Tedeschi Trucks Band and Alabama Shakes

The band started in 2010 when husband and wife Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks each put their solo bands on hiatus so that they could put more time into making music with each other, both during the recording process, as well as during touring. They were later joined by Maurice Brown, Kofi Burbridge, Tyler Greenwell, J.J Johnson, Mike Mattison, Mark Rivers, Saunders Sermons, Kebbi Williams and Oteil Burbridge. As Tedeschi Trucks band, they made their first live performance at the Savannah Music Festival in April 2010, followed by appearances at Crossroads Guitar Festival and Fuji Rock Festival (among many others).

Tedeschi Trucks Band released their first studio album entitled “Revelator” that was released on 7 June 2011. The album garnered a high praise from critics, including Rolling Stone, who gave it a four out of five rating. Additionally, the album went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Blues Album in 2012. Their second album, “Everybody’s Talkin’” was a live album consisting of performances of “Revelator,” as well as covers of other well known rock, R&B and gospel songs. Despite the success, Oteil Burbridge took leave from the band to pursue a family life, and was replaced by Tim Lefebvre. The band continued on making life performance appearances, and in 2013 they released their second studio album entitled “Made Up My Mind.”

The band’s style can be described as a mixture of genres, from roots rock, Southern rock and garage rock to soul, Americana and blues rock. The group currently consists of lead singer and guitarist Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, keyboard player Ben Tanner and drummer Steve Johnson. Howard and Cockrell formed the band while still in high school together, find a calling playing roots rock. Early influences for the band include Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Otis Redding and AC/DC.

Alabama Shakes big breakthrough came when they released the four-song, self-entitled EP ‘Alabama Shakes’ in September 2011. This gained them media attention and earned them an invitation to play at the CMJ Music Marathon industry showcase in New York, a performance which was heavily praised by the press.

In November 2011, the band rose from relative obscurity to international stardom. The band was signed by Rough Trade Records in the United Kingdom and ATO Records in the United States. Their debut album, ‘Boys & Girls’ was released in April 2012 and was an instant success: it achieved gold record status for sales of over half a million in the USA. The band has received several Grammy nominations for their work: the categories they were nominated for include Best New Artist, Best Rock Performance for their single ‘Hold On’, and Best Recording Package for ‘Boys & Girls’.