{"id":23478,"date":"2022-08-10T05:30:55","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T09:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=23478"},"modified":"2022-08-11T11:51:59","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T15:51:59","slug":"tedeschi-trucks-band-shoots-for-the-moon-with-four-album-project-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/tedeschi-trucks-band-shoots-for-the-moon-with-four-album-project-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Tedeschi Trucks Band Shoots for the \u2018Moon\u2019 with Four-album Project (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In a popular music era defined by singles, shuffle play and short attention spans, rock\/soul revue Tedeschi Trucks Band is pursuing an unlikely path. The powerhouse collective led by wife-and-husband due Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks has recorded a thematically-linked set of albums \u2013 four in total \u2013 and is rolling them out on a timed release schedule over the coming moths. The first installment of I Am the Moon<\/i> (titled Episode I: Crescent<\/i>) was released June 3. The second volume, Ascension<\/i>, had a street date of July 1. Episode III: The Fall<\/i> came out July 29, and the final segment of the sprawling, ambitious work, Episode IV: Farewell<\/i> will be released August 26. Each album release date is paired with a film premiere to match.<\/p>\n

Concept albums \u2013 even ones with only the thinnest of narrative threads \u2013 can have a tendency toward pretentiousness. But the street-level sensibilities of its creators, coupled with their passion and commitment to authenticity, means that I Am the Moon<\/i> avoids that trap. Drawing inspiration from the same source Eric Clapton used when creating Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs<\/i>, his own ambitious 1970 project made under the Derek and the Dominos banner, Tedeschi Trucks Band follows the inspiration in a very different direction.<\/p>\n

Susan Tedeschi explains how the project got its start, noting that TTB had been performing the Layla<\/i> album in its entirety; they released the live Layla Revisited<\/i> last year. \u201cWhile Mike [Mattison, vocalist] was reading the [lyrics] one day, he was inspired,\u201d she says. \u201cHe said, \u2018A lot of these songs, like \u201cI Am Yours,\u201d were inspired by this poem, \u201cLayla and the Majnun.\u201d\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Mattison suggested that he and his band mates go back to that source \u2013 the 12th<\/sup> century poem written by Nizami \u2013 an approach it from a fresh perspective. As opposed to Clapton\u2019s take on the poem \u2013 a man\u2019s longing for a woman and the journey upon which he embarks \u2013 TTB would flip the script. Tedeschi recalls Mattison\u2019s creative challenge: \u201cWhat about if we take it from her perspective, and [that of] other people who are affected by the relationship?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tedeschi emphasizes that while Nizami\u2019s poem is more than 800 years old, its underlying themes still resonate, especially now. \u201cWomen back then really didn\u2019t have a voice,\u201d she notes. \u201cAnd nowadays, women are still<\/i> fighting for a voice.\u201d And the epic poem\u2019s story line includes the female protagonist being locked away in a tower while the main male character goes mad in the wilderness, talking to animals. Tedeschi says that \u201cfor a long period, the characters don\u2019t have human interaction with people outside of their immediate family. That can make you struggle with your mental health. It makes you realize how much we need each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, those themes suddenly become far less abstract than they might have been just a few short years ago. \u201cAnd the drinking of red wine,\u201d Tedeschi adds with a laugh. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot<\/i> of wine drinking in the poem. During the pandemic, I saw a lot of people turn to drinking.\u201d She suggests that the current-day imbibing she witnessed was less about getting drunk and more about \u201cjust trying to relax and decompress from so much stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding thesleves temporarily sidelined by the pandemic, the members of Tedeschi Trucks Band made the best of their time off the road. \u201cEverybody was at home writing,\u201d Tedeschi says. \u201cWe al lread the poem, and we all started writing about things that came to mind, thing that had to do either with ur own lives, the pandemic or the actual poem.\u201d Having several songwriters working toward a shared goal bore creative fruit.<\/p>\n

Tedeschi enuses that TTB keyboardist Gabe Dixon deserves an \u201cA-plus\u201d for his writing of the project\u2019s title track. She says that the song embodied the foundation of the musical work: \u201cWrite something from Layla\u2019s perspective, about how she felt about the relationship.\u201d Tedeschi says that while she has long known of Dixon\u2019s strength as a songwriter, she was surprised by \u201cI Am the Moon.\u201d \u201cI was like, \u2018Gabe, how do you know how women are? How do you know women\u2019s [thoughts] so well?\u201d She answers her own question: \u201cHe\u2019s married, he has a beautiful wife, and he\u2019s a sensitive, beautiful, gifted guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Mattison\u2019s \u201cFall In\u201d comes in for similar praise. That song and others on I Am the Moon<\/i>\u2019s four LPs \u201caren\u2019t the same message,\u201d Tedeschi says, \u201cbut they\u2019re [inspired] by the same poem, and informed by current-day concerns. \u201cFalcon [drummer Tyler Greenwell] and Mike wrote lyrics like, \u201cI can\u2019t find my way home; I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s night or day,\u201d Tedeschi says. \u201cThere\u2019s this sense of going mad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tedeschi\u2019s own \u201cLa Di Da\u201d was inspired about her son heading off to college. \u201cIt\u2019s like they\u2019re going to leave you one morning; it just happens and comes without a warning,\u201d she says. \u201cParallels can come from real life or the poem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here to continue<\/a>…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a popular music era defined by singles, shuffle play and short attention spans, rock\/soul revue Tedeschi Trucks Band is pursuing an unlikely path. The powerhouse collective led by wife-and-husband […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,49,62,69],"tags":[4901],"class_list":["post-23478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-new-release","category-rawk","category-soul","tag-tedeschi-trucks-band","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","cat-69-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23478"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23535,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23478\/revisions\/23535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}