The Art of Music

Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following.

Sun Dragon supports the art of music.

Welcome to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Met collects, studies, and conserves art from across time and cultures, from Egyptian sculpture to the art of music.

Today, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks sit down with legendary music journalist and longtime senior editor at Rolling Stone, David Frick, to talk about the origins of the Tedeschi-Trucks band and the road that shaped their sound.

Susan and Derek also explore the incredible guitars in the Met's musical instruments collection, including an acoustic guitar used by legendary blues guitarist Mississippi John Hurt.

Join Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks on stage as they share stories of the tools that helped them create the art of music.

[Music] Well, bottom blues made me cry I don't want to lose this feeling If I could choose a place to die It would be in your arms Do you want to see me crawl across the floor to you?

Do you want to hear me beg, do you want to take me back?

I'd gladly do anything, I don't want you to fade away Give me one more day, please I don't want to fade away, in your arms I want to stay It's all wrong, but it's alright, the way that you treat me baby Once I was strong, but I lost the fight, you won't find a better loser Do you wanna hear me crawl across the floor to you?

Do you wanna hear me back, you take me back I gladly do it and I don't want to fade away Give me one more day please I don't want to fade away In your heart I want to stay (Guitar solo) Do you wanna hear me cross the post to Florida Keys?

Do you wanna hear me back in a tank bed?

I'd gladly do it if I don't want you to fade away Give me one more day to please I don't want you to fade away In your heart I want to stay Well, by the moves, don't you say goodbye We're gonna meet again And if we do, oh don't be afraid, Lord 'Cause I'm a lover of your love Do you wanna hear me crawl across the floor?

Do you wanna hear me beg you to take me back?

I can't be doing it, I don't want you to fade away Give me one more day please I don't want you to fade away In your heart I want to stay I don't want you to fade away Give me one more day to breathe I don't want you to fade away When you're gone I wanna stay here with you.

[applause] Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Bell Bottom Blues, Leyla and other assorted love songs 1970.

Thank you.

I got the blues now.

That song comes with, it's loaded with so much right now because you, Derek, of course, are named after the band, Derek and the Dominoes.

And Susan, you actually have a connection to this record as well that you didn't know for the longest time.

We were doing the record live for Locking with Trey Anastasio from Phish.

And Derek said, "Hey, look up when that song came out."

And I said, "Okay."

I looked it up and it was actually on my birthday, the day that I was born, is when the record came out.

That's like no degrees of separation.

I know.

Exactly November 9, 1970.

My root for father got to have tea with Clapton at his place.

That's what he named you after.

Was that a record that was just around all the time in the house?

I think for both of us growing up.

It was a big one for both of us.

Because I remember when the record came out and it was that band having all those other musicians come from Delaney and Bonnie.

And then Dwayne Ullman comes into it.

He's not actually on Bell Bottom Blues, which is kind of interesting.

It's all Clapton, but what Dwayne played on that record just gave it a spirituality.

That was really important because one of the things, you know, in talking about, say, slide guitar, the quality of slide that is so close to actually the human voice, those glides, the way a note can glide and you can go up, it's very much like the saxophone.

And Dwayne's slide guitar really brought the poignance that was so much a part of the writing on the record for Eric.

Yeah, and he was shot out of a cannon at that point.

He was on fire, the band.

The Ammons were in the peak of their powers, and then that record came along.

And like you said, all the Tulsa guys that ended up, I mean, they were in Mad Dogs and Englishmen, so we became friends with some of those guys later.

It's kind of a small world.

And then, you know, Tom Dowd was a part of that, who also recorded-- He's a great engineer.

Yeah, who recorded I've Got a Woman and recorded John Coltrane.

He was just everywhere.

So it's amazing we got to become friends, meet some of those guys, and learn a lot from them.

Well, we've got guitars here.

There's a special guitar that's coming in a little while.

But since we're going to talk about guitars, let's actually start with first guitars, because everybody has one.

What was your first guitar?

My first one was my dad's guitar that he passed down to me.

