Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi are in the final swing of Tedeschi Trucks Band‘s annual Beacon Theatre residency this week. So far, the run has produced an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a full performance of the band’s new album, and guest appearances from Cyndi Lauper, Warren Haynes, and Wilco’s Nels Cline.
Despite all that star power, possibly the residency’s biggest guest appearance came from an inanimate object, as Derek Trucks played Jerry Garcia‘s “Tiger” guitar, one day after it sold for $11.5 million at auction. Between dates at the Beacon, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi stopped by The Howard Stern Show to talk about playing the iconic Jerry Garcia guitar.
“Musicians can’t afford ’em, that’s for sure,” the stoic Trucks quipped about the opportunity to play such an iconic instrument. Derek actually went into the Christie’s auction of items owned by late Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay hoping to purchase jazz legend John Coltrane‘s saxophone for about one one-hundredth of Tiger’s price, “but I got blown out of the room pretty early.”
Stern—an amateur guitar player himself—asked the question on most people’s minds: what does an $11 million guitar feel like?
“It’s super unique, it weighs about 14 pounds, which is about twice what my guitar weighs,” Trucks observed. “But super articulate, it’s a unique sound. It was very, very Jerry Garcia-sounding. You play it, and you know it was his.”
Susan jumped in, “It’s like metal on the neck and stuff. It’s kind of hard to play, honestly.”
“It’s a very 1980s instrument,” Derek said. Garcia used “Tiger” as his primary guitar with the Grateful Dead from 1979 through 1989.
Half jokingly, Stern repeated the notion that some songs live in certain instruments. Derek and Susan, knowing a thing or two about songs and instruments, actually agreed.
“Guitars want to be played,” Tedeschi stated, “and then they want to be played a certain way.”
Watch Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi discuss playing the Jerry Garcia “Tiger” guitar on The Howard Stern Show. Tedeschi Trucks Band has three more shows at the Beacon Theatre this week to cap off the ten-night residency. Find tickets and tour dates here.
Derek Trucks Played Jerry Garcia’s $11 Million Guitar | The Howard Stern Show
