Tedeschi Trucks Band: I Am the Moon

Conceived and recorded during the pandemic at the Jacksonville home studio of husband-wife team Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, I Am the Moon was initially released as four separate CDs, each bearing a thematic title and staggered a month apart. Vinyl configurations of individual LPs along with a 4-LP deluxe box were made available in September. It’s no coincidence that the four album titles resemble the four distinct movements of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme (“Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance,” and “Psalm”). Trane’s masterwork, as well as Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold as Love and Derek and the Dominos’ Layla, served as catalysts for this epic undertaking. Tedeschi’s goosebump-intensity, gospel-tinged vocals uplift pieces like “Hear My Dear,” “So Long Savior,” and “Take Me as I Am” while her soulful R&B delivery on “Playing with My Emotions,” “Rainy Day,” and the gritty “Somehow” recalls Bonnie Raitt. Trucks’ ripping slide guitar stretches the boundaries on the horn-driven “Circles ‘Round the Sun,” the instrumental “Pasaquan,” and the raga-flavored “Hold the Line.” “Fall In” and “Gravity” both fall in The Band camp while the minor key anthem “Yes We Will” recalls B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone.”