Roadsongs (Live)

The nephew of the Allman Brother Band’s drummer Butch Trucks, guitarist Derek Trucks, has Southern rock in his veins. His band is best heard live and this album, recorded during Trucks’ tour supporting his 2009 Grammy-winning album Already Free, is his most convincing recording to date, besting 2004’s Live at the Georgia Theatre by a guitar solo. Bob Dylan’s “Down In the Flood” is turned into a monster. “Get What You Deserve” turns up the funk that finds its perfect expression in a medley of Jimi Hendrix’s “Who Knows” and Allen Toussaint’s “Get Out of My Life Woman.” Bob Marley’s “Rastaman Chant,” a live staple, simmers with a dark funk never approached in the original. Big Bill Broonzy’s “Key to the Highway” is a blues standard taken to the edge. “Days Is Almost Gone” turns up the R&B with gritty vocal ensembles. The horns punch. The guitars run wild. The percussion, featuring Yonrico Scott and Count Mbutu, is first-rate. It makes perfect sense for a great live band to release a great live album.