May 30, 2006
The Derek Trucks Band — Songlines
I really enjoy Songlines, the new album from The Derek Trucks Band. (Anyone who names an album after a Bruce Chatwin book is OK with me.)
The roots and the fruits of The Derek Trucks Band are manifest in the breadth and scope of Songlines, which premieres several brand-new DTB compositions including the Hammond organ-driven “I’ll Find My Way,” the spiritually yearning “This Sky,” and the hypnotic instrumental “Mahjoun,” while acknowledging a wide range of influences — including American avant-garde jazz (Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s “Volunteered Slavery”), traditional acoustic slide blues (”Crow Jane”), 700-year-old Pakistani Qawwali music (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s “Sahib Teri Bandi/Maki Madni”), and Jamaican reggae (Toots Hibbert’s “Sailing On”).
Here’s the lead track: Volunteered Slavery (2.5MB mp3) Let me know what you think.
May 30th, 2006 at 5:19 pm
Sounds like hippie music! :-)
May 30th, 2006 at 5:55 pm
Sounds like Jimi Hendrix on a tranquilizer. I bet your favorite book is “Vineland” by Thomas Pynchon…yeah man, the sixties… (-:
May 31st, 2006 at 6:34 am
Is that “Freedom Rock” man? Well turn it up man!
May 31st, 2006 at 6:53 am
Peter: I’ve never read Pynchon and don’t have much patience with stoners.
May 31st, 2006 at 10:52 pm
oh…well, i love pynchon and esp vineland. maybe the california dreaming of some kraut… (-.
i dont know what it was about the sixties, maybe because of this book i started to read “the money game” by adam smith…hhmm…they were not all stoners way back then
June 1st, 2006 at 7:02 am
Peter: I have read “Adam Smith’s” The Money Game. ;-)
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:55 am
Back in the April edition of “Guitar Player” magazine they did an interview with Derek Trucks, which includes talking about the recording of Songlines. Here’s a link to the free copy at the GP website (unfortunately they don’t include the pictures in the on-line version)
http://www.guitarplayer.com/story.asp?sectioncode=17&storycode=13435
June 3rd, 2006 at 7:27 am
Tom: Thanks for the Trucks article; I’ll read it when I get a chance.
[UPDATE] My favorite line from the GP interview: “More than any other guitarist, Trucks has integrated the melismatic, microtonal melodies of Eastern music with the hot, harp-inspired sound of juke-joint slide.”