Derek Trucks could easily be your typical ego-driven rock star. He certainly has every right to be. He’s been included in Rolling Stone’s list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” He was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as a member of The Allman Brothers Band, as well as having won Grammy Awards for albums with his solo group, The Derek Trucks Band, and with the Tedeschi Trucks Band. He has played the White House for President Obama and his guests. And he’s shared the stage with damn near every musical genius you can imagine. In fact, blues legend B.B. King once remarked “That’s about as good as I’ve ever heard it, and I mean it” after hearing Trucks play one of King’s songs. Simply put, the man is a living legend.
Yet talking with him, you’d never know it. There is not even a hint of ego or arrogance present. Instead, what you get is a genuinely down-to-earth, funny, friendly, easy-going kind of guy that makes you feel like an old friend even though you’ve just met him.
The nephew of The Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks, Derek first picked up the guitar at the age of nine after finding one at a yard sale for $5, (a guitar he still owns to this day). From there, he became a child prodigy on guitar and formed his own group, The Derek Trucks Band, in 1994 at the ripe old age of 15. In 1999, he joined his uncle as an official member of The Allman Brothers Band, which he would stay with through the band’s final show in October of 2014 while continuing to record and tour with his solo band, and later the Tedeschi Trucks Band, which he formed with his wife Susan Tedeschi in 2010.
At Bourbon and Beyond 2024, Trucks officially launched his first venture into the bourbon world with his Ass Pocket Whiskey (APW) brand, which is bottled exclusively in 200 ml bottles designed to fit in your back pocket. The first APW release was a 100-proof heritage Kentucky straight bourbon released in a run of just 3,000 bottles – all of which quickly sold out. However, future APW releases are planned and forthcoming.
So when LEO Weekly was offered the chance to do a quick interview with Derek Trucks prior to Tedeschi Trucks Band’s set at Bourbon and Beyond this year, we jumped at the chance! And what we got was personally this writer’s favorite interview to date! Here’s what the guitar virtuoso had to say.
LEO: How is it that you and your wife have been able to make music and tour together for all these years while maintaining a healthy marriage?
Derek Trucks: Well, you know, we did everything out of order, [laughs]. We met on the road, we started living together, we got pregnant, got married. But it was 10 years into marriage before we were like; “Hey, do you think we’re ready to start a band?” [laughs]. You’ve really got to think about these things, so we took our time and we tested the waters because not everybody works well together. Because we really give a shit about what we do, we really care about it, and it’s intense, and it’s a high bar you have to clear every night. So if what you do doesn’t help the other person clear that bar for themselves, then it can get frustrating. So we went out with her band and my band – our solo bands – and toured together, and that was fun. And then we were like, well, let’s combine the bands and see what happens when we hit the Soul Stew Revival for a summer, and that was really fun. And then my idea was if we’re going to do this, I feel like the only way to make it legitimate is to cut the safety nets. We can’t have your solo band and mine and this other thing. Because as soon as it gets bumpy, you’re just like, fuck it, [laughs], we’ll just do what we were doing. So if we’re going to do it, I feel like we really need to be all in with it and see where it goes. And it’s been an incredible ride. But it hasn’t been without its bumps, you know, like any relationship or any band or any anything. But communication is the biggest key, and just a baseline of respect, [laughs]. You gotta have those things. But I feel really lucky. I mean, I’m in a band with one of the great living vocalists, so it’s not hard to remember that when you’re talking to her, [laughs]. Like, I might have ideas of the way I want to do it, but I’m not singing the tune, and she respects what I do enough and knows that being a bandleader and being able to navigate these things is my kind of forte. So we give each other certain lanes and you just lean into them. But I’ll say it’s better now than it’s ever been, and our relationship is better than it’s ever been, and I feel really, really fortunate. We’re 25 years in – in rock ‘n’ roll years that’s like 100 regularly years, [laughs]. We’ve put each other through the ringer, but we’ve come out the other side and we’re better for it.
