Tour Press - Derek Trucks Band - April 7

sxsw Breakouts

DMb in the studio

Q&A: Karen o

Our picks: From Little Boots’ electropop to Deer Tick’s hillbilly rock. Page 20

“People who don’t like us will like this record,” says Dave Matthews. Page 22

Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer on crying at the club and cutting back on booze. Page 32

Allman Brothers and Friends Take New York Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Phish help band celebrate 40 years By David Browne

How artists profit by scalping the top seats to their own shows By Steve Knopper

Derek McCabe, 2

B

ackstage before the eighth night of the Allman Brothers Band’s recent 15-night run of shows at New York’s Beacon Theatre, 61-year-old drummer Butch Trucks can barely contain his excitement about tonight’s secret guest. “We’ve been trying to do this for 40 years!” he says, referring to the first time the Allmans will share a stage with Eric Clapton. “He’s been borrowing our guitar players since the Layla rec­ord,” says Gregg Allman with a chuckle. “So he kinda owed us.” For two nights, Clapton joined the band to tear through tunes including “Anyday,” “Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?” “Little Wing” and, of course, “Layla.” His unannounced (but widely rumored) appearance helped the Allmans celebrate their 40th anniversary – and honor co-founder and guitarist Duane Allman, who died in a motorcycle crash in 1971. “To be honest, one of the reasons we’re doing this is that Duane doesn’t loom big enough,” says Trucks. “Too many people don’t even know who he is.” During the 15 nights, an astonishing list of old friends joined the A llmans. “We tried to get everybody that my brother had played with,” says Gregg. Boz Scaggs played his 1969 classic “Loan Me a Dime,” which originally featured one of Duane’s [Cont. on 16]

Where Do All the Best Tix Go?

F

ans have long won­ dered why it’s nearly impossible to get good seats to big shows – and now they’re beginning to get some answers, as Ticketmaster’s attempt to merge with Live Nation has brought congressional scrutiny to ticketing

industry

in memory of duane “We tried to get everybody that my brother had played with,” says Gregg Allman (top, at New York’s Beacon Theatre). Clapton (above, with Derek Trucks) sat in for two nights.

and scalping issues in recent months. Top concertindustry sources confirm to Rolling Stone that the practice of skimming the best seats off the top of the pool and selling them at huge markups happens at nearly all concerts. Even some artists are going public with their concerns. “The venue, the promoter, the ticketing agency and often the artist camp (artist, management and agent) take tickets from the pool of available seats and feed them directly to the reseller,” NIN frontman Trent Reznor wrote on his blog recently. “This is a very common practice that happens more often than not.” In recent testimony to Congress, Ticketmaster CEO Irving [Cont. on 18] Rolling Stone, April 16, 2009 • 15

HOT LIST

R&R allman brothers [Cont. from 15] greatest solos; Levon Helm sang “The Weight” and “Ophelia,” and Taj Mahal brought the house down with a lead vocal on “Statesboro Blues.” After initially rejecting the idea of inviting guitarist Dickey Betts, who was fired from the band in 2000, the Allmans sent him an invitation; at press time, Betts’ participation was still undetermined. “If he does come, it’s not gonna be easy,” says Trucks. “There’s a lot of bad blood. But for the sake of Duane, we decided we would ask.” Most nights began with a photo montage of Duane and a rendition of “Little Martha,” from the classic 1972 disc Eat a Peach, centered around current guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks. The Allmans also made sure to invite younger musicians who are breathing

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Bob dylan “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ ”

old friends, new friends Sheryl Crow (with Warren Haynes, left, and Derek Trucks) and Buddy Guy (below, with Haynes) were among the guests at the New York shows.

Ever dreamed of riding out the end times in a South Texas roadhouse with a killer band? Us too! And that’s the vibe of Dyl­ an’s new single – with its Tex-Mex accordion, blues guitar and doomy lyrics, it goes down like chipotlespiced apocalypse.

white lies “Death”

16 • Rolling Stone, April 16, 2009

weed floating around the room, and everyone was standing on their feet from the second they started playing,” she says. “I felt like I was 16.” Working up all that material – about 100 songs over the course of the run – became as much a part of the nightly ritual as the shows themselves. The band set up a separate practice space at the Beacon for lastminute rehearsals. At Clapton’s rehearsal – which finished two hours before the doors opened – the guitarist told everyone the story of how Derek and the Dominos drummer Jim Gordon came up with the song’s timeless piano coda. “I’d heard about some of that before, but it was great hearing it from him,” says Haynes. The Beacon shows mark the beginning of a year of exten-

Conor Oberst “Slowly (Oh So Slowly)” Our bro Conor’s new jam with the Mystic Valley Band hits on a recipe for roots-rock orgasm: two parts John Mellencamp, one dash Uncle Tupelo. Mmm, earthy!

