and it's been great," Trucks says of the jaunt. "We've been doing a lot of theater dates and learning the new material, which a lot of people haven't gotten the chance to hear live yet.
"It's the first time we've gotten to really dig into it, so it's been nice to chew on it. It feels like a fresh and new environment when there's new stuff to play, and I love that."
For a seasoned player like Trucks, one might think that playing live is where he's most at home, and early in his career, that might have been true. But as the years have gone on, and the studio records have piled up at a relentless pace, it seems that Trucks' perspective has changed.
"I love to play live, and we play live more than we do anything else," Trucks says. "So, I think that's probably the base. I think in the studio, maybe I tend to think a little bit differently, but not totally. These days, I feel like we're pretty comfortable in the studio, so I don't mind taking chances and putting a little bit of extra feel into something."
"Early in my career, without a doubt, the studio was a pain in the ass," Trucks continues. "I didn't enjoy it as much as I do [now]. But now, I love the time in the studio, the creativity of it, and the birthing of ideas. I feel like it's as big of a part of things and sort of the last step in the evolution. So, I really do love them both. I wasn't always that way, but I am now."
As far as inspiration is concerned, Trucks draws from all corners of the guitar map, cherry-picking tidbits of ingenuity and making them his own. Indeed, the Jacksonville, Florida native has penned quite a few enchanting solos in his day, but which is his favorite?
"Wow. That's a tough one," Trucks admits. "But maybe it's the solo in Midnight in Harlem – it felt effortless when I first played that. Sometimes you get into the stream, and the band goes with you. That's what happened there.
"I loved playing Blue Sky when I was with the Allman Brothers Band – it felt that way, too. One of my favorite things of all time is listening to Duane Allman's solo in that song, and I think that solo was probably the inspiration for Midnight in Harlem. There's just something timeless and beautiful about it. It's not in a hurry, but it gets there."
With a player as diverse as Trucks, one has to wonder where it began. To that end, the slide maestro dialed in with Guitar World to reveal the 10 (or 11) guitarists who shaped his sound.
1. Duane Allman
"For me, it started with Duane Allman. I mean, that was the music that was playing in my house all the time. And that was what first got me interested in playing guitar. Just the excitement of it all was so alluring to me.
"Duane was an almost mythical character in my house. My dad grew up around a lot of what came before Duane, but I wasn't alive to see any of that. So, he was the starting point for me when it comes to guitar."
2. Elmore James
"When I realized that slide guitar was a thing and that I was interested in it, Elmore James was the next guy who came into play. He was so elemental, and he was really the first electric slide player who busted the doors down, changing the game entirely. Elmore was a big one for me in terms of slide guitar."
3. B.B. King
"One of the great honors of my life, and I think Susan's [Tedeschi], too, was just getting to spend a lot of time with B.B. – [to] play music with him, and become friends with him. He's somebody that I think about almost every time I'm on stage. His feel and emotion, as a guitarist, were special, and the performance aspect of what he did was something I look to often."
4. Jim Graves
"If we look at people who I met early on and from whom I learned a lot, my first real guitar teacher, Jim Graves, had a huge impact on me. He used to play in a band with my uncle in Jacksonville, Florida – I think the band was called Trucks at the time. Jim is a great guitar player. He was the first guy that really showed me how to get around the instrument, so he was a big influence on me."
5. Jimmy Herring
"From there, hanging out with Jimmy Herring from Widespread Panic, Aquarium Rescue Unit and a bunch of others was big for me. That whole scene was amazing, but Jimmy was the first guy that really sat down with me and looked at the guitar and sort of opened my mind a bit.
"I was playing in open E a lot, and we were rooming together on tour. We would just sit down, draw out the neck of the guitar and every scale you could possibly think of, and just find all the chord combinations. Jimmy cracked open a lot of lanes for me in those days."
6. Eric Krasno
"I remember doing a lot of shows with Eric Krasno's band Soulive, and he was awesome. He was one of those guys that played such good rhythm guitar. I heard him doing his thing, and suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head. Playing rhythm is sort of a lost art – there are so many guitar players out there who can just shred, but hardly any of them know how to play rhythm the right way – especially behind another guitar player.
"Playing with Eric refocused that for me. It became a mission of mine to the point that one of my favorite things to do now [is to play] behind another soloist, no matter what instrument they're playing. I feel like that's often an overlooked thing."
7. Doyle Bramhall II
"Seeing Doyle Bramhall II in action was a big eye-opener for me. I was playing with him when I was out with [Eric] Clapton, and he has such a unique way of playing. It was inspiring, and I started writing a lot of songs with him just to crack my head open to all the different avenues you can explore. He's so unique, and his way of thinking and approach were really refreshing for me."
8. D'Gary
"There's a guitar player named D'Gary from Madagascar who has this absolutely beautiful style. He put this record out called Malagasy Guitar in the early '90s, and it's full of really unique and beautiful guitar stuff. I still listen to that all the time. It's not one that too many people know. If you haven't heard of it, I recommend it."
9. Charlie Christian
"I love some of those early recordings – they're just so good. I think there's a recording of him at the Memphis Playhouse where he's playing Topsy (Swing to Bop), there's this guitar solo on there that's just one of the fiercest things that I've ever heard. It's one of the earliest recorded solos, and to this day, I don't know if anyone's bested it. That's something that I would dig into a lot."
10/11. Eric Clapton/Albert King
"I'll go with a tie between Clapton and Albert King. With Clapton, from all the music he made, the way he influenced people, and the way that he was able to run his band, all of that was impressive.
"I ended up learning a lot from the way he was running the show and his economy of emotion when he's really tagging a solo – it's incredible to watch. And Albert King, he's a guy that I go back to if I'm ever out of gas, inspirationally or creatively. All I have to do is listen to one Albert King solo, and that snaps me back."
- Tedeschi Trucks Band's I Am The Moon is available now via Fantasy Records.
