Blues/lues-rock guitarist Derek Trucks is the nephew of long-time Allman Brothers' drummer Butch Trucks. He displays a command of slide guitar styles that run the gamut from lues to classic R&B and early ock & roll to classic jazz. Although lues players like Buddy Guy, Elmore James and Duane Allman have been a strong influence on Trucks' slide guitar playing, so have pre-'70s jazz players like Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Sun Ra.

Trucks began playing guitar when he was nine, and shared stages and sat in with the likes of Buddy Guy and the Allman Brothers Band by the time he was 12. Trucks began his professional career playing with lues bands around his native Jacksonville, Fla., and formed his own group in high school. Before the age of 20, Trucks shared stages and jammed with Bob Dylan, Joe Walsh and Stephen Stills.