in 2019 the tedeschi trucks band decided to present ‘layla and other assorted love songs’ by derek and the dominos in its entirety for their appearance at the lock’n festival. they eventually released that as a live album last summer. a number of weeks ago i was scheduled to see them play at a venue in buffalo, and started looking at their setlists to see what they were currently playing. i began to notice songs that they were regularly playing that i did not recognize, and became aware that they had some new material coming out. more importantly, the new material was being released in a rather unorthodox fashion, and there was a unique story behind the album.

first, the story. when the pandemic hit in 2020, the band found themselves not being able to get together to record or tour. mike mattison, one of their lead singers, began reflecting on the lyrics that he had had to learn for that layla gig. knowing that the title track was inspired by a book that eric clapton had read, he decided to read that book/poem during some of his downtime. ‘the story of layla and majnun’ is a 12th century epic written by the persian poet nizami, and tells the tale of two lovers who fell deeply in love when they were young, but their romance was thwarted by fate. majnun was his nickname, which translates as ‘madman’, because he eventually goes mad due to his undying love for layla (her family will not allow the marriage). clapton related to this due to his similar situation with pattie boyd, who was then married to his best friend, george harrison. mattison felt that the songs on ‘layla’ were from clapton’s/majnun’s perspective. after reading the book, he realized that layla was an important character as well, and deserved to have her side of the story told. so he invited everyone to also read the book, and consider writing some songs around this idea. it seems the band really took to the concept, and the project grew and grew as the pandemic wore on. mattison is quick to point out the project was not meant to be a counterpoint to the original album, nor was it meant to be a musical score to the book – just a starting point to explore the question: ‘are we really, in the end, in love with the dream of love’.

as the project grew, they had enough for a double album of original material. instead of releasing it all at once, they have been releasing it as four individual ep length snippets, one per month. the third came out last friday, and the last installment will be at the end of this month. after that i understand you will be able to get the whole thing in one deluxe packaging edition. each release has also been accompanied by a full length video of the whole thing, artfully done by mattison’s ex wife.

after successfully consuming the first three, i think i can safely say this is the best studio album they have ever done. the songwriting is shared by many members of the band, and the addition of gabe dixon as their new keyboardist has added new vocal and writing elements. derek is his usual spectacular self, and susan’s vocals have never been better. there are a wide variety of musical styles – blues songs from susan, a little feat sounding ‘gravity’ from dixon, to an allman brothers epic instrumental rave up from the rhythm section, ‘pasaquan’.

along with the full length videos they also put out a few informational videos about the original concept and making of the record. i will embed below. as a big fan of this new record, and the original layla, i decided to read the book as well. not required to understand everything here, but very interesting.

as i mentioned above, i did catch them on tour, and can also say with confidence that they are peaking in their live shows. i have seen them three times in the last year, and this was the best of the three. los lobos opened for them at a very cool venue called artpark, an outdoor theater overlooking the niagara river gorge. thanks to my friends in buffalo that made it possible. susan and derek joined the band from east la for a couple of songs. overall one of the best shows i have seen in some time. go out and see them if you can.