The smokin’ hot Tedeschi Trucks Band gets by just fine in Vancouver

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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 29, 2016

By Steve Newton

Susan Tedeschi really got me going.

And I don’t just mean last night (June 28) in Vancouver, when she led the Tedeschi Trucks Band in a funkified, soul-heavy, blues-based blast for the ages at the sold-out Queen E. Theatre.

I’m talkin’ about three weeks ago, when she called me up from the Florida home she shares with her hubby-guitarist Derek Trucks to chat about their then-upcoming North American tour.

During the conversation I was asking Tedeschi about Doyle Bramhall II, who cowrote and played on several tracks on the TTB’s latest album, Let Me Get By.

“He’s always been sort of part of this band,” she said, “even though he’s not in the band.” She went on to explain how Bramhall often tours with the band, or just sits in on gigs, before adding that he was planning on doing some West Coast shows with the band.

Well, last time I checked, Vancouver was on the West Coast. So I had high hopes for not only having the incredible slide-guitar skills of Trucks to be thrilled by last night, but the tasty, Clapton-approved Strat backings of Bramhall too.

It was not to be, though. Bramhall didn’t show. But the good news is, even without his wished-for presence, there wasn’t a damn thing worth complaining about last night. All 12 members of the smokin’ hot ensemble brought the musical goods in a big way.

The gig kicked off with the second track on Let Me Get By, “Laugh About It”, an uplifting, laid-back groover boasting Tedeschi’s heartfelt vocals and one of Trucks’ patented slide-guitar freakouts. As everybody knows, two drummers are better than one, and the TTB’s Tyler Greenwell and J.J. Johnson were a percussive force of nature all night.

Things got super-funky super fast with the next number, “Don’t Know What It Means”, another track off Let Me Get By (which should clean up at this year’s Grammy’s, if there’s any justice in the music biz). Bassist Tim Lefebvre–who’s so awesome David Bowie got him to play all the bass on Blackstar–shone brightly on that tune. And Tedeschi stepped out of her usual rhythm-guitar territory to deliver a sweet little wah-wah solo.

For the third selection things took a poppier direction, with Tedeschi putting down the axe to concentrate on a fine cover of the Box Tops’ 1967 hit “The Letter”. The evening would also include choice renditions of songs by George Jones (“Color of the Blues”) and Elmore James (“The Sky is Crying”), the latter giving Trucks ample reason to turn the “bluesiness” level on his amp up to 11.

The show ended with an encore of the Coasters’ “Let’s Go Get Stoned”, but everyone was already too baked from over 2 and 1/2 hours of intoxicating tuneage to take that advice to heart.