If you’re reading this, it’s a safe bet you know about the Tedeschi Trucks Band: a couple of hotshot solo artists who merged their bands and their lives and have proven the idiom that one plus one can equal three. They have a new studio album out next week, Future Soul. There’s an important piece of context that goes with that. The Tedeschi Trucks Band has 12 members. Twelve. I won’t get into band economics or the interpersonal relationship management it must take to tour, but that’s a crazy number. And they’re all there on most of the cuts on the record, so this is a wall of sound.
True to their history, there’s a heavy blues influence across the album. Crazy Cryin’ opens the CD with full use of the roster; lots of background harmonies, horns, guitars, etc., in a bluesy, R&B number about how hard a broken relationship hits. Devil Be Gone is a more traditional blues shuffle, with the expected guitar licks and some sweet keyboard parts. When Tedeschi wails “I don’t need your damn advice”, you can hear her giving the finger to temptation. Shout Out gets the blues not from the instruments but the lyrics. It’s the sad tale of an old friend that drifted away where “now all the news is secondhand.”
TTB has never been just about the blues, and this project is no exception. Who Am I seems to take it’s inspiration from Susan and Derek’s meeting and subsequent life where she notes “I’ll never understand the life I once had.” You can hear the stylistic differences in their guitar licks, but it’s all one song now. What In the World is a ballad that starts with three acoustic guitars before breaking out the electricity. I Got You is a blast-from-the-past rock and roll number with horns that just screams 70’s-era Delaney and Bonnie or Leon Russell. At the far right end of the sonic spectrum is the title track. My take is it’s a commentary on making the record where “they want it on paper but we got it on wax.” Regardless, Trucks’ guitar just sears its way through the cut. You may not have the volume at 11, but he’s got a couple of knobs on the pedals all the way to the stops.
Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks have never had a problem putting their imprint on a wide range of music. What’s apparent with this album is the band is collectively doing that, too. So while there’s nothing wrong with listening to it in your earbuds or on a soundbar, do yourself a favor and find somewhere you can hear it on a higher end stereo. You really need a whole room to appreciate the entirety of Future Soul. How good the songs are is just icing on the cake.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.