It was under the Christmas tree one year when I was a teenager and I was like, "Oh, is that for me?"

And it was a Martin 0018 and it's from 1971.

Wow.

And did you actually know what to play or did you just pick it up and try to make noise?

I started playing it and I started writing songs on it right away.

I had my dad teach me some cowboy chords and then I was off and running.

Did the acoustic guitar, was that really a gateway to electricity for you?

Yes, big time.

I was terrified of the electric guitar until my 20s.

What were you afraid of?

I don't know.

I think just being heard.

I don't know.

No, honestly, I think I was a little intimidated because I had only been like an acoustic player and played mostly.

I played a little bit in open tuning in D, in open G, and then in standard.

And when I was first messing around with it, it was really kind of all in this area.

So I didn't really know all of the neck at the time.

And it wasn't really until my 20s that one day I figured that out.

And then I was ready to play some electric guitar.

And it was really Magic Sam and people like Muddy Waters, B.B.

and those guys.

It was Magic Sam that really inspired me to get an electric guitar.

Because that record, West Side Soul on Del Mar.

If you don't know this album, it's unbelievable.

Magic Sam.

Sam McGett.

He died very young.

He was like 30.

He was like 30.

They said it was so good.

Yeah.

She turned me on to that record when we met.

Magic Sam.

I was like, "You don't know Magic Sam?"

He's like, "No."

He's like, "You don't know Sun Ra?"

I was like, "No."

What was your first guitar?

Because you probably, you were so close to guitars.

It was not a Martin.

It was a K knockoff called a J. All right.

Yeah.

I don't know if I've ever seen another one.

I've never seen another.

It was a garage sale guitar, five bucks and still have it.

I sent it to, um, yeah, Paul Reed Smith a couple of years ago for Christmas and had him basically make it playable.

Cause I guarantee it's the worst guitar you've ever worked on.

What age were you when you actually got a grip on it?

Because you're working as a pro when you're like nine.

I was nine.

He started at nine.

Yeah.

So, you know, at that age you don't think about it too much.

It came pretty quickly.

And my dad knew a few guys that had been in bands with my uncle.

So I took lessons from a guy named Jim Graves, and he invited me to this local club to sit in with him.

And then I started sitting in with a blues band, Ace Morland and the West Side Story.

And maybe four months later we were up in Canada, like Toronto Jazz and Blues Festival.

So it just all happened pretty quickly.

And there's like blackmail material everywhere.

Did you have any concept of what you had been, I don't want to say thrown into, but it was kind of like they didn't just throw you on the bus, they threw you under the bus.

I mean it was fun, man.

It was amazing.

I remember meeting at that first club I played in.

It was called Apple Jacks.

I saw John Lee Hooker there.

Ritchie Havens.

Met Coco Taylor right then and there.

So you could just feel there was something going on.

And it was fun to be a part of.

I don't know, the slide guitar came quickly and I'd been listening to those records in my house without knowing it.

And then I got really interested in Elmore James and Dwayne Allman and the slide guitar.

And then it was just 10,000 hours on the road while you're still playing Little League.

That's the ultimate practice.

Yeah, it's the only way.

I mean, but what a whole year later you were playing with like Bob Dylan, Joe Walsh.

Oh yeah, I learned how to play guitar a year ago.

Were there things that your father showed you on guitar?

Yeah, my, well, I mean, he, he really just showed me mostly like cowboy chords.

You know, he was really into Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, the Everly Brothers, things like that.

But then from there it escalated and then it was more like, you know, more T-Bone and... And then I wanted to be Johnny Guitar Watson and that was... You know, more that kind of stuff.

You wanted to be the gangster of love.

I did.

I wanted to be Johnny Guitar Watson meets Otis Rush and Freddie King and somehow sing like Mahalia and Aretha Franklin.

But you also had a background in musical theater as a child.

I did.

Performer.

And so you actually had that kind of Tin Pan Alley grasp of song which is really unusual for someone who's actually coming straight into blues from like nothing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Actually, that's true.

Yeah, I did.

