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Derek Trucks

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Wikipedia

Derek Trucks (born June 8, 1979) is an American guitarist.

Trucks is both bandleader of The Derek Trucks Band, and a member of The Allman Brothers Band, for which his uncle Butch Trucks is both drummer and original member. Highly regarded as a slide guitarist, Trucks was ranked 81st in Rolling Stone Magazine's 2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Early life

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Trucks was named after Derek and the Dominos in a family with deep musical roots. He first took up the guitar at age 9, and by age 12 he was playing professionally and touring, and sitting in with the Allman Brothers Band. Allman's founder and guitarist Duane Allman was his greatest early influence.

Career

History

Trucks played his first gigs with Derek and the Dominators. Jazz and blues bassist Todd Smallie joined the band in 1994, which marked the beginning of The Derek Trucks Band. A year later in 1995, drummer Yonrico Scott completed the band's new rhythm section. The band released its self-titled debut album in 1997, and followed with Out of the Madness in 1999. Kofi Burbridge joined the band shortly thereafter, contributing to the band's sound with his versatility as a keyboard player, flautist, and vocalist. Like his brother, Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge, Kofi Burbridge's education was primarily rooted in classical and jazz music. In 2002 both of the band's producers, Craig Street and John Snyder recommended singer Mike Mattison to the band. Mattison performed several shows with the band, and Trucks decided Mattison's soulful voice and calm stage presence completed the band's identity. The band's final member, Count M'Butu is referred to as the "mysterious sixth member" since he is the only band member that does not appear on every tour. M'Butu, the group's eldest member, plays a variety of African drums.

The Derek Trucks Band

Members

The current members of the band are:

Derek Trucks – guitar
Kofi Burbridge – keyboards, flute, and vocals
Todd Smallie –bass and vocals (1994-present)
Yonrico Scott – drums, percussion, and vocals (1995-present)
Mike Mattison – lead vocals (2002-present)
Count M'Butu – percussion

With The Allman Brothers Band

In 1999, Trucks was formally made a full member of the Allman Brothers Band, after years of guest performances with the band. He has played with the band during eight summer tours and the band's annual multiple night stand at New York City's Beacon Theatre. With the Allmans, Trucks has performed on three live releases, which include the platinum-certified Live at the Beacon Theatre DVD, as well as the studio album Hittin' the Note (2003).

The slide

Derek Trucks has been hailed as one of the greatest slide guitarists since Duane Allman. Fellow Allman Brothers Band guitarists Duane Allman, Warren Haynes and Dickey Betts share a mastery of the guitar and a fondness for the slide guitar. John Mayer has said that Derek's signature move is "making the guitar sound like a female singer from like, the '50s or '60s, just belting it out." Trucks was an accompanying guitarist in Eric Clapton's 2006/2007 touring band, thus, in 2006, Trucks found himself playing in three bands in 17 countries.

Trucks was pictured on the cover of Rolling Stone (#1020) in February 2007, along with John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and John Mayer. He was named as one of the "New Guitar Gods" and the cover nicknamed him "The Jam King. Trucks also received the honor of performing alongside Eric Clapton in Clapton's 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival with his own band as well as in Clapton's band. He and his band are currently touring with Carlos Santana, providing the opening act for his 2008 tour.

Influences, style, and equipment

Trucks' early repertoire was heavily blues-based, inspired by Duane Allman and Elmore James. Older bluesmen like Howlin' Wolf and Albert King, jazz musicians Miles Davis, Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Charlie Christian and later Wayne Shorter and many others, became an influence for Trucks a few years later. In recent years, the influence of traditional Southern Sacred Steel can be heard in Derek's slide work. In addition, Trucks studied at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music in San Rafael, California. Because of this, he learned to play the sarod, with lingering strains of Indian music in his guitar work as well.

Trucks avoids processing and effects, preferring to get the purest tone possible by connecting his guitar (2000 '61 reissue Gibson SG) directly to his amplifier, a 1965 Fender Super Reverb loaded with four Pyle Driver MH1020 speakers. He modifies his tone with the controls on the guitar.

Trucks regularly plays without a plectrum (pick). He generally plucks or strums (together or independently) with his thumb as well as his index, middle, and ring fingers. Electric Rock Guitarists using this method are rare: most prefer to use a pick. Howlin' Wolf's supporting guitarist Hubert Sumlin and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits are among the notable exceptions, and they are termed "fingerstyle" guitarists.

Trucks has expressed a preference for the Dunlop Pyrex slide that is a recreation of the Coricidin bottle Duane Allman used. He also uses custom gauge DR nickel-wound strings on both his SG and resonator guitars: .011, .014, .017, .026, .036, and .046.

Personal life

In 2001, Trucks married singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi, and the couple have two children. Charles Khalil Trucks, born in 2002, is named for saxophonist Charlie Parker, guitarist Charlie Christian, and author Khalil Gibran. Sophia Naima Trucks, born in 2004, takes her unusual middle name from the Coltrane ballad, which was also the jazz legend's first wife's name. The Derek Trucks Band covered Naima on their first album, seven years before Sophia Naima Trucks's birth.

In early 2006, an equipment trailer with Trucks' gear was stolen. Some of the gear was recovered from a field outside Atlanta, including his 1965 Fender Super Reverb (the amp he's been playing since he was a young boy), a 1968 Super Reverb (one of the backup amps), a Hammond B-3, two Leslie rotating speaker cabinets, a Hohner E-7 Clavinet, and a few other minor items.