Derek Trucks

Derek Trucks (born June 8, 1979) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and founder of The Derek Trucks Band. He became an official member of The Allman Brothers Band in 1999. In 2010, he formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, blues singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi. His musical style encompasses several genres and he has twice appeared on Rolling Stones list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He is the nephew of the late Butch Trucks, drummer for the Allman Brothers.

Early life

Trucks was born in Jacksonville, Florida. Trucks bought his first guitar at a yard sale for $5 at age nine and became a child prodigy, playing his first paid performance at age 11. Trucks began playing the guitar using a slide because it allowed him to play the guitar despite his small hands as a young guitarist. By his 13th birthday, Trucks had played alongside Buddy Guy and toured with Thunderhawk. by his 20th birthday, he had played with such artists as Bob Dylan, Joe Walsh, and Stephen Stills. In 1999, he toured as a member of Phil Lesh & Friends. After performing with The Allman Brothers Band for several years as a guest musician, Trucks became a formal member of the band in 1999

Merging talents Trucks built a studio in his home in January 2008, which he and his band used to record their album: Already Free. Trucks and his wife, Susan Tedeschi, combined their bands to form the Soul Stew Revival in 2007, and performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June 2008. In late 2009, Trucks and his band went on hiatus, after which the band dissolved. In 2010, Trucks formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife. On January 8, 2014, Trucks announced that he and fellow guitarist Warren Haynes planned to leave the Allman Brothers Band at the end of 2014. That band announced its retirement, with Trucks playing as a member through their final show on October 28, 2014, at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.

Musical style Trucks credits guitarist Duane Allman and bluesman Elmore James as the two slide guitarists who influenced his early style, but he has since been inspired by John Lee Hooker, Ali Akbar Khan, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Wayne Shorter, Toy Caldwell, Johnny Winter, Freddie King and B.B. King.

His music is rooted in blues and rock, embracing jam band, Southern rock, and jazz. Trucks plays an eclectic blend of blues, soul, jazz, rock, qawwali music (a genre of music from Pakistan and western India), Latin music, and other kinds of world music

Trucks plays guitar in an open E tuning, using his signature glass slide by Dunlop, modeled off of an old Coricidin bottle but without the seam.

In 2006, two vintage (1965 and 1968) Fender Super Reverb amplifiers, a Hammond B-3 organ, two Leslie speaker cabinets, and a Hohner E-7 clavinet were stolen from Trucks and later recovered by the Atlanta Police Department. He was listed as 81st in 2003 and 16th in 2011. A 2006 article in The Wall Street Journal described him as "the most awe-inspiring electric slide guitar player performing today". In 2007, Trucks appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone for an article called the "New Guitar Gods". In 2009, Ernest Suarez of The Washington Post described Trucks' guitar style as "notes and chords that soar, slice, and glide, sounding like a cross between Duane Allman on a '61 Gibson Les Paul and John Coltrane on tenor sax". The Derek Trucks Band's album Already Free debuted at number 19 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, and number one on the Internet chart, number four on the rock chart, and number one on the blues chart. On February 12, 2012, Trucks accepted a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award along with 10 other members of The Allman Brothers Band. On February 21, 2012, Derek Trucks and his wife joined other blues musicians for a performance at the White House for President Obama and his guests.

In September 2012, John Mayer and Derek Trucks joined B.B. King on stage at the Hollywood Bowl for an encore version of B.B.'s song "Guess Who". Concluding the performance, B.B. King made several remarks about Trucks's guitar work, ending with, "That's about as good as I've ever heard it—as good as I've ever heard it, and I mean it".

Personal life

Trucks' late uncle, Butch Trucks, was a founding member and drummer of The Allman Brothers Band. His younger brother is Duane Trucks, who is a member of Widespread Panic and Hard Working Americans. His great-uncle, Virgil Trucks, was a major league baseball pitcher in the 1940s and 1950s, winning 177 games in his career.

In 2001, Trucks married singer and musician Susan Tedeschi, and they had a son in March 2002 and a daughter in 2004. Trucks is a fan of the Atlanta Braves, the Florida State Seminoles, and his hometown Jacksonville Jaguars.

Discography With the 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) Songlines Live (DVD) (2006) Already Free (2009) Roadsongs (2010)

With the Allman Brothers Band Peakin' at the Beacon (2000) Hittin' the Note (2003) One Way Out (2004)

With the Tedeschi Trucks Band Revelator (2011) Everybody's Talkin''' (2012) Made Up Mind (2013) Let Me Get By (2016) Live from the Fox Oakland (2017) Signs (2019) High and Mighty EP (2019) Layla Revisited (Live at Lockn') (2021) I Am the Moon: I. Crescent (2022) I Am the Moon: II. Ascension (2022) I Am the Moon: III. The Fall (2022) I Am the Moon: IV. Farewell (2022) Mad Dogs & Englishmen Revisited (Live at Lockn') (2025) Future Soul (2026)

Collaborations 1994: Storm Warning, Tinsley Ellis 1996: To Cry You a Song: A Tull Tale, Various Artists/"Cat's Squirrel" (with Charlie Musselwhite, Clive Bunker, Mick Abrahams) 1996: The Circle, Planet Earth/Carey Nall 1996: Come On in This House, Junior Wells 1997: Searching for Simplicity, Gregg Allman 1999: Blues Power: Songs of Eric Clapton, Various Artists 1999: Tangled Up In Blues: Songs of Bob Dylan, Various Artists 1999: Whole Lotta Blues: Songs of Led Zeppelin, Various Artists 1999: Live... With a Little Help from Our Friends, Gov't Mule 2000: Croakin' at Toad's, Frogwings 2001: Project Z, Project Z 2002: Live in the Classic City, Widespread Panic 2002: Wait For Me, Susan Tedeschi 2003: Little Worlds, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones 2005: The Best Kept Secret, Jerry Douglas 2005: Hope and Desire, Susan Tedeschi 2006: The Road to Escondido, JJ Cale, Eric Clapton 2007: Guiding Star, Vusi Mahlasela 2008: Skin Deep, Buddy Guy 2008: Here and Gone, David Sanborn 2008: Sidewalk Caesars, Scrapomatic 2008: The Blues Rolls On, Elvin Bishop 2008: Back to the River, Susan Tedeschi 2008: Lifeboat, Jimmy Herring 2008: Guitars, McCoy Tyner 2010: The Imagine Project, Herbie Hancock 2010: Clapton, Eric Clapton 2011: The Secret, Bouriema Vieux Farka Touré 2012: Great Gypsy Soul, Tommy Bolin & Friends 2014: The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale, Eric Clapton 2015: Ol' Glory, JJ Grey & Mofro 2016: Blood From a Stone'', Eric Krasno