And while my dad also played me a lot of blues and folk music when I was a child, sort of like Derek, you got to hear it in the house.

But then I was on stage at four.

My first musical was your good man, Charlie Brown.

But I think I did a show every year, if not two to four shows every year from four until 17.

So I have over 40 plays and musicals under my belt.

And then I also started being in bands because I actually answered a want ad.

Remember those in the looking for a singer.

And I was 13 and I called this guy up in situate and join their band at 1314.

They were maybe 16.

What was the name of that band?

Don't ask.

We didn't know we didn't really have a name.

And they were like, we're third rail.

I'm like, what?

Like, we can be third rail.

But we were we were third rail.

I don't know why.

But but we played everything from Boston and you know, Bon Jovi, Tesla, like it was a little bit more rock and roll.

You also graduated from the Berklee School of Music with a bachelor's in composition and performance.

What did you get out of Berklee that you felt enhanced what you really wanted to do?

Well, it made me realize what I didn't want to do, which was nice too, because you could try a lot of different things.

And I actually started out as an arranger, and I realized after, and we didn't have computers like they do now.

So you literally had to handwrite everybody's part, and it took so long that I was literally getting gray hair at 17.

And I was like, I need to probably not do this.

And I was writing for, you know, write all of the parts.

And so that took a lot of time.

That's what I realized I didn't want to do.

When I graduated college, I was 20.

So I was very young.

And I realized I kind of had an epiphany that it's important to throw out everything you just learned.

And like, why are you here?

What is it that connects you to music?

And don't remember all of the mathematical stuff about it.

Because trust me, I love math, I love physics, I love science, I love geometry, whatever.

But at the end of the day, that's not what you're doing.

You're just writing.

You're trying to connect with people.

Like, what is the story you're trying to tell?

What is the melody?

So that really was kind of a big lesson for me.

Because there is kind of a physics about music in that it literally moves the air.

It is so spiritual and emotional that you can be at it at 9, just hitting the road, or like John Lennon and Paul McCartney, they're writing songs before they even know what the notes mean.

Yeah, there's a lot of ways to get at it.

Well, there's many people that don't really read music that are some of the best in the world.

Well, like in your case, you really gravitated to slide partly because with small hands, the slide enables you to work the neck a lot easier.

But the thing that I've always been kind of amazed by is watching you perform and all of the finger, the whole finger, thumb interaction, you know, going on in your right hand.

It's interesting because the right hand essentially does what you would do if you were a piano player, which is this constant motion and interaction, but in a musical way that has to relate to what's going further up the neck.

Like where did that come from?

I think just being untrained.

I mean it's almost banjo style, you know.

When I first started playing it was with a pick.

But then the sound of the slide is just better with your hands.

This happens all the time.

You sing and you're playing.

You'll find things and you're not quite sure how you do it.

You play enough.

With the right hand, I'll notice when we play hard enough, you'll blister up.

You'll have bleeding fingers and then you start playing with other fingers and you toss one of them out.

And so you're often kind of improvising your technique on the spot too.

You know what you need to get done and it's just your body finds a way to get there if you let it.

Was there either a model or a particular influence in that style that sort of allows you to kind of unlock what that technique can be?

Because say for Dwayne Allman, he played slide but you know there's really no film of him and very little photographic you know key evidence of what his technique was because he was way too soon.

It was all a little mysterious same with Elmore James you don't I don't think there's any footage or I haven't seen it and so you're kind of just going on either people that had seen them or people that tell you that this is the way it was done but with that stuff not really I remember meeting Hubert Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf's guitar player and realizing he didn't play with a pick and we were like, "Yes, you're like the third person I know."

We became fast friends.

Susan, where do you think your technique on electric comes from?

You know, you've talked about touring with being king.

Well, you can have anti-technique as well.

I have anti-technique.

The practice is always good.

But when I was young and I first started playing, I got this Travis picking, like Merle Travis pick.

So I really like the in and out kind of thing.

So I kind of try to do that sometimes, but it just depends on the song.

