Derek Trucks Band

Songlines (2006)

Derek Trucks -- guitar & dobro
Todd Smallie -- bass & vocals
Yonrico Scott -- drums, percussion & vocals
Kofi Burbridge -- keyboards, flute & vocals
Mike Mattison - vocals
Count M'Butu - congas & percussion

Produced by Jay Joyce

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Songlines is the first new studio album in nearly four years from the continually inventive young guitarist Derek Trucks and the soulful and eclectic ensemble that carries his name. "Everybody in the band is really excited about this record,” says Trucks. “We’ve always strived to evolve as a band, always thought that there’s a mission to what we’re doing, and ‘Songlines’ is the most honest representation of the band to date.”

Songlines is the next step in the bold and fascinating musical evolution of The Derek Trucks Band. It's the first DTB studio offering to showcase the straight-up band, direct and pure and working-as-one, striking an uncanny balance between the power and mystery of the group's transcendent live performances and the coherent focus of a beautifully conceived and realized studio production.

It's also the first Derek Trucks Band studio album to feature the soul-stirring and versatile vocals of the band's latest addition, Mike Mattison, who joined the DTB more than three years ago (and can be heard on the 2004 online-only release, Live at Georgia Theatre). "He really steps it up in the studio," says Derek of Mike, whose dusky full-throated sound is naturally at home whether moaning Delta blues, soul-shaking the rafters, belting rock, scatting jazz, or simply laying back in reggae syncopation.

The album's title, Songlines, was inspired by the Aboriginal creation myths that hold that the world itself was originally sung into existence by legendary totemic elder beings who wandered the Australian continent along invisible pathways (later known to Westerners as "songlines" or "dreaming-tracks") singing out the names of everything--trees, flowers, streams, animals, clouds, earth--breathing form, order and beauty into the unfolding world.

"I was turned onto the book, 'The Songlines' [by Bruce Chatwin], and it seemed to my mind appropriate," says Derek Trucks regarding the album's inspiration. "With the amount of different types of music we play, it's kind of what we're doing: just wandering and taking a little bit here and a little bit there. A lot of it is trying to turn on a new generation of listeners to music that formed this country and the culture. A lot of it falls by the wayside if you don't introduce it to people. You have to judge a tree by its roots."

The roots and the fruits of The Derek Trucks Band are manifest in the breadth and scope of Songlines, which premieres several brand-new DTB compositions including the Hammond organ-driven "I'll Find My Way," the spiritually yearning "This Sky," and the hypnotic instrumental "Mahjoun,” while acknowleding a wide range of influences--including American avant-garde jazz (Rahsaan Roland Kirk's "Volunteered Slavery"), traditional acoustic slide blues ("Crow Jane"), 700-year-old Pakistani Qawwali music (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's "Sahib Teri Bandi/Maki Madni"), and Jamaican reggae (Toots Hibbert's "Sailing On").

Some of the credit for the coherence and flow of Songlines lies with producer/collaborator Jay Joyce who recorded the band at Tragedy/Tragedy in Nashville. "He's thinking from a songwriter's perspective,” says Trucks. “The recording process sparked a lot of creative ideas in the band as far as songwriting, and Jay also helped make the covers sound like they're our own tunes."

With Songlines, The Derek Trucks Band has created a vibrant present tense experience that honors the past while pointing into the future. "With the past, you don't recreate it, you build on it," says Derek, "inch it up a few notches and make sure you're moving forward. Otherwise you’re devolving, or revolving, instead of evolving. One way is commerce, the other is revelation."

Live at Georgia Theatre (2004)

Recorded October 23, 2003 in Athens, GA
Recorded by Marty Wall
Mixed by Marty Wall & Alex Lowe

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“The development of the Derek Trucks Band has followed a progression that appears to be the perfect marketing plan. But there’s nothing any more contrived about the sequence of events than there is simply the music itself. The release of the band's diverse major label debut, Joyful Noise , segued smoothly to the next year’s almost-all instrumental Soul Serenade (actually recorded before Noise but held up in legalities), demonstrating why seeing DTB live had become such a powerful experience.

No surprise then that a year later, we now have Live at The Georgia Theatre , available as an online download through iTunes and directly from the DTB website as well. With the dual virtues of individual instrumental chops and band unity brimming on such eclectic choices as Rahsaan Kirk’s “Volunteered Slavery,” this set also marks the next step in the group’s evolution, as it features the regular vocal contributions of Mike Mattison; whether wailing ecstatically on “Gonna Move” or whispering on “Feel So Bad,” Mattison is never an intrusion, but instead gives the listener a chance to hear how Trucks plays around a singer, where you can hear him demonstrating an equally sure grasp of nuance and dynamics.

