The last time Derek Trucks played in Savannah, in April 2010, he was all excited about the brand–new project he was starting with his wife, singer and songwriter Susan Tedeschi.
From the beginning, the ace guitarist said in a Connect interview, they’d been musical as well as emotional soul–mates.
“Both of us, so much of our mental and emotional energy was invested in music – and almost music alone – that I think you need that connection,” Trucks told us. “Music’s not really something you ever need to get away from. It’s not like working in an office, and when you get home you don’t want to talk about it. The part of the music business that’s a pain in the ass is the business side of it, and the traveling. But it’s not the music, so if you have that part in common, I think it only helps.”
The Derek Trucks/Susan Tedeschi Band’s 2010 show was part of the Savannah Music Festival, and it also happened to be the group’s very first performance anywhere.
“We’re really excited, because there’s a ton of new material,” he said beforehand. “Just in the first three or four days we started writing, there was dozens of ideas. And I think about 20–something of those turned into finished songs.”
Fourteen months later, we all get to see how these astonishingly creative musicians have developed those songs and ideas. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 6 for a June 14 performance by the Derek Trucks/Susan Tedeschi Band in the Johnny Mercer Theatre.
Trucks, of course, is one of the most accomplished electric slide players in the world. He’s a full–time member of the Allman Brothers Band, recently toured the world as Eric Clapton’s second guitarist, and keeps a pretty busy schedule with his own Derek Trucks Band.
That unit, Trucks said in our interview, will return ... eventually.
“There’s really no plans,” he said. “For the first time in my adult life, I wanted to kind of leave the door open and not box myself in ... I didn’t want to give the project we were jumping into a definite timeline before we started, you know? Like “‘Don’t invest too much of your heart in it, ‘cause we’re done in a year.’”
@ Hootie and the Blowfish frontman (and country music solo artist) Darius Rucker will play the Johnny Mercer Theatre Sept. 16.
Tickets for the Rucker show go on sale May 13 at etix.com
News you can use
• The Train Wrecks and Local Swagger play for Friday’s “Art For Art’s Sake” benefit at the DeSoto Row Gallery, along with the Savannah Country Day School Chorus. The gallery’s getting 100 percent of the proceeds from the 6–9 p.m. event, the centerpiece of which is a silent auction of “affordable art” by local and nationally–known artists (all donated for the cause) and sundry stuff from local businesses. See desotorow.org.
• As you know, the SCAD production of Hair opens next week. On May 13, actress Emma Zaks, who was in the recent Broadway revival, is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. at SCAD’s Crites Hall. It’s free and the public is welcome.
