A twelve-piece American ensemble led by slide guitarist Derek Trucks and singer-guitarist Susan Tedeschi, blending blues, soul, gospel, and rock into a large-band sound that has become a cornerstone of the modern jam and blues-rock scene.
The Short Version
Who Are They?
Tedeschi Trucks Band is an American blues-rock and soul group formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2010 by the married musicians Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi. The band merged the two smaller groups each of them had led into a single large ensemble, typically numbering around a dozen players, with a full horn section and multiple backing vocalists.
Two elements define the sound. First, the guitar: Derek Trucks is one of the foremost slide guitarists of his generation, playing fingerstyle on a Gibson SG in open tuning. Second, the voice: Susan Tedeschi is a powerful blues and soul singer who also plays rhythm and lead guitar. Around them sits a rotating cast of horn, keyboard, bass, drum, and vocal players.
The group tours heavily and is known for long, improvisation-heavy live shows, including its annual multi-night residencies. To understand the modern American jam and blues-rock scene, you start here.
Blues, soul, and gospel poured through a large stage band, the ground this music grows from.From Two Bands Into One
The Story
The band's history runs through the separate careers of its two leaders, who joined forces after years of touring apart.
Open-tuned slide guitar, the signature at the center of the band's sound.
1990s
Two separate careers
Derek Trucks, nephew of Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks, formed the Derek Trucks Band as a teenager and later joined the Allman Brothers Band. Susan Tedeschi launched a solo blues career, earning Grammy nominations for records such as Just Won't Burn.
2001
Trucks and Tedeschi marry
The two musicians, who had met on tour, married and raised a family in Jacksonville while continuing to lead their own bands and tour independently for most of the decade.
2010
The band forms
The couple dissolved their separate groups and combined them into the Tedeschi Trucks Band, an eleven- to twelve-piece ensemble built around slide guitar, blues-soul vocals, a horn section, and layered backing harmonies.
2011
Revelator and a Grammy
The debut studio album Revelator arrived in 2011 and won the Grammy Award for Best Blues Album, establishing the group as a major touring act.
2013–2019
A steady catalog
Made Up Mind (2013), Let Me Get By (2016), and Signs (2019) followed, alongside live albums, refining the studio sound and documenting the band's expansive concerts.
2022
I Am the Moon
The band released I Am the Moon, an ambitious four-part project of four albums and accompanying films issued over several months, its largest and most conceptually unified work to date.
Ongoing
A touring institution
The group continues to record and tour, anchored by long improvisational sets and recurring multi-night residencies, and remains a central act in the modern jam and blues-rock world.
Four Songs, One Education
Start Here
The catalog spans studio records and sprawling live sets. These four performances are the fastest way to grasp the range, from the signature ballad to horn-driven soul to the improvisational live band. Watch in order.
01 · The Signature
"Midnight in Harlem"
The song most associated with the band, first heard on Revelator. A slow, spacious showcase for Derek Trucks's slide guitar and Susan Tedeschi's vocal, and the essential starting point.
02 · The Soul Side
"Come See About Me"
From Revelator, an up-tempo soul number that puts the horn section and backing vocalists front and center, showing how big the band's sound can get.
03 · The Ballad
"Anyhow"
A centerpiece of Let Me Get By, a smoldering slow build that pairs Tedeschi's vocal with one of Trucks's most patient, singing slide solos.
04 · The Latest Chapter
"I Am the Moon"
The title track from the 2022 four-part project, a widescreen example of the band's more recent, conceptually ambitious writing and arranging.
The Landmark Records
The Albums 5 to start with
The band has released a handful of studio albums alongside several live records. These five studio releases are the pillars of the catalog. The highlighted card is the best place to begin.
2011
Revelator
The Grammy-winning debut. It introduced "Midnight in Harlem" and "Come See About Me" and set the template for the band's blues, soul, and rock blend.
The second studio album, tightening the songwriting and featuring the title track "Made Up Mind." It reached the top of the blues charts and broadened the band's audience.
The first album written and produced largely in-house at the band's own studio, and a fan favorite. It includes "Anyhow" and the title track and is often cited as the group's studio peak.
A tighter, song-focused record that reflects on loss and change, made after the deaths of several close collaborators and mentors, including keyboardist Kofi Burbridge.
The most ambitious project: four full albums (Crescent, Ascension, The Fall, and Farewell) released across the year with companion films, a single large body of work.
Two YouTube Music setlists: a First Listen of the signature songs to bring you in, and a Deep Cuts set of the longer, headphone-reward pieces for when you want to sink in. (Ideally, though, hear these albums whole.) Hit the button on either card to play it.
Tedeschi Trucks Band is a large ensemble, and the sound depends on the full group: the two leaders at the front, plus a horn section, keyboards, a rhythm section, and multiple backing vocalists.
Horns, keys, and layered vocals frame the two leaders and give the band its full-stage roar.
Derek TrucksSlide guitarCo-leader and one of the leading slide guitarists of his generation, playing fingerstyle on a Gibson SG in open tuning
Susan TedeschiVocals / guitarCo-leader, a powerful blues and soul singer who also plays rhythm and lead guitar
The Horn SectionTrumpet, saxophone, tromboneA full brass and reed section that fuels the band's soul and gospel side and drives the up-tempo material
The Vocal EnsembleBacking harmony singersMultiple backing vocalists who lend the choir-like, gospel-informed depth heard across the records and live sets
The Rhythm SectionKeys, bass, drumsKeyboards, bass, and a twin-drummer foundation that anchors the long improvisational live jams
The Roots of the Sound
Influences
The band's music grows from Southern rock, Chicago and Delta blues, and the golden age of Stax and Atlantic soul. Here is where it started.
Southern Rock
The Allman Brothers Band
The most direct lineage. Derek Trucks is the nephew of founding drummer Butch Trucks and spent years in the group, and its twin-guitar, blues-rooted jamming is a template for the band.
Eric Clapton's early-seventies band and its lone album, a touchstone of blues-rock guitar and long-form playing that the group has revisited in full concert performances.
The Queen of Soul, whose Atlantic recordings model the gospel-rooted power and phrasing at the heart of Susan Tedeschi's singing and the band's soul arrangements.
Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi are candid, thoughtful interviewees who talk openly about how the band was built and how it works on stage.
Interview · Archive
Trucks and Tedeschi, In Conversation
A relaxed conversation with the two co-leaders about their musical partnership, the founding of the band, and life on the road with a twelve-piece ensemble.
Interview · More
More Conversations
The band has given many interviews across radio, television, and festival stages over the years. Search YouTube for extended talks about the records, the touring life, and the craft of the large-band arrangement.
Once the studio albums have you, the band's world opens into live records, guest collaborations, and its members' earlier groups.
The live albums. Everybody's Talkin' (2012) and Live from the Fox Oakland (2017) capture the band's long, improvisational concerts, where the songs stretch and open up.
Layla Revisited. a 2021 live record of the full Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs album performed with guest Trey Anastasio, connecting the band to its blues-rock roots.
The earlier bands. the Derek Trucks Band and Susan Tedeschi's solo blues albums show where each leader came from before the two groups merged.
The residencies. the band's recurring multi-night runs are legendary among fans for deep setlists, rotating covers, and extended jams.
The Way to Listen
Do yourself one favor: put on Revelator from start to finish, then Let Me Get By. Let the slide guitar and the horns fill the room. This is a band built for the long listen, not the shuffle.
