NOVEMBER 2018 [$2.25] www.cityscenecolumbus.com insideON THE COVER 6 on the scene 12 Made in the U.S.A. Shared experiences in providing local handmade products If it Feels Right to the community Derek Trucks grew up amongst the legends but 1 8 Window Wonderland never imagined he would be where he is today Contest focuses on community and collaboration 24 Double the Talent Local author and actor, Gary Braunbeck, shares his stories and insight 14 38 20 Lifting Spirits departments Personal tragedies and hardships result in 6 insight 35 spirits 41 on view valuable community endeavors 10 health 36 travel 44 calendar COVER: Photo courtesy of Tab Winters 14 cuisine 38 visuals 48 critique 2 cityscenecolumbus.com | November 2018 CS INSIGHT If it Feels Right Derek Trucks grew up amongst the legends A but never imagined he would be where he is today By Rocco Falleti The Tedeschi Trucks Band Live from the Palace Theatre Nov. 9. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets • • • • • 6 cityscenecolumbus.com | November 2018 Mayhem The young prodigy caught the attention of Ace Moreland’s West Side Story, a Jacksonville blues band, was getting ready to take Allman Brothers Band guitarist Col. Bruce the stage at Applejacks, a small bar connected to a hotel in Miami back in the late Hampton. Hampton would serve not only as a ’80s. Moreland had recently enlisted the talents of a young and talented prodigy, mentor, but as a role model to Trucks early on in 9-year-old guitarist Derek Trucks. his career. Trucks is the nephew of drummer and founding member “Bruce’s M.O. was always of the storied Allman Brothers Band, and tonight Uncle intentions frst,” Trucks Butch was coming to watch his nephew play. Butch Trucks says. “Why are you doing was accompanied by Gregg Allman, Allen Woody and that, what does it mean, Warren Haynes. what are you trying to say? With so much talent in one room, the Allman Brothers That was always his thing If it Feels Right Band members present sat in for a quick jam with Trucks to make sure you stay in and Moreland. touch with when playing.” “Probably about 15 to 20 percent of the people in that bar What Trucks was able to Aknew what was going on and the rest were probably a little accomplish before the age too drunk,” Trucks recalls. “I’m sure the people there for the of 20 is what most musicians pizza and blues enjoyed it. I sure did.” only dream of accomplishing Trucks was given one of his most prized possessions, a in an entire career. Coricidin bottle used by Duane Allman for a slide when he Being a band leader by played guitar. DID YOU KNOW the age of 11, playing 200 The slide would soon become a defning tool as part of his Trucks is often in talks as one of the shows a year all while try- unique sound, which takes a more melodic approach, like greatest guitar players of all time. ing to fnish school while that of a singer, when he plays. He is the youngest to crack Rolling out on the road is not your “That night was complete mayhem,” Trucks says. “I was Stone’s Top 100 Rock Guitarists of typical childhood. For standing by the pool towards the end of the night when All Time, where he was voted No. Trucks, those early years Gregg and Red Dog (Joseph L. Campbell) gave me Duane’s 16 by peers in the music industry. taught him the discipline slide. That was a holy relic to me and a pretty big moment.” he needed to be a success- ful touring musician. More Myth than Reality “You try and hold yourself to a standard When some of the frst concerts your father takes you to include the likes of Miles Davis and luckily I had that personality where you and Ray Charles at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, inspiration is easy to ignite. are kind of your own worst critic at all times,” “The music was something that was always there but never really felt like it was Trucks says. “My dad had a low bull (expletive) going to be something that I was going to do,” Trucks says. “There was always vinyl tolerance and threshold when it came to music spinning around the house, a lot of B.B. King, my mom was a big Joni Mitchell fan.” and I think it rubbed off on me.” Trucks grew up in the ’80s and at the time the Allman Brothers Band rarely toured. Though Trucks knew his uncle’s group was a big deal, much of his earliest exposure Meeting Susan to the band came from listening to records and secondhand accounts. Trucks joined the Allman Brothers Band “I would see my uncle