And most of the time, I just try to watch what his hand's doing, and then I try to get in with that.

But he's the master rhythm player, and then Doyle Bramhall is also a master rhythm player, and Jimmy Vaughn.

He's a great one.

I just am like, how am I up here?

But okay, cool, I'll just hang out and try to blend in.

But at the same time, I think it's just one of those things like Derrick said, you just, you know what you wanna get done and you just somehow make your hands do it.

And a lot of times for me, I'm singing so I can't really look at the guitar.

So I visualize a lot while I'm playing.

- When you were touring, you toured a lot with BB King, you toured with Buddy Guy.

Were there things that you got from them, either direct lessons or just paying attention, that you were able to invest into your own playing?

Were they that giving of their time and their knowledge?

They were very giving of their time.

Their knowledge, it was more just, "We knew what they do."

You know, we know what they do, and we were just kind of students always.

And I still don't know how to play like any of them, and I think that was sort of the beauty in it with them, is that they wanted you to be yourself.

And they wanted you to have your own voice.

They don't want you to copy exactly what they're doing.

You know, they don't want me to play the, whatever, you know, things that they play.

They would put you through the paces, like, in the best way.

I remember sitting in with Buddy Guy at 11 or 12, and he would break the band down to a whisper.

Yes, I name it.

And then yell at the band to be even quieter.

Like, you're hearing the amps hum, and then he would be like, "All right, play."

And he wanted to hear what you had.

And he's, I mean, those are like being thrown in the deep end lessons, you know?

And he would love it when you succeeded.

Yeah.

Like those guys were, and I think that's because you have to come at them very humbly.

Yeah.

You got to know where you stand with them.

Always.

Yeah, with B.B.

and those guys, I mean, they were heroes.

And they treated us incredibly well and were, yeah.

And they gave us countless opportunities to get up and play with them.

And I think B.B.

at the end, I mean, he knew his time wasn't long and he wanted the music carried on and he would tell you directly.

He was like, "I ain't gonna be here much longer.

I'm counting on you guys to keep that music alive."

And so, you're like, "Well, we can do a little bit of it.

We'll do what we can."

Well, we have some more music because we do have guitars and we do have Garrett Trucks and Susan Tedeschi to bring the music.

[applause] This is a song from the new album that Tedeschi Trucks band is called "Future Soul" and the song is called "What in the World?"

[music] What in the world am I to do?

Birds ain't singing since I lost you Now I'll keep a shill for, I'll keep a flame You were the snow and I was the rain What in the world am I to do?

Never been a love so true Hair's full of gravel, hairs of the sand Show me a man, a girl can understand What on the world am I to do Up against the wall feel blue There with the fire, there with the spark A woman and a man, alone in the dark Alone in the dark, alone in the dark [Instrumental] What in the world am I to do?

[Instrumental] What in the world am I to do?

What in the world am I to do?

[applause] When did you both discover that you had a musical chemistry as guitarists and potential band leaders together?

We knew pretty instantly that we had a musical chemistry.

And, uh, I mean, she would come sit in with my group or vice versa.

We kind of knew there was a lot of energy there.

But we also knew, like, we probably should wait on this.

We got married, we got a house married kids, and like 10 years in, you're like, I think we could probably talk about maybe putting a band together.

If you can deal with washing the dishes in school, then leading a band is okay.

So, but yeah, I mean, I think we knew pretty quickly.

- Yeah, I mean, my singing and his guitar playing, we can finish each other's sentences pretty easily.

- I remember when we first met and Otele, we had played together a few times, Otele was in the Hammer Brothers.

He was like, "I don't care what happens, "you guys have to at least make one child."

(laughing) - I feel like we have chemistry, it's good.

- Right.

Well it's funny, when I went down to Jacksonville and I did that feature for Rolling Stone, House of Blues, about both of you, your various projects.

At that point you had your own band, you had the Derrick Trucks band and the Allmans.

But one of the things you did while I was there in your studio on the property, Swamp Raga, you were rehearsing as the Soul Stew Revival for some blues cruise thing.

