Susan Tedeschi Talks Recording New Tedeschi Trucks Band Album & Summer Tour With Sharon Jones/Doyle Bramhall II (INTERVIEW)

Tedeschi Trucks Band

The summer has come upon us and with the touring season in full blaze, bands are ganging up together to hit the road in excitable ensembles. No doubt one of the most anticipated traveling caravans this summer, the Tedeschi Trucks Band has snatched up soul goddess Sharon Jones and her Dap-Kings, as well as Doyle Bramhall II, and they are rolling down the highway as we speak, having kicked off the first leg of their Wheels Of Soul tour in California on June 5th.

Glide had the opportunity to chat with Susan Tedeschi this past week about the tour. One of the most underrated guitarists in the country, she released her debut album, Better Days, in the fall of 1995. Her singing and songwriting are glorious reminders how important women are to music. Sidling into a career overpopulated by men, the Massachusetts native found her inspiration from gospel choirs and blues, engrossing herself in guitar, attending Berklee and correlating a band to bring her music to the masses.

In the ensuing years, she has been nominated for individual Grammys, including Best New Artist in 2000 (losing out to Christina Aguilera), has opened for Bob Dylan, BB King, the Rolling Stones and the Allman Brothers, where she met her husband, guitarist Derek Trucks, and released eight solo albums, including two volumes of Best Of recordings.

There is a reason Tedeschi is so admired by both men and women: her abilities as a musician, a singer and a songwriter are smart, sometimes sassy, sometimes eloquent, but always on par with the best of the best. Humble and charming, Tedeschi sports no airs of a diva, and she talked with us about the blues, working with Bramhall and how her son Charlie’s input helped create a song on their upcoming album.

You’re about to start a big tour with Sharon Jones and Doyle Bramhall II. What are the perks of traveling with such a large ensemble of musicians? There are eleven of you guys and then there’s everybody else. How does it not go crazy?

I know. On this tour coming up, between the three bands, it’s going to be something like fifty-six people. So yeah, that’s a big traveling caravan (laughs). But honestly, we normally travel about twenty-three of us and we got really used to it now. We’ve been together since 2010 and it’s really been an amazing group of people. Everybody has great chemistry, everyone gets along great. There’s really not a huge amount of downtime but when we do have it, we go eat together, we do laundry together, we work out together. It’s great cause if somebody’s busy there’s always somebody that’s around, you can always find someone to hang out with if you need to. So that’s one great thing. Also, we share a lot of common interests. The boys love to go eat so they love to suss out some really great restaurants. They are also into sports. So either we’ll run and work out and swim or do whatever and then watch, you know, basketball finals or hockey finals or football when it’s football season or baseball.

It’s a lot of fun and lots of things to do but usually the focus is music and we are working on a record now that we’re finishing up. We’re off right now but we have people kind of coming and going. We had the singers here yesterday doing background vocals on the record. We have our keyboard player Kofi Burbridge here today. He’s doing a bunch of overdubs for the record, you know, just finishing up. Then tomorrow we have our horn players coming. Well, actually, they are coming tonight but they record tomorrow. Then they go home Saturday and we’re back on the road next week. We leave next Thursday for about a month and our kids are going to come out with us on tour. They’ll meet us out in LA on the 10th of June and they’ll be out with us till the 28th and then we come home for a couple of days, about a week or ten days, and then we’re out for another month. And they will be out with us that month too.

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Whose idea was it to bring these three bands together for a tour?

Well, a couple years ago we did a tour with the London Souls and the Black Crowes and it was such a great tour that we decided we need to do another kind of package where there is all great bands, that we want to see and that we like. We figured people, if they’re going to come see us, they want to see people that we like too. Not just get people on board that sell tickets. But to get people on board that are great musicians and we have things in common with and some of them we’re friends with.

Doyle and I have been friends a long time. Then Derek and Doyle became really close when they both played with Clapton in 2006 and 2007. So now those two are inseparable (laughs). They’re like best friends, they’re adorable, so they get along great. There’s just natural chemistry there. Doyle is actually bringing out a band to open up. He’ll have my old bass player [Ted Pecchio], who actually used to play with one of our drummers [Tyler Greenwell], cause we have two drummers, so Ted and Tyler used to be an amazing pair together. So it’s great that we’ll all kind of be out on the road again this summer. So Ted is playing with Doyle and then Doyle has another drummer and guitar player and that is just going to be a blast. He has a new record coming out that he is finishing also.

I interviewed Doyle a couple of years ago and he said you were a “true bad ass,” that you were fantastic. When was the first time you really worked with him?

