Tedeschi Trucks Band have spent the last decade wearing their influences on their collective sleeves. Not that there was much doubt as to where their allegiances lie, but their last couple of studio and live releases have tightened the bonds they share with their inspirations even further.
In 2022, Tedeschi Trucks Band released the ambitious four-disc project, I Am the Moon—an alternate history of Derek and the Dominos’ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs told from Layla’s point of view—to critical acclaim. They followed it with the 2025 release of their all-star tribute to Joe Cocker’s live Mad Dogs and Englishmen at the 2015 LOCKN Festival, both in audio and video versions.
That event was a tip of the hat to the storied 1970 tour and the resulting double album by the touring ensemble led by Joe Cocker, which was hastily put together by Leon Russell, who served as musical director. Several artists, from Rita Coolidge and Dave Mason to the Black Crowes‘ Chris Robinson, along with Russell himself, joined the Tedeschi Trucks Band at the LOCKN Festival for the 45th anniversary celebration.
Fresh Ears and Outside Voices
One can drop a pin on a musical map halfway between both Mad Dogs and Layla and get a good grasp of the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s MO. They harken back to a time of the rock ‘n’ soul revue, of a multi-talented collective in the spirit of Delaney and Bonnie & Friends, Derek and the Dominos, and Leon Russell with the Shelter People—a time when rock, soul, gospel, and blues blended seamlessly and flowed naturally, when large ensembles traveled and performed together as a true rock and roll circus.
This year, the Tedeschi Trucks Band are hitting the road harder than ever and doing so on the strength of Future Soul, their first new studio album since 2022. “The idea going into it was, ‘We don’t have to overthink this,'” Derek Trucks, taking time out from prepping for the band’s upcoming tour, shared over the phone about the new music. “We also wanted to have some fresh ears and an outside voice on this.”
Those fresh ears belong to Mike Elizondo, a producer known for working with everyone from Dr. Dre to Carrie Underwood, Linkin Park, Ry Cooder, and 50 Cent. Elizondo, Trucks asserts, “was incredible. He focused us a bit and got some good sides out of us.” The result is a departure from the thematic structure and musical sprawl of I Am the Moon.
“I Am the Moon was such a different project to make,” Trucks explains. “It was the middle of the pandemic and all of that, and it was kind of the new version of the band. There were a lot of changes, and then we hit the road for a good few years. I just thought it was a good time for a … I don’t want to say a hard reset, but we just wanted to make a damn good record without such an overarching theme.”
That “new version” of the Tedeschi Trucks Band includes the 2019 addition of bassist Brandon Boone, drummer Isaac Eady, and vocalist, keyboardist Gabe Dixon. Bringing Dixon on meant there was now yet another strong songwriter in the room, which became evident on several tracks from I Am the Moon and now on Future Soul as well.
Shakin’ Things Up
Future Soul is indeed a concise, targeted stab of rock-and-soul goodness, with no song lasting longer than necessary (they all clock in at well under five minutes), yet they linger in the memory long after the album ends. That’s a testament to the songwriting, arranging, and production, not to mention the courage of everyone in the band to try something new. “We just wanted to shake it up a little bit,” Trucks admits. “We were open to anything that felt musical. Anything that felt like it fit the tune, we were all for it.”
One of those moments comes in the form of the title track. An absolute barnburner written by Mike Mattison, its energy was pushed over the top by Trucks’s guitar solo. Your ears wouldn’t be faulted for doing a double-take, as Trucks grabs his Gibson Flying V and goes into full metal shred mode.
“I’m not super well-versed in guitar pedals and all that shit,” laughs Trucks. “But for ‘Future Soul’, the song needed the guitar solo to sound like something was about to blow up.” Being somewhat pedal-averse, Trucks had to defer to the guys in the room. “Susan’s guitar tech, Ryan Murphy—he’s a great guitar player himself, very much a Hendrix guy—and he said, ‘Man, I’ve got this pedal you’ve got to try, this old Octavia.’ It’s a little like a Hendrix Fuzz Face, but he dialed this thing up as I plugged the Flying V in, played a few notes, and it’s like, roll tape and hang on for dear life.”
“Future Soul” serves as an extension of the album’s eye-catching cover art, in which the band members are drawn as superheroes. “That was another part of this project that we just wanted to shake things up, rearrange things,” Trucks admits. “There’s just an absurdity to it, and I think it’s kind of where we are in the world right now.”
