photo credit: Stuart Levine

“It’s a different adventure, but I’ve really enjoyed it,” Susan Tedeschi says of the Fireside Live tour, which kicked off last month. These dates have featured a stripped down version of the Tedeschi Trucks Band with Tedeschi and husband Derek Trucks joined by Mike Mattison (vocals, acoustic guitar) Tyler “Falcon” Greenwell (drums), Gave Dixon (keyboards, vocals) and Brandon Boone (bass).

“We’re really thankful to be working,” Tedeschi adds. “It feels great to be out there in front of live audiences again. That’s what it’s all about for us. That’s why we do it. It’s a communal thing. We’re not just playing music for ourselves, we’re playing to help heal all of us, particularly after what we’ve been through over the last year-and-a-half.”

While the six-piece tours the country, a new 2-CD, 3-LP live release documents an epic performance by 12 members of the Tedeschi Trucks Band and two guests at the LOCKN’ festival on August 24, 2019. Trey Anastasio and Doyle Bramhall II joined the TTB that night to interpret Derek & The Dominos’ famed double album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Fantasy Records has just issued Layla Revisited (Live at LOCKN’) which looks back on that evening (along with a bonus studio version of “Thorn Tree in the Garden” the final track on Layla which was not performed at the festival but Tedeschi and Trucks later tackled in the studio).

The next issue of Relix will revisit Layla at LOCKN’ via reflections from Tedeschi, Trucks, Anastasio and Bramhall. As Trucks notes in that piece: “A lot of it kind of played itself…I remember we got to ‘Little Wing’ and I was thinking, ‘What an incredible cacophony of guitars and sounds.’ Everybody was just digging in and no one was in each other’s way…At times, there were four guitars onstage and it never felt crowded. It takes the right amount of mutual respect to make sure that no one’s trying to outgun each other and no one’s in that mindset. Everyone’s just trying to make the thing great, play off of each other and inspire each other. That was a good place to be.”

Speaking of good places to be, the full Tedeschi Trucks Band will return to LOCKN’ Farm on August 27-29 for three nights of music that will also feature Jon Batiste, the Marcus King Band and Lettuce. Meanwhile, the six-piece remains on the road with shows in New England this weekend and two nights at Red Rocks next weekend.

The Fireside Live tour is a nod to the Fireside Sessions, your series of performances with various members of the band that took place this past spring. Rather than livestreams, they were pre-recorded with high-end production values. What prompted this approach?

Derek Trucks: Early on in the lockdown we were airing different shows from the archives every week just for the fans. There was a lot of great feedback from that and then I noticed a lot of people were doing livestreams. I loved the fact that people were playing and I loved the fact that it was a little touch of life and reality for people and a nice escape, but there was something about the production quality that made it feel a little depressing to me. There was something about the lack of myth and magic to it that made me and Sue not really want to do it for a good long while.

Then we started thinking about it and we were like, “Why don’t we just treat this the way we would treat making a record or doing a show. Let’s film these things and really take it seriously. We’ll go into our control room and mix them properly and make this stuff sound good like we would for any show with a soundcheck. Then, once we did two shows with Sue and myself as a duet, we got the band together and went to our farm, set up and had a camera crew show up there.

We spent a good week or so just digging into it. I wanted it to feel a little more hopeful and I wanted it to sound a certain way. My thought process was “If we’re going to do it, I want to make it count. I want it to hold up, so that when all this is over, if people look back and listen to it and see it, it will feel like the same level and quality of what we’ve been trying to do up to this point.”

That’s not a knock against just setting up your phone and playing. These were hard times for a lot of people but we were fortunate to be able to hold it together as a full band and crew. We were fortunate to be able to go out to our studio and do that. We were lucky to have that option. But since we did, it felt like that was the way to go about it. So we held out longer and then it felt that by the time we did it, people were ready for something a little bit different too.

Thinking back to lockdown, even though the live gigs disappeared, you and Susan opted to make a financial commitment to your crew as well as the band. Can you talk about that decision and the challenges everyone faced?

