“Music is one of the few things in life that you can do, and while you’re doing it, be completely pure. It’s definitely what keeps me going in life,” Derek Trucks, guitarist for the Derek Trucks Band and the Allman Brothers Band, said prior to his concert Thursday at Rick’s. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” Having been playing the guitar since the tender age of nine and being the nephew of the Allman Brothers Band drummer, the now 23-year old Derek Trucks has been constantly surrounded by music throughout the course of his life. He plays over 300 dates a year with both the Allman Brothers Band and the Derek Trucks Band. Trucks has been playing with drummer Yonrico Scott and bassist Todd Smallie for over nine years, with keyboardist Kofi Burbridge four years, and with the singer Mike Mattison for six months.
Released on Sept. 3, Joyful Noise, is the Derek Trucks Band’s first release under Columbia Records. It is what Trucks calls “one of the few albums that I’ve heard in the last few years that is real musicians playing real music. The band and the people featured on the record did an amazing job.”
With Joyful Noise, each song explores a different sound and almost different culture, which can be attributed to the wide range of vocalists on the album. Featured vocalists of Joyful Noise include Pakistani vocalist Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, soul singer Solomon Burke, Panamanian salsa singer Ruben Blades and Trucks’ wife, blues singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi. Trucks boasts of each vocalist as an outstanding artist and a personal influence of his.
“Maki Madni,” the Qawwali song on the album features Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, who recorded the song through a conference call and interpreters. Trucks calls the experience “a highlight of anything I’ve done so far as far as recording,”
Burke adds to Joyful Noise with a new version of his R&B song “Home in Your Heart” and lends his vocal talents to “Like Anyone Else,” written by Burbridge.
Trucks called Blades “the obvious guy to call” for the Latin track. Blades offered unstoppable energy to “Kam-ma-lay,” one of the many songs written by the entire band.
Also, the first track released with Tedeschi is “Baby, You’re Right,” which was sung back in 1962 by James Brown. Tedeschi has released two albums already and will release a third album in November.
However, equally as impressive are the other five songs on the album. All songs are instrumentals, they blend all of Trucks’ influences of jazz, blues and classic Southern rock.
The quartet began their tour this year on the fourth of October. Mattison joined the Derek Trucks Band for their tour lasting until Dec. 27. On Thursday, The Derek Trucks Band appeared at the State Theatre with, as one concert attender said, “the best show I’ve seen since I’ve been in Starkville.”
Joyful Noise is what Derek Trucks calls “the first shot fired by this band, and I think there will be many more.