MADE UP MIND AVAILABLE AUGUST 20, 2013
FROM SONY MASTERWORKS
How can a band that’s
merely three years old sound so timeless? That’s a question you will
undoubtedly ask yourself when listening to the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s Made Up Mind, due from Sony Masterworks August 20th. Their third full-length release, Made Up Mind is the highly anticipated follow-up to 2011’s Grammy-winning debut Revelator and last year’s scorching live collection, Everybody’s Talkin’.
But the answer to the above question is simple: When the dynamic vocalist and guitarist Susan Tedeschi and her guitar virtuoso husband Derek Trucks
merged their talents and constructed a new, 11-piece juggernaut, they
were pooling many years of experience and collective musical knowledge.
Derek—who has also been a mainstay of the legendary Allman Brothers Band
for more than a decade, and leader of The Derek Trucks Band—first slung
a guitar over his shoulders at age 9 and is currently ranked number 16
on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list.
Susan is a roots music powerhouse who was nominated for five Grammys on
her own, including Best New Artist in 2000, before the formation of TTB
(as their fans have come to know them). Made Up Mind is where all
of the instrumental, vocal and songwriting prowess of music’s greatest
power couple—and that of their superb bandmates—truly meshes in a big
way.
“We
knew we wanted to be a little bit bolder with this record, not be
afraid to do whatever we felt was really great,” says Tedeschi, who
first met Derek in New Orleans in 1999 when her previous band was
opening for an Allman Brothers Band tour. “We’re all friends and family.
Now we’re finally making the music we want to make. It’s really an
exciting time.”
Adds Trucks, “What I noticed most while making this record was there was more confidence. On Revelator
everyone was still feeling each other out. Then, after a few years on
the road, with a live record along the way, everyone unleashed and
played a little freer. We didn’t want to force the sound and tell it
what it was going to be. We wanted to see where it took us. Once we hit
the studio for Made Up Mind, we didn’t even have to think about it.”
Made Up Mind is nothing less than a quantum leap forward for TTB. If Revelator and Everybody’s Talkin’
were all about finding their way, the new effort is where they emerge
as a fully formed band for the ages. Throughout the course of the album
it becomes increasingly apparent that Susan Tedeschi has evolved into
one of the most dauntingly commanding vocalists in contemporary music,
her serious lung power exploding on standout tracks such as the
über-funky "Misunderstood" and just as convincingly digging into the
core of poignant, tender acoustic ballads like "Calling Out to You" and
"Idle Wind". Derek Trucks has indisputably matured into one of the
monster guitarists of our time, tearing up barnburners like the title
track “Made Up Mind” with his masterful slide and lead licks while
showcasing his easier, more subtle touch on the bluesy “Do I Look
Worried”.
Co-produced by Jim Scott (Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wilco) and Trucks—Made Up Mind
was recorded in the band’s home base of Jacksonville at Derek and
Susan’s Swamp Raga Studios. Working closely with Scott, who also
engineered and mixed the album—and with whom Derek co-produced Revelator—Trucks’
ever-expanding expertise as a studio production whiz is displayed
continually and definitively in the choices he made throughout the
sessions. For Trucks, the studio has become another instrument to
master, and Made Up Mind leaves no doubt that his skills as a producer now rank right alongside his expertise as a player and songwriter.
Although Tedeschi Trucks Band bears the names of its co-leaders, each of its components—Kofi Burbridge (keyboards, flute), Tyler Greenwell (drums, percussion), J.J. Johnson (drums, percussion), Kebbi Williams (saxophone), Maurice Brown (trumpet), Saunders Sermons (trombone & vocals), Mike Mattison (harmony vocals) and Mark Rivers (harmony vocals)—is operating at full throttle on Made Up Mind.
There are no weak links—everyone here is contributing equally. Those
keeping count will notice that that adds up to 10 musicians—the new
release marks the first time that TTB has recorded since the departure
of its original bassist, Oteil Burbridge. Rather than replace him
immediately, the group has utilized the services of several bass players
on the album (Pino Palladino, Bakithi Kumalo, George Reiff and Dave
Monsey), and has been rotating bassists at their gigs as well.
Most of the tracks on Made Up Mind
were penned by Tedeschi and Trucks with various co-writers—including
Doyle Bramhall II, Eric Krasno, Gary Louris and John Leventhal, all of
whom also contributed to TTB's debut Revelator. The maiden
single from the album, “Part of Me,” a vocal duet between Susan and
trombonist Sermons, stands out as a particular highlight, reminiscent of
the classic R&B emanating from the Memphis and Muscle Shoals soul
scenes of the ’60s and ’70s. The title track “Made Up Mind”, authored by
Tedeschi, Trucks and Oliver Wood, is a balls-out soul-rocker in the
tradition of early Bonnie Raitt and Delaney & Bonnie. This one, says
Susan, “is an empowerment song: I know you want to see me, you want to
do this, but I’m on my own and I’ve branched out now. It could be
anything from a child growing up and getting out to a woman moving on,
or the kind of thing where this person has made a change. It’s sort of a
rebirth.”
Or,
as Derek adds, it could be about the current state of TTB: “It makes a
statement that this band knows what it wants to do and is here to stay.
Take it or leave it, this is what it is,” he says.
With
their increasingly articulate and affecting songcraft, unparalleled
musicianship and an honest, gutsy sound that incorporates multiple
stylistic influences and can only result from hard work and openness to
ideas, it’s a given that many more will make up their minds to take Made Up Mind than to leave it.
| 1 | Made Up Mind |
| 2 | Do I Look Worried |
| 3 | Idle Wind |
| 4 | Misunderstood |
| 5 | Part of Me |
| 6 | Whiskey Legs |
| 7 | It's So Heavy |
| 8 | All That I Need |
| 9 | Sweet And Low |
| 10 | The Storm |
| 11 | Calling Out To You |
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