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A Very Special Episode: Out of Breath Concerts
Welcome to Out of Breath Albums, where I listen to a vinyl record while exercising, then talk about it. Today we're going off the rails for a special edition of the podcast, which I am calling Out of Breath Concerts. That's because, this week, I went to my first concert of 2022, and I saw the Tedeschi Trucks Band. I've known about this band for quite some time, and I've seen their performances on YouTube. I, of course, know Derek Trucks from his time in the Allman Brothers Band. But I'd never seen this band live. So I thought I'd talk about it. This is just a list of observations and thoughts that I had about the show, and also about live music in general in 2022 - or at least this winter.
On the album shows, I always pull a snippet from an album profile, so I thought I'd do that here too. Here are two quotes that I pulled from the band's website that gives you a little background if you don't know who they are:
Go back to December 31, 2008, when guitarist Derek Trucks and his wife, singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi, were preparing to ring in the New Year. Married since 1999, these two soulmates, equally steeped in the musical roots of blues, jazz, and gospel, had finally decided the time was right to set aside their successful solo careers and commit to a new band melding their vision and talent...Two years later, the couple debuted Tedeschi Trucks Band...
In pursuit of their ideal sound driven by world-class musicianship, Tedeschi and Trucks put together a musical collaborative like no other, flying in the face of any practical or economic considerations.
Now 12-members strong, and with a catalog of seven albums and nearly a decade of steady touring in the U.S. and abroad, Tedeschi Trucks Band carries a distinguished reputation earned from both audiences and critics as one of the premier live bands in the world.
Since this is a podcast, I also pulled this quote from their website, from one of the most famous podcasters and blues lovers, Marc Maron.
"I saw them live and it was mind-blowing. [Derek] has taken the guitar, specifically slide guitar, somewhere it has never been. His phrasing both with and without slide is uniquely his and just odd and jarring and exciting to listen to. [Susan] is an earnest blues player as well and her voice is astounding. The band was mind-blowing. They take a form that is arguably tired and turn it inside out with originality and musicianship and make it totally their own." – Marc Maron
This was a very special show. I regret that I hadn't seen them before.
The Tedeschi Trucks Band: Live in Omaha, Nebraska, January 18, 2022
I'll start with Susan Tedeschi. As Maron said in his quote she is a really good guitar player, and she has such a soulful voice with a lot of range that can handle everything from blues standards to their original music. Then, of course, you've got Derek Trucks, who I could watch play all day, with his long sleeve plaid shirt and Gibson SG that he just commands. He got famous for his slide playing, and of course, that's otherworldly, but he also laid down some hard rock riffs and leads in this set that just blew me away. The guy lives up to every bit of his hype.
They've got two percussionists in Tyler Greenwell and Isaac Eady, which, if you heard my comments on the Allman Brothers Band's Idlewild South episode, you'll know I love. It just gives the rhythm section such a more full and robust sound and it sets bands apart who do that, in my opinion. There's always something going on back there and it's the engine that keeps the music rolling along. Brandon Boone is his name and he is a great bass player too.
Sliding over to the left of the stage (stage right), you've got a real live horn section! Now, outside of the E Street Band (no spoilers, but...stay tuned for more on that next week), I don't regularly listen to a lot of rock, blues, or jazz music with horns. Now, I play a horn, but it's in more of a symphonic setting, so it's kind of a treat to see three actual players back there. They were great. You've got Kebbi Williams on the saxophone, Ephraim Owens on trumpet, and Elizabeth Lea, who played a trombone solo near the end of the set that just about brought the old theater to the ground. People loved it.
Over to the right (stage left), you've got three really good backing vocalists in Mark Rivers, Mike Mattison, who stepped out to trade lead vocals with Susan a few times, and Alecia Chakour, who got featured on one of the later numbers in the set and, again, blew everybody away.
Finally, there's Gabe Dixon on the keyboards. As a kid and an obnoxious heavy metal fan and guitar player, I wanted nothing to do with keyboards. A few things happened that changed that. One of those things I'll talk about when it comes up on Out of Breath Albums, as I have a couple of records that will tie in with it. Another is Greg Allman. Seeing that seated keyboard player on the organ and the piano, singing backup vocals from time to time, certainly makes you think of Greg.
Despite those connections, this band stands on its own. They are their own thing and they're an incredible band. Still, there is that subtle connection that you notice in little things, like the organ player in the front left. The double percussion. There are also a few Dickey Betts-style leads from Trucks' guitar. It doesn't occur often, but you notice it in a few choice places. They'll sometimes cover an Allman Brothers tune from time to time too. Les Brers in A Minor seems to find its way into the set quite often.
I'm very glad I went, though I was a bit nervous with the pandemic still raging on and COVID cases rising again, but I put on a KN95 mask and left it in place the whole time. I wish everybody else would have. There was very little consistency with how people wear masks, even two years into the pandemic. One guy was just hovering the mask in front of his face about 2 inches. I'm not sure what he thought that was going to stop, but, we'll hope for the best.
I should also make note that since we're not sticking to the format today anyway, we lost Meat Loaf, today. I would not call myself the biggest Meat Loaf fan. I don't have any of his albums on vinyl - or at all, actually. You won't see any Meat Loaf reviews on the podcast anytime time soon. Still, he was groundbreaking in a lot of ways for rock and roll with his style of vocals and his on-stage antics, and theatrics that would have been more at home on Broadway than on the rock stage.
He was an original. I got to see him in concert one time, back during his second round of fame in the early 1990s. It was an exciting show from what I remember.
I think I met him once. I worked at a store that sold frozen foods at an outlet mall. The day before I saw Meat Loaf in concert, a man that resembled him bought a box of Jimmy Dean mini hot dogs. I'm pretty sure it was him, but I was too afraid to ask a man if he was Meat Loaf, on the chance that I was wrong. I'll never know for sure, but in my heart, I sold mini hot dogs to Meat Loaf in the 90s. I'll leave it there for today.
Rest in Peace, Meat Loaf, and go see the Tedeschi Trucks Band when they visit your town.
