This past weekend at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival in Scottsdale, Arizona, both Susan Tedeschi and her husband Derek Trucks collaborated with other musicians of note. On Friday Tedeschi joined Dickey Betts and Great Southern for the fitting ‘Southbound.’ Betts and Tedeschi traded off on vocals and later lead guitar solos as Betts blazed throughout on his patented Les Paul while Tedeschi chimed in with her fiery sparks from her light blue Fender. Betts had Tedeschi laughing as he offered several false endings to the ABB chestnut.
The next night, Solomon Burke sat in with the Derek Trucks Band for an epic set-closing ‘Got My Mojo Working’ on Saturday at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival. The great rock and soul vocalist Burke quipped: ‘Is he the man or what?’ in reference to Trucks. ‘Let’s do some MOJO.’ And that, they did. Burke had the whole crowd joining in on the chorus before exiting the stage. If that wasn’t enough, Trucks then led the band into an epic, earthshaking jam which commenced with a slide solo equal parts New Orleans, Detroit and Georgia. Report by Randy Ray