DT: We’ve been in this together for a long, long time with a lot of our band members and crew. I mean, even think about the people that aren’t here, whether it’s Kofi [Burbridge] or Rico [Yonrico Scott] and you want to do things the right way. It was a hard, hard go for everybody but for musicians and crew members, it was kind of the first thing to go and the last thing to come back. We know so many people that were just out of work immediately and are still getting back to it or even had to change careers. But everybody’s head was in the right place, so we did what we could within our means to make it happen for this whole group.

We feel incredibly lucky that we were even in a position where we could consider those things and be able to do the Fireside stuff. And man, the fan base was incredible. People started a Givebutter and a GoFundMe for the band and crew to help us get through. It was an incredible outpouring. So we were in it with a lot of people and we were lucky to be able to keep this thing together and strong.

We’re almost close to full band back out on the road. We’re at half-size right now, which is just the nature of the gigs that we’re doing. The stage sizes couldn’t fit everybody. But I feel like we’ve turned the corner and we’re getting back to it. I think everyone’s all the more appreciative to get to do what we do—Sue and me especially.

What has it been like returning to the stage with an audience out there in front of you?

Susan Tedeschi: The whole experience has been sweaty and crazy and a little weird but the people have been awesome. I think they really appreciate being able to get out and see a live band and be out of their houses with other people. After sitting at home and trying to get through a pandemic on a worldwide level, music is such a beautiful healing thing. It’s been really positive and it’s felt great.

I really notice the crowd’s different reactions. We’ve been playing at these pop-up venues so it’s not like playing in a theater. We’ve been outside where people are still socially distant, but they have been so excited. It’s not like when you’re playing at LOCKN’ or Bonnaroo in front of a huge crowd and they’re all packed in. It’s really interesting. People have been in their little pods but they have so much freedom to do what they want. They can sit with their chairs that they bring and eat food. Or they can get up and dance and jump around in their area. So it’s nice. People have the freedom to do what they want, which is really liberating.  I’ve enjoyed seeing people enjoy the experience. That’s been really pleasant and really comforting.

But at the same time, I was initially a little nervous to the point where I even had my lyrics up there for the first four or five shows. I felt rusty and I was afraid I was going to forget them. I hadn’t performed live for a year-and-a-half. On one hand, it’s like getting on a bike, you can do it, but you still want to be good at the bike riding. You don’t want to be falling off here and there.

So it took me a little bit to get my confidence back up, but the audience made me feel more comfortable because they were so excited and really appreciative. And we were just so appreciative to be there and to see them and to have that interaction.

Being with the six-piece has been nice too, because it’s not so overwhelming. The 12-piece is amazing, but it’s a lot of work and a lot of moving parts and a lot of people. So it’s kind of a nice way to ease back into playing live, with a little bit of the crew and a little bit of the band and really getting tight. Then when we do all get back together, it’s going to be a nice well-oiled machine.

DT: When we did the first gig in Jacksonville, that venue holds all the sound in, so the crowd sounded just massive, even though I don’t know if it was half house or quarter sold. But the energy was really great right out of the gate there. Then we got out to some of the outdoor shows where it was pods and people were spread out and it’s a little harder to gauge the response—“I think people are into this” [Laughs.] It’s a totally different feeling.

We’re doing two sets every night. The first set is out in the sunshine and what I have noticed is by the second set when the sun has gone down, things feel quite a bit different. For the first set, the energy is a lot more subdued. I think people are still getting comfortable being out in crowds. Then by the time the sun sets and maybe after a few drinks, everyone gets rolling and it starts feeling like old times again. The boundaries come down a little bit, everyone gets a little looser and a few songs into the second set, you have that feeling of, “Oh yeah, this feels familiar. This is the place.” It’s been fun. It almost feels like we’re our own opening act on this tour. [Laughs.]

When you resume gigs with the full TTB do you anticipate that you’ll be playing two sets?