He elaborates, “When the concept of ‘Future Soul’ came up, when Mike brought in that tune [with the hook], ‘I hope your future has soul in it,’ it immediately hit me as, almost as an anti-AI anthem, but more of, just like, you know what? Fuck it. The world is what it is; we got to do our thing. Just by getting your ass up and going to work every day and doing your thing, you’re kind of against the grain at this point. Like, the common person being the superhero was kind of the theme.”
As far as the band outfitted like their own multiverse characters, he admits, “It was fun. We started working with this artist who’s done a lot of comic book stuff [Marc Sasso—who has illustrated everything from Captain America and Wolverine to album covers by Dio and Judas Priest], and he started sending ideas. I was like, ‘This is ridiculous. I love it, but now I’ve got to really work on my abs because they do not look like that.”
New Territory
Aside from the incendiary title cut, Future Soul boasts plenty of fine moments, such as the breezy, summer-soaked “Who Am I”, a co-write between Trucks, Tedeschi, Dixon, and Mattison; the bluesy, Dixon-penned shuffle, “Devil Be Gone”; the Delaney and Bonnie-leaning soul raver, “Be Kind”; and the album’s joyously affirming first single, “I Got You”. Another unexpected twist comes in the form of the dark textures that surround “Hero”. Co-written by Trucks, Tedeschi, and drummer Tyler Greenwell, while boasting a powerful vocal performance from Tedeschi, “Hero” harkens back to the grungy aesthetics of 1990s alternative rock radio.
“It’s funny,” Trucks explains about the song. “A lot of times when Tyler—we call him Falcon—when he brings in tunes, it’s coming from that [1990s alternative] place. We’ve worked them up before, but we’ve never put them on record. This time, it was just something about that tune. Sue was immediately like, ‘Oh, I love this one. I want this on the damn record.’ A lot of the guys and girls in the band came from that era; it was like home base for them, but it’s definitely a different world for me. It took me a minute to wrap my head around it, but once I did, I was like, ‘Oh, I get this.’ Everyone’s pissed about something. [laughs]”
As for the down-tuned, heavily-flannelled 1990s rock scene, Trucks admits, “I appreciate the angst and the punk attitude of it; it’s the same as what the blues is in a sense. You’re taking a situation that’s not working for you and letting it out instead of keeping it in and losing your mind.”
While Tedeschi sings lead on most tracks, Mike Mattison is front and center on the swamp funk of “Under the Knife”. “When I first heard Mike’s demo [for ‘Under the Knife’], it almost felt like a David Bowie tune to me,” Trucks admits. “I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was, and then the band got a hold of it and turned it into what it is. I love that one. I mean, Sue and Mike singing that chorus together really hits the spot for me. It’s also kind of a unique groove for us. It’s always nice to discover new territory.”
A Small Army
There’s plenty of new territory to discover as Tedeschi Trucks Band hit the road for several festivals, sheds, and bill-sharing with some rock legends this year. It all kicks off with a ten-night run at New York’s Beacon Theater. “That’s getting shot right out of the gate right there,” Trucks laughs. Thinking about his long relationship with the Beacon, going back to the Allman Brothers Band’s many residencies there over the years (including their final run of shows in October of 2014), Trucks reasons, “I think I’ll have done 230 to 240 shows there by the end of this run.”
They’ll also be sharing some bills with the Eagles this year. “We’ve been friends with some of those guys for a long time,” Trucks explains. “I think I met Joe Walsh when I was ten or 11 years old, and he’s always been a bit of a mentor and a champion of my playing, and Sue has done some things with Don Henley over the years. Then they asked us to fill in recently when Donald Fagan got sick and had to cancel. They’ve just been really sweet to us, and, when they offered us these [slots], it seemed like, I mean, it was a no-brainer.”
As much fun as the Tedeschi Trucks Band have on the road, navigating a group of 12 is no easy task. What’s the secret? “You got to work hard, you got to tour hard,” Trucks admits. “I mean, you really do have to just stay at it and have wide-open communication. That’s the big part of it. I mean, it’s hard keeping a four or five-piece band together, but with 12, plus a crew of almost 30 people, total … it’s an undertaking.
“Still, there’s just something about it,” he continues. “There’s something about the sound and the energy and the presence of a band that big that I think is really important. Showing up with 12 people is like saying, ‘This group means business.’ There are easier ways to do this for sure, but we’re choosing this route. I kind of love the implied message of having a big group like that. We show up like a small army.”
