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 On the 2012 Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise I conducted my first interview for Blues Blast Magazine. The fact that it was with guitarist Derek Trucks made it a truly special moment for me. Having heard Derek with his band, and as part of the Allman Brothers Band, I remember looking forward to hearing his new project with his wife, the Tedeschi Trucks Band. After one set, I was amazed at the collective vocal and musical talent contained in the group. Since that time, the group has continued to produce music at the highest level, receiving plenty of acclaim as one of the best band’s on the planet.
The guitarist is often a part of any discussion regarding the best of the current guitar players, in addition to receiving numerous awards for his slide work. Trucks was most recently being awarded the 2025 Blues Blast Music Award in the Slide Guitarist Of The Year category.
It was a real pleasure to have another opportunity to talk with Derek about the last few years in the band’s existence, starting with a project that took shape in 2015.
“I had been at it with my solo band for about 15 years at that point, and was in the middle of touring with the Allman Brothers Band as well as Eric Clapton. I was ready for a shift, so I talked to Susan about putting a band together. I told her that I was going to start something fresh, checking to see if she wanted to jump in. While we thought about it for a minute, around that time we watched that original Mad Dogs & Englishmen film. We both had that immediate thought of it would be fun to put together a big ass rock and roll orchestra. So the movie was an inspiration, for sure. When you see something like that, it, it opens up a lot of ideas.”
The Mad Dogs & Englishmen film features Joe Cocker at the peak of his career, with a band put together by the musical genius Leon Russell in a matter of days, complete with backing vocalists and a horn section. Trucks and his wife had done several shows with Russell in 2014, including one at the Beacon Theater, a New York City landmark.
“I was a little nervous of what he would think of our band, especially because he was an inspiration for it. At one point, I remember seeing him sit side stage during a soundcheck or something. You could tell that he had this shit-eating grin. There was definitely some kindred spirit vibes. Leon could be a aloof or standoffish, as you know, but he was so sweet to us. We just had an amazing rapport with him. It was respect from all directions, plus he and Susan got on amazingly well. It was a beautiful, lucky connection we had with Leon.
“Originally ,when this idea came up, we were supposed to do a show with Joe Cocker at the Lockn’ Festival in Virginia. But he got sick and passed before the show came to fruition. Then the festival asked us to do a tribute to Joe. As much as I loved him as a fan, I didn’t know him, hadn’t played with him yet. So I just didn’t think I was the guy for it, or we weren’t the band.
“But then the Mad Dog’s idea came up, which made more sense because we had a real connection with Leon. So I told them, look, if Leon’s into it, we would gladly be the house band for a Joe Cocker Mad Dog’s & Englishmen tribute. That would be incredible. But the whole time, I’m thinking about the stories I heard that when the original tour ended, everyone just kind of went to their corners, licked their wounds, and never really reconnected.
“I didn’t think it’d be something Leon would want to do. But I called him and much to my surprise, he replied, “ I’d be into doing that.” So then it was, oh shit, like the dog that caught the car, what do we do now? Since Leon was the musical director that first time around, I was like, “Leon, this was your baby and I’m here to help.” His response was, “No, it’s all you Mr. Trucks!” If you need me, you just let me know.” And I so I became the musical director. It was a real special thing. The rehearsals were incredible. Once everyone heard Leon was signed on, almost every original member of the band that was still around reached out, wanted to be a part of it. The rehearsals were incredible.
“The first full rehearsal had people that hadn’t been in a room together in 40 years. It was just super celebratory, a lot of happy people. It was cool to see the respect that everyone had for Leon, who almost everyone called “Maestro”. The music was just right from the start. We had one day of band rehearsal leading into it so we’d be ready, then kind of a half rehearsal on site that day of the festival, then we hit the ground running. We’ve been a part of a lot of shows, but this one was really unique, really special. It just kind of took off and kept getting better as it went.
 “We had 20-something people on stage at times, so it could have been a total train wreck. It was such a sound, especially with the choir. And what a treat having Chuck Blackwell there, who played drums with Jim Gordon on a lot of that original stuff. He’s on “Going Down,” the great Freddie King track. He’s on a million things that we’ve all heard but didn’t know it was him. Chuck was really sick. He was battling cancer at the time, but he was up there sitting between our drummers playing percussion the whole time.
“The will and want to be there from all the original members was an amazing thing. You don’t often get on stage where there’s an equal amount of reverence from everybody out there. I can’t imagine Leon when he was at his peak. That footage of him back then shows he was the master of space and time, the “Space Captain”. He still seemed like that at the end.
The time spent with Russell certainly made an impact on Trucks, especially the way Russell put the music together.