The first time I worked with Doyle was back in 1999. We worked on a Double Trouble project together. I knew him through Stevie Ray Vaughan’s old band basically, and Jimmie Vaughan introduced me as well. So that was back when I first really got to know Doyle. I started working with him a little bit here and there and then we started writing through the years. We always stayed in touch and he is a bad ass, holy crap, he is amazing (laughs). And he’s a lefty so he plays really unique and that’s one of the reasons I love him so much is cause he is such an amazing rhythm player.

Being a rhythm player is really underrated. Like nowadays, people have a lot of flash and flair. People think, “Oh Joe Bonamassa and these guys,” and I’m like, no, anybody can play licks and be melodic at times but not many people can really play amazing rhythm. And sing at the same time. He is so unique and he knows just what to add to a song musically. It’s always the right thing. He also plays in many tunings as well as standard upside down. He also plays in open E, D, C, A, G, like a lot of different open tunings. And invents a lot too, so his chord voicing sounds very different. And Derek always plays in Open E tuning and I play in standard, so between the three of us when we get together, it’s really cool because we’re not all playing the exact same chord; even if we’re all playing, say, a G7. None of them sound the same because of the way they’re tuned and the way they’re played. So it’s really cool.

Will you get to sit in with each other on the tour?

Yeah, Doyle will come and sit in with us for a few songs, and Sharon’s band will be playing a whole set and then she’ll probably get up with us on some stuff too. There will be a lot of collaborating cause everyone gets along so well and the music styles kind of fit. It’ll be a good inspiration to just get around each other and see what happens. Maybe we’ll write, maybe we’ll do some covers; you know, nobody knows what will happen until we get on the road and start hanging out.

So it’s going to be a good time up there

Yeah, it’ll be fun, absolutely. I just recently met Sharon. You know, I’ve known about her for years and I knew about the Dap-Kings, of course, but I’d never heard her, like never got to see her live. We were supposed to do shows a few years ago but she got sick so she ended up canceling. But she’s back and strong as ever. And hilarious, she is such a character. She has a lot of spunk. And I didn’t think she was so petite. She’s this little peanut, like maybe five feet tall, but wow, she is action packed. That girl is soulful and sweet and funny and has just a really wonderful vibe, just really fun to be around. So it’s going to be a lot of fun on this tour. We’re going to have a good time.

You mentioned that you are pretty much finished working on the new record. Are you seeing any differences in the sound or the lyrical content from the last album?

Yeah, I mean, some of it is similar in style to the last few records but I’d say there is a little bit more different stuff. We have Mike [Mattison] singing lead on a couple songs, which is really nice because I think it breaks it up a little bit and it gives you more of an idea of what you might see live with us, our band. Some of the songs that he’s written are just fabulous. I mean, we wrote songs with Mike and with Doyle and just within the core of the band ourselves. You know, JJ [Johnson] had an idea and then Kofi had a song and Tim [Lefebvre] helped contribute to a lot of those ideas. So there is a lot more band contributions on this record.

Stylistically, there is one tune that sounds like a Leonard Cohen tune, there’s one that sounds like it could be like Delaney & Bonnie or Derek & The Dominos. Then there is a song that sounds like it could be a Roy Orbison song. There is like a lot of different kind of influences but they all have a common thing that the band has. Some of them are maybe a little bit more politically charged and when I say politically, I don’t mean like politics. I mean more like things that are going on like race wise and the whole Ferguson thing, and that inspired one of the songs for sure. Things that we all can relate to. Blues has always been that way, where it tells a story of things that people can relate to and things that people are dealing with right now.

Tedeschi Trucks Band
Tedeschi Trucks Band

What do you think blues music has turned into today? It’s not what it was originally so what do you think are some of the aspects that define blues music in today’s world?

Well, you know, there are some people that are still very traditional in their approach to blues and then there are people that come from a different approach. Even somebody like the Rolling Stones, for example, who were really like a blues cover band that became more of an original band based on a lot of the blues influences they had. And it wasn’t just blues they were influenced by, of course, but if you think about the early days of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, they were really trying to cop what people like Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters and those guys were doing. Then in their journey to do that it created a different sound. So I think there are a lot of bands, like Led Zeppelin too. They covered Willie Dixon and Howlin’ Wolf tunes. Same with Cream, some of their big hits were actually Skip James; “I’m So Glad” was a Skip James tune. It’s just a more amplified way of saying it. It’s not just an acoustic song sung on a back porch or a gutbucket or a harmonica, but orchestrating it with different instrumentation.

Nowadays, I find that it is a little bit more of a melting pot of styles of music, just because there have been so many more influences out there for people to draw from. For example, Derek and I, we can really play blues from a very traditional point, which we do have a few songs on this record that are very bluesy and more traditional, to playing things that to us are gospel and blues style kind of influence. But they’re not necessarily in such a traditional manner because they have maybe developed more because we have horns or have like two drummers and all this other stuff going on, a bunch of guitars and singers and everything.

