You know how sometimes you pick something up, watch it once, then put it in your DVD pile and just forget about it, as life goes on. That's exactly what I did with Songlines. Friday night I happened to unearth it, hidden in my massive music DVD collection, after not watching it in years. I'm SO glad I did because it would be hard for me to explain how blown away I was by this disc.
I refuse to get into a discussion of The Derek Trucks Band vs. The Tedeschi/Trucks Band. They are two completely different musical entities. Despite being a long time Susan Tedeschi fan, I never was into TTB much until summer 2023 when I caught them at Red Rocks. I was pretty much just completely blown away. Susan of course is right up front in that band, and she DELIVERED big time that night. I've always loved her voice, she is loaded with Soul, and she's a much better guitar player than most give her credit for. Then add in the three piece horn section and there was tons of scintillating R&B and Soul music going on ALL night long. I might add that Gabe Dixon is a very capable replacement for Kofi Burbridge on keys, and an excellent vocalist as well. Add to the mix three backing vocalists and this is an R&B ensemble like no other.
All that being said, if you are a fan of The Derek Trucks Band or WERE a fan of The Derek Trucks Band, I urge you to pick up the Songlines DVD if you don't already have it. Let me start by saying that I'm a long time Mike Mattison fan and of course he was the only vocalist in DTB. I just love his Soulful voice and you get a heavy dose of him here. Side note: If you want to explore Mattison's work more, pick up Scrapomatic's Sidewalk Caesars or Mattison's solo record, Afterglow. Both excellent discs, especially Sidewalk Caesars.
Although Mattison adds a lot of Soul to the mix, I would describe Songlines as much more of a heavy duty jazz compilation than anything TTB does. The intense genius of Derek Trucks is apparent ALL over this incredible disc. The band is the classic DTB lineup: Yonrico Scott (RIP) drums, Todd Smallie bass, Kofi Burbridge (RIP) keyboards/flute, Count M'Butu (RIP) percussion, Mike Mattison vocals, Derek Trucks guitar. The variety of musical places that this band could go to is really quite astonishing. There's some appropriate covers thrown in: The Dominoes get a nice nod with Key To The Highway and Anyday. They do Let's Go Get Stoned from Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen. The first encore tune is some righteously funky, early Stevie Wonder, Maybe Your Baby (from Talking Book). I guarantee you it won't be very long until this one lands in my DVD player again!
OK, I don't have much more to say, except, just get your grubby little hands on this one and ENJOY! Running time is exactly 2 hours, a complete show. Here's the setlist for you:
THE DEREK TRUCKS BAND: SONGLINES (The Park West, Chicago, Illinois, 1/28/2006)
1. Joyful Noise
2. Crow Jane
3. Sahib Teri Bandi / Maki Madni
4. Volunteered Slavery
5. I'll Find My Way
6. I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)
7. Key To The Highway
8. I'd Rather Go Blind, Crippled And Crazy
9. All I Do
10. Mahjoun / Greensleeves
11. Sailing On
12. Chevrolet
13. Soul Serenade
14. For My Brother
15. Feel So Bad
16. Let's Go Get Stoned
17. Voices Inside (Everything is Everything) / Fat Mama
18. Anyday
ENCORE:
19. Maybe Your Baby
20. Up Above My Head
Derek and Susan as far as I know met when she opened several times for the Allman Brothers in 1999. I saw two of those shows. Susan had a real good band and likey would have become a headliner at least in theatres and smaller venues.
I noticed Dickey's signature on her Tele at the second show.
TTB apparently formed because Susan and Derek got married and they wanted to work together.
TTB is a headliner now. Not as big and known as Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Doobie Brothers and Allman Brothers became but that may still happen.
I wonder if Susan's band and Derek's band would have done as well as TTB if those two had not hooked up?
And which one would have done better?
I didn't know of Susan before she opened for the ABB but saw Derek Trucks Band several times because of the Allman Brothers and Derek and the Dominoes connection from the time he was a kid.
Susan is good no doubt but I've liked Derek since he began playing 30 years ago. I guess Derek is the reason I see TTB when they are in my general area.
I've seen that video. A friend bought it and let me borrow it for about 6 months when he demanded it returned. It's a fine show.
Nice writeup Rob -
I was at this show in Chicago. I had just moved to town two months earlier. It was pretty amazing. Everything that went into creating this. The morning of the show there were all of these production trucks around the venue, cords running everywhere, the tour buses, etc. It was as if they took over a city block. And the venue is in a neighborhood.
We went back that night for the show and it was amazing. Songlines is my favorite dTb album. The songs on it are some of my favs, "Sailing On" probably being tops. You are right about Mike. I kind of think he got shafted when The TTB became an entity as he is one of the background singers now but I guess that's just how it is. I think he usually gets to come to the front of the stage and sing lead on a song each night. At least he did the times I have seen them.
You mentioned Todd Smallie. Three or four years ago Mofro opened for TTB and Todd came out for a song. You should have heard the ovation he got. He was still ear to ear smiling as he always does. That was really nice that they had him sit in so I guess there must not be any hard feelings there.
If you are ever in Chicago and there's a band you want to see at Park West, GO. Great sound and acoustics. I've seen a lot of good bands there; dTB of course (a few times), Susan, Warren, Galactic, Jerry Garcia Band and some others.
Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.
Great write-up, Rob. Great DVD. I'd just add an RIP after Count M'Butu as well (2021). Sad how many we have lost from our favorite musicians/entertainers in the last few years.
I understood/understand why Derek always wanted to place some distance between dTb and the "new" at the time TTB. But now that 50% of the classic dTb are gone and there never could be a proper reunion anyway (even if they had wanted to), I do hope they would consider Todd if the bass chair for TTB were to ever open up again. I've always enjoyed Todd's playing and I thought he and Derek were tight....he was the longest serving member of dTb besides Derek and survived through several lineup changes that I think were largely initiated by Derek. But I digress.
Back to your regularly scheduled programming....
I was at that show too and still have the signed setlist artwork and other goodies that came with it
Where DTB was going at that time effectively birthed, imo, the more commercial version it is now in TTB.
I need to follow your lead and revisit this recording --- been too long
I forgot all about that signed small poster/setlist. Do you remember how you got it? It wasn't that night was it? They mailed it to you, right?
I love The Count's signature.
Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.