The contributions of latter-day (2002) recruit Kofi Burbridge, brother of Allman Brother bassist Oteil, have broadened as well, so that his multiple keyboards, as well as the injection of airy flute work, extends the range of the band even more. And with Mattison around, the Derek Trucks Band now has two first class vocalists, listen to their call and response on “Joyful Noise.” Burbridge and drummer Yonrico Scott strut their respective stuff on “Angola” before the entry of the rest of the band, including bassist Todd Smallie, who makes his presence felt in the deft navigation of the lightning changes in the band’s direction. The sound recording captures such detail impeccably, but impressive as is that technical virtue, it’s less so than the noticeable democracy at work within DTB.

That’s no small compliment to its leader since the profoundly imaginative approach Derek Trucks takes to electric guitar is all the more extraordinary given his comparative youth. The scholarly, spiritual approach to music suggested in the liner notes suggests the source of his humility, perfectly in keeping with his beatific countenance, which itself belies the intensity with which he plays. Giving new definition to the role of guitar hero, he takes a Far Eastern approach in his playing, where patience is a step in the deconstruction and rebuilding of the band’s momentum during a performance such as “Sahib Teri/Maki Madni.”

S leek (the DTB original “So Close, So Far Away”) or syncopated (Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly tune “Freddie’s Dead”), the purity of inspiration and execution over the course of two-plus hours will doubtless bring delight to any true aficionado of progressive music, all the more so because Live At The Georgia Theatre suggests that the reach of the Derek Trucks Band may never exceed its members' collective grasp.”
-by Doug Collette – Allaboutjazz.com

Soul Serenade (2003)

Derek Trucks -- guitar, sarod
Todd Smallie – bass
Yonrico Scott -- drums, percussion
Bill McKay -- Hammond B-3 organ, Wurlitzer piano, keyboards
Kofi Burbridge -- flute, clavinet, Rhodes piano, acoustic piano, keyboards

Gregg Allman -- vocal on "Drown In My Own Tears"

Produced by John Snyder

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Drawing inspiration from unified mood masterpieces like Kind Of Blue (Miles Davis), Somethin' Else (Cannonball Adderley), What's Going On (Marvin Gaye) and others, The Derek Trucks Band entered Dockside Studios in October 1999 (shortly after keyboardist/flautist Kofi Burbridge became a permanent member) to begin work on Soul Serenade.

Chronologically, Soul Serenade was recorded in-between 1998's Out Of The Madness and 2002's Joyful Noise, but the release was delayed until 2003 due to record label litigation. Spiritually and musically, the album is a watershed in the evolution of the Derek Trucks Band.

According to Derek, the album was "done pretty much live in the studio" during two remarkably brief sessions: October 13-15, 1999, and February 16-20, 2000. With the exception of Derek's sarod (a fretless lute-like Indian instrument) on the track "Sierra Leone" and guest artist Gregg Allman's powerhouse blues vocals on "Drown In My Own Tears," Soul Serenade is virtually free of overdubs. "We would set up in the studio," Derek remembers, "and run down two or three tunes in a row...like in a show. Then we would go back and listen to them and, most of the time, one or two or maybe all three of them would be a take. The record went down really quick and really painlessly. Everyone realized when we left the studio that this was definitely a unique studio experience. We caught the band on a good week...with everyone feeling good and playing good. I think that's the way it's supposed to happen."

Joyful Noise (2002)

Derek Trucks – guitar
Kofi Burbridge -- keyboards, flute & vocals
Todd Smallie -- bass & vocals
Yonrico Scott - drums, percussion, & vocals
Count M’Butu – congas & percussion

Produced by Craig Street

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Joyful Noise, the Derek Trucks Band's debut album on Columbia Records, combines the group's naturally diverse sound with an even more eclectic mix of styles and performers, concocting a spiritually-based "world soul" collection. At the core is the band's energetic rhythmic unity, blending Derek's skilled-beyond-his-years slide guitar technique, Todd Smallie's deep and steady six-string bass grooves, Yonrico Scott's vibrant drum rhythms, and Kofi Burbridge's inimitably inventive keyboard textures and flute flourishes.

