Once again, Derek and his band create another master piece. With Derek's steller guitar playing as the foundation, the band creates an unexpected gem of an album. Using a mix from the great Delta Blues artists, some folk/country like lyrics, Derek and the Band pay end up paying hommage to that classic blues based southern rock we all grew up to and Love. I believe this will be his most successful album to date!

This is just a preliminary review:

... all songs are great the first time through and will all, at one time or another, become "my favorite," I'm sure. Here are two standouts the first time through:

-"Days Is Almost Gone" is more than likely one of the most beautiful tunes I've ever heard... man the emotions it elicits is really something else.

-"Miss Me" is really catchy... I dig the tempo changes when the chorus is approaching.

... I'll get back to the rest later, after I've had some more time with the album.

-Cheers!

Live in Chicago and can not purchase this CD anywhere....................

Hello dTb - Yes, I had to have this one too as soon as it came out. It has been the only CD in my car since.

I can not tell you all enough how much I love your sound(s). So groovy BABY !! I have also become a fan of Susan's (those little one's of yours working the strings yet?) and not just the ones on the fishing poles on the docks of your home. I totally enjoy the entire collection... some of my favorites are: , Sweet Inspiration, Already Free, Our Love, Back Where I Started, and Already Free, Down in the Flood.

Can't wait till you get back here in June. Travel save, I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Clair-Detroit

The first time I saw DTB was at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival just outside of Chicago a couple of summer's ago. I walked out of that show asking myself where had this band been hiding and how come I wasn't more familiar with their music. Needless to say, I became a huge fan that day and immediatley went out and picked-up all DTB albums. From the minute this album hit my CD player in January it became an instant classic for me. If I had this record on vinyl I'd have probably worn the grooves out of it already. From the opening chords of "Down In the Flood" through the clossing title track, this record is everything a great album should be. Great songs played by accomplished players and some really great vocals by Mike who's voice hopefully will be heard and appreciated by many after this album. The way the songs flow and the way they are arranged in sequence on the album could not have been any better. "Down Don't Bother Me" and "Days Is Almost Gone" are the standouts for me. If you don't yet own this CD, get it now. You will not be disappointed. This is obviously a band just getting started and hopefully one that will be around for a long, long time making great music.

What a terrific record - the best yet! Contains a great mixture of covers and originals with Down in the Flood being a powerful opener both for the CD and for the more recent shows. I was lucky enough to hear many of these live in London and the band stretches out beautifully. The band interact almost telepathically and the CD has the bonus of some sweet vocals from Susan Tedeschi. Great stuff!

I got a copy of this cd from Best Buy that included 3 bonus tracks but I lost my case and can't find the info for these tunes anywhere. Can someone please help me out?

Derek and the Band pay end up paying hommage to that classic blues based southern rock we all grew up to and Love. I believe this will be his most successful album to date! Online Nutritional Health Science degree | sociology degree

The best record 2009. Produced by Derek Trucks and recorded at his home studio in Jacksonville Florida, the record has an organic vibe. The music seems to get better and better with each listen revealing complex flavors much the same way as a fine bottle of red wine opens up after being uncorked and left to breathe for a few hours. Already Free defies classification. The album has the aroma of blues and southern rock – roots music, and a hint of Indian and gospel with a long jam band finish.

The first tune “Down in the Flood” is a cover of a Dylan song first recorded in ‘67 and officially released in ‘75 on the Basement Tapes. Derek Trucks reinvents Dylan’s folksy original with his signature slide guitar playing. Mike Mattison’s raspy pipes inject the song with some blues, quite a contrast to Dylan’s nasal twang. Whereas Dylan’s sound is tinny peppered with a breezy harmonica producing something you’d hear from an old pickup truck with an AM radio, Derek Trucks soulful, caffeinated sound is a high fidelity adrenalin rush.

Here’s a quick rundown of the other 11 songs on the album:

Something To Make You Happy. This bluesy tune evokes the magic of Stevie Ray Vaughn and oddly reminds me of “Jackie Blue”, that classic Ozark Mountain Daredevil tune I remember liking so much as a teenager.

Maybe This Time. Doyle Bramhall II is the vocalist on this one. Derek’s guitar whines and cries and near the end takes on the persona of a sitar. Indian blues. Would V.S. Naipul approve?

Sweet Inspiration. Gospel revival. What you might hear at a rural church one Sunday morning with a dancing chorus and lots of amens from the congregation. Inspiring.

Don’t Miss Me. I feel like I’m in the swamps of Jacksonville where this album was recorded. Murky waters. Doobie Brothers “Black Water”. I can smell a fish fry and is that a lightning bug in the distance? Watch out for them gators.

Get What You Deserve. Vocalist Mike Mattison’s composition. Hard driving fuzzy guitar sounds. Reminds me a little of ZZ Top.

Our Love. A Doyle Bramhall II tune and one of my favorites on the album with Doyle on lead vocals. The moody tones of the guitar project a roller coaster of emotional states – passion, sadness, desperation, resignation, hope, devotion reminiscent of a Coltrane solo. And there’s a vulnerability to Bramhall’s vocal – a quality I hear in some of Miles Davis’ recordings when he plays a muteless trumpet.

Down Don’t Bother Me. Southern rock here. Atlanta Rhythm Section. A Mike Mattison composition. Derek’s guitar is smoking like a cured ham. I hear some Duane Allman and Johnny Winter influences in the playing.

These Days Is Almost Gone. Blues. Paying tribute to Elvin Bishop perhaps? “Your second chance could be your last…don’t be late because the sun won’t wait”.

Back Where We Started. Susan Tedeschi on vocals. Very nice ballad. Almost like a response to “Our Love”. A good dose of acoustic guitar.

I Know. Another one of my favorites. Starts off with sitar like vibrations. And then, jam band time. Feeling some Allman Brothers. And some brass and woodwinds in there somewhere. “I won’t be blue”.

Already Free. The bluesiest tune of the lot. Timeless. “The world has passed me, passed me by”.

Don’t let this record pass you by. Go out and buy it. Buy it now!

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