Artist: Tedeschi-Trucks Band
Album: Signs
Label: Fantasy
Release Date: 2.15.2019
The preeminent roots band Tedeschi-Trucks Band (TTB) may get tons more accolades for their live shows, but this is as good an album as any band can make. It’s TTB’s best. These are all original songs, songs for our times, sung soulfully by Susan Tedeschi and fleshed out by the 12-piece band, led by one of the world’s best guitarists, Derek Trucks. Signs is their fourth studio album since combining the forces of both Susan and Derek’s bands in 2010.
Band members are: Susan Tedeschi (vocals/gtr.), Derek Trucks (gtr.), Kofi Burbridge (keys and flute), Kebbi Williams (sax), Tyler Greenwell and J.J. Johnson (drums/percussion), Mike Mattison, Alecia Chakour and Mark Rivers (vocals), Tim LeFebvre (bass), Ephraim Owens (trumpet), Elizabeth Lea (trombone), and the band composed most of these tunes with the help of friends and frequent collaborators like Warren Haynes, Oliver Wood and Doyle Bramhall II. It’s a full band effort throughout, and you’ll hear keyboards, blaring horns, glorious harmonies and propulsive rhythms from the two drummers. As with past albums, this was recorded in Trucks and Tedeschi’s home studio, with Trucks, Jim Scott, and Bobby Tis producing, recording and mixing. Unlike past efforts though, they produced a warmer sound by recording on two-inch analogue tape.
There are several political and social themes including polarization, intolerance, and environmental concerns. For example in “Shame” the band expresses their frustration about our current state – “Shame, there’s poison in the well/Shame, you know we can’t unring the bell /Though I tried/Oh to let it all fall away,/ Oh but sometimes I, I hear exactly what you say.” Rather than dwell on the negative, the band feels it’s their duty to provide optimism and hope. This is captured perfectly with Tedeschi’s galvanizing gospel-inflected “I’m Gonna Be There” and their ode to the beauty of life in ‘Strengthen What Remains.”
While recording the album between their vigorous touring schedule and family duties (two now-teenage children), several tragedies hit. Derek’s uncle and Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks, Gregg Allman, and friends like Leon Russell, B.B. King and Colonel Bruce Hampton all passed away. There are nods to them throughout the record, brought to a passionate conclusion in the closing track, “The Ending.” Tedeschi sings especially emotively, trying to make sense of Hampton’s final moments when, during his 70th birthday concert where Trucks, Tedeschi and several other high profile musicians were offering tribute, he suddenly collapsed onstage, passing away shortly thereafter.
Tedeschi, a well-respected vocalist now for many years, is just so damn poignant and expressive on this record, that her star shines brightest amongst this top-shelf group of musicians. Trucks says it best, “Without Susan’s voice, it would be so hard to pull these songs together. The emotion she conveys through these songs is so real. That’s something you just can’t fake.”
Susan responds by saying “Derek is such a great leader. He’s an old soul who is very passionate and gifted, one of the best guitarists in the world. He’s a big reason why this thing works.” Elaborating on “this thing,” she says, “All of these people we play with are extremely talented, and each of them could easily be fronting their own outfit. Everybody is so gifted. And we realize how special this band is. We’re not going to mess it up. We’re going to keep working hard at it and move it forward.”
This has all the ingredients of a terrific album: killer songs, gutsy vocals and supremely gifted players. Music doesn’t get any better.
—Jim Hynes
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