Derek Trucks - ...and on guitar (2010)

Derek Trucks was born on 8 June 1979 in Jacksonville, Florida, and he bought his first guitar at a yard sale for $5 at age nine, becoming a child prodigy and playing his first paid performance at age 11. He began playing the guitar using a slide because it allowed the young guitarist to play despite his small hands, and by his 13th birthday he'd played alongside Buddy Guy and toured with Thunderhawk. Trucks formed The Derek Trucks Band in 1994, and by his 20th birthday he'd played with such artists as Bob Dylan, Joe Walsh, and Stephen Stills. In 1999 he toured as a member of Phil Lesh & Friends, and after performing with The Allman Brothers Band for several years as a guest musician, he became a formal member in 1999, now playing alongside his uncle, drummer Butch Trucks. In 2006 Trucks began a studio collaboration with JJ Cale and Eric Clapton called The Road To Escondido and performed with three bands in 17 different countries that year. Trucks and his wife, Susan Tedeschi, combined their bands to form the Soul Stew Revival in 2007 and performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June 2008, putting his own band on hiatus, and in 2010 they officially dissolved. Trucks formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, and in 2014 he announced that he and fellow guitarist Warren Haynes planned to leave the Allman Brothers Band at the end of the year, prompting the Allmans to announce their retirement. Trucks credits guitarist Duane Allman and bluesman Elmore James as the two slide guitarists who influenced his early style, but has since been inspired by John Lee Hooker, Ali Akbar Khan, Howlin' Wolf, and Albert King, among many others. His music is rooted in blues and rock, embracing jam band, Southern rock, and jazz, playing an eclectic blend of blues, soul, jazz, rock, and qawwali music (a genre of music from Pakistan and western India). While still a member of the Allmans, he started to appear as a guest player on various rock, blues and jazz albums from fellow musicians, and a selection of them appear here, showing why he's twice graced the Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Track listing

Disc One
01 Wanted Man (from 'Storm Warning' by Tinsley Ellis 1994) 
02 I Gotta Girl She Lives Up On The Hill (from 'CeDell Davis' by CeDell Davis 1994) 
03 That's All Right (from 'Come On In This House' by Junior Wells 1996) 
04 Neighbour, Neighbour (from 'Searching For Simplicity' by Gregg Allman 1997)
05 Why Are People Like That (from 'Secrets Of The Heart' by Bobby Charles 1998)
06 Soulshine (from 'With A Little Help From Our Friends' by Gov't Mule 1999)
07 Row Jimmy (from 'Laughing Water' by Jazz Is Dead 1999)
08 Kerouac (from 'The Flower And The Knife' by Kevin Kinney 2000)
09 Ganja (from 'Croakin' At Toad's' by Frogwings 2000)

Disc Two
01 Mud Bug (from 'Project Z' by Project Z 2001)
02 I'm Gonna Move Away From Here (from 'Wait For Me' by Susan Tedeschi 2002)
03 Pineapple Heart (from 'Little Worlds' by Bela Fleck 2003)
04 How Ya Livin' (from 'The Calling' by The Aquarium Rescue Unit 2003)
05 You Da Mann (from 'Coast To Coast' by Maximum Grooves 2004)
06 Osiris (from 'Timeless' by Jeff Sipe 2004)
07 She Makes Me Want To Sing (from 'The Best Kept Secret'  by Jerry Douglas 2005)
08 Missing Person (from 'The Road To Escondido' by J.J. Cale & Eric Clapton 2006)
09 Johnny Coolman (from 'Light Your Life' by Toots & The Maytalls 2007)

Disc Three
01 Tibidi Waka (from 'Guiding Star' by Vusi Mahlasela 2007)
02 Skin Deep (from 'Skin Deep' by Buddy Guy 2008)

03 I Want The Truth (from 'Sidewalk Caesars' by Scrapomatic 2008)

04 Brother Ray (from 'Here And Gone' by David Sanborn 2008)
05 Lifeboat Serenade  (from 'Lifeboat' by Jimmy Herring 2008)