“I learned quite a bit just watching the way he got inside of a tune, the way he arranged tunes, and the way he operated inside of a big band. Those are all things I still carry to this day. Leon was writing songs up to the end, sending songs to our house, asking Susan what she thought of certain verses. It was a really, really special relationship we had with him. He turned into a mentor quickly. He was one of those guys that you learn from by observing more than anything.”
The concert has been released on CD and a two LP, 180 gram vinyl set. In addition, a film was made by director Jesse Lauter, Learning To Live Together, that captures some of the history of the original Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour as well as the TTB preparations for the concert mixed with actual performance footage.
“Our band came out of that show with a different level of confidence, a different swagger. There was the Tedeschi Trucks Band before that show, and then there was the version of the band after that show. It changed everybody. There was a real sense of reverence in that original band, an acknowledgment of what we started and the wish we could have kept doing it, hold the torch high and roll with it.
“We got plenty of encouragement from Rita Coolidge and Claudia Lennear, who did vocals on the original tour. You don’t often get that when you run into your heroes. There can be a sense of competition, but there was none of that. They felt the talent and knew how much we revered what they did. Those shows make you feel like, oh shit, we can kind of do anything we want to!
“Those are big moments. You do go through these trials as a group and as a musician, especially when you get on stage with your heroes, whether it’s Leon Russell or B.B. King. You’re always trying to reinvent yourself, to just sharpen the blade. It is always nice to watch Susan get up on stage with singers like Little Milton or B.B., just seeing them react to her. That has to give you an amount of confidence, that you’re in some ways a part of the club and not just outside knocking on the door anymore.”
In addition to Coolidge and Lennear, other guests include Dave Mason (Traffic), Chris Robinson (the Black Crowes), Doyle Bramhall II, Anders Osborne, Jim Keltner, Chuck Blackwell, and John Bell. It was a thrill for Trucks to have Mason help out on his classic song, “Feelin’ Alright.”
“It’s funny ’cause we’re in Tahoe right now, and I think Dave’s coming out to the show tomorrow to do that tune with us, which I don’t think we’ve done since the Lockn’ show We’re pretty excited about that. Gabe Dixon is playing keyboards with us now. I don’t think he’s ever played the tune. He’s probably in his room shedding it right now. It’s a part everyone knows and it seems simple enough, but there’s a right way to play it and then there’s the bar band way to play it. If Dave’s there, you don’t want to be doing that.”
As you would expect, the new release of that night is full of commanding performances. For Trucks, there are several others that stand out.
“I still get chills thinking about working up “Girl From The North Country” in rehearsal. The band took a short break. Claudia mentioned to me that she had always wanted to sing that song with Leon. And I’m like, let’s try it. I walked over and asked Leon. He just started playing it, Claudia started singing, just the two of them. The vibe was so good. It was just one of those natural things that happened because Claudia had been wanting to sing that song with Leon for 30 years.
 “When she got to do it in the rehearsal, which is in the film, it is really special. That moment that I’m talking about was captured pretty well, where it’s just started happening. Then it was, oh well, we’re firing the band on this song. It’s just Claudia and Leon. No reason to muck it up. It was a really touching moment.
“Other killer moments for me were Susan’s vocals on “The Letter” and “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” along with her segment on “The Weight”. She don’t mess around. We actually did “With A Little Help From My Friends” last night at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. She penned that sucker to the ground!
“We started this tour in Tulsa and did a screening of the Mad Dogs film at Leon’s old The Church Studios. It was pretty amazing getting to be in that room. You could feel a lot of the spirits. I was sitting in there watching the end of the film and when “With A Little Help” came on, it felt so damn good, man. The rhythm section and that choir, it’s a powerful moment. It went full church.
“That was one of the revelations in the rehearsals .We’d start getting into it, then that choir would bust in and every hair in your body stood up. Like, holy shit, that’s an incredible sound. It was a big sound and it carried to the stage, that’s for sure.
“The film captured everyone getting back together, the reunion, the rehearsals and there’s some incredible interview footage with Rita, Claudia, and Leon, them remembering that whole thing. They were able to use a lot of the original footage to piece together what that original band turned into, the legacy they had left, so there’s some really, really emotional moments in the film.
“The film crew captured all of the stuff from Lockn’ so well. It’s amazing to watch the footage side by side with the original clips, how close the spirit of the thing aligned. And you’re getting to see Kofi Burbridge and Leon, these guys that we really miss, but it’s fun to feel them that way again.”
The movie had a limited theatrical release, and was briefly available for streaming. Now the film is being shopped, searching for a good home. Trucks professes to know little about the world of film but firmly believes the film deserves a wider release, possibly in conjunction with Joe Cocker’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November.
