In a recent interview, guitarist Derek Trucks suggested Tedeschi Trucks Band, the band he co-leads with wife, singer, and guitarist Susan Tedeschi, is in a position where they can pretty much do whatever they want. Which doesn’t matter so much except to say that whatever you want to do you should do it well. In the case of Tedeschi Trucks Band, that’s never been a problem. For Future Soul, their first new record in nearly four years, anything and everything Tedeschi Trucks Band do well is elevated to an entirely new level, resulting in possibly their strongest, most realized piece of work to date.
It may be superheroes Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks on the album cover, but the 12-piece Tedeschi Trucks Band is very much a band. The 11 songs are largely group efforts, with songwriting credits and standout performances spread out and generously shared. There’s no question Tedeschi handles a majority of the lead vocals and the guitar work of Trucks takes centerstage. The rest of the musicians and singers allow Tedeschi and Trucks to bask in the spotlight without losing their place in the mix, which is where the real heart and soul (past, present and future) of the band resides.
“Crazy Cryin’” gleefully welcomes you in. “I Got You” is the gotcha tune, the easy one to digest and tap your foot to. You can’t blame TTB for keeping things light when everything else that goes on can get a little out of hand. “Hero” may be the heaviest, quirkiest song in their repertoire. Tedeschi’s voice is toughened up by the song’s swampy roll and a vocal undertow likely from singers Mike Mattison, Mark Rivers, and Alecia Chakour, before the whole kit and caboodle goes sideways. It’s one of those curveballs that keeps the general flow of this album so exciting and unpredictable.
The album’s title track is a funky rocker with a hook and a lead that’ll be stuck in your head for a week. Trucks bends and squeaks out those notes on a Gibson Flying V, saving all the slide work for his SG. The slow and steady groove of “Under The Knife” with Mattison (notably, a major songwriter for the band) and Tedeschi out in front is sustained by Truck’s subtle slide picking that lifts the song up into the heavens just as the horn section pumps up the chorus and winds things down to a clean close.
If you’re not swinging your hips to “Be Kind,” it’s time to time turn in your dance card. Meanwhile, Gabe Dixon’s keys driving “Devil Be Gone” and the horns from Kebbi Williams (saxophone), Emmanuel Echem (trumpet), and Elizabeth Lea (trombone) dressing up “Shout Out” cannot be overstated. By tapping into a wide range of styles with all these different players on board, it’s no wonder Trucks is confident in saying the band can do whatever they want.
“Ride On” puts Tedeschi in close-range guitar accompaniment to end the record on a bright and solemn note. Clearly, in the A-league of singers with a range of appearances at numerous tributes, award shows, and the Kennedy Center honors, the singer comes very much into her own on Future Soul.
Looking back, it might have taken the ambition that went into their previous four-disc conceptual piece I Am The Moon, plus key appearances and tons of touring, to make an album of this caliber sound so effortless, tight, varied, accessible, and communal. The future does indeed look quite bright for Tedeschi Trucks Band as they continue to blaze their own trail in the golden age of Americana.
~ Shawn Perry
