The Derek Trucks Band

About The Derek Trucks Band

The Derek Trucks Band is a band begun by slide guitarist prodigy, Derek Trucks, who began playing guitar and touring with The Allman Brothers Band, as early as eleven years old. Raised partly on tour with them throughout his youth, meeting and playing with famous musicians, Trucks was still unsure about his own future. He resolved to start his own band while still an adolescent. What first began as a side project, and a way for Trucks to explore his own creativity, has evolved into an eclectic band with some of the most talented musicians from the southeastern United States. Loosely based in his home town of Jacksonville, Florida since 1994-1995, since his mid-teens, the band has drawn upon the wide variety of the influences and tastes of its current band members, and has gained fame for playing blues, southern rock, jazz, classical music from eastern India, and a fusion of world music.

Trucks formed his first band at age 12, and played his first gigs with them as "Derek and the Dominators". Later, Atlanta's jazz and blues bassist Todd Smallie joined Trucks in 1994, and became the first member of what is now the current version of The Derek Trucks Band. When Trucks really set about assembling a lasting band, he was by his reckoning about 14 years old. Smallie, on bass, was the first to join him. As a result, Trucks feels that he's "kind of grown up with him.", A year later in 1995, drummer Yonrico Scott completed the band's early rhythm section. The band released its self-titled debut album in 1997, and followed with Out of the Madness in 1999. Scott has been playing with Trucks for over 16 years as of 2008. According to Derek Trucks: "We've developed a kind of 'musical ESP'.. it's nice to have somebody that you don't have to look at...he's just right there with you.",

Kofi Burbridge joined the band shortly thereafter, contributing to the band's sound as a multi-instrumentalist, with his versatility on keyboards, flute, and vocals. Like his brother, whom Trucks plays with in the Allman Brothers Band, bassist Oteil Burbridge, Kofi Burbridge's education was primarily rooted in classical and jazz music. In an interview upon the release of their 2002 album, Joyful Noise, Trucks laughingly commented, "Kofi Burbridge has been with us maybe 2-3 years, and he's one of the few musical geniuses that I've had the chance to work with, he's totally insane"... continuing, "I'm really anxious to see in the next few years to see where he takes this, because he's definitely a huge part of what's going on right now."