Four years later, the band staged another concert extravaganza at the Lockn’ Festival, this time recreating the classic Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs project by Derek and the Dominos, featuring Eric Clapton on guitar and vocals, Duane Allman on slide guitar, Jim Gordon on drums, Carl Radle on Bass, and Bobby Whitlock on keyboards, who passed away in August, leaving Clapton as the last man standing.
“The Mad Dogs thing fed into the Layla project, a precursor to the Dominoes as a lot of the same band members moved on. I was named after that record, and Sue was born on the day the record came out. When the idea thing floated around, it was pretty exciting to dig into that material. We did the fest with Trey Anastasio, the lead guitarist for Phish, as our guest.”
In 2022, the band released I Am The Moon in four volumes, a stunning collection that showcased the many talents of the band, receiving much critical acclaim
“When the pandemic happened, we were all locked down at home. Mike Mattison, our vocalist, had this idea of everyone reading the source material of the Layla story, the Persian Romeo and Juliet from maybe 1281, an incredible story. His idea was turning the Layla record inside out, because it’s about Eric being in love with somebody he can’t have. Mike’s take was, what did Layla think about this? He tasked everyone with reading the poem, letting it bounce around in your head, and see if there’s any tunes that come out of it that, something that could be fun when we get together.
“When we finally got together in the studio at our farm, there was just tons of songs and ideas, all with this common thread, so we decided just to record every one of them. After all, we had nothing but time on our hands. It became a special project, definitely a rebirth. We had lost Kofi not long before that, so the band was trying to find its footing again.
“That project was a hard reset for us. So it’s one that I’m always going to look back on and be really, really thankful for. I didn’t know where we would end up after losing a member that important to the band. the songwriting process and having time to just sit in a room and play without having to perform was a really important time for us.
“We are blessed with some incredible songwriters in this band. For the new record we just did, it was that process again. We got together and all of a sudden there’s 17, 18 songs. I liked all of them, so we’re just had to record every damn one of them. It’s a good place to be with a band where the wheels are always turning and everyone’s feeling prolific. It’s a collective, that’s the way we started it.
 “That’s the way you keep super talented people around. You give them room to do their thing and when they shine, it makes the whole thing bigger. Not everyone’s able to turn that switch on and off. I feel lucky because Susan is an amazing front person, singer, guitar player. She could totally take up all of the oxygen if she wanted to, but she loves sharing it, being part of a band. It’s a different mindset.”
The current line-up of the TTB includes Brandon Boone on bass, Tyler “Falcon” Greenwell and Issac Eady on drums, Mark Rivers and Alecia Shakour on vocals, Kebbi Williams on saxophone, Ephraim Owens on trumpet, and Elizabeth Lea on trombone.
Trucks is thankful that the band will be staying busy for the rest of the year, but he is looking forward to a month off before their new record comes out.
‘We will probably hit the ground running, maybe head overseas next year at some point, possibly Japan. It feels like we’re in the thick of it for the next year or two. We also have our third Sun, Sand, and Soul Festival in April at Miramar Beach in Florida.
“Originally it was kind of an excuse to put some of our favorite bands together, like Los Lobos, the Wood Brothers, and the North Mississippi Allstars. This year we also had Bonnie Raitt, which was incredible, getting to hang with her. She sat in with our band and then we sat in with her. I got to watch Bonnie and Susan sing together. That was the highlight, for sure. Bonnie is a special human. She and Sue, they’re like sisters. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.
“Next year, we booked Taj Mahal with the Phantom Blues Band. We were pumped about that as we are about the biggest fans of Taj as you will find. We love that dude. Also on the line-up are the Mavericks, the Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, and two performances by our band. It’s a great festival, a really good hang.”
For 30-plus years, Trucks has been making music, often at a level that few musicians achieve. With their children grown and on their own, he and Susan are dealing with the empty nest syndrome, so staying busy helps balance life. He remains thankful for a life filled with blessings.
“Sometimes I miss playing with the Allman Brothers Band, especially the guys that aren’t here any more – Butch Trucks, my uncle, and Gregg Allman. Drummer Jaimoe is the last man standing. I did it for a solid 15 years, an amazing run. I’m glad that occasionally we get to play some of those songs with our band.
“Susan and I feel very fortunate to do what we do. I’ll say that we’ve been blessed, it’s been a good run. At the same time, it’s tough. We have a 12 piece band, so it’s a lot of mouths to feed. We’re very lucky that we have an audience that keeps us on the road. There’s an ebb and flow to all of it, so you keep your nose to the grindstone and keep doing it. Real music always has a place.”
Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer Mark Thompson lives in Florida, where he is enjoying the sun and retirement. He is the past President of the Board of Directors for the Suncoast Blues Society and a former member of the Board of Directors for the Blues Foundation. Music has been a huge part of his life for the past fifty years – just ask his wife!
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