You all are playing a wide range of songs, including different cover songs, every night. It’s never the same setlist twice, and you all apparently know every song that’s ever been written. How do you come up with the setlist, and how do you all remember all of those songs?
[Laughs], It’s funny. I mean, some of that is just everybody on the stage. We’re blessed with incredible musicians, and sometimes it’s not even remembering a tune, it’s “Hey, what about this tune?” We may have played it five years ago with everyone, and everyone can relearn it or remember some of it pretty quickly. We always set up a rehearsal room backstage with small gear. After we do sound check, we’ll go in the rehearsal room and just talk through tunes, and it helps keep us on the toes. I feel like our audience has come to expect it. It’s a big part of the thing. But it can be tougher for Sue than it is for me or the rest of us. She’s got a lot of lyrics to remember. But it’s good for us. So I feel like in between making records when we’re not in there creating our own stuff, it’s nice to chew on other people’s material because when you hear a song and you remember it and know it, it’s different than getting inside of it and learning how to play it. Because a lot of times, you’ll learn a George Harrison tune and there’ll be all these little simple moves that just create a really profound feeling. They’re really important chord changes and you go, “Oh shit, that’s what that is.” And then years later, you might be writing a tune and stumble across it and you’re like, “Oh yeah, this is a powerful thing that you can use.” So I feel like the more you dive into it, the better. But yeah, to me it’s kind of legwork for the next time you’re in the creative mode of writing and recording, so all that stuff comes out.
Speaking of that, are working on anything new or have any plans to record again soon?
We’ve been touring so hard these last two years; we haven’t had a ton of time. But we spent about 8 months rebuilding our studio and we’re weeks from finishing it. We got some of the band together at our farm in Georgia for a writing session maybe four months ago and it was just tons of ideas kicking around. So when we get to December of this year, we’re taking a good five months off from touring and we’re going to go hard into writing. We’re ready to get back in. I feel like everyone’s kind of craving that process again.
Related
REVIEW: Here’s What We Experienced At Bourbon & Beyond 2024
You’ve been on stage with some of the most legendary names in music. Is there anyone you still hope to one day get on stage with?
Man, I’ve been pretty lucky, [laughs]. For a long time it was B.B. King and Stevie Wonder and Wayne Shorter, and I was blessed to be able to get on stage with all of them. I’m sure there’s people I’m not thinking of, but yeah, I’ve been beyond fortunate in that world. And every time you get to be around somebody like that, it’s kind of everything you hoped and more. You feel it wafting onto you, [laughs]. It’s kind of wild.
When B.B. King said that you were one of the best guitarists he’s ever heard, was that the best compliment you’ve ever gotten?
Yeah, other than your wife saying it and meaning it, [laughs]. She can say it, but like B.B., that’s pretty hardcore. Yeah, I remember sitting there because Sue had played with B.B. and I had met him in passing, but he didn’t know me, and we never had that moment or connection. So when I finally got to play with him and he just opened up and it was just this outpouring of compliments and love, I remember sitting there thinking “Oh, I’m going to be telling my grandkids about this!” [Laughs]. But I remember in the moment thinking, “Oh, this is one of those moments.” Often you have these moments you look back at in your life, and while it was happening you weren’t really aware that it was a thing, but that one I was aware of! [Laughs]. It was like 4 dimensional. I was waiting for like candid camera or some shit to come out and they’re like, “No, he was kidding.” [Laughs]
So what brings you into the bourbon business?