And you did a version of Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind."

And when I heard that, I went, "This thing has wheels."

Like, this really, this isn't just revival time.

And within a year, you had announced the Tedeschi Truck Stand.

- Yeah, that was us putting our toes in the water.

- 2008 and 2009, we were fooling around a little bit with Soul Stew, and then 2010, we put Tedeschi Truck Stand together.

What was the thing that sort of really flicked the switch?

Well, Derek, I think, actually said, "Well, I think I'm ready for a change."

Because he had had the same band for 15 years, and he's like, "I really want to put together..." Like, he really had the vision.

And he said, "What do you think?

Should we do it?"

I'm like, "Right now, I finally have a good band.

This is like the first time I've had a band that I like."

But then I was like, "Well, I'm not going to miss this opportunity to be in a band with Eric."

So it just kind of fell together and the timing actually was really good in a lot of ways.

Even though our kids were still a little young, I mean, they were about eight and six, yes, yeah, six and eight when we started our band.

A lot of traveling.

A lot of drumming.

Yeah, so that was a little hard as a mom because I wanted to have them a little bit older before we got crazy because he's a workaholic.

And I was more flexible having my own band.

I could kind of follow him with Eric Clapton or the Allman Brothers or his band.

And if I wanted to work, I could easily maneuver it around my kids' birthdays and baseball and certain things.

This is like, this is literally like the universe unto itself.

Yeah, it was our solo bands and then Derek also had Eric Clapton and the Allman Brothers.

Oh, that's right.

And we had two children.

Yeah, so I took the kids with me when he was on tour and we would go see him and visit.

So it was really nice.

So he could see the kids.

Did you actually envision Sideski Trucks Band as a big band?

Because right now it's 12 pieces.

But was it actually designed to be a big band?

Knowing how expensive that would be.

Well, yeah, we were told by a lot of people that worked with us that it was a crazy idea.

But we knew.

Primarily your accountant.

Yeah, we knew we were like it's what started as a nine piece band.

Yeah, so it was already a pretty big band.

We knew we were going to have some horns and some singers.

So it started with Mike and Mark as our singers.

And he was like, yeah, we can be like the Pips, you know.

And I was like, OK, cool.

And then we wanted to have Kebby.

So Kebby Williams.

And then we decided we really needed a three, you know, three part horn section, because the Memphis horns is really the only two, and it's very tight, and it's kind of specific.

We just kept meeting people that we liked.

But we wanted it to be a little bit wider.

Yeah, so we had Kevi, and then the other two, you know, have been kind of a rotating cast of characters, but right now we have Emmanuel and Elizabeth Lee on trombone, who's amazing.

She is outrageous.

Because it's always going to be two drummers.

Yes, because the Allman Brothers, and also Bobby Bland.

The Grateful Dead, they had to make a new album.

- Everybody, I mean, back in the day.

- So when we first started talking about it, it was really having the Burbridge Brothers together.

I wanted Kofi and O'Teal to have a band together.

And then, so that was kind of the root of it.

And then it just kind of, then we watched the Mad Dogs movie, and we were like, if we're ever going to do something like this, it's now, you know?

You listen to those records and, you know, I got to see so many of those shows, you know, peaking at the beacon every year and just, you know, the way that it was like surge and flow, it was very tidal.

That's what great bands do.

That's what great jazz bands do.

That's what great blues bands do.

You're trying to create a moment that is undeniable and is a release for everybody, you know?

We feel it on stage.

And you know it when it happens, but you can't force it.

There's some ways that you can get there a little easier than others, but you can't.

You really can't force it.

So it's what keeps us coming back and doing it all the time.

There's a mystery to it.

We're the beacon for ten nights, and one night can be entirely different than the other.

And that's a special place.

We know it well, but there's some nights you're like, "Why does it feel and sound so different?"

Nothing's changed.

It's a mysterious thing, live music.

Well, the temperature in the room can change the sound, the amount of people, the size of the people.

It all changes.

Everything.