Rye rye feat. M.I.A. “Bang ” This gloriously showoffy track from M.I.A.’s speedrapping protégée features a monstrously syncopated break beat – it’s hotter than a blonde and a bru­ nette double-teaming an ice cream cone.

phoenix “1901” Our favorite French dudes since Jacques Pépin are back with a poppy burst of bliss – it’s like the first breeze of spring, except with more synthesizers.

Clockwise from Top left: kirk west; APR 150/Most Wanted/ZUMA Press; Derek McCabe

life into jam-band traditions, including Phish’s Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell, who elevated “Southbound” and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” “I’ve been playing Allman Brothers songs more years than I care to count,” says McConnell. “After being in a band a number of years, you respect more and more the longevity and stamina it takes to do what they do year after year.” Sheryl Crow sang a verse of “Midnight Rider” (“One of the quintessential great pieces of songwriting,” she says) and took the lead on versions of Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” and Bob Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.” When she wasn’t onstage, Crow spent most of the show in the audience. “I walked in, and there were clouds of

sive touring for the Allmans – but also a finale of sorts. Starting in 2010, the band will cut back its road schedule, possibly playing only a dozen summer shows. “We’re winding down,” says Butch Trucks. “The end is coming. We know that. I had to have a knee replacement two years ago. I can’t straighten my right arm because of arthritis. No matter how much fun I’ve been having, it’s taking its toll.” Although Allman has recovered from a bout with hepatitis C last year, he admits he still deals with “layers of tired.” For the moment, though, the Allmans are reveling in the warm musical afterglow of the Beacon shows. “I just figured this year would be probably the capper to all of ’em,” says Allman. “But I didn’t know it would be to this extent.” After one of the two Clapton nights, Allman bumped into the guitarist, whose dressing room was next to his. “He had the most warm smile on his face,” Allman says. “And he said, ‘Thank you so much for letting me come and be a part of this.’ I said, ‘Man, anytime.’ ”

This Wembley-size mope rocker is the best Killers song of the year – even though this British buzz band’s pompous, pasty frontman sings like he swallowed a Joy Division box set.

Rock shows you shouldn't miss —Greg Kot April 3, 2009

Morrissey: The U.K. singer is back on familiar turf with his latest album, "Years of Refusal" (Attack/Lost Highway), which means he's a bit fed up with, well, everything. His acerbic wit is matched by the attack in his arrangements, the hardest-hitting Morrissey album in at least a decade. Here's hoping he brings some of that intensity to the stage, Saturday at the Aragon, 1106 W. Lawrence, $37.50; 312-559-1212. Ting Tings: After a breakout performance at last year's South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas, the U.K. duo of Jules De Martino and Katie White has ridden the wave of the single "That's Not My Name" into a club tour. They've got plenty of hooks, energy and smarts, which is all you can ask from pop music, Sunday at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St., $18, $16; ticketweb.com. The Derek Trucks Band: The nephew of Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks and the husband of rising blues star Susan Tedeschi, Trucks has evolved into one of the great guitarists of his generation through his work with the Allmans and Eric Clapton. His latest solo release, "Already Free" (RCA), is saturated in the blues/soul/raga/rock stew that is practically a family birthright, Wednesday-Thursday at Park West, 322 W. Armitage, $25; 312-559-1212. Andrew Bird: The wordsmith/whistler/violinist started out playing quirky jazz-swing tunes and slowly built a cult following that has mushroomed. His intelligently constructed, richly textured songs can sound a bit off-putting to non-believers, but there's little doubt that he's carved out his own niche as one of indie-pop's unlikeliest success stories, Thursday-April 10 at Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, $33, $25.50; 312-559-1212.

He keeps on truckin'

'' By Joan Anderman Globe Staff / March 31, 2009

Guitarist Derek Trucks, who turns 30 this year, is an 18-year veteran of the road. For the math-challenged, that puts him at the tender age of 11 when he started jamming with Buddy Guy and the Allman Brothers, a group he officially joined in 1999. (Truck's uncle Butch is the band's founding drummer.) The prodigal roots player formed his eponymous group at 15, and earlier this year released the sixth Derek Trucks Band studio album, "Already Free." They perform at House of Blues on Thursday. We reached Trucks midway through the Allman Brothers' recent 15-night residency at New York's Beacon Theatre, where he was waiting to greet the evening's special guest: his former employer Eric Clapton. Q. "Already Free" is your first self-produced record. How does a musician know when it's time to take on that task?

