The Tedeschi Trucks Band (TTB) wraps up their epic four-part album series I Am the Moon with its concluding chapter, Episode IV. Farewell with six more great songs and an accompanying film which will appear on August 23. The album will release three days later. As you likely know, the cycle of albums is based on Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi’s “Layla & Majnun,” the influential epic romance poem that Lord Byron dubbed the “Romeo and Juliet of the East” and was also the source of Eric Clapton’s iconic Layla & Other Love Songs by Derek and the Dominoes, and TTB’s previous release, a live album of the same in collaboration with Trey Anastasio. While Clapton took the point of view of Manjnun chasing “Layla,” TTB, instigated primarily by vocalist Mike Mattison, focuses on the unattainable Layla who spends time locked up in towers growing increasingly upset about Manjnun’s madness and its impact on everyone else. Every culture has its fateful romance tale, so in that respect, the themes are relatable and universal.
The band delved into the poem during the pandemic, with five of the twelve writing collaboratively and in a few cases individually. Without the pressure of an impending tour, the communal atmosphere – living in the same place, sharing meals together, writing, and recording was a rebirth of sorts for the band, having lost original keyboardist Kofi Burbridge in February 2019 while also processing the loss of Butch Trucks and Gregg Allman. The band has already shared a tribute to Burbridge, “Sweet Soul Song,” written by current keyboardist Gabe Dixon along with Mattison and Trucks. Dixon and Susan Tedeschi share the lead vocals in an emotive, but uplifting tune with hard-hitting lyrics – “Now there’s no use wishing for your sweet return/’Cause I see you in the morning sun/And I hear you on the whispering wind/I feel your rhythm moving me/’Cause your soul’s sweet song’s still singing…”
“Last Night in the Rain,” a collaboration between the two principals, drummer Tyler Greenwell and Dixon, has a punchy groove with Susan on the lead vocal, prominent horns, and animated backgrounds on the choruses. The disc’s most interesting guitar playing is on “D’Gary,” the namesake of a terrific acoustic guitarist from Madagascar, who Trucks greatly admires and emulates in his playing here, describing it in the interview referenced below also in terms of “D’Gary and ‘Little Martha’,” thus lying “somewhere between Madagascar and Macon.” Written by the husband-and-wife team, it is one of the most unique sounding tunes in the entire four-LP project – scintillating guitar picking and lovely vocals from Susan.
The Mattison-Trucks penned, yearning “Where Are My Friends” has Mattison on the lead vocal and piercing slide from Trucks in what otherwise is a gently strummed acoustic tune featuring the harmonies of the TTB singers. “I Can Feel You Smiling” comes from a riff that Trucks developed, with lyrics from Oliver Wood. Trucks and Dixon are co-writers here in another relatively calm tune that marries the acoustic and electric, with Trucks’ inventive slide lines perfectly complementing Susan’s lush vocals. Closing with the uplifting “Another Day,” with the gospel-like choir reaching a crescendo on the chorus – “I am sure you’ll find your way/If you can make it just to another day/Take my hand ‘cause I’m already free/Take my hand and sing along, sing along with me.” The grandeur then fades, and we’re left with mournful notes from Derek’s slide, as if to remind us that fate doomed the star-crossed lovers.
One aside – for a great perspective on Derek Trucks’ many influences and more background on this project, this interview found here is highly recommended. All vinyl configurations, including individual LPs and the 4-LP I Am The Moon Deluxe Box will be available on September 9th, 2022. Meanwhile, catch their tour, which only has a handful of U.S dates left before they head off to Europe.
