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 Concert Previews-From Blues To Alt Country, Soulful Sounds On Tap This Week At Local Theaters

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 Concert Previews—

From Blues To Alt Country, Soulful Sounds On Tap This Week At Local Theaters

By John Voket

Over a span of two nights, two classic local theaters will host a pair of the most soulful acts on tour this winter.

First, Waterbury’s Palace Theater will host the Derek Trucks Band this Sunday. Two nights later it will be Torrington’s turn to turn up the lights for “Three Girls & Their Buddy.”

Fans of lightning fast slide guitar wizard and Allman Brothers alum Derek Trucks will have the opportunity to hear samples from his latest project, Already Free, which was released January 13 on Sony/Legacy. In a recent interview on LiveDaily.com, Trucks talked about having the luxury of recording his latest project in his own home studio.

“It was so nice to relax and create,” Trucks commented. “Having the family around, having my kids there every day made it so much more organic and real, being able to drive the kids to school in the morning and then go out and record with the band was a pretty amazing experience. Having your own studio, you start feeling really comfortable with the place and you start getting comfortable with the sounds. I got to produce the whole thing. It felt more honest to me.”

The result is nothing short of inspiring, with a diverse range of styles from straight ahead blues, to jazz, to classic rock represented. Nearly a year in the making and  brimming with a newfound focus on creating original material, Already Free is the band’s latest endeavor in the natural evolution of integrated musicality.

Featuring guests such as Susan Tedeschi (aka Mrs Derek Trucks), Eric Clapton sideman Doyle Bramhall II, and Allman Brother Oteil Burbridge, the collective effort resulted in an exploration of previously uncharted musical territory, blended into the unmistakable DTB sound. The organic way in which the album came together is but one indication of its creative and musical strength.

As Trucks said on his website, “this album was completely organic. We had no expectations. We just came down and started writing.

“Then one thing led to the next,” he recalled. “I had all this time off so I just started calling up friends. And once the process started rolling and once we realized that we were onto something, we were writing tunes and all the sounds we were getting were amazing and it was starting to feel great. It felt like something was happening and we wanted to keep throwing musicians on the fire.”

One of the most critically acclaimed guitarists and the youngest musician to be named in Rolling Stone’s list of the Top 100 Guitarists of All Time, hits the stage of Waterbury’s Palace February 8. Doors are at 6 pm and show time is 7 pm.  There will be an opening act.

Alternative country artist Buddy Miller says that since he’s taken up touring with those “three girls” — Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Shawn Colvin — he craves the quiet moments on stage when he can lay off the guitar for a few moments and just listen to those angelic voices soar.

“For me, that’s what it’s all about,” Miller said in an exclusive interview with The Newtown Bee. “I’m a huge fan of all three of ‘em... and a friend to all of them. And I just love to get to hear them. So I try to play as little as I can, so I can hear ‘em really good while still supporting the songs.”

Describing his current collaborators as “deep souls,” Miller is happy to invite anyone who appreciates great talent to snap up the few remaining tickets to see this first of its kind musical match-up.

“It’s three of the most beautiful voices out there... and one lug,” Miller said. “Four chairs on stage and other than that it’s hard to tell. There’s no additional backup. There’s a lot of singing and a lot of songs that we’ve never played before that seem to come up on different nights – there’s no set list.”

For those unfamiliar with this singer, songwriter and guitarist, Miller was born near Dayton, Ohio, and moved with his family to Princeton, N.J., some years later. Once there, he was drawn to the local bluegrass music scene and absorbed the influence of such seminal artists as Ralph Stanley.

As a teenager, he performed as a rhythm guitarist and upright bass player with much older musicians. By his early 20s, he was traveling with a country group in an old school bus, hitting the performing circuit from New England through upstate New York all the way to California’s Bay Area.

Then, in 1975, Miller ended up in Austin, Texas, the mecca of the “outlaw country” movement, where he met his future wife Julie. Despite the absence of a setlist, the Warner audience will likely hear a sampling from the couple’s latest effort, Written In Chalk, which also features Griffin and Harris. 

Doors for “Three Girls & Their Buddy” are at 6:30 pm, and show time is set for 7:30.

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