Written by Jim Bille – November 06, 2019

Nothing quite like a Tedeschi Trucks Band fix in the middle of the week to break up the 9-5 monotony of the daily work schedule.

Kicking off their 2019 fall tour, Tedeschi Trucks Band came back to Houston last week with their soulful / blues infused twelve-piece ensemble and once again knocked it out of the musical ball park with some of the most creative and sometimes inspirational music on the planet.

As with every performance, Susan Tedeschi’s soulful and searing vocals were powerful and intense. Incredible vocal gymnastics coupled with her guitar work was as spell binding and stunning as ever.

Derek Trucks is a major guitar force. Heavily influenced by such musical legends as The of Allman Brothers and Eric Clapton, Trucks playing can be mind-boggling especially when he goes off into his extended jams with the other band members in tow.

TTB has always paid homage to their musical mentors by covering some of the music that made their heroes famous. Cover songs included a rousing version of the BoxTops hit “The Letter” featuring Susan Tedeschi along with the horn and back up vocal section filling in at all the right spots.

Tedeschi didn’t stop there as the ensemble also played “Bell Bottom Blues” to perfection. Alan Toussaint’s “Get Out of My Life Woman” sounded even more soulful than the original version, especially with long time Derek Trucks collaborator Mike Mattison handling the vocals.

Considering Trucks was actually a member of The Allman Brothers Band for a time it’s no wonder that one of that band’s iconic songs, “Don’t Keep Me Wondering” was so masterfully covered by this super music machine.

Touring in support of their latest release, Signs, the duo ripped through a number of new soon to be TTB classics. New tunes from Signs featured during the evening included “Shame” and”Still Your Mine”.

“Midnight in Harlem” from the album Revelator, has become one of the bands most recognizable songs. The easy rolling melody of this song held the audience spell bound. Other numbers of the evening included, ‘Do I Look Worried”, “High and Mighty”, “I Want More” and “Don’t Know What it Means”.

The encore set featured two songs. The first was Elton John’s spiritually infused “Border Song” which was followed up by “ Made up Mind” from Tedeschi Trucks second studio album of the same name.

Enough has been written about Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi’s musical collaboration by now to fill volumes and each time they perform they add another chapter to their ever evolving and growing oeuvre.

This show has to be seen and heard live to really appreciate what Tedeschi Trucks Band is all about. They have been and still are one of the best live performances you will ever witness in concert.