# Derek Trucks
**Derek Trucks** is an American guitarist from [Jacksonville, Florida](https://www.edgepedia.org/jacksonville-florida), known above all as one of the leading slide guitar players of his generation and as co-leader, with his wife [Susan Tedeschi](https://www.edgepedia.org/susan-tedeschi), of the Grammy-winning Tedeschi Trucks Band.[1](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/derek-trucks-tedeschi-trucks-band-i-am-the-moon) He is the nephew of [Butch Trucks](https://www.edgepedia.org/butch-trucks), a founding drummer of the Allman Brothers Band, and he played slide and lead guitar in that band from 1999 until its final shows in 2014.[2](https://www.mmusicmag.com/features/06/Derek-Trucks-M-Sept-Oct-2010.pdf) • [3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-allman-brothers-band-mn0000745964/biography)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Origin | Native of Jacksonville, Florida; nephew of Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks; named after Eric Clapton's early-1970s band Derek and the Dominos[2](https://www.mmusicmag.com/features/06/Derek-Trucks-M-Sept-Oct-2010.pdf) • [4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/derek-trucks-p132925/biography) |
| Start | Took up slide guitar at age 9 after his father's friend brought over a steel tube slide; first riff attempted was "Dust My Broom"[2](https://www.mmusicmag.com/features/06/Derek-Trucks-M-Sept-Oct-2010.pdf) • [5](https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/derek-trucks-on-the-art-of-slide-598954) |
| Derek Trucks Band | Formed at 14; recorded debut *The Derek Trucks Band* (1997) and, after 16 years, went on indefinite hiatus with the live album *Roadsongs*[2](https://www.mmusicmag.com/features/06/Derek-Trucks-M-Sept-Oct-2010.pdf) • [6](https://www.tedeschitrucksband.com/) |
| Allman Brothers Band | Joined as a permanent member in 1999, on the condition he could keep leading his own band; left at the end of 2014[7](https://www.laphil.com/people/tedeschi-trucks-band) • [3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-allman-brothers-band-mn0000745964/biography) |
| Signature sound | Slide played almost exclusively in open E tuning (E B E G# B E), fingerstyle and without a pick, with microtonal phrasing influenced by Indian classical music[5](https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/derek-trucks-on-the-art-of-slide-598954) • [8](https://guitarmessenger.com/derek-trucks-interview/) |
| Tedeschi Trucks Band | Formed with Susan Tedeschi; debut album *Revelator* (2011); the Grammy-winning 12-piece band released the quadruple album *I Am the Moon* in 2022 and its sixth studio album *Future Soul* in 2026[1](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/derek-trucks-tedeschi-trucks-band-i-am-the-moon) • [9](https://news.livenationentertainment.com/news/tedeschi-trucks-band-announces-future-soul-2026-tour) |
## Early start
Trucks grew up around music through his father's family connection to the Allman Brothers Band: his uncle Butch Trucks was one of the band's two founding drummers.[2](https://www.mmusicmag.com/features/06/Derek-Trucks-M-Sept-Oct-2010.pdf) He bought his first guitar at a garage sale at age nine, and the turning point came when a friend of his father brought over a steel slide. The first music that hit him hard was [Duane Allman](https://www.edgepedia.org/duane-allman)'s slide work on the *At Fillmore East* and *Layla* records, along with his father's [Elmore James](https://www.edgepedia.org/elmore-james) records; he has described slide's appeal as the way it emulated the human voice.[5](https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/derek-trucks-on-the-art-of-slide-598954)
Progress came quickly. He was on the road a few months after seriously starting to play, formed the Derek Trucks Band at 14, and while still in his teens sat in with [Bob Dylan](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-dylan), John Lee Hooker, and [Buddy Guy](https://www.edgepedia.org/buddy-guy).[5](https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/derek-trucks-on-the-art-of-slide-598954) • [2](https://www.mmusicmag.com/features/06/Derek-Trucks-M-Sept-Oct-2010.pdf) An early-1990s American TV news piece on the young player made the wider world aware of him and caught the attention of the slide guitarist Sonny Landreth.[10](https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/derek-trucks-on-tone-secrets-first-records-and-keeping-it-real-626870) Because of his family connection, he had an inside track with the Allman Brothers Band and began sitting in with them at about age 10.[11](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2003/BB-2003-09-13.pdf)