Joyful Noise builds upon original songwriting and cover selections, augmenting the band's own style with a host of impressive guest singers and players. Count M'Butu, a former band mate of Kofi's from his days in the Aquarium Rescue Unit and a longtime friend of The Derek Trucks Band, adds percussion to most of the songs.

Soul pioneer Solomon Burke testifies on two tunes -- a new interpretation of the R&B classic "Home In Your Heart" (written by Winfield Scott and Otis Blackwell, originally included on Burke's 1963 If You Need Me album) -- and on the groove ballad "Like Anyone Else," one of several songwriting contributions by Kofi. "The performances Solomon did were just off the scale," Derek says, awe-stricken. "He brought tears to everyone's eyes."
World-renowned Pakistani vocalist Rahat Fateh Ali Khan lends his voice and, according to Derek, his stamp of authenticity to the mystical Qawwali song "Maki Madni." A true Rahat fan and a fan of Rahat's mentor and uncle Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who originally sang and recorded the internationally recognized Sufi chant, Derek considered the collaboration the "heaviest experience" of the recording process. "I was really surprised that we were able to make that happen," Derek admits. "We did conference calls and cell phones and interpreters…" The band recorded the song and sent the tape to Rahat in Karachi, Pakistan where he would lay down the vocal tracks. "We told him to just have his way with it. And he did."

Panamanian Salsa sensation Rubén Blades adds Latin flavor to "Kam-ma-lay," one of many tunes written by the entire band, with lyrics written by Blades.?"We had been thinking of a Latin singer for this tune for a long time," Derek explains. "We listened to him and it just seemed obvious." Rubén recorded a dozen tracks of lead and background vocals, handclaps, and the cowbell. "When he left the studio everyone was just worn out. He worked everyone!"

Susan Tedeschi -- an accomplished singer, songwriter, and guitarist in her own right, as well as Mrs. Derek Trucks and the proud mother of the couple's two children -- lends sweet sultry soul to the Joe Tex tune "Baby, You're Right" (first popularized by James Brown in 1962). While the band has recorded with Susan a few times in the past, this is the first time they've released a track with her.

Produced primarily by Craig Street (Chris Whitley, Cassandra Wilson) -- Russ Kunkel produced "Home in Your Heart" and "Baby, You're Right" -- and recorded mainly in Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, NY, the recording sessions were "a laid-back affair" marked by a sense of freedom and experimentation. "We've probably had more liberty this time than ever to go back and try other things on top of the tracks. We just felt like we didn't have to do a live record in the studio this time. We wanted to do a studio record." Engineer S. Husky Hoskulds also contributed to the album's unique sound and sense of adventure. Derek gives Husky significant credit both for bringing out the band's natural sound and for helping to expand it.

Out of the Madness (1998)

Derek Trucks - Guitar & Sarod
Todd Smallie – Bass
Yonrico Scott - Drums & Percussion
Bill McKay – Keyboards

Produced by John Snyder

*Not available in stores. Go to DTB merch page to purchase.

Out of the Madness, released in 1998 on House of Blues Records, is the second CD released by The Derek Trucks Band. The band continued to build on the jazz influences evident in their first release, this time adding more blues and funk elements to the eclectic mix. Warren Haynes adds vocals on two classic blues tracks. Guitarist Jimmy Herring, longtime friend of The Derek Trucks Band, guests on most of the tracks. Blues vocalist and guitarist Larry McCray also adds vocals and guitar to the Bobby Bland standard, "Ain't That Lovin' You".

The Derek Trucks Band (1997)

Derek Trucks - Guitar, Sarod
Todd Smallie – Bass
Yonrico Scott - Drums & Percussion
Bill McKay - Keyboards & Vocals

Produced by John Snyder

*Not available in stores. Go to DTB merch page to purchase.

"Backed by a skin-tight rhythm section and complimented by a top-notch organist, the youthful guitarist blazes through new arrangements of jazz and blues classics. He turns the trumpet wizardry of Miles Davis into slide-guitar magic, and his readings of a couple of Coltrane tunes pack a terrific punch. The band also contributes several of their own compositions, paving the way for a bright future as a group of tight-knit, talented musicians. A flawless recording." -Michael B. Smith - Allmusic.com

Live at Georgia Theatre
2004

Soul Serenade
2003

Joyful Noise 2002

Out of the Madness
1998

The Derek Trucks Band (1997)