Derek Trucks @ MN Zoo
Posted on June 13th, 2009 – 12:25 AMBy Jon Bream
With nary a PETA protester in sight, the annual concert series at the Minnesota Zoo kicked off Friday with the Derek Trucks Band thrilling a standing-room-only crowd.
For 1 3/4 hours, Trucks proved why he is the best young (he turned 30 on Monday) rock guitarist on the planet. The low-key, pony-tailed Floridian offered some of the niftiest, most expressive finger-picking and slide playing witnessed since, well, he was at the zoo last year with his wife, Susan Tedeschi, and their side project, Soul Stew Revival. Not only was Trucks articulate in an array of styles (blues, rock, soul, gospel, jazz) but he is the most relaxed, calmest, unshowy bluesman you’ve ever seen. He makes Ol’ Slowhand Clapton look dynamic, by comparison. Of course, Trucks’ fabulous fingers were dynamic, fluid and fast. He just stands there and plays like a humble servant, with grace and purity.
Per usual, Trucks didn’t say much, other than to introduce the band members, including singer Mike Mattison from Minneapolis, percussionist Count M’Butu from Pipestone, Minn. and drummer Yonrico Scott from Green Bay, which elicited boos. “OK, Detroit,” Trucks corrected himself. (He really is from Detroit and M’Butu is from Georgia, but Mattison is Minneapolis born and bred.)
Mattison impressed on vocals, with a pure falsetto and a gravelly natural voice that suggested a southern Joe
Cocker. He really wailed on the closing “Key to the Highway,” inspiring Trucks’ to soaring slide heights. (Let’s see if Clapton can match that “Key” on Thursday when he plays the X with Steve Winwood.) That blues classic ranked as one of the night’s highlights along with an adventurous, long and winding instrumental treatment of “My Favorite Things” and “Goin’ Down Slow,” featuring an inspired, unrehearsed exchange between (opening act) Ruthie Foster’s scatting and Trucks’ responsive guitar.
Even though the zoo lost the Pretenders this week to the Orpheum because of leader Chrissie Hynde’s objection to what happens to animals after they leave the petting zoo, the concert series got off to a terrific start with Trucks.
One response to "Derek Trucks @ MN Zoo"
The spot with Ruthie was a “I saw something that will be remembered” moment. I had never heard a dtb song before that night, but was won over big time!
