Summer of the Arts - Working at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts: Soul Train - Tedeschi Trucks Band, Los Lobos, and North Mississippi Allstars

This show had all the hype one of the biggest rock shows of the summer. Sure I've seen Paul Simon and Bob Dylan, but these guys were all about jamming and pumpin' up the guitar. All three band delivered great performances and each one had a different interpretation of the soul genre! The Tedeschi Trucks Band formed in 2010 when Susan Tedeschi and husband Derek Trucks decided to combine their respective band and collaborate together. Since then, they have released three successful albums and their album Revelator one the 2012 Grammy for Best Blues Album. They have also continued to tour throughout the past five years and have put together a great live act. Los Lobos have a much longer history. They first got together in 1973 but didn't release their first studio album until later in the 1970's, In the 1980's, they achieved the height of their fame when they agreed to play on the soundtrack for La Bamba, the biopic about Ritchie Valens. Their cover of "La Bamba" reached number 1 in the US and their combination of genres ranging from blue-eyed soul to Tex-Mex assured them a big following. Finally, the North Mississippi Allstars were formed in, you guessed it, Mississippi. They have been together since 1996 and although they haven't achieved the same level of success as the other two acts, they have a loyal following among blues enthusiasts and have even appeared on the Late Night Show with Conan O'Brien!

Each band was great for different reasons! The North Mississippi Allstars were more straight up R&B which was refreshing to hear. I was surprised to see their "bass" player was actually playing a Sousaphone; quite the interesting choice! Their guitar player plays a bit like Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and goes between high feedback to more melodic riffs. They had a pretty full sound for a trio and I was quite pleased with their music! Los Lobos were all over the place in a good way. At one point they were playing blues and then they switched to latin rhythms for the next song. They had a bigger sound simply due to having more players but their vocals were very strong and even though they didn't play "La Bamba", I still thought they did a great job. The Tedeschi Trucks Band was a much more jam heavy band than I thought they would be and Derek Trucks is a hell of a guitarist. He often stole the show and the band allowed each member to go on their own. Even the drummer had a nice solo! Being a musician myself, it's often nice to just here a nice band jamming in their own world and this band did that very well. They even through in a couple nice covers in there!

At the end of the day, the show wasn't even that bad to manage. Sure there were a lot of people and I had shut down a few smokers but there weren't any unruly patrons and people seemed at ease to just jam alongside the music. It was a super hot day but definitely sunny!

I seem to be setting a trend with picking the last part of the show as being the best. The Tedeschi Trucks Band ended their set with an incredible cover of "The Letter" by the Box Tops. While the original is a short pop song, they turned it into a soulful enterprise filled with a brilliant horn section and passionate vocals from Susan. Most bands don't end with covers but I'm super glad they did because it showed just how locked together they were as a group.

As always, looking forward to more shows in the future!

DC