Photo Credit: Jeff Bender
Previously, Susan Tedeschi announced her plans to mark the 25th anniversary of her iconic solo debut, Just Won’t Burn. The impending drop expands upon the initial format to include five previously unreleased bonus tracks and more. As a preview, the artist has shared a live take and visual equalizer for “Looking for Answers” from Tedeschi Trucks Band’s October 7, 2022, stand at New York’s Beacon Theatre.
“I remember writing ‘Looking For Answers’ while visiting my parents in late ’94,” began Tedeschi. “I was delving into other types of tuning, and it’s one of the first songs I wrote in open D. One of the verses is about learning to pray, an intimate homage to my Catholic upbringing and the pursuit to figure out the requisite prayers – looking for answers that nobody knows,” she concluded.
Just Won’t Burn was recorded by Sean Carberry at Rear Window Studio in Brookline, Mass., and produced with the help of Tom Hambridge. On the topic of the anniversary set, Tedeschi commented via a press release, “Making Just Won’t Burn was a pivot.” Dotting the presence of other artists on the LP, such as guitarists Adrienne Hayes and Sean Costello and harmonica player Annie Raines, who assists on Tedeschi’s original songs as well as material popularized by the likes of Ruth Brown, Junior Wells and John Prine.
Her comments continued, “All of a sudden, I was working with different groups of people, new musicians, new songwriting collaborators. We had no idea how it was going to turn out. I think the thing that held it all together was the blues. Blues is a language that I love. You can take it anywhere in the world and communicate with people, which isn’t necessarily true about other forms of music. And being a white artist in a black milieu, you just have to let the music speak.”
Following the ’90s release of her debut solo set, Just Won’t Burn achieved Platinum status and earned Tedeschi a Grammy nomination in 2000 for Best New Artist. “The way people react to Just Won’t Burn has always been heartwarming and surprising,” admitted the artist. “I used to get letters from a prisoner who identified with the songs and found hope in them, and then I started getting letters from the rest of the prisoners on the cell block because it was the only cassette they had.”
Discussing the achievement, Tedeschi added, “Sometimes, when I look back on the 25 years since the release, I think about the places I’ve been and the adventures I’ve had, and I feel like Forrest Gump. I say, ‘No! You’re a baseball mom. You didn’t do all that!’ But I must have. The blues has its demands. You have to be honest — musically, emotionally, and personally — above everything else, and that can lead to some uncomfortable truths. But the blues hasn’t burned me. It hasn’t hurt me. It’s my main resource. I can express myself and get stuff out about my life – or, like B.B. always said, ‘whatever ails you.’ The blues got me here.”
Watch the visual equalizer for “Looking for Answers” live at the Beacon Theatre below.
Just Won’t Burn (25th Anniversary Edition) Track List:
1. Rock Me Right
2. You Need to Be With Me
3. Little By Little
4. It Hurt So Bad
5. Found Someone New
6. Looking For Answers
7. Can’t Leave You Alone
8. Just Won’t Burn
9. Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean
10. Angel From Montgomery
11. Friar’s Point
BONUS TRACKS
12. Looking For Answers (Alternate Take)
13. Voodoo Woman (Album Outtake)
14. Waste Of Time (Album Outtake)
15. Looking For Answers (Tedeschi Trucks Band – Live at the Beacon
Theatre,10/06/2022)
16. Just Won’t Burn (Tedeschi Trucks Band – Live at the Beacon Theatre,
10/07/2022)
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