Sony
2002
Joyful Noise
About This Album
For his first solo project after replacing Dickie Betts in the Allman Brothers Band, 23-year-old Derek Trucks pushes the stylistic envelope even further than on his last diverse release. Prodding into Latin, Indian, and fusion jazz, this stylistically varied effort exudes enough blues and funky R&B to keep the Allman Brothers Band fan's attention while expanding their boundaries -- sometimes radically -- beyond what the typical Southern rock fan might expect or even tolerate. It's a brave and largely successful experiment, due in part to the vocals of his guest stars, since Trucks himself does not sing. Opening with the title track, a funky Meters-style bubbler that employs a gospel chorus to frame Trucks' searing slide work, it sounds like the guitarist is working within borders he established on his two previous albums. The laconic instrumental "So Close, So Far Away" sounds like a mid-"Whipping Post" jam, but the disc shifts into high gear with Otis Blackwell's "Home in Your Heart," one of two contributions from the amazing soulman Solomon Burke. He kicks up a Wilson Pickett-style storm on this funky rocker, which both he and Otis Redding recorded 30 years earlier.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,4,5,6,7 and 8)

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