Tedeschi Trucks Band stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night to give national audiences a taste of the emotional climax of the band’s I Am The Moon project. Set for release on Friday, I Am The Moon: IV. Farewell signals the end of the 12-piece band’s ambitious four-album audiovisual project that began back in June. Additionally, the band will premiere the final chapter’s film accompaniment tonight, August 23rd, on YouTube.
“Their new project is called I Am The Moon,” guest host Lamorne Morris said when introducing Tedeschi Trucks Band in a simplification necessary for the network show’s rigid time schedule. TTB performed its latest single, “Soul Sweet Song”, on-air, with the track signaling a joyous conclusion for the I Am The Moon multi-media project which draws inspiration from Nizami Ganjavi‘s 12-century epic poem, “Layla and Manjum”, similar to Derek and the Dominos‘ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, an album which TTB holds dear.
As celebrated music journalist David Fricke wrote of Farewell in the album’s liner notes,
Farewell – the final record in the groundbreaking studio release by Tedeschi Trucks Band, I Am The Moon – concludes a remarkable adventure and new beginning for the group, now in its 12th year as America’s premier rock & roll big band: four distinct and, at the same time, deeply connected albums with a total of 24 original songs capturing the power of devotion in a time of crisis and separation, with a renewed energy in collective songwriting and performance. Opening with the lusty confrontation of “Last Night In The Rain” and ending with the rousing benediction “Another Day,” Farewell is “a wish of well-being at parting,” as one dictionary defines that word – with more road and love ahead.
For off-air audiences, Tedeschi Trucks Band revisited the first two installments of I Am The Moon, I: Crescent and II: Ascension. The three-song string began with the upbeat “Playing With My Emotions” from Ascension. Coupled with the ensuing “La Di Da”, TTB provided a brief overview of the emotional ground covered in the I Am The Moon series, closing out the off-air segment with the title track. As Susan Tedeschi and keyboardist Gabe Dixon traded vocals on the Crescent track, Derek Trucks burnt off all his reserves and left the Mercedes-EQ Summer Concert Series a smoking crater with his blazing guitar solo that closed the performance.
Watch Tedeschi Trucks Band perform songs from I Am The Moon, including the new single “Sweet Soul Song”, on Jimmy Kimmel Live as well as the off-air takes on “Playing With My Emotions”, “La Di Da”, and “I Am The Moon”. Tune in tonight at 9 p.m. ET for the premiere of the I Am The Moon: IV. Farewell visual accompaniment on the band’s YouTube channel. The album is out across streaming services on Friday.
Tedeschi Trucks Band – “Sweet Soul Song”
Tedeschi Trucks Band – Off-Air Performances