DT: We’re digging the two sets. It’s been fun and you kind of get a chance to reset at halftime. So if there are any sound issues you can make tweaks and talk through things. It’s also kind of nice to have a different arc to work towards. The first set can have a totally different feel and then we can kind of unleash on the second or however we choose to deal with that.

I think we’ll probably carry that forward a little bit more, knowing that it really works. We’ve also realized that we can utilize Mike’s voice and Gabe’s voice and Sue doesn’t have to sing for two-and-a-half hours straight. So that gives us a little bit of leeway too.

The small group has been a nice change of pace and it’s something we’ll think about doing for short tours here and there over the years. It’s kind of a different musical muscle that we’re getting to flex. It’s been a lot of fun.

You’ve been revisiting some older material on the current tour, songs associated with your pre-TTB days. What led to that?

ST: It was one of those things where since we were doing the six-piece, Derek was like, “Why don’t we pull stuff from both our catalogs?” He suggested “Just Won’t Burn” and I was like, “Sure, I love that tune.” Then he asked me what I wanted to do and I said, “Looking for Answers” because I wrote that in open tuning for a slide. We also do “Loving You” which I recorded on my Hope and Desire record with Doyle [Bramhall II, who joined the TTB and Anastasio during the Layla set at LOCKN]. I’ve enjoyed playing “Little By Little,” the version I used to do of Buddy and Junior [Guy and Wells].

We also started doing “Feeling Music Brings” which I wrote on an airplane going to a DTB recording session. They asked if I wanted to record something with them and I said, “Yeah, I’ll write a tune.” So I wrote it on the plane. And then when I got there, I sang it for Kofi and he put a couple of cool chords behind it. [The song eventually appeared on Tedeschi’s 2002 album Wait for Me, where she is backed by the Derek Trucks Band].  We’ve been playing that out live and it’s just so fun because it’s really uplifting and it’s a happy tune that kind of goes gospel. Then at the end people can join in which everyone seems to enjoy.

“Gonna Move,” the Paul Pena song, is another one like that. Songs like that are fun because they’re uplifting and they’re positive and people want something they can dance and move around to. It doesn’t have to be headbanging rock and roll, it just has to be groovy. [Laughs.]

So we’ve been breaking into my old catalog and Derek’s catalog. Since we have Mike out with us, we’ve been doing “Down Don’t Bother Me.” We also worked up “Crow Jane” by Skip James, which is just killer. Mike also crushes “I Know,” the Big Maybelle tune.

We’re just having fun and diving into old stuff. Each day we’ve been trying to work on a new tune to add to the repertoire.

DT: Since it’s the same size group as my solo band and Sue’s solo band, we’ve been digging into a lot of that material. We’ve been doing a lot of Sue’s tunes from her first record and things that we had never really played with this group. I’ve been enjoying that quite a bit. It’s been great digging back into those tunes.

There are quite a few of those that Sue really owns, like “Just Won’t Burn” and “Looking for Answers.” Those are great tunes that I’m kind of surprised we hadn’t played before now. I’ve been enjoying those quite a bit and even some of the old DTB stuff, whether it’s “Sweet Inspiration” or “Life Is Crazy.” Some of them we had played a few times over the years but it’s nice to dig back into that music. Sometimes it makes you remember certain people and feel certain things.

In the spirit of looking back on the past, now that live music is returning, can you recall the first show you attended that led you to think that you might want to pursue a life in music?

DT: I began sitting in with people at maybe nine years old in-and-around Jacksonville. I remember the first time I saw somebody perform where I got chills and had that feeling of magic. It was seeing Tommy Talton in this little bar on the water where I would sit in with bands all the time. Tommy was in Cowboy—the Capricorn band with Scott Boyer—and he’s still making great music.

When Tommy took a slide solo, he was the first person I saw who gave me that feeling. I don’t know if it dawned on me then that this is something I want to do for the rest of my life, but it certainly made me realize that what I thought was a feeling or a sound that was only in the past was something that was still living and breathing. I had been thinking that Duane and Hendrix and all these guys were mythical creatures and it felt like what was happening now was just a cheap representation of that. But when I saw Tommy, I felt something different. I felt like, “You can tap into this thing. This is alive.”

