For many a bluesman, standing at the Crossroads is a mostly apocryphal experience, the stuff of myth and legends. But when Rocks Off reached Derek Trucks at his New York hotel room last month, the myth is quite real.
In a few days, he'll take the stage with the Allman Brothers Band for their annual run of shows at the Beacon Theatre. Except it will be the last-ever live dates with the venerable group for both guitarists Trucks and Warren Haynes, both having previously announced their departure. And - depending on which member speaks to the media on which day - may be the ABB's last live dates ever.
"It's a trip. We started rehearsals last night for the last run, and I can't tell who is processing what in what way yet. I don't know if we'll ever be on the same page about [any future for the group], but for me, this is it. And I know Warren as well," Trucks says.
"But I think these last six shows are going to be great, and everyone's head will be in the right space. Whatever happens down the road, who knows? But I'm stepping away. I bought a one way ticket."
Two days after the Allmans took a final bow, Trucks began his fall tour with the Tedeschi Trucks Band, the 11-piece ensemble he runs with singer/guitarist/wife Susan Tedeschi, which stops at Bayou Music Center Thursday night. Their sophomore studio effort, Made Up Mind, came out last year.
For Trucks -- who also fronted his own band and served as a touring guitarist for Eric Clapton in recent years -- it was just time to simplify his musical life and thus his home. Still, just one day's rest?
"When I'm out on the road, I want to be out. And when I'm home, I want that [lengthier] rest. I mean, our kids are 10 and 12, and it's busier there!" Trucks laughs.
"And spending time with [my kids] was one of the biggest factors for me getting out of the Allman Brothers," he adds. "It's been 15 pretty insane years and I wouldn't change it for anything. But it will be nice to have that space to focus and breathe."
That musical focus can finally be on the TTB, which have become he and Tedeschi's de facto "other" family since they decided to merge their careers to tour and record together. The debut album Revelator came out in 2011, followed by the live double disc Everybody's Talkin' the next year.
When Rocks Off spoke with Tedeschi in 2012, she joked about the pressures of meeting the payroll for such a large unit, but Trucks says he wouldn't have it otherwise.
"Each year we look at our schedules and see how many gigs we have to do so that the band makes a living wage, and we make it work," he says. "There's a sound you get with this large a band you can't get any other way, and it's hard to go back. And people realize you're serious about music when you show up with that many people. They know you're doing it because you want to."
And while he admits that touring such a large unit has "bumps in the road," he says the chemistry is right both musically and personally for the modern traveling gypsy/hippie caravan. And their philosophy is reflected in the cover art of Made Up Mind that features a large buffalo running for a head-on collision with a locomotive train.
"We thought that art went perfect with who we are!" Trucks laughs. "I feel that myself and the band try to do things the old way, and you then realize your running up against this inevitable force. That's like us. We'll probably lose, but it will be a beautiful mess!"
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