Derek Trucks

The Allman Brothers Band, 1969–2014

With the band: 1999–2014
Instruments: Lead and slide guitar

A Family Name

Derek Trucks was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 8, 1979. His parents named him after Derek and the Dominos, the band whose records feature some of Duane Allman’s finest slide guitar. His uncle was founding Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks. Derek picked up a guitar at nine, took to slide almost right away, and was playing paid gigs before he was a teenager. He sat in with the Allman Brothers while he was still in school.

The Derek Trucks Band

By his mid-teens Derek was leading the Derek Trucks Band, which mixed blues, soul, jazz and Indian classical music. The band recorded and toured for about 15 years and won a Grammy for Already Free.

Joining at Twenty

When Jack Pearson left in 1999, Derek joined the Allman Brothers Band full time. He was 20. He played first alongside Dickey Betts, then Jimmy Herring, and from 2001 with Warren Haynes, and he and Warren became one of the most celebrated guitar pairings in the ABB’s history. You can hear Derek on Peakin’ at the Beacon, Hittin’ the Note and One Way Out.

The band played its final concert on October 28, 2014, 43 years to the day after Duane died, and that night Derek played several of Duane’s guitars.

Tedeschi Trucks Band

Derek also toured with Eric Clapton, and in 2010 he and his wife, singer and guitarist Susan Tedeschi, formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Their debut album, Revelator, won a Grammy, and the band has grown into one of the most popular live acts in American roots music. They released their sixth studio album, Future Soul, in 2026, and recorded part of it at Derek and Susan’s studio in Jacksonville.