Tedeshi Trucks Band
Revelator
Sony Masterworks
This thing is… HELLACIOUS.
Of course you’d expect no less from a record featuring slide guitar master Derek Trucks and his incredibly soulful wife, Susan Tedeshi. But nothing the pair had accomplished prior really prepared you for this. When the layers of slide guitar kick off the record on “Come See About Me,” you of course instantly know it’s Derek – he, much like BB King or Jaco Pastorious, has defined his instrument to the extent that he’s recognizable within seconds. But it’s what he does with his gift here that is so great: he never outshines the song. His solo work and of course his time with the Allman Brothers shows he can jam, but Revelator shows us how he uses his slippery, weeping guitar to complement rather than dominate a song. The result is a record as grooving and tight as anything Stax cranked out in the ’60s and ’70s when Booker T or The Staple Singers were at their prime. The 11-piece band – featuring dual drummers, a horn section, and Oteil and Kofi Burbridge on bass and keys – literally pulse.
Susan Tedeshi fits into this band perfectly; from the soft croon of “Midnight in Harlem” to the forceful “Don’t Let Me Slide” her Bonnie Raitt-ish vocals ride above the funk like a sweet angel, hand in glove with the moody guitar of Trucks. She provides an anchor when the record flows from the sitar-sweetened “These Walls” to the Physical Graffiti-style clavinet throb of “Learn How To Love” – from, as they say, a whisper to a scream. By the time Revelator ends with the majestic “Shelter,” you know that you’ve experienced something rare, something beyond mere product – this is a record of love, one that elevates the game of all involved. Cue it up between Music from Big Pink and your favorite Delaney and Bonnie moments. You’ll see.
Tedeshi Trucks Band: http://www.tedeschitrucksband.com
