On his latest effort, Already Free, Derek Trucks wrote original songs and reinvigorated old ones, including Bob Dylan and The Band's Down in the Flood. The album boasts an array of sounds including blues, soul, jazz, afro-beat and qawwali.
His band consists of Trucks on guitar, bassist Todd Smallie, percussionist Count M'Butu, drummer Yonrico Scott, keyboardist Kofi Burbridge and singer Mike Mattison--was joined in the studio by some famous friends; pals like Doyle Bramhall II, Oteil Burbridge and Trucks' wife Susan Tedeschi can all be heard on the album.
Bramhall takes over the vocal duties on the two songs: Maybe This Time, which cops an Eastern flavor, and Our Love, which has been dubbed "a companion piece with the piercing guitar riffs signature of Bramhall/Trucks collaborations."
The title track was the first song recorded and written in Trucks' home studio in Jacksonville, FL, during the Already Free sessions. Trucks chose to name the album such because it perfectly summed up the process.
"Once the whole process was done in maybe a month, I thought that lyric and that sentiment encapsulated the whole experience, the whole process,"said Trucks, the nephew of Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks, a group with whom he played for 10 years.
"There's something about building a studio and doing it yourself and having a band where you really can be free to play any music you choose to, whether it happens to be a three-minute song or a half-hour instrumental. We never really felt forced to change what we do. Something about waking up at home with your kids and family and also being able to perform with your friends and musicians, it's a pretty amazing experience. I think that song title kind of wrapped everything up for us.Even though there wasn't that extra ear to offer advice, Trucks explained each musician was able to produce him/herself.
It was so relaxed knowing you're not under the gun and worried about studio time and money. It was so nice to relax and create. Having the family around, having my kids there every day made it so much more organic and real, being able to drive the kids to school in the morning and then go out and record with the band was a pretty amazing experience. Having your own studio, you start feeling really comfortable with the place and you start getting comfortable with the sounds. I got to produce the whole thing. It felt more honest to me."
"Everybody in the band are strong enough musicians and have good enough ears and can be objective when they need to. Usually I'm my own worst critic anyway. So it's not hard to tell if something's not quite happening. I've played on enough records and been around enough producers to have a pretty good handle on the way people do things. I think if you have ideas in your head and you know how to convey that to people, the musicians you're playing with, without rubbing people the wrong way, that's kind of the whole producing thing."For this tour, Trucks and Tedeschi will sometimes be together or he'll be hitting the road solo so she can be with their children, Charles and Sophia.
02/21/09 Memphis, TN New Daisy Theatre
02/22/09 New Orleans, LA House Of Blues
02/24/09 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
02/25/09 Columbia, MO The Blue Note
03/04/09 Austin, TX La Zona Rosa
03/05/09 Houston, TX House Of Blues
03/06/09 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
04/02/09 Boston, MA House Of Blues
04/04/09 Wyomissing, PA Berks Jazz Fest
04/08-9/09 Chicago, IL Park West
04/10/09 North Kansas City, MO VooDoo Lounge/Harrah's
04/11/09 Englewood, CO Gothic Theatre
04/15/09 San Francisco, CA Grand Ballroom At Regency Center
04/16/09 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
04/17/09 San Diego, CA House Of Blues
BPD has got the passes, first come, first served. Don 't miss out on meeting this great band.