## The Derek Trucks Band
Trucks began his professional career playing with blues bands around Jacksonville and formed his own group while in high school.[4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/derek-trucks-p132925/biography) The Derek Trucks Band recorded *The Derek Trucks Band* (1997), *Out of the Madness* (1998), *Joyful Noise* (2002), *Soul Serenade* (2003), *Songlines* (2006), *Already Free* (2009), and the live *Roadsongs* (2010), which marked the end of the group's 16-year run and the start of an indefinite hiatus.[6](https://www.tedeschitrucksband.com/) • [2](https://www.mmusicmag.com/features/06/Derek-Trucks-M-Sept-Oct-2010.pdf)
*Already Free*, heavy on original songs, proved a turning point: it won a Grammy in 2010, established a more song-oriented direction for Trucks, and set the stage for the partnership with his wife.[7](https://www.laphil.com/people/tedeschi-trucks-band)
## The Allman Brothers Band years
In 1999, Trucks, who was still heading the Derek Trucks Band, received an invitation to become a full-time member of the Allman Brothers Band; he agreed, but only if he could keep leading his own group.[7](https://www.laphil.com/people/tedeschi-trucks-band) He was recruited at the end of his teens and went on to spend 15 years in the band, forming its dual-guitar front line with [Warren Haynes](https://www.edgepedia.org/warren-haynes) in what AllMusic describes as one of the group's strongest lineups.[1](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/derek-trucks-tedeschi-trucks-band-i-am-the-moon) • [3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-allman-brothers-band-mn0000745964/biography)
In early 2014, Haynes and Trucks released a joint announcement that both were leaving the band at the end of the year; the Allman Brothers Band played its final shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York in October 2014.[3](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-allman-brothers-band-mn0000745964/biography) • [12](https://allmanbrothersband.com/allman-brothers-band-chronology/)
## Tedeschi Trucks Band
Trucks met Susan Tedeschi, a blues guitarist and vocalist, during an Allman Brothers tour in 1999; they toured together from 2010, when he formed the [Tedeschi Trucks Band](https://www.edgepedia.org/tedeschi-trucks-band) with her.[7](https://www.laphil.com/people/tedeschi-trucks-band) • [13](https://www.eriereader.com/uploads/issues/pdf/14423_ErieReader_Sep_16.pdf) The band's debut album, *Revelator*, appeared in 2011, and the group built a recording studio from scratch on Trucks's property in Jacksonville, which he dubbed Swamp Raga.[14](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/10s/Mix-2011-06.pdf)
The Grammy-winning 12-piece band has since released *Made Up Mind* (2013), *Let Me Get By* (2016), *Signs* (2019), the four-part *I Am the Moon* series (2022), and *[Future Soul](https://www.edgepedia.org/future-soul-album)* (2026), its sixth studio album, supported by a 2026 tour produced by Live Nation.[1](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/derek-trucks-tedeschi-trucks-band-i-am-the-moon) • [6](https://www.tedeschitrucksband.com/) • [9](https://news.livenationentertainment.com/news/tedeschi-trucks-band-announces-future-soul-2026-tour) Trucks serves as the band's musical director, and on stage he does not speak; his solos, sometimes planned and often improvised, carry the expressive weight of the performance.[15](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/tedeschi-trucks-band-interview-future-soul)
## Slide style and influences
Trucks plays slide almost exclusively in open E tuning and, unusually for a lead player, uses no pick, playing fingerstyle.[5](https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/derek-trucks-on-the-art-of-slide-598954) • [8](https://guitarmessenger.com/derek-trucks-interview/) He has named intonation as the central challenge of slide playing: how a note is attacked determines whether it sings, and the microtones available on slide, the ability to lead into or fall away from a note, are what make it lyrical in the way a gospel or soul singer is.[5](https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/derek-trucks-on-the-art-of-slide-598954) • [1](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/derek-trucks-tedeschi-trucks-band-i-am-the-moon)