It changes everything.

It's so wild.

In a band this big, Tedeschi Trucks Band, who leads?

Like who's the Bernstein?

Who's the conductor?

He's the maestro.

You know, there's a lot of natural leaders in the band, but somebody has to steer it.

There's a lot of great songwriters in the band.

You take everyone's input and you try things out.

And 99 out of 100 times, the best idea is just obvious to everybody.

And it's just, well, that's better.

Every once in a while, you just have to make a decision.

This is not... We're not asking anymore.

He's a very good leader.

He really is.

I have to say, you're an excellent band leader.

Because when I watch the band on stage, one of the things I always take a look at is the way, Derek, you will turn around and you'll nod to say, "Kevi," to not just take the sax solo, but go further out.

Let's have some Albert Eiler in there and John Coltrane.

We have signals.

Yeah.

Like what would be some of the signals that people might see it, other than just sort of nodding?

I mean, they can read me so well.

They can tell if like one eyebrow moves, they know what it means.

I mean, it's almost like being a third base coach or something like you're giving people.

It's subtle.

Who is the singer?

Do you feel that you're like, is there a leadership aspect in that?

Because in a sense, as a vocalist, you're really carrying a pretty heavy emotional weight.

You're getting those words and that meaning into all of this music and actually giving it the narrative and the story that people can relate to.

It's interesting.

Every situation is different.

And I do find that as a singer, I've always been on stage.

I've been on stage since I was four.

So I can command that and I have a lot of practice at that.

So I feel like that's my comfortable space.

The thing that, you know, I'm always learning though.

I'm always working on it and trying to figure it out.

And I don't know.

I'm still learning.

Who was running things in the Allman Brothers or was anybody running things in the Allman Brothers?

I mean, you know, early days it was Dwayne and Barry.

It was those two.

And then it was Dickie forever.

And after that it was kind of, when Dickie left it was kind of me and Butch.

When Warren came it was me and Warren.

It was very much a two-headed, three-headed monster.

But always the singer has the veto.

We write a set list, Greg's like, "I'm not singing that tonight."

I guess we're not doing that tonight.

So it was always a balance.

Actually, I found a quote from Dwayne in which he talked about when the band was formed.

He said he had the idea of having two lead guitarists and it was inspired by Curtis Mayfield.

And the idea being that he wanted the bass, keyboards and second guitar to form patterns behind the solo rather than just comping.

That actually was really sort of unprecedented, certainly in rock at the time where it was about the front guys and it was about the rhythm section.

I've never heard that quote.

That's great.

I always learn something with David Frank.

Every time.

That's incredible.

I mean, it makes sense.

And also, they said that it was Curtis Mayfield.

Yeah.

Well, that's an R&B song.

Curtis is one of the great rhythm guitar players of all time and Hendrix.

Like, you can hear a lot of Curtis and Hendrix.

And singer and songwriter and arranger.

Yeah.

And everybody loved him.

But it makes sense with the almonds because the thing that made that thing go early on is the rhythm guitar playing behind it, the way Dickie or Dwayne would play by the other one.

And then Barry played bass like a guitar player.

He wasn't down here, he was up the neck driving that thing.

And then Greg, usually he was up here and not down here, so you're not crowding the low end.

There's a lot more freedom when everyone's not in the low mid-range, so it makes sense.

Curtis Mayfield is a good grab.

- Was there something, Susan, that you took away from that proximity to the Allmans?

Well, honestly, I mean, there was a lot of things I learned from that band.

I really learned how much they actually have such an incredible groove, like an incredible pocket, where it was sort of like Carlos Santana says, "If you're not making the ladies dance, you're doing something wrong."

And the Allman Brothers always had everybody dancing.

So it really was like this well-oiled machine, but they were always moving and they were always like ebbing and flowing.

And then as much as you think of the guitars as the lead part, it really was more of the rhythm section, like you and O'Teal with Gregory and then Butch and J-Mo, like that was the basis, and Mark and Jonas, of course.

