Everybody's Talkin'

The Allman Brothers’ next of kin Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi play the sort of loose and rootsy music—call it jam-rock if you must—that just sounds better in live settings than under studio dissection. But that’s just one reason why their 2012 live album Everybody’s Talkin’ sounds so easy on the ears. Tedeschi and Trucks walk you through their record collections with a solid roster of cover material. They open with the title track, penned by folk deity Fred Neil. Their reinvented version of the tune boogies on a sunflared, bellbottomed strut that most coffeehouse folkies never knew. Similarly, the old Underground Railroad spiritual “Bound for Glory” gets an incredible reworking, with a bluesy slide-guitar solo introducing the tune before the band comes in and turns it into a smoldering groove. The group's take on Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight” is perfectly funky.