Song of the Day: “Future Soul” by Tedeschi Trucks Band

Apr 06, 2026

For a band that usually operates like a 12-headed blues hydra, Tedeschi Trucks Band’s sixth studio album, Future Soul, feels remarkably lean. Released in March 2026, it arrives as the “approachable” sibling to the 2022 sprawling four-part epic, I Am the Moon. Where that project was a marathon through Persian poetry and improvisational jazz-rock, Future Soul is firmly back in the band’s blues rock wheelhouse. Working with producer Mike Elizondo, the band has traded some of their trademark twenty-minute excursions for actual choruses you can hum in the shower, and surprisingly, the world hasn’t ended. The comic-book cover art, featuring the duo as guitar-wielding superheroes fighting robots, might be a little “on the nose” for a band that has literally been called the saviors of rock, but the music inside earns them the cape.

The record marks a fascinating point in the TTB evolution. For over a decade, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi have been the undisputed high priests of the “analog and proud” movement, but here they finally let a little bit of the modern world into the studio. The production is crisp and punchy, placing Susan’s vocals so far in the front that you can practically hear the tea she drank before the session. In the grand scheme of their discography, Future Soul is the “get-to-the-point” album. It’s the sound of a band that has already proven they can play anything and is now undergoing a bit of a sonic makeover—Its cleaner, sharper, and arguably more fun.

While the radio-friendly “I Got You” and the swampy “Crazy Cryin’” are getting the early headlines, the title track is my pick from this new record. “Future Soul” is essentially a mission statement wrapped in a muscular riff. It’s my favorite song on the album because it perfectly captures the tension of the band’s current era: the struggle to keep “soul” alive in a digital, paper-thin world. Susan’s delivery on the line, “They want it on paper but we got it on wax,” is delivered with a grit that reminds you she’s still a powerhouse, even when she isn’t competing with a five-minute drum solo. The track also serves as a bridge between the improvisational fire of their past and the streamlined songwriting of their present. It features Derek playing a 1958 Flying V with a ferocity that suggests he’s trying to personally kick-start the heart of rock and roll.