But then it really freed it up so if you and Warren or you and Dickie or you and whoever, Jimmy, were up there playing, it just, it was like you could paint a canvas, you know, like on a canvas, you're all of a sudden like able to fill out this beautiful thing.

And it really made me realize how much it's a team sport, you know, it's like you all have to work as a team up there.

It's not about like, oh, here, it's my moment now.

You know, I'm going to do this, you know, you don't muscle your way into it.

It's like you learn to like find where you are in the cut or like you're on a ship.

Well, we have a very special guitar here that Susan is going to play.

And before we do that, this guitar was played by the great blues man from Mississippi, Mississippi, John Hurt.

And you actually have a little story that goes with it as well, because you have a bit of a connection to Mississippi John Hurt.

So when I was growing up, my dad always loved Mississippi John Hurt, and he's like, "Well, you know, I met him."

And I'm like, "What do you mean you met Mississippi John Hurt?"

He's like, "Well, it was that Newport Folk Festival, and he sat under a weepin' willow tree with me for an hour and just serenaded him, and they talked, and they smoked cigarettes and stuff and hung out and told stories.

And so they had a moment.

So yeah, so it was really cool.

And we're going to play actually an old Sippy Wallace tune for you.

I was thinking about Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt and how much they both really influenced both of us.

And Bonnie used to do this Sippy Wallace tune back in the day.

So see how we did.

[Music] Won't be wise, keep your mouth shut.

Don't advertise your man, don't be a fool.

Don't ever sit around, having no conversation.

Explain what your good man does to you.

'Cause these women out there, they ain't no good.

They laugh in your face, they try to steal your man from you.

Gotta be wise, keep your mouth shut.

Don't advertise your man, don't be a fool now, come on.

[Music] Now your best girlfriend, she might be a high-rise.

I see her changing clothes three times a day.

What do you think she's doing now, now, now?

Why you're so far away?

She loves your man and in your own damn way You better call for the doctor tomorrow Try to investigate your head Gotta be wise, keep your masters Don't advertise your man, don't be a fool Oh, be wise, keep your mouth shut Don't advertise your man, don't be a fool [Guitar Solo] Won't be wise, keep your mouth shut Don't advertise your man, don't be a fool Don't ever sit around, holdin' no conversation Explain what you're gettin' made, they'll see These women out there, they're no good They laugh in your face, they try to steal your man from you Gotta be wise, keep your mouth shut Don't advertise your man, don't be a fool Don't advertise your man [Music] That's definitely the art of music.

We're actually doing this in one of the most famous museums in the world.

It's like walking into the Parthenon.

What is it like to be -- what is it like to touch and play an instrument like that?

It's pretty heavy.

I'm like, I don't know.

It has its own personality.

Nothing special.

It's really beautiful.

If you didn't know that it was his, you might think, "Oh, it's a nice old guitar," but then it carries the weight of something else.

Can you feel it?

You can.

It wants to play in the blues too.

Oh, before the blues go by.

Lost all time, the guitar wants a sing and play.

It's got a sort of sound.

I don't know what the feelin''s like, but Lord, it sure feels good sometimes.

Sittin' on a willow tree in Newport, Rhode Island.

Oh, it's such a pretty thing, I just, just can't tell how to see.

Nobody really knows.

Nobody knows what it's been ahead.

No one asked so sure if I'd tell the story of the blues people before.

[music] [applause] Somebody got a plan to do this or that Lord, I'm so thankful Truly grateful, Lord, for you Lord, you can go and tell so many stories Lord, you can do anything you choose.

[Applause] There he is.

[Applause] Sometimes it's better to not have a song and just make it up.

Clearly that guitar wants you to make it talk.

It does.

It's like, "Come on, play for me."

It was asking for it.

I don't know, what do you want me to do?

Is that something that you experienced?

When I saw the almonds at the Beacon that weekend where you recreated at Fillmore East, you played the entire album for the first set and you opened with Statesboro Blues on Dwayne's Les Paul, his gold top.

And I know what it felt like just sitting up in the balcony looking at that guitar come alive.

