Tedeschi Trucks Band - Future Soul
Listen to an audio version of this review by Greg
“It didn’t grab me”, I said. What? my friend riding shotgun retorted. I said it again, “it didn’t grab me”. Those were my words in 2022 when describing the recent music I’d heard from the Jacksonville, FL based Tedeschi Trucks Band.
The look my friend gave back resembled what someone thinking, “Your loss”. Now, this “meh” feeling I had is difficult to explain. I have seen the band live, played their song, Midnight in Harlem with my band and loved it, and have been mesmerized by Derek Trucks and his guitar playing when he replaced Dicky Betts in The Allman Brothers Band in 2000.
However, in the past 20+ years, I’ve just had that strange “meh” feeling when it came to the Tedeschi Trucks Band. I can’t explain it. I really can’t.
Well, it wasn’t until 2026 when I heard Future Soul and everything changed.
Future Soul is the sixth studio album by the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Released on March 20, 2026, the album was produced by Mike Elizondo with band member and lead guitarist, Derek Trucks co-producing.
Derek Trucks is the nephew of Butch Trucks, drummer for The Allman Brothers Band. Derek began hanging around and jamming with the Allman Brothers in 1993 when he was 13 years old. It was clear to anyone and everyone around him that Derek had a special talent with the guitar. Playing his first performance at age 11, Derek embraced the blues and would many times play the guitar using a slide, which gives the guitar a more unique sound common with the traditional blues style.
Derek went on to join his uncle’s band, The Allman Brothers Band in 1999 as a full-time member, playing guitar alongside Dicky Betts and Warren Haynes. He would replace Betts in 2000 after Betts departed due to health and personal problems.
While touring through the early 2000s with The Allman Brothers Band, Trucks was also performing live and recording with his own group, The Derek Trucks Band.
After touring with The Susan Tedeschi Band in 2007 and naming the combo as the Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi's Soul Stew Revival, Trucks and Tedeschi enjoyed the experience so much, they decided to merge their two bands together. They officially formed The Tedeschi Trucks Band in 2010. Their first concert was on April 1, 2010, at the Savannah Music Festival.
Born in Norwell, MA, a fellow New Englander by blood, Susan Tedeschi grew up in a Catholic family, finding joy at an early age in music, predominately singing in African American Baptist churches, feeling that the music was "less repressed and more like a celebration of God." Susan formed her first band in 1983 at the age of 13 and later formed her first all-original group at age 18, The Smokin' Section, in the nearby town of Scituate, MA.
After graduating from Norwell High School, Susan attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she sang in a gospel choir. During this time, Tedeschi began sitting in on blues jams at local venues and immersed herself in the Boston music scene.
She formed The Susan Tedeschi Band in 1993. The band released their first album in 1995. In 1999, performing as the opening act for The Allman Brothers Band, Tedeschi met young Derek Trucks, then aged 19, during their stop in New Orleans. The two bonded over their mutual love for blues and jazz. After the 1999 tour was over, the two stayed in touch and developed a relationship. That relationship blossomed beyond music, and the two married in 2001. Today, they have two children and live together in Jacksonville, FL.
Fast forward 25 years later, on March 20, 2026, The Tedeschi Trucks Band released Future Soul, their sixth studio album.
What is it about this album? I suppose today I am searching for that answer, which brings me to this review. Right now, I’m in this unique spot in my life. Although I feel like I have everything I need, I cannot help but constantly think about my demise. What I mean by that is, every second of every day, whether it’s good or bad, I cannot help but be overcome with thoughts such as, “this is amazing, but one day it’s going to be over”. Dark, right? I know. I feel like I am feeling too much. Or maybe not enough. Now this is not incredibly healthy, I know. But it can be a superpower. I can harness these thoughts and transform them in a way where instead of them leading me to ultimate dread, it enables me to stop and simply smell the roses in every single situation I experience for the rest of the time I am here.
And music, of course, is the driver. It is my ultimate passion and the reason I breathe. When one “over feels” for lack of a better word, maybe, just maybe, they can really squeeze every bit of joy, beauty and life out of every situation.
This is how Future Soul makes me feel…. joyous. Not sad. Energetic. Not gloomy. Hopeful for our society’s future, even though right now that looks worse than a clogged toilet in the only working bathroom in your house.
The album kicks off with Crazy Cryin’. This is track one of an eleven song ride that fills your “soul” with blues rock. Tedeschi’s vocals clearly show off her gospel roots, not just on this track, but in everything she belts out.
When you get to the 3rd track, Who Am I, just pull out your handkerchief, and wave it in the air, declaring “surrender”. As Tedeschi sings,
“Who, who am I, without you, in my arms?
And who, who are you, all alone, in the glow, of the bright summer stars?
A seed without the dirt
A poet lost for words
A wave without an ocean”
I cannot help but wonder, is she singing about her bond and marriage with her husband, Derek?