A. If you have a vision, and can communicate it to the people around you, you're ready. It really comes down to having a certain amount of faith in your own taste. After being on tour with Clapton and the Allmans and my wife [Susan Tedeschi] and my own band, I had so much music floating around in my head. Q. You went on tour while you were still in elementary school. Looking back now, as a father, would you have done it differently? A. I don't know if I would change it. It's a great thing to travel the world at a young age. You don't get that as a roofer's son, so we always felt lucky. It hasn't come easy. It's been a grind. But I've been amazingly fortunate and I don't know if it could have happened any other way. Q. Do your kids play music? A. My daughter, she's 4, is singing and dancing all the time. She knows the words to all the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs. My son is a clone of me at that age [7], and he loves what boys love: football, fishing, and baseball. Q. Do you take special care of your hands? Are they insured? A. [Laughing] No, I don't have them insured. But I stopped skiing and snowboarding. Q. Do you have one guitar that's nearest and dearest to your heart? A. Yes. It's the guitar I play all the time. I have a lot of great signatures on it: Little Milton, Johnny Winter, Otis Rush, Clapton, Santana, Roy Haynes, Jimmy Cobb, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Les Paul. . . Q. Wow. If money gets tight you can sell it on eBay. A. Oh, no.

THE BERKELY BEACON

Blues master Derek Trucks slides into Boston's House of Blues April 2 The Derek Trucks Band will unleash a combination of new sounds and Dylanesque style at the HOB By: Mike Desjardin Posted: 4/2/09 Ask any guitarist: Playing slide is tough. Real tough. One of the backbone elements of the blues, slide guitarists don't simply hit punctuated notes by pressing down on different. frets. The guitarist instead will use a "bottleneck" (named after the literal glass bottlenecks that traveling bluesman used to use) around their finger, running his hands up and down the neck of the instrument, creating seamless, steady notes that change in pitch. The style is a staple of the genre and one that, in the grand scheme of things, very few people have mastered. Derek Trucks, performing at the House of Blues on Thursday, April 2, is one of those people. Still under 30 years old, the musician has spent his life mastering the blues and working alongside some of the greatest guitarists of all time. Five years ago, Rolling Stone placed Derek Trucks on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time," calling his work "fluid…[moving] easily between Southern rock, reggae, gospel, jazz and African music." Fans of artists that have drawn from modern blues music such as John Mayer and John Butler owe quite a bit to the career of Trucks, a career that started at a very young age. Nephew of Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks, Derek was a childhood prodigy, mastering the guitar with uncanny precision at age nine. By 12, he was playing with the band. Before the age of 20, the Derek Trucks Band had already released their second album (Out of the Madness, 1998). In early 2009, the album Already Free was met with positive reviews. It opens with a

cover of "Down in the Flood" by Bob Dylan, one of several artists Derek Truck had shared a stage with before he could legally drink in the United States. Aside from recording and touring with the legendary Allman Brothers Band for several years, Trucks has released over five albums with the Derek Trucks band. Their discography is eclectic, including 2006's Songlines, a brilliant collage of New World rock instrumentals and blues ballads. If the description of Songlines sounds a bit like "musical jambalaya," it's actually a marginally successful rundown of the record's nature. Some tracks, like the ten minute "Sahib Teri Bandi/Maki Madni," blend Easterninfluenced percussions with traditional blues guitar work. Immediately following "Maki Madni" is "Chevrolet," which resembles, quite simply, an authentic southern slice of musical Americana. "I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel to Be Free)," meanwhile, is a powerhouse gospel number with enough emotion to blow the doors off the back of a church. It's about this time in the record that you've completely forgotten that, four songs prior, the album was gleaning most of its elements from a completely different corner of the globe. Somehow, amidst all of the style bending and genre flip-flopping, a cohesive sound emerges that feels both one-of-a-kind and right at home. This Thursday, the Derek Trucks Band will be playing at the House of Blues to promote their newest release, Already Free. If the group's eclectic history is any indication, do not expect your run-of-the-mill blues show. © Copyright 2009 The Berkeley Beacon

Derek Trucks is constantly switching gears Preview Thursday, April 02, 2009 By Scott Mervis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Guitarist Derek Trucks started jamming with the Allman Brothers when he was 10. Now 29, he is on tour promoting his sixth studio album with the Derek Trucks Band.