occasionally and there was always the excitement of know- in 1999 and was its youngest member at 20 ing that it was in the family,” Trucks says. “I would hear my dad telling stories about years old. Fortuitously, the band was bring- going up to the Filmore and crazy Atlanta Pop Festival stories, in the heyday of it all.” ing a formidable voice out on tour to open Little did Trucks know at the time, he would eventually fll in for the late Duane for it. Allman all the way through their last shows in 2014. At that point, Trucks was just Susan Tedeschi, much like Trucks, started trying to stay in the moment. her career off at a very young age. Trucks ad- “It was the depth of what they did and it was important enough for me to continue mits he was foored by her talent, but what re- everything you can to carry that on in a legitimate way,” Trucks says. “Some people ally caught his attention was Tedeschi’s taste latch on to the fame or name part of it and never dig into the ‘why it matters’ part, or in music. why it’s resonating with people.” “It’s not often you are meeting someone who is listening to Otis Rush records and Intentions First knows every Chess Record,” Trucks says. “I Trucks has been a force on guitar since the day his father purchased one for him used to joke with my band members and tell at a garage sale. them that I was not getting back in a relation- By age 11, he was touring as a headliner with his own band and opening for acts ship unless the girl I met owned a specifc list like Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers Band. Shortly after that, Eric Clapton and of records I wrote down.” Santana were calling on Trucks’ talents. To say he was destined for greatness would Tedeschi, in fact, had that list of records Photo courtesy of Stuart Levine Levine Stuart of courtesy Photo be an understatement. and the rest was history. November 2018 | cityscenecolumbus.com 7 CS INSIGHT “I remember telling the band, ‘Well I guess I stepped in it.’ She had all those records and then some,” Trucks says. “It was pretty eye opening to me and to hear her sing and do her thing. You don’t see that every day.” The two musicians formed an immediate connection and married in 2001. They had their own successful projects going, but Tede- schi and Trucks would join forces creatively in 2010, forming the Tedeschi Trucks Band. The group has been going strong for eight years and now boasts 12 members. Shrimp and Grits Sure, starting a new band is always excit- ON CREATING AND RAISING A FAMILY ing. With an abundance of ideas and inspira- “It is constantly shifting and evolving,” Trucks says. “We tions foating around, the eagerness to create have two kids, so sometimes when you are sitting at and perform runs wild. One of the frst projects the Tedeschi Trucks home, it’s just domestic, trying to raise a family. But there Band did was with legendary jazz pianist Her- are times when individually we both get inspired.” bie Hancock, for his the Imagine Project. “I would say that’s a pretty good omen and way to kick it all off,” Trucks says. “You don’t Trucks says. “But as far as musical ideas, it feels like such a smaller group. It still feels even dream about those things because it nev- like a sports car in a way.” er seems like it’ll happen. When it does, you Tedeschi and Trucks are no strangers to life out on the road and leading bands. just try and soak it all in.” With 12 members including themselves, the Tedeschi Trucks Band is the largest The band recorded a beautiful rendition of iteration to date. Joe Cocker’s “Space Captain” at the Trucks’ But for Trucks, the large band is all he could want in a group. With two drummers home and Hancock stuck around to eat a din- on stage working as a team, the horn section and singers all working as a section, ner prepared by Trucks’ father. Trucks admits it’s a lot easier than it seems. Six months later, the band played Han- “Getting 12 people pointed in the same direction and having them show up on cock’s birthday celebration and as the group time for bus call and the logistics are insanity,” Trucks says. “The music itself is def- was getting off stage, Hancock pulled Trucks nitely on the easier end of the spectrum.” to the side for a moment. “Herbie goes, ‘Man, I’ve been thinking so A Powerful Sound much about your dad’s fried shrimp,” Trucks The band is in the process of fnishing its eventual 2019 release and will be visiting says laughing.