Trucks, Derek

Trucks, Derek

Derek Trucks was born on 8 June 1979 in Jacksonville, Florida. He is the nephew of Butch Trucks, drummer and founding member of the Allman Brothers Band. Derek first picked up the guitar at age 9. Within a year, he was touring under his father’s watchful eye. At the age of 11, he played with Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers. By the time he was 20, he had gotten to know Buddy Guy and had jammed wtih Joe Walsh and Steven Stills. Known already as a world-class slide guitarist, he was the youngest guitarist named in Rolling Stone Magazine’s 2003 list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time.

The Derek Trucks Band was formed in 1994 while Derek was still in high school. They released their first album in 1994. Their most recent CD is Already Free (2009). In 1999, Derek was invited to join the Allman Brothers Band. Since then, he has split his time between both bands.

Derek has been influenced by Indian classical music, particularly Ali Akbar Khan and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Other influences are John Coltrane, Sun Ra, Son House, Bukka White, Charlie Christian, Howlin’ Wolf and Wayne Shorter.

Eric and Derek first worked together in the fall of 2005 on sessions for The Road To Escondido, released in 2006. In an early 2006 interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, Derek said, “I just got a call from him randomly on a cell phone one night as I was headed home. Doyle Bramhall, who plays in his band, is on my wife’s new record and has always been really supportive of the band. I think maybe Doyle turned Clapton on to some of our records because he was familiar with the stuff we’ve done in our band. He asked me to come out and record on the album he’s doing with J.J. Cale. Obviously, it was a blast to get a chance to hang with both of those guys, as well as Billy Preston, who also played on the session. It was quite a trip.” Derek is married to blues singer Susan Tedeschi.

Derek was part of Eric’s touring band in 2006 / 2007. Due to previous committments with the Allman Brothers Band, Derek left the tour on 18 March, several weeks before it concluded. He was also be one of the performers at Eric’s 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival on 28 July. 

Eric joined Derek and the rest of the Allman Brothers Band on 19 and 20 March 2009 at the Beacon Theater in New York as a part of the The Allmans fortieth anniversary celebration.