What was it like for you to actually play those lines that were so iconic and at the same time have to make up your own in that moment with that instrument?

I mean it's a heavy lift but it's like having Excalibur.

I mean it's amazing you play certain instruments and when you play certain things you go oh that's that sound like it's in there.

I mean, there's a reason, like that guitar, if you play Piedmont style blues on it, it's going to feel familiar.

It's like a piece of wood.

So there's memory in it.

So you feel those things without a doubt.

I have a few instruments that they want to be played a certain way.

You tune them a certain way and they just come alive.

And if it's something you grew up with, the sounds you grew up with, I have this old Marshall that Dwayne played and when you crank that thing up you go, "Oh, there it is.

There's that note."

So it's a special thing.

You definitely feel it.

There's certain stages you feel it on.

We spend a lot of time on the Beacon.

There's certain nights where you tap into certain things and it makes you remember people.

I think of Kofi or you think of your uncle back there.

There's certain nights where you're like, "Oh, the spirit's in the room a little bit."

When the folks here walk out of here tonight and anyone who's watching this, what would you like them to take from this conversation, from your sharing of experiences and your lives with these instruments?

Like, what would you like people to take out of here into their own lives?

I think just the connection.

Music is one of the few ways to really connect on an even playing field, anywhere you are with anybody.

There are not many things left on earth that are not a zero-sum game where somebody has to win, somebody has to lose.

When we go into a venue, it's a crazy thing.

You can go in, the people working there can leave having a better day, the crowd, the band, everybody leaves a little bit lifted.

It's what church is supposed to do for people.

When you go to a show, it's an energy exchange with people and you can really leave feeling better than you did when you came in.

It's a crazy world we live in.

There's not many things left that are pure.

So we try to keep that in mind when we do what we do.

I think another thing that would be good for people to know is that there's no one way to play music.

And there's no right and wrong.

And it's a great way to have a release.

You know, it's a really emotional release.

And that anybody can play anything at any time if you want to.

There's no rules.

If you really are inspired to try something, go ahead and try it.

Don't let people say, "No, you can't do that.

You're too old."

Or, "You're too this or that."

No.

Music is for everybody.

And the more people that get involved, the better.

You know?

It's not just for one person.

For sure.

And it can change your life.

It can really help you with depression.

It can help you with reality.

Yeah, I'd probably be working at a gas station in Jacksonville.

Stop.

I've been in video stores.

I don't know.

Well, this has been a really wonderful experience.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art of Music, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, the Tedeschi Trucks Band.

The album is called "Future Soul" and they mean every word of it.

And they're going to play a song from that album right now to go out.

Thank you very much for being here.

Thank you so much for coming.

Thanks for having us.

[applause] [music] [applause] [music] You had me at hello, the poetry and the wine flowed In the dream you were mine You walked into the night, you vanished from my sight And you stayed in my smile Oh, who would have known all the places we'd go Oh, all the places wed go in this world side by side.

The night would disappear, I'd rinse my happy tears with a morning dew.

The wine's staining on my tongue, and all the sailing done, I've become a part of you.

And who, whoever, without you in my arms?

And who, who are you, all alone in the glow of the bright summer star?

[Music] See, without the day, I'm told we're lost for words, or a wave without an ocean.

I'm never on the stage, the life that I once had, for the song of our devotion.

Oh, from the day that it's late in the summer night Oh, that we'd play side by side in this world all night And who, who am I without you in my arms?

And who, who are you, oh Lord, in the glow of the brightest stars?

Who are you, oh Lord, in the glow of the brightest stars?

I'm a sliver without you in my heart Who are you?

All alone in the glow of the bright summer star [Guitar solo] [Applause] Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, The Art of Music At The Met [Applause] [Music] What in the world am I to do?

There's ain't a thing here since I lost you.

I'll keep a ship on, I'll keep a flame.

You were the storm and I was the rain.

What in the world am I to do?

What in the world am I to do?

Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following.

[ Music ] Sun Dragon supports the art of music.

[Music]