He's an Allman brother. Frontman of the Derek Trucks Band. Husband to blues woman Susan Tedeschi. And father to a 7-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl. So, Derek Trucks has a pretty full schedule these days, especially with a new solo album out and the Allman Brothers celebrating their 40th anniversary. When things get hectic, the 29-year-old guitar hero remembers his dad, a roofer, having to be up at 5:30 each morning. "You just have to get very comfortable wearing different hats in different situations," he says. "My dad was up early every day and it helps puts things in perspective. I've been touring close to 20 years now, so I don't really know any other way. The traveling isn't as easy and carefree as it was before having children but it's like reading -- it's intellectually stimulating. We also have an incredibly strong support unit with our own families. My parents and brothers and sister all live within 10 miles, so 'it takes a village.' Most importantly the kids are great, and they know even though Susan and I work a lot we are still very connected." Trucks, a guitar prodigy and nephew of Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks, started jamming with the Allman Brothers when he was 10 years old and became an official member in 1999 when he was 20, jamming opposite Warren Haynes. The Allmans just finished a run of 15 dates at the Beacon Theatre in New York, with special guest spots by the likes of Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy, Phish members Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell and Eric Clapton.

Derek Trucks Band   

Where: Pepsi-Cola Roadhouse, Burgettstown. When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $39-$59; 412-323-1919.

Asked about Clapton, who played with Duane Allman in Derek and the Dominos, Trucks says, "It was great to play with Eric again. He has a long history with members of the

Allmans and he went out of his way to be there. It was a monumental couple of shows, in fact the whole Beacon run was pretty amazing." Now, Trucks is switching gears back into the Derek Trucks Band, with a tour that stops at the Pepsi Roadhouse Sunday promoting "Already Free," a sixth studio album of swampy, funky blues-rock with Trucks playing lots of dirty slide. Among the highlights are a cover of Dylan's "Down in the Flood," the Little Feat-like "Maybe This Time" and lead vocals by Tedeschi on "Down Don't Bother Me" and Doyle Bramhall II on "Our Love." " 'Already Free' is the most song-oriented record we've ever done and has more vocals then we've had before -- [DTB singer] Mike [Mattison] appears on every track with the exception of the songs Susan and Doyle sing. We really feel like this album is a serious step forward for the band and our sound and what we can do together. The fact that we did it ourselves means a lot. I got to produce the album from home without any time constraints which allowed the vibe in the room to constantly flow." Trucks had the luxury of finishing the sessions with 25 tracks and then distilling them down to the best 12. The creative burst was due in part to having a new, high-end studio right in his backyard. "I built it for the sole purpose of not touring as much and working at home," he says. "For the most part I could wake up in the morning and drive the kids to school and then get right back into the studio and start working. We didn't have to fit into a schedule, so we were able to make a record that is really organic. Susan and I are really fortunate in that most of our friends happen to be world-class musicians. We just started inviting friends down, like Doyle came out to the house for a week and [we] wrote together, then Warren [Haynes] came and we wrote a few songs together. This past year has been a really creative time for us on so many levels. Ultimately, this has been kind of a jumping off point for what we want to do with the studio and with the next handful of records that we do." Scott Mervis can be reached at [email protected] or 412-263-2576. First published on April 2, 2009 at 12:00 am