06 New Star (from 'The Works' by Jonatha Brooke 2008) 
07 Slapback Blues (from 'Guitars' by McCoy Tyner 2008) 
08 Struttin' My Stuff (from 'The Blues Rolls On' by Elvin Bishop 2008)
09 Space Captain (from 'The Imagine Project' by Herbie Hancock 2010)
10 Manoovas (from 'Tribal' by Dr. John And The Lower 911 2010)

Dickie Betts - ...and on guitar (1977)

Forrest Richard (Dickey) Betts was born on December 12, 1943 and grew up in a musical family, listening to traditional bluegrass, country music and Western swing. He started playing ukulele at five and moved on to mandolin, banjo, and guitar, but by age sixteen he was feeling the need for something 'a little faster', and so joined a series of rock bands on the Florida circuit, before forming Second Coming with Berry Oakley in 1967. In 1969, Duane Allman had turned his success as a session player into a contract with Southern soul impresario Phil Walden, and had formed The Allman Brothers Band with his brother Gregg, and had invited Betts to join, introducing a melodic twin guitar attack which rewrote the rules for how two rock guitarists can work together. After the death of Duane Allman in late 1971, Betts became the band's sole guitarist and also took on a greater singing and leadership role, practicing slide guitar intensively over the course of one night's traveling in order to cover the majority of Duane's parts. He went on to write 'Jessica' and the Allmans' biggest commercial hit 'Ramblin' Man', and drove the band on to great commercial success over the next three years. In 1974 he released his first solo album 'Highway Call', and it was at this time that he also started to offer his services to other bands who wanted to include some slide guitar or dobro on their records. In 1974 he played with Charlie Daniels and Sly Stone on Elvin Bishop's 'Let It Flow' record, trading guitar licks with The Marshall Tucker Band's Toy Caldwell on the lenghty 'Travelin' Shoes'. He also played with Daniels again that same year on his band's 'Fire On The Mountain' album, and rounded out the year adding some guitar to Grinderswitch's 'Honest To Goodness'.  Also in 1974, Kitty Wells, the Queen of Country Music, went to Georgia to record with a rock band for the first time, and chose The Allman Brothers and The Marshall Tucker Band to back her, giving Betts the opportunity to play with a country legend on her 'Forever Young' album. The following year he played with The Marshall Tucker Band themselves, and also added slide guitar to Bobby Whitlock's 'One Of A Kind' album. 1976 saw him playing with Bonnie Bramlett, Billy Joe Shaver, and on Buddy Miles' funky R&B 'Bicentennial Gathering Of The Tribes' album, where he slows things down a bit with the country-ish ballad 'Searchin' (For Love)'. We end with some great funky guitar-work from Betts on Corky Laing's 1977 album, showing that he's not just a good-ol' country boy when it comes to his guitar-playing.   

Track listing

01 Kiss The Blues Goodbye (from 'Honest To Goodness' by Grinderswitch 1974)
02 Travelin' Shoes (from 'Let It Flow' by Elvin Bishop 1974)
03 Long Haired Country Boy (from 'Fire On The Mountain' by Charlie Daniels Band 1974)
04 My Love Never Changes (from 'Forever Young' by Kitty Wells 1975)
05 You Don't Have To Be Alone (from 'One Of A Kind' by Bobby Whitlock 1975)
06 Searchin' For A Rainbow (from 'Searchin' For A Rainbow' by Marshall Tucker Band 1975)
07 Ain't That Loving You Baby (from 'Lady's Choice' by Bonnie Bramlett 1976)
08 Love You Till The Cows Come Home (from 'When I Get My Wings' by Billy Shaver 1976)
09 Searchin' (For Love) (from 'Bicentennial Gathering Of The Tribes' by Buddy Miles 1976)
10 On My Way (To The River) (from 'Makin' It On The Street' by Corky Laing 1977)