In addition to the older material, has there been a TTB staple that’s been particularly enjoyable or revelatory in the Fireside Live setting?

ST: There are certain songs that have been really interesting when it comes to figuring out how to do the background vocals. We’ll be switching it around so on some songs Gabe and I will sing backup or Mike and Gabe will sing backup or Mike and me will sing backup depending on who’s singing. So that’s been fun.

And then when we don’t have a horn part that we’re used to hearing, it’s cool because either Derek or Gabe will kind of play the horn line. So some of the tunes have been coming into their own just because of the fact that we have to adapt and rethink them.

A lot of the blues stuff, like “Done Somebody Wrong” or any of the Allman Brothers stuff has sounded great. We’ve been doing “Dreams” and Gabe’s been singing it—that’s been incredible. We’ve also been playing “The Storm” into “Whipping Post” and that’s been really fun.

I also find that some of the old songs are great on their own, like “Midnight in Harlem. I’ve also enjoyed “Let Me Get By” because it features so much of the organ and Derek’s playing. Even stripped down, a great song is a great song and it’s going to stand out.

This leg of the tour will end at Red Rocks with full capacity shows. That will be quite a contrast from where you started.

ST: Well that place is always different from everywhere else anyway. It’s one of the most iconic places to play in the world. It just has so much spiritual energy. You can tell that people played there before they ever had electricity. It’s such a breathtaking venue and you’re always dealing with the elements there. You’re dealing with a little bit of adversity, like wind or rain or heat. So it’s never perfect and easy, which I don’t mind. But at the same time playing there and having 9,000 people and that kind of energy is going to be so uplifting.

We were going to have the whole band, but we’re already on tour and it’s a six-piece. So it’s going to be a six-piece whether there’s 200 people or 9,000 people. Our first real gigs with the whole band probably aren’t until LOCKN’. That’s because of the way the tour was booked and came together. Usually we have an 18-wheeler and two buses but right now we have a trailer on the back of one bus with 11 of us on the bus—band and crew.

So that’s different but it’s going well and people have been really supportive of the six-piece. One thing that people have been saying to me is they really hear the core of the band a lot more than they normally would. Since it’s stripped down you can really hear the nuances. It also shows off Derek and Gabe and myself more because we’re not passing everything around as often. There’s a lot more guitar from both of us and Gabe is getting to play and sing more too. There’s also more improvisation amongst the three of us. Of course, Brandon also solos and Falcon will take a drum solo. Plus, Mike is singing and playing guitar too. It’s been nice.

DT: It’s been wild doing the smaller venues and the spread out pods. In a number of cases we’ve been playing COVID pop-up shows at these venues and after we’ve finished, they’ve started breaking down the stage. That happened in Winston-Salem and Charleston. So it’s been a pretty wild tour. It feels like we’re closing up shop at all these pop-ups and then the end is going to be Red Rocks, which is usually the pinnacle of every tour. So it’s going to feel extra unique. This year we’re going from little pop-up stages and parking lots to Red Rocks.

Looking ahead, where do things stand in terms of the next studio album?

DT: Once we got the band together for the Fireside stuff and started getting everyone tested so people could be there, we did at least six or eight sessions a week. We spent more time in the studio and writing together than we ever have. So it was an incredibly productive break. We wrote and recorded maybe 24 or 25 songs. We actually wrote more but those are the ones that we ended up getting across the finish line. So we have a few albums in the bag right now that are probably about 93, 94% finished as far as the recording goes. We’re trying to think of the best way to get them out there.

The songs are almost thematic. They were all written while everyone was apart from each other and we kind of dug into the same themes. Then when everyone came together there was all this material with different views of the same thing that everyone had gone through together.

A lot of great music came out of it. The saving grace for us during the lockdown was being able to work and be together and play music and feel like we were being productive, even if we were staying in one place.

So there’s a lot brewing there. Once we get back to full strength and then get to a release all this music, hopefully early next year, I feel like it’s going to be a fun year.