But the essence of blues really a lot of times is the scale that you play in as well as telling a story and relating to people and the pattern of verses and choruses and how you repeat things a certain way. That is very typical of blues. The chords a lot of times are pretty simple. There are not a huge amount of chords, usually 1, 4 and 5, or maybe a couple little differences, but a lot of times it’s just stuff you sing to people and it hits home because people relate to that, whether they know it’s blues or not. People really do relate a lot to that music cause it’s very down-to-Earth and it gets right to the point and it can be very emotional and spirited, and with a gospel influence a lot of times. Derek and I will come from a more gospel approach.

But yeah, it’s an interesting thing. Blues has definitely transformed. It will never be the way it was when like Muddy and Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker and BB King, where they were coming from, because the blues was a different thing then cause times were different. People were still living on cotton plantations and getting out of the rural areas and into the cities, and electrifying for the first time. Then somebody like Otis Rush or Magic Sam or Freddie King and BB or some of these guys, they really brought the blues to a new level where they were singing and playing electrified guitar. It had some of the essence of the old country blues but it was really becoming this new thing and I think that’s where a lot of the blues has kind of gone more towards the electrified side of it nowadays. I don’t feel like it’s rooted in the old traditional folk style blues.

What do you think is the heart and soul of the Tedeschi Trucks Band?

You know, it’s funny, the only people we really brought from our old bands are Mike, Kofi and Tyler and it’s an eleven piece band; then I guess Derek and I. So there are five of us, so almost half of the band is kind of combined but the rest of it really is different. So the heart and soul, I’d say, is what Derek calls the core, which is the drummers and that chemistry, cause that is very unique in itself. It’s one thing to have two drummers, it’s another to have two drummers that are so fabulous and play so great behind like a singer or the song or lead guitar player, whatever. They know how to build and how to support and accompany in a certain way. As well as their communication together, which is really unique, and how they can pull stuff off I don’t think many people could do. So that connection right there is a big part of it as well as Derek and I, of course, where we’re coming from, Derek’s influences. But I’d say a big part of the heart and soul is the blues and soul music and gospel music and folk, which is basically country, as it encompasses all American roots kind of music. I mean, folk can almost be close to reggae, just the groove is different, but it’s still the essence of telling a story and getting really down to it.

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When you need a boost of inspiration, who do you listen to?

There are a few people I go to. I grew up listening to Aretha so I’ll listen to Aretha or Ray Charles or Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, some of those kind of singers, Mahalia Jackson. It just depends on what kind of inspiration I’m looking for. It might even be Bob Marley one day. It just depends on what you’re kind of needing. Then there will be artists like Otis Rush and Freddie King, BB King, Buddy Guy. If I’m needing songwriting inspiration, it’ll be Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, some of my friends like Mike Mattison with Scrapomatic. You know Mike is in our band but he makes records with Scrapomatic and some of those are great. The Wood Brothers, I love them. I’ll run to both of them. I’ll put their records on and listen. The Beatles, I love George Harrison. Eric sometimes too, in different forms usually, like the earlier stuff, Derek & The Dominos, Cream, Blind Faith with Steve Winwood, some of those guys. David Hidalgo of Los Lobos. So there are a lot of different things I will pull from. Then other days I might want to just chill and I will put on some of the Indian Classical stuff that Derek’s turned me onto over the years, artists like Ravi Shankar. Sometimes that is just really inspirational and moving and simple and to a point where you don’t really necessarily need vocals.

What is your favorite guitar in your collection?

Well, I have a bunch of favorites but my favorite to play with in this band, I’ll say, is my 1970 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster that Derek got me and it’s from my birth year. I actually started out on a Strat when I first started playing electric. I never really owned one but I had a friend that let me borrow one. Then I played a 335, which I have in the studio and is one of my favorite electrics but I don’t really play a lot, just because it’s so nice, and I should play it more. It’s a blonde dot-neck 1960 335. It’s a guitar that looks like what BB or John Lee Hooker or some of those guys, Freddie King, play. It’s that big fat body. It’s a really pretty guitar and sounds beautiful and has really nice pickups. I have D’Angelico electric that I love too and my Telly that I played for years. Those are like my main guitars.

Then acoustic-wise, a friend of ours let us borrow his old Martin and it’s old. I don’t even know how old it is actually but I’d say it’s from the 1940’s. It sounds beautiful, it’s amazing, and as soon as I started playing it I wrote a song on it. It’s just one of those where sometimes you pick up a guitar and it has so much that it wants to say and whenever I pick it up I end up writing a song on it. I should actually do that today, pick up that acoustic. But that’s a beautiful 00-17 Martin acoustic and it’s actually gorgeous and it sounds amazing and kind of plays itself. So I would say that and the Strat are my two favorites right now.

