Tedeschi Trucks Band keeps it rolling at Dr. Phillips Center
“You try to run the band in a way that maybe will inspire somebody or there’s something to take away from it.” Derek Trucks, Tedeschi Trucks Band guitarist
Florida blues rock outfit Tedeschi Trucks Band might sound a tad familiar at first listen. There’s a touch of Buddy Guy’s power here and the precision of B.B. King there.
Guitarist Derek Trucks notes there might be a reason for that. “Anyone you play with rubs off on you,” he says.
The nephew of Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks, the Jacksonville native has been touring since he was 9 years old. Both Derek Trucks and his wife, Susan Tedeschi, have performed with some of the top names in the business, from Guy and King to Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal. Tedeschi Trucks, the band they front together, will be at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Sunda. (Tickets start at $29.50. Details: drphillipscenter.org.)
Trucks and Tedeschi married in 2001. They merged their respective solo bands into Tedeschi Trucks in 2010 and won the Grammy for Best Blues Album with their 2011 debut “Revelator.” Trucks has been named to Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Best Guitarists of All Time.
While Trucks, 37, doesn’t see his band as limited to sonic nostalgia, he has some theories on why listeners might get that feeling. “I think in some way things sound classic when you actually have people playing instruments,” he says.
Tedeschi Trucks even record in a fairly old-school way. Where many modern bands have members record their tracks separately, this 12-piece group lays down everything as a band in the studio Trucks built in his Jacksonville home. “That’s not to say we might not take a second shot at the lead vocal or anything,” Trucks clarifies.
“We know our history, we know the tradition,” says Trucks. “A lot in our band have been a part of those things.”
History is an easy topic for Trucks. Ask him about Florida blues and he goes straight to the late Bob Greenlee’s King Snake Records Studio in Sanford and the musicians who recorded there, such as Root Boy Slim and James Taylor’s brother Alex Taylor.
Growing up around musicians, Trucks had plenty of mentors. “Most of the people I learned from, there’s a few people who told you things, but usually it was through watching them go about their business,” he says.
He tries to pass on the lessons he has learned to young musicians he meets. “You try to run the band in a way that maybe will inspire somebody or there’s something to take away from it,” he says.
“I think it’s part of your duty as a musician to keep it rolling.”