Derek Trucks

Derek Trucks (born June 8, 1979) is an American guitarist, bandleader (The Derek Trucks Band), and member of The Allman Brothers Band.

Early life

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Trucks took up the guitar at age 9, and soon many came to see him as a child prodigy. He was playing with a band and touring within two years. Trucks and poet G. M. Palmer grew up in the same Jacksonville neighborhood and often played pick-up games of football.

His early repertoire was heavily blues-based, inspired by The Allman Brothers Band slide guitarist, Duane Allman. Derek's uncle, drummer Butch Trucks, was a founding member of the band so Derek was exposed to their style of music from a young age. Older bluesmen like Howlin' Wolf, jazz musicians Miles Davis, Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Charlie Christian and later Wayne Shorter and many others, became an influence for Trucks a few years later. Eastern Music, mainly Indian Classical, also affected Trucks's musical development, primarily his slide guitar playing, which was heavily influenced by sarod players like Ali Akbar Khan. In recent years, the influence of traditional Southern Sacred Steel can be heard in Derek's slide work.

Career

The Derek Trucks Band was formed in 1994, and has been one of Trucks's primary musical outlets ever since. The current members of the band are:

• Derek Trucks – guitar
• Kofi Burbridge – keyboards, flute, and vocals (and brother of Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbridge) (1999-present)
• Todd Smallie – bass and vocals (1994-present)
• Yonrico Scott – drums, percussion, and vocals (1995-present)
• Mike Mattison – lead vocals (2002-present)
• Count M'Butu – percussion

In 1999, Derek Trucks joined his uncle, drummer Butch Trucks, as a member of The Allman Brothers Band, after years of performing as a guest of the band at live performances (he has continued his own own band as well). With the Allmans, Trucks has performed on three live releases, which include the Platinum-certified 'Live at the Beacon Theatre' DVD, as well as the studio album Hittin' The Note (2003). He has also performed with the band during eight summer tours and the band's annual multiple night stand at New York City's Beacon Theatre.

Trucks avoids processing and effects, preferring to get the purest tone possible by connecting his guitar (2000 '61 reissue Gibson SG) directly to his amplifier, a 1965 Fender Super Reverb loaded with four Pyle Driver MH1020 speakers. He modifies his tone with the controls on the guitar. He plays without the use of a plectrum (pick), using his fingers instead, plucking primarily with the thumb, index and middle fingers and occasionally the ring finger. His guitar is usually tuned to Open E, the notes from the low to high string being EBEG#Be. Open tunings are popular with slide players as they allow them to use chord tones more easily.

In 2003, he was ranked 81st on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", and has been hailed as one of the greatest slide guitarists since Duane Allman. Fellow Allman Brothers Band guitarists Duane Allman, Warren Haynes and Dickey Betts were also on the list.

Trucks was an accompanying guitarist in Eric Clapton's 2006/2007 touring band. In early 2006, Trucks lost equipment when an equipment trailer was stolen. Some of the gear was recovered on May 18, 2006, as reported in the Columbia Records Derek Trucks Forum. Gear that was reported as recovered from a field outside Atlanta, GA included Derek's "1965 BFSR, the amp he's been playing since he was a young boy; Derek's 1968 SFSR (one of the backup amps), the DTB's Hammond B-3, two Leslies, a Hohner E-7 Clavinet, and a few other minor items."

File:Rolling Stone - The New Guitar Gods.jpg

Trucks (left), with Mayer (center) and Frusciante (right), on the cover of Rolling Stone 1020

Trucks made the cover of Rolling Stone (#1020) in February 2007, along with John Frusciante and John Mayer. He was named as one of the "New Guitar Gods" and the cover nicknamed him "The Jam King."

Personal life

In 2001, Trucks married singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi. The couple have two children: Charles Khalil Trucks (born March 8, 2002), and Sophia Naima Trucks (born August 9, 2004). Charles is named for saxophonist Charlie Parker and guitarist Charlie Christian; his middle name is taken from author Khalil Gibran. Sophia's unusual middle name comes from the Coltrane ballad, which was also the jazz legend's first wife's name.

Discography

Derek Trucks Band

• The Derek Trucks Band (1997)
• Out of the Madness (1998)
• Joyful Noise (2002)
• Soul Serenade (2003)
• Live at Georgia Theatre (2004)
• Songlines (2006) (Legacy Recordings)
• Songlines Live (DVD) (2006 (Legacy Recordings)

With the Allman Brothers Band

• Peakin' At the Beacon (2000)
• Hittin' the Note (2003)
• Live at the Beacon Theatre (DVD) (2003)
• One Way Out (2004)

Collaborations

• Come On In This House (1996, Junior Wells)
• Searching for Simplicity (1997, Gregg Allman)
• Croakin' at Toad's (2000, Frogwings)
• Wait For Me (2002, Susan Tedeschi)
• Little Worlds (2003, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones)
• The Best Kept Secret (2005, Jerry Douglas)
• Hope and Desire (2005, Susan Tedeschi)
• The Road to Escondido (2006, J.J. Cale, Eric Clapton)

External links

• DerekTrucks.com, official site
• RadioDTB, a weekly podcast featuring live music from the Derek Trucks Band
• Turtle Vision photo gallery of Derek Trucks
• Derek Trucks Web Forum at Columbiarecords.com
• Divided time: Trucking between the bands - an interview
• Derek Trucks Band collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• Derek Trucks Band Article