His influences reach beyond blues and rock into jazz and [Indian classical music](https://www.edgepedia.org/indian-classical-music); he is an aficionado and player of Indian classical music, whose microtonal subtleties connect directly to slide guitar.[2](https://www.mmusicmag.com/features/06/Derek-Trucks-M-Sept-Oct-2010.pdf) • [14](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/10s/Mix-2011-06.pdf) Onstage he favors light [Gibson SG](https://www.edgepedia.org/gibson-sg) guitars; his go-to stage guitar is a Dickey Betts SG given to him by Duane Allman's daughter, Galadrielle.[16](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/derek-trucks-on-playing-jerry-garcia-tiger-guitar) Although identified with slide, he also plays fretted guitar, and he has said he sometimes plays nearly an hour of a show before pulling the slide from his pocket.[17](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/derek-tucks-tedeschi-trucks-band-on-when-he-chooses-to-play-with-a-slide-or-fretted)
## Recognition
[Guitar World](https://www.edgepedia.org/guitar-world) has described Trucks as widely considered the finest slide player to emerge since Duane Allman, Sonny Landreth, and [Ry Cooder](https://www.edgepedia.org/ry-cooder), and MusicRadar calls him, arguably, slide's greatest modern exponent, admired by players from [Guthrie Govan](https://www.edgepedia.org/guthrie-govan) to Eric Clapton; he backed Clapton on tour in 2007.[1](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/derek-trucks-tedeschi-trucks-band-i-am-the-moon) • [5](https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/derek-trucks-on-the-art-of-slide-598954) • [2](https://www.mmusicmag.com/features/06/Derek-Trucks-M-Sept-Oct-2010.pdf) In 2025 he played Jerry Garcia's custom Doug Irwin "Tiger" guitar at the Beacon Theatre in the week it sold at auction for $11,560,000, becoming the second most expensive guitar in the world.[16](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/derek-trucks-on-playing-jerry-garcia-tiger-guitar) When Allman Brothers co-founder Dickey Betts died in 2024, Trucks and Tedeschi posted that Betts was "one of best to ever do it."
[18](https://apnews.com/article/fe2e01a963d446538b2f10fd134165e8)
## References
1. [Derek Trucks: "Slide playing is all about intonation" – Guitar World](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/derek-trucks-tedeschi-trucks-band-i-am-the-moon)
2. [He learned from the masters – M Music & Musicians, Sept–Oct 2010](https://www.mmusicmag.com/features/06/Derek-Trucks-M-Sept-Oct-2010.pdf)
3. [The Allman Brothers Band – Biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-allman-brothers-band-mn0000745964/biography)
4. [Derek Trucks – Biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/derek-trucks-p132925/biography)
5. [Derek Trucks on the art of slide – MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/derek-trucks-on-the-art-of-slide-598954)
6. [Official Website of Tedeschi Trucks Band – discography](https://www.tedeschitrucksband.com/)
7. [Tedeschi Trucks Band – LA Phil](https://www.laphil.com/people/tedeschi-trucks-band)
8. [Derek Trucks Interview – Guitar Messenger](https://guitarmessenger.com/derek-trucks-interview/)
9. [Tedeschi Trucks Band Announces Future Soul 2026 Tour – Live Nation Entertainment](https://news.livenationentertainment.com/news/tedeschi-trucks-band-announces-future-soul-2026-tour)
10. [Derek Trucks on tone secrets, first records and keeping it real – MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/derek-trucks-on-tone-secrets-first-records-and-keeping-it-real-626870)
11. [Touring Music – Billboard, September 13, 2003](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2003/BB-2003-09-13.pdf)
12. [Allman Brothers Band Chronology](https://allmanbrothersband.com/allman-brothers-band-chronology/)
13. [Erie Reader, September 16, 2014](https://www.eriereader.com/uploads/issues/pdf/14423_ErieReader_Sep_16.pdf)
14. [Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks – Mix Magazine, June 2011](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/10s/Mix-2011-06.pdf)
15. [Tedeschi Trucks Band interview: Future Soul – Louder Sound](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/tedeschi-trucks-band-interview-future-soul)
16. [Derek Trucks on playing Jerry Garcia's Tiger guitar – MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/derek-trucks-on-playing-jerry-garcia-tiger-guitar)
17. [Derek Trucks on when he chooses to play with a slide or fretted – MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/derek-tucks-tedeschi-trucks-band-on-when-he-chooses-to-play-with-a-slide-or-fretted)
18. [Allman Brothers Band co-founder Dickey Betts dies at 80 – AP News](https://apnews.com/article/fe2e01a963d446538b2f10fd134165e8)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Rock, metal, and popular-band musicians › Southern rock and jam bands*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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