Picture this; as Tedeschi’s lyrics close out, Trucks takes his guitar and quietly walks over to you. He puts his guitar up to your ear, your right ear. Then, without warning, he RAMS his guitar sound into your ear. But it’s not loud. It’s not metal. It’s not obnoxious. It simply lifts you up into the clouds. His guitar talks to you. It tells you that “everything is going to be ok”. Despite your fear and worry, it’s okay. Take this soft blanket and know that you’re safe. That’s all I needed.
When I first heard, Hero, it was live on the Howard Stern Show. Yes people, today Stern focuses less on the crazy, annoying person he once portrayed. For two decades now on Sirius Radio, he has interviewed some knock out, drag down incredible bands and had them perform live on his show. For those who remember the old obnoxious, annoying Stern, I recommend you take a second listen. Things have changed.
Anyways, Hero starts off with Tedeschi’s humming. The lyrics are short and sweet. Very short. They start off with,
“From the bed to the ballad
Love is only word salad, my dear
From the profane to the hallowed
From the blade to the marrow
From the lame to the hero
I'm not your hero
I'm number zero”
As the quick verse completes, this track takes a wild turn. To my ears, Tedeschi is being humble. She is singing what she feels is the truth. Don’t worship me because I’m up here on stage. Don’t adore me because I’m singing. I’m not your hero.
I dig that.
What in the World is another invitation into Tedeschi’s gospel/blues vocals. The acoustic guitar tilts it towards a ballad, an example of Susan’s heartfelt belting vocal harmony that comes from a deep, passionate place. Trucks’ slide is arguably the 2nd vocalist here. Despite this being a twelve-piece band, when Derek pulls that slide out of his pocket to play, the guitar sound moves through to another dimension. He is widely praised today as the world’s best living slide guitar player.
Trucks does not use a guitar pic when he plays. He hasn’t since he was a teenager. He said he spent so much time dropping them on the stage floor, he finally decided to just drop them from his playing. He uses his thumb as a balance point, almost as a blocker for his four fingers, keeping them from plucking the one string he wants to mute during a particular note.
When you watch Derek play guitar, it looks like he’s waving at his strings. His playing does not seem to resemble most others, and when the sound is generated from the strings, there’s certainly a magic that comes out, a magic I’m not sure I’ve heard before.
Under the Knife, the album’s seventh track, features Mike Mattison on lead vocals.
Mike Mattison began collaborating with The Derek Trucks Band in 2002, when he was recommended by record producers Craig Street and John Snyder to fill the newly vacated position of lead vocalist for them. Coincidentally, before a formal meeting, Derek was riding the subway in New York City and ran into Mike. The two formed a bond and Mattison was asked to join the band.
Interestingly enough, Mike Mattison wrote the lyrics to what might be considered the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s most requested song, Midnight in Harlem, which might be my favorite song by the band. If you have not had a chance to hear it yet, DROP EVERYTHING NOW and go listen. Seriously!
Derek’s slide guitar playing is, of course, stunning. A practice that originated in the 19th century in the Mississippi Delta, blues guitarists were combining the old Hawaiian lap steel guitar with what was known at the time as more of a traditional African American root style of playing a guitar. The guitarist creates a whining pitch from his guitar by using items like a metal bar, a glass bottle or a plastic cover that fits over the fingers.
Many people feel, including me, that Trucks has mastered the slide style. Throughout his career, his playing has taken on a grace of its own. His finger picking and slide polish have placed him in a category of his own, where he is also widely considered one of the best rock guitarists on this planet.
Future Soul closes with Ride On. What seems to be another ballad, Tedeschi sings lyrics resembling feelings that have been running through my head for months now.
“Turned up the volume in my old truck,
tried to drown those old
troubled voices in my head.
Somewhere I hear intuition, crying out and
wishing I’d set down my regrets”
Every night when I lay down to rest, I put music on to drown out my thoughts. My troubled voices. Since losing my mother to a terrible illness, since witnessing my beloved country to which I’m so proud of, fall into a message of constant division and hate, I cannot seem to be comfortable in my own skin anymore. I am not sure why. I mean, I guess I just gave some reasons, but this time is different. I feel that the message of hope is being jumbled. I have less encouragement and optimism for the future, and I don’t want this to take up space in my head anymore.
When I heard, Ride On, Susan sings,
“I guess I’m just along for the ride
Gliding down this road another night.
You’re the only home I’ve ever tried
I can hear the engine running
Ride on home, Ride On”.
These are words written by Derek Trucks and Gabe Dixon. I see these lyrics as a comforting message saying that we cannot control everything. In life, we are along for a ride. Despite the heartbreak that is happening in this country and around the world, I am along for the ride. That doesn’t mean I am going to accept it. But to me, this song is a message of love and optimism. We are all along for the ride and while we’re here, let’s do our best to spread compassion and respect across our culture and hope one day the hate finds a new home, somewhere far, far away from us.
Future Soul is my high pick and a gem for a new 2026 album. For those of you (including myself) who said unhappily that rock n roll is dead, immerse yourself in this album. I think you will realize we’re not going to heal until each one of us loves ourselves and does our very best to love one another first, rather than resort to hate out of the gate. Ride on, and love will find its way to you.