I’ve just been a huge fan. In the early years, we were touring here in a Winnebago with my solo band and a friend of ours, we call him the Viking, he would show up at the shows with this road case briefcase with two or three bottles of bourbon and then shot glasses on the top. And he would bring it on the bus or the Winnebago and open it, and he’s like, “Yeah, these are really good local bourbons.” And then we’d try them, and I was like, “I like the one with the dude with a cigar.” And he was bringing out Pappy 15 and George Stagg. In the early days of it though, we would give him our per diem and he would run out and buy bottles and we just drank good stuff without knowing anything about it. So, I just kind of fell in love with it and started getting into the history of it. In those early days when we were traveling, on days off, you could go hit liquor stores and find good shit. So, the hunt was incredible. And then everything shifted and then you find good shit and its like, “Yeah, you can have it, its $3,000!” [Laughs]. So the idea of this kind of came from missing that search and being able to find things and then spend $50 and get it. So we’re trying to hunt it out on the front end because we’ve made great friends and connections where we can find 10-20 barrels of like high end, collector, old-age, good bourbon and stuff it in the bottle for $50, and I feel like people are more apt to actually open it and drink it. Because look, I’m a collector too, but I miss the days of like oh, you get a good bottle and you drink it with people, because that’s what you do, [laughs]. So just trying to, in our tiny little way, kind of push back against it just being a little too precious, a little holier than thou. I mean, the stuff in it is that good, and I feel like it should be enjoyed. So that’s the idea to kind of bring it back down to Earth just a little bit, [laughs]. It’s been fun searching out good stuff, and we took our time with it. Everybody in the world has a bourbon brand these days, so it’s kind of an anti-bourbon brand, in a way, [laughs].
It’s a great idea. I mean, no one else is doing that.
And our idea is to never make it in any other format other than 200 milliliters. Just keep it in a small bottle and, you know, it’s a lot easier to drop $50 than it is $400 or $500 or whatever. And then when you spend that much, you don’t really want to open it. But when we finally got these bottles in – because I found this juice about a year ago and have been sitting on it – but we finally got them in, my son got married on Friday of last week and we got a case in and we sat around the fire with cigars and just cracked one and everyone polished it off, and I was like, I felt proper, [laughs]. Like, that’s what it’s for.
So, how did you come up with the name Ass Pocket Whiskey?
[Laughs] I think it went well with the concept of trying to make it less pretentious. I was telling the guy we were making the bourbon with, “Man, I always carry an ass pocket with me,” and he was like, “What’s an ass pocket?” [Laughs] It’s an old blues terminology for a pint in your back pocket. And there is an RL Burnside record called A Ass Pocket of Whiskey. And I would find these old dusty bottles of Old Granddad from the 80s, and one of my favorite sips ever was out of one of those, and so I kept the bottle, I still have it. It’s like my flask. So if you go golfing or whatever, you keep an ass pocket with you. So I think when I said it, he just immediately is like, “That’s the name!” [Laughs] I was like, “I don’t know, is that a little much?” And he’s like, “Straight!” [Laughs] So I feel good about it. It makes you remember it, and it’s not pretentious at that point, [laughs].
So where are you getting the bourbon from? And what can we look forward to in the future?
So we kicked it off at the Brown-Foreman property, but the idea is to get a lot of these old bourbon families excited about maybe finding 5-10 barrels of good shit that they don’t know what to do with and putting it in an APW bottle. Going forward, it’d be nice to put their name on the back. For me, the bottom line is it has to be something that if I found it on the shelves, I’d be willing to shell out cash for, that I would drink, and 10 years is the minimum on the aging for what I really want to do with it, and just making sure it’s good juice. So we kicked it off, and there’s already chatter like, “Hey, what about putting this in there?” [Laughs] A group of my brothers and friends from Jacksonville drive up to Kentucky every year to do a barrel pick or two, and that’s a fun search. But this will even be a different level of aware. I feel like we can search it out for other people too, or we can find that soft, sweet spot, [laughs], and maybe break off a few barrels they’re not willing to just release in that format. So it’s gonna be a fun ride at the very least! [Laughs]
For more info on Derek Trucks and the Tedeschi Trucks Band, visit tedeschitrucksband.com. For more info on Ass Pocket Whiskey, visit asspocketwhiskey.com
This article appears in Oct 23 – Nov 5, 2024.