By now, we probably don’t need to tell you how terrific the Tedeschi Trucks Band is. If you’ve heard any of the band’s three studio albums, you’re already aware of just how nicely the sounds of this now-dozen member ensemble meld, whether they’re belting out an intriguing original or a creative interpretation on such classics as Joe Cocker’s “Space Captain” or Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight”. And if you’ve heard their first live release Everybody’s Talkin’ or ever had the good fortune of witnessing the band perform, you’ll of course be familiar with how much more captivating the band led by singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi and her guitar-slinging husband Derek Trucks (Allman Brothers Band, Eric Clapton) can be, given the opportunity to stretch their talents even further in time and direction.
So chances are that we needn’t spend a lot of time convincing you that the band’s newest album Live from the Fox Oakland (Fantasy Records) is also well worth a listen, featuring tracks from their latest studio project Let Me Get By as well as covers of songs from Leonard Cohen (the slow, soulful “Bird on the Wire”), the Beatles (the quiet Indian strains of “Within In, Without You”), Derek and the Dominos (a rootsy, 10-minute “Keep on Growing”), Miles Davis (a punchy, funky instrumental “Ali” that of course makes good use of horns in addition to guitar and drums), and blues masters such as Bobby “Blue” Bland (a soulfully passionate “I Pity the Fool” that finds Tedeschi digging in with tough, gritty vocals that would make the late Bland proud, buoyed further by some nice horns and guitar responses) and Sleepy John Estes (a shining, 10-minute “Leavin’ Trunk” that features some Taj Mahal-ish vocals from Mike Mattison and is soaked in funky grooves and searing guitar).
2012 Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival
Recorded on a single night in early September 2016, the live double album (which is also available on DVD with just a few changes in tracks, swapping out four of the songs found on the CD for two additional covers, in George Jones’ “Color of the Blues” and Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere”) captures the band’s latest incarnation, still featuring Tedeschi on lead vocals and guitar, Trucks on guitar, Kofi Burbridge on keyboards, Tyler Greenwell and J.J. Johnson on drums, Mattison on backing and occasional lead vocals, Mark Rivers on backing vocals, and Kebbi Williams on sax, along with several new members since TTB’s previous live album in Tim Lefebvre on bass guitar, Alecia Chakour on backing vocals, Elizabeth Lea on trombone, and Ephraim Owens on trumpet.
The blues world lost another legend Thursday with the passing of harmonica great James Cotton. 
The first time we saw Cotton was a 2008 show at Pittsburgh’s Rex Theater; we didn’t take pictures and hadn’t yet founded this blog, so the only memories we have of that show is that it was a terrific one.
For a bigger taste of what you’re missing at this annual blues blowout, there’s a great new collection of songs from the 32nd edition of the competition that took place in 2016. Compiled by The Blues Foundation and 2014 Keeping the Blues Alive award-winning publicist Frank Roszak, International Blues Challenge #32 features nine mostly original tracks from among the 16 finalists (out of more than 250 acts) in last year’s challenge, ranging from such rockers as the shuffling, guitar-driven opener “I’m Your Man” from the Paul Deslauriers Band (Montreal Blues Society) and the Chuck Berry-ish riffs of the “Hound Dog” (not the one you know from Elvis or Big Mama Thornton, but a spunky original with a chorus of “The day you left the door, my hound dog cried all night” and other lyrics that include “He howl, he bark, he moan, he wail/ he don’t eat his food, he don’t wag his tail/ he fuss, he fume, he weep, he sigh/I e’en saw a tear fall from his eye”) that immediately follows from blind duo InnerVision (Columbus Blues Alliance) to the creeping, acoustic “You Make All My Blues Come True” featuring the gritty vocals and biting slide guitar of the Cincy Blues Society’s Sonny Moorman and slow, haunting “Black Sheep Moan” that closes the album from solo/duo winners Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons (Washington Blues Society), with its Chris Thomas King/Alvin Youngblood Hart-like pleading vocals and wailing harp.
Driven by some fine playing on drums from Sam and tough, clean vocals and accomplished guitar work from Lee, the band delivers their own funky takes on other classics that include “Hound Dog”, “Hootchie Cootchie Man”, “Close to You” and “Tore Down”. On “Hootchie Cootchie Man”, the brothers seem to be following Lee’s own advice of “Take your time, baby”, toning the song down in both tempo and swagger with a patient, more R&B-style approach that’s less gruff vocally than most versions you’ll have heard but nicely demonstrates – along with, for example, Lee’s repeated “I feel like this” on the closing “Tore Down” – their ability to stretch out a song, developed through decades of experience performing live.