If you go
› What: Tedeschi Trucks Band with Marcus King Band› Where: Memorial Auditorium, 399 McCallie Ave.› When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23› Admission: $29.50, $39.50, $59.50, $79.50 and $99.50› For more information: 423-757-5580
UPDATE: The Tedeschi Trucks Band is offering free tickets to Wednesday night's show at Memorial Auditorium for local first responders, furloughed government employees and active duty military personnel. Just show your work ID at the box office between now and the 8 p.m. showtime and they will give you a pair of tickets (while supplies last), according to an email from the band.
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Automobile magnate Henry Ford once said, "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."
While this may be an odd source to reflect how far the Tedeschi Trucks Band has come, understand that since Susan Tedeschi and husband Derek Trucks decided to join creative forces in 2010, they've attained quite a number of milestones.
Since merging their bands, the TTB has blossomed into a 12-piece, released three studio albums, two live albums and had their 2011 debut album, "Revelator," land a 2012 Grammy for Best Blues Album.
Now TTB has a fourth studio album coming out Feb. 15, "Signs," and they are touring in support of that album. Its 11 new, original songs put the group's musicianship on full display while facing down troubled times with conviction. The tour stops in Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday, Jan. 23.
At a time when the music industry is fragmented and the current trend seems to be about minimizing and having an artist's output be more singles-driven, the idea of being a large touring outfit very much committed to recording complete albums can be a scary proposition.
Trucks admits he and his wife received plenty of cautionary advice when they decided to unite their bands after watching the 1971 rock documentary "Mad Dogs and Englishmen."
"I remember seeing that, thinking about having a horn section and saying we should give it a shot. Our manager and all the people that are our devil's advocates asked if we were sure and if we wanted that many people on the road," Trucks recalled in a recent phone interview.
"We decided we were going to do it and we did. For the first few years, we avoided songs from her catalog or my catalog. We did tunes that the band was writing or tunes that we had not played before. We wanted it to stand on its own and sink or swim."
With both Tedeschi and Trucks having so much material from which to draw, fans can expect a rich mix of songs from different points of the duo's music in the current live show.
A number of tragedies hit home during the writing and recording of this new album, according to a news release from Shore Fire Media. The group said goodbye to family members and friends including Truck's uncle and Allman Brothers alumnus Butch Trucks, founding brother Gregg Allman, mentors Leon Russell and Col. Bruce Hampton. (Derek Trucks was a member of the Allman Brothers Band from 1999 to 2014.)
"This is the first record we've made where, when I listen to it, it puts me in a specific place," Trucks says in the release. "It puts me in a zone and hits some raw nerves."
"At this point [in our live shows], we feel like this band is now a part of our history and musical life to the point where we'll play tunes from her catalog or mine," says Trucks of the new show.
"Or even an Allmans' tune here or there - things that we've been a part of. We don't have to keep it all separated. For us, this is what we're doing. It's all fair game."