Susan Tedeschi first made her name on the fertile blues scene of Boston in the early 1990s. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 9, 1970, she began performing in local bands by age 13, and after graduating from the Berklee College of Music, formed the Susan Tedeschi Band in 1993. Bonnie Raitt, Janis Joplin, and Boston-area singer Toni Lynn Washington were her most important influences, and in starting her band she used Washington's backing band and hustled up gigs on nights when Washington's group was not already booked. Her early sound blended gritty blues shouting with soul, gospel, and R&B, quickly earning her a reputation as a formidable young voice on the club circuit.
Tedeschi's breakthrough arrived with her 1998 album Just Won't Burn, released on the Boston-based Tone-Cool Records. The album earned Tedeschi a nomination for "Best New Artist" at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, putting her alongside pop stars like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in a surprising crossover moment for a blues artist. Just Won't Burn eventually went Platinum, a rare milestone for a blues-based album at that time. The record featured musicians such as guitarists Adrienne Hayes and Sean Costello and harmonica player Annie Raines tackling Tedeschi's original songs in tandem with material popularized by Ruth Brown, Junior Wells, and John Prine. It would prove to be just the beginning, as it was the first of five Grammy nominations for Tedeschi as a solo artist, with each of her next three solo releases earning nods for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Tedeschi's career took a dramatic turn when she joined forces with her husband, guitarist Derek Trucks. After touring together in 2007 as the Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi's Soul Stew Revival, the couple merged their respective groups to form the Tedeschi Trucks Band in 2010, with their first concert on April 1, 2010, at the Savannah Music Festival. The first Tedeschi Trucks Band album, Revelator, was released on June 7, 2011, and won a Grammy Award for Best Blues Album. The band, based in Jacksonville, Florida, became known as road warriors; they often play more than 200 dates a year. Over the following decade they released a string of acclaimed albums including Made Up Mind, Let Me Get By, and Signs, while winning Band of the Year in 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2