Tedeschi Trucks Band
Saturday
STEVE MILLER BAND: Is there a band that more clearly defines classic rock than the Steve Miller Band? Well, the Eagles maybe, but that’s it. With hits like “The Joker”, “Fly like an Eagle,” “Take the Money and Run,” and “Abracadabra,” there isn’t a person alive unfamiliar with the Steve Miller Band’s music. Like much of ’70s rock n roll, there was always a blues-edge to their sound, though in the late 60s, before they were well-known, they played a heavier, psychedelic blues-rock sound— their original name was the Steve Miller Blues Band.
JIMMIE VAUGHAN WITH LOU ANN BARTON: Jimmie Vaughan was first known as the guitarist for the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Their first four albums are considered some of the best blues-rock albums to come out of the late 70s and early 80s, and later they broke big with “Tuff Enuff” and “Wrap it Up.” Vaughan quit in the late ’80s to record an album with his brother Stevie Ray Vaughan, who died shortly thereafter. Lou Ann Barton, who sang with Double Trouble, also plays with him.
JOHN MAYALL: There is a reason John Mayall is dubbed the “Father of British Blues.” His group, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, were the seminal blues group in England in the early 60s, just as the sound exploded. Eric Clapton even quit the Yardbirds to be in the Bluesbreakers. After Clapton moved on to Cream, Bluesbreakers became an incubator for a lot of the great British rock n rollers of the 1960s and 1970s. Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac), Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones) Andy Fraser (Free) all played in Bluesbreakers before their respective bands. While a lot of these musicians went on to enormous success, Mayall always maintained a cult status because he kept the blues pure and never wrote pop or rock songs.
SONNY LANDRETH: Sonny Landreth has been an in-demand session guitarist for decades, thanks to his versatility and skill. And also his unusual slide guitar techniques, which involves both finger picking and sliding all at the same time with his left hand, as well as tapping and slapping strings with his right hand. He has recorded with Jimmy Buffet, John Hiatt, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Dolly Parton, and Kenny Loggins. As a songwriter, his Louisiana-inspired roots and blues has won him a hardcore fan base.
CAROLYN WONDERLAND: Within moments, you can hear the intensity of Janis Joplin in Carolyn Wonderland’s voice. But there’s just as much Bonnie Raitt in there, too. From Houston, Wonderland plays some downright gritty, high-powered electric blues, with a solid R&B backbone and a bit of a twang. She got started in the early 90s with the Imperial Monkeys, then went solo in 2001. While she gets a lot of attention for her powerful vocals, she’s also an incredible guitarist, who gives the blues a unique spin, not getting bogged down so much with standard noodling and riffs.
Sunday
TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND: One of the hottest working roots groups out now are Tedeschi Trucks Band, led by husband and wife Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi. In 2010, they decided to put their respective solo careers on hold and join forces, creating an eleven-piece country, blues, rock super-group, utilizing Trucks’ talent on the slide guitar, Tedeschi’s soulful voice and the skill of a bunch of their musician friends. Their 2011 debut album, Revelator, was declared a masterpiece by Rolling Stones and earned them a Grammy for best blues band.
SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS: Most retro bands conjure up the mood and sound of a genre they were too young to actually be part of. Not the case with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Jones spent the better part of the ’70s trying to make it as a soul singer, but didn’t catch a break until the late ’90s, when the Dap-Kings brought her in to record backing vocals on a track. They were so impressed they invited her to be their lead singer. The result is music that sounds like unreleased James Brown sessions, with Jones’ sweet, soulful voice and charisma in place of Brown’s scratchy wail. It’s not often someone gets to start a band in their fifties and record all the lost classics they were supposed to make 30 years earlier.
JAMES HUNTER SIX: The star of R&B group James Hunter Six is of course James Hunter, whose voice wavers on the verge of gut-wrenching emotion and gentle tenderness. His deep baritone voice is not unlike Van Morrison’s, who he’s collaborated with (and toured with) several times. While Hunter has released a handful of solo records, 2013’s Minute by Minute is the debut release by the James Hunter Six, which brings a bigger, fuller sound than on his prior albums. It’s also recorded live, utilizing natural reverb, just like on those the 1950s and 1960s R&B records he was so heavily influenced by.
NICKI BLUHM & THE GRAMBLERS: San Francisco alt-country roots-rockers Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers have been touring the states since 2008, but it wasn’t until they released a video of themselves covering “I Can’t Go For That” by Hall & Oates in their van a year ago, while driving between gigs, that they got some serious recognition. Part of their “Van Sessions” (Where they play very diverse covers in their van between gigs), the song has racked up over two million views. While their originals are a hybrid of folk, rock and soul, the covers, regardless of style, demonstrate clearly what a strong singer Bluhm is, not to mention the Gramblers incredible musicianship and harmonization skills. Her husband Tim, from the Mother Hips, is also in the band.
CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS: There hasn’t been a band to come out in the past five years that has so effectively channeled New Orleans as authentically as the California Honeydrops—and they’re from Oakland. Lead singer Lech Wierzynski is Polish-born, even. They don’t just play one style of New Orleans music, either, there’s a bit of everything: jazz, R&B, zydeco, blues. They formed in 2007, playing songs in subway stations in the East Bay. They’ve always maintained that street performance energy, though they’ve graduated from jug band instruments to more studio appropriate ones along the way.
