The Derek Trucks Band, founded by slide guitarist Derek Trucks and bassist Toddie Smallie, has been on the cutting edge of blues music for 16 years.
Influenced by everything from the Allman Brothers Band (of which Derek is also a member) to John Coltrane to Indian Qawwali music, the band forms on soulful cocktail of eclectic sound.
As part of their 2009 tour, The Derek Trucks Band will play at the Classic Center tonight. The Red & Black spoke with lead singer Mike Mattison.

How did you get hooked up with the band?
Well, I was playing with my own band, Scrap-o-matic, in New York City, and Derek’s singer at the time left the band while they were recording. I was recommended by two different music producers. Long story short, it kind of worked out from there.

The band has enjoyed success for years, but your new album, “Already Free,” has been your highest debuting album to date. What has that been like?
You know, it doesn’t really change anything. I think the record industry is tanking so hard that you just don’t really make money off of records like you used to. You’re not really seeing the money unless you’re selling millions of records, so it hasn’t really changed the way that we operate. We’re a live band and a touring band. We’ve just kept doing that, focusing on getting in front of as many people as possible and playing live.

What’s touring like?
Well since I’ve joined the band we’ve toured a little less. Before I joined, these guys were crazy. They’d be on the road for 300-plus days a year, doing 200 or so shows. Its calmed down a bit since then. I’m kind of lucky: I’m the newest member and I joined right when they purchased the bus [about six years ago]. For me its been a pretty cushy ride, the other guys did the real heavy lifting in the 10 years or so before I arrived.

A lot of people talk about not only the band’s traditional bluesy sound, but also its incorporation of a wide variety of instruments and genres. Was that something that you guys really pushed for in writing the album?
I think so. The original idea was to do pretty much a straight blues record. There were just so many ideas floating around – so many different musical personalities. Derek built a studio on his property, so we were able to just record at his house. We had the leisure of taking our time and really working at our own pace. So after a while, doing a straight blues record didn’t really make sense; there were just too many good ideas floating around. You’ll definitely hear those blues roots in the songs, but the album does branch out.

What can we expect at the show tonight?
Well, we’ve been playing the record since the beginning of this year, so we sound really good and tight. We’re doing a lot of this album and even some newer material that people might not have heard yet. Hopefully people will take something away from it.

What can fans expect from the band in the future?
Well, its kind of up in the air, I know Derek is looking to take some time off in the near future. He’s just been going so hard for the last. 16 years or so. But we’re lucky enough to have his studio so we’ll hopefully get back in there and lay down some new material.