Southern soul juggernaut Tedeschi Trucks Band is one of Jacksonville, FL’s most notable exports. Created by combining the solo bands of Jacksonville native guitar virtuoso Derek Trucks and his wife, guitarist/vocalist Susan Tedeschi, in 2010, the band has kept on growing ever since, releasing a number of award-winning albums and extensively touring the country playing to bigger and bigger crowds. The band recently wrapped the fourth-annual edition of their multi-band summer “Wheels of Soul” tour with Drive-By Truckers and The Marcus King Band with a pair of sold-out performances at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO.

However, despite their upward trajectory, the band has never forgotten their roots and continues to aid and take pride in their local Jacksonville community, particularly with regard to music education. According to the city’s WJCT FM station, the 12-piece powerhouse recently made a substantial and deeply personal donation to the city’s Englewood High School. The band supplied the school with 38 brand-new musical instruments for its students to use, valued at roughly $48,000.

The students and staff of Englewood High School were informed of the reformative gift to the school’s music program earlier this summer when Tedeschi Trucks Band hit Jacksonville’s Daily’s Place Amphitheatre on June 29th to open their 2018 “Wheels of Soul” swing. Explains WJCT, the kids and faculty were invited to the hometown performance as special guests. There, they were invited to come meet the band backstage, where they were informed of the donation.

Notes Dr. Diana Greene, Duval County Public Schools Superintendent to WJCT,

We are deeply thankful to the Tedeschi Trucks Band for their incredible support, not just of the Englewood High School music program, but music programs across the district. Through their generous donations over the years, they have truly given hundreds of students the gift of music. Knowing that these instruments came from an alum from that school, and two very gifted local artists, makes the donation even more special. The students and staff at Englewood High School will benefit from this transformative gift for years to come.

As Derek Trucks explains,

Susan and I were both fortunate to have instruments available to us when we were young. Sadly, this is not the case for so many students these days, at a time when having the tools to express creativity is so vital to their education. We were happy and humbled to be able to help.

The donation was made possible through Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation. Notes WJCT, the foundation was created by Michael Kamen in 1996, named after the 1995 film, Mr. Holland’s Opus, which examines the profound effect that a particularly dedicated music teacher had on several generations of students.

You can see a list of the instruments donated below:

3 Eastman ECL230 clarinets
3 Eastman EEP421 4-valve euphoniums
2 Eastman EBB534 4/4-size 4-valve tubas
2 Eastman EFL210 flutes
2 Eastman ETB432 trombones with F-attachments
1 LP LP646NY-AW conga set
1 Accent Drive LC17511 drum set
2 Eastman EPH324 sousaphones
2 Jupiter JMP1000M mellophones
20 Cordoba CP100 acoustic guitars

[H/T WJCT FM Jacksonville]