BURLINGTON FREE PRESS April 2, 2009

Derek Trucks brings his fluid guitar skills to Higher Ground By Brent Hallenbeck, Free Press Staff Writer No one was more surprised than Derek Trucks when he found out his solo band’s new disc, “Already Free,” reached number 19 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts when it came out in January. “That was a shocker to me,” the guitarist said recently by phone from New York City. “I thought they meant 19 on the blues chart; 19 on the full Billboard chart was way beyond my expectations. It’s done a lot better than anything we’ve been a part of up until now.” Trucks, performing with his band April 3 at Higher Ground, said the difficulty in categorizing his band has something to do with the band’s growing success. His sound, shaped by his work with the Allman Brothers Band and honed in his own group, is most accurately described as blues rock, but his music catches the ears of jam-rock and jazz fans as well. “Part of what we’ve been able to do as a group — some of it consciously and some of it just the nature of it — is we’ve kept our feet in a lot of different camps but never really been accepted by any of them,” Trucks said. “We’ve made it a point not to get bogged down in any one of those scenes.” His most recent appearance in Burlington demonstrated that musical dexterity. The Derek Trucks Band concluded the three nights of music in August during the Lake Champlain Maritime Festival, following a couple of Vermont-based acts, jam-rocking Phish bass player Mike Gordon and retroblues-rockers Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Trucks, from Jacksonville, Fla., showed his fluid guitar skills at that the festival without showing off. While most guitarists would make those grimacing rock-star faces when reaching for a soaring note, the tall, blond, ponytailed Trucks remains boyishly calm. He said he learned his style in part by watching restrained performances by musicians who preceded him such as Duane Allman, Elmore James and John Coltrane. “I saw footage of John Coltrane (when Trucks was) 14 or 15 years old and it was just all business, the look in his eye. There was no showmanship,” Trucks said. “Part of it is those influences and part of it is my nature. There’s definitely some musicians that are showmen and I love them for it, but a lot of times it feels kind of like a cop-out to me.” He might look stoic, but Trucks was having fun looking out toward Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks during the Maritime Festival. “We’ve always had a good time in Burlington,” he said. “We’ve played there a few times over the years, from that upstairs club, Club Metronome, and all the different Higher Grounds. Burlington’s been good to us for a long time. It’s a beautiful place, too, which definitely helps.”

Additional Facts

If you go The Derek Trucks Band, 8:30 p.m. April 3, Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington. $25 in advance, $27 day of show. 652-0777, www.highergroundmusic.com.

With 'Already Free,' Derek Trucks begins expanding his horizons By Alan Sculley, FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, April 2, 2009

Derek Trucks Derek Trucks Band With: The Bridge When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday Admission: $39-$59 Where: Pepsi-Cola Roadhouse, Burgettstown Details: 724-947-1900 Up to now, guitarist Derek Trucks probably has been better known as a member of the Allman Brothers Band than as a band leader, despite the fact that the new Derek Trucks Band CD, "Already Free," is the group's sixth album. But in talking with Trucks, the guitarist leaves little doubt about how important his band is to him and, perhaps more tellingly, how much he wants the group to leave a lasting stamp on the music world. Trucks and the band perform Sunday at the Pepsi-Cola Roadhouse. "Already Free" stands apart from the other Derek Trucks Band albums for having a much larger percentage of songs written or co-written by Trucks or the other band members. This facet of the CD says a lot about how Trucks' interest in the music-making process has expanded, as has his larger goals for his band. "It wasn't really until the last three or four years that I really started appreciating the art of writing songs," Trucks says. "Up to that point, most of what inspired and moved me were performances. I appreciated great songs, but what mattered to me more was Stevie Wonder singing on a great song that he wrote or Mahalia (Jackson) singing on a great gospel tune or (John) Coltrane playing. It was usually the performer and the tone and the sound that I got into. It was really only in the last three or four years that I was really struck by Leonard Cohen's songwriting or (Bob) Dylan's songwriting, not the performances, but the depth, the multilayered ideas and just the beauty of some of these lyrics and just the song structure." Trucks also came to a related realization as his appreciation for songwriting grew. "I'd definitely been thinking about the fact that, to make a band's legacy or a musician's legacy really last, I feel like there's got to be a healthy amount of original compositions to make it hold

up," Trucks says. "There are great artists and legendary artists that didn't write a lot of tunes, but for the most part, the ones that changed things wrote a good deal of their stuff. It's something I was thinking about." So Trucks -- one of the most humble artists one can encounter, despite his prodigious talent as a guitarist -- might have taken a major step toward making important music with "Already Free." "Already Free" mixes elements of soul, jazz, world beat, country, blues and rock. But the new CD is edgier, and particularly on songs such as "Something to Make You Happy," "Get What You Deserve" and "Don't Miss Me," the group emphasizes the rock/blues/soul side of its sound more than on earlier albums. Meanwhile, the high quality of the material, coupled with the fast growth Trucks has made with songwriting, suggests that "Already Free" might be the start of a fruitful phase for the band, which includes Trucks, bassist Todd Smallie, drummer Yonrico Scott, keyboardist Kofi Burbridge, singer Mike Mattison and percussionist Count M'Butu. With "Already Free" having only arrived in stores in January, it is no surprise to hear Trucks say that the new CD figures to be a centerpiece of his group's shows this spring. "We'll probably be playing a lot of those (new) tunes," he says.