Derek is not known for doing a whole lot of moving around up there so what is the craziest thing you have ever seen him do onstage?

(laughs) That’s funny. I mean, I guess for him to move around and play different instruments, get behind the drums or do something like that, that’s kind of crazy for him. But yeah, he is usually pretty reserved as a performer. It’s not like he’s going to dance around and he’s not going to put a guitar behind his neck or anything (laughs). I don’t know exactly, I mean, the craziest thing is for him to just be smiling and to be walking around a little bit, I guess (laughs). But usually he’s just so focused on the music that he’s pretty serious.

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When you opened for the Stones back in 2003, did you get to talk to Keith at all about guitars?

You know what, I was really sick. I got food poisoning or something and I did three shows with them and all three of them I was just miserable and under the weather and I couldn’t really hang out with them like I wanted. They wanted me to come sit in with them and I couldn’t and I wanted to. I could barely be onstage for forty-five minutes without throwing up. But I did hang out with them a little bit and they came and talked to me. They are really sweet and they were just very nice. It wasn’t until years later that I came across Mick. I ran into Keith when I was opening for Etta James at Carnegie Hall and Keith was there in the audience with his wife and I went and did my set and was walking around the back and Keith popped out and he runs up to me and puts his arm around me and he’s like, “Hey Susan, how you doing?” I was like, oh my God (laughs). “That was bloody great. I love your guitar tone. You sound like Chuck Berry.” (laughs) He was just adorable. He was very complimentary and we were talking about guitars a little bit. I’m a huge fan of his. I think he’s a really interesting guitar player. And talk about rhythm playing. Him and Doyle are probably two of my favorites, and Derek, he can play great rhythm too. That’s something people don’t realize about him.

Well, you’re a great guitar player yourself. I’ve said that for years.

Thank You. I keep working at it. Got to keep up with the boys (laughs). And it’s hard, you know. I’m very blessed, I get to play with a lot of great players so it’s hard to really earn that spot. But Keith Richards, yeah, he’s a sweetheart and he’s been very sweet over the years. Mick I got to sing with at the White House. That was a trip. We talked a bunch and he was really sweet too, a really down-to-Earth guy actually, which you wouldn’t necessarily know, cause you don’t know. Who gets to get close to Mick Jagger and hang out? (laughs)

I have to say that your last studio album was fantastic and I loved that song “Do I Look Worried.”

That’s a great one. I love playing that one, it’s fun to play. It’s so spirited, it’s sassy. There are some songs on this one that are sassy too. There are some songs that are pretty, there are some songs that are funky, and I actually do get to play a little guitar on this one, which is cool cause at first I was like, oh Gosh, am I going to get to play? And Derek’s like, “Oh yeah, you’re going to play the solo on this.” And I’m like, I am? Okay, great. And I did and he was like, “This is awesome. You sound like Hendrix.” And I was like, “Shut up, I do not.” (laughs)

Which song was that so we can look for it?

It’s called, well, what are we calling it? We call it “Don’t Know What It Means,” I guess. So then I played it and Derek’s like, “I want to play on it too.” So I was like, “Take half of my solo.” So he’s taking the second half of the solo. It’s cool cause we get to go kind of back and forth and we both play and the way we’re mixing it, you’re going to have his guitar on one side and mine on the other so you can really tell who is who and who is playing what. So that’s fun. I think it will be really cool on the record because there are a couple of mixing things that we’re doing cause we’re doing it ourselves. So we have Bobby and Derek producing the record and they are doing an amazing job. Bobby is our engineer and Derek is producing it and some of the things they are doing are really cool.

My son is now into Zeppelin, which is funny, I kind of turned him onto that and he’s really into it. He’s like, “Yeah I like how there is stuff here and the vocals are on this side and then it goes to the other side.” And Hendrix does that too. So we did that on one of the tunes and Charlie’s like, “I’m glad you took my advice.” (laughs)

And what is the Charlie song?

It’s called “Just As Strange To Me.” That one, the vocal does the side-to-side so it’s cool. Then on “Don’t Know What It Means,” the guitars will be on different sides and stuff.

When are we going to get to hear the new record?

I don’t know. I know we are mixing it in August and then it will be done and ready but then I don’t think they will release it until they get it packaged. We have to do the artwork and all that stuff to prepare for the release, which can take about four or five months. So it will probably be either, I’m guessing, November-December-January-February, somewhere in there, probably January.

Live photos by Marc Lacatell

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4 Responses

  1. Great Band!

    I saw them last Saturday (6.6) at the Greek in Berkeley- awesome show…I could have sworn there was a Zeppelin tease thrown in there…

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