Tedeschi Trucks Band’s latest album “I Am The Moon” was released on four eps between the beginning of June and the end of August. The twenty four tracks are all loosely related to a 12th Century Persian poem called “Layla and Manjun.” The poem was also the inspiration for Derek & the Dominoes’ “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs”  which was covered by the Tedeschi Trucks band on their last live album. So the new release has them coming full circle on their love of the music of their mentors.

The Tedeschi Trucks band have also admired the communal feeling of musical relationships of traveling artists. Not having the ability to live that way during the pandemic, they came together to record these songs but emulating life on the road; living together, sharing meals, writing and recording as a unit. In a memorial to their late  keyboard player Kofi Burbridge who passed away in 2019, Gabe Dixon, her replacement, wrote a beautiful tribute to her.

Each ep has an anchor song that drives the material on it, whether it’s slow and stately, a blues/funk workout or a gospel romp, the econmomy of Truck’s slide guitar, the sultriness of Tedeschi’s voice and the subtle texture of the horns and keyboards coalesce into a narrative that draws a direct comparison between unrequited love in the 12th century and the 21st century’s heartbreaking pandemic.

The Tedeschi Trucks band has always had a reverence for their biggest influences and “I Am The Moon” fleshes out the southern rock vibe of their literal and figurative ancestors. The four eps are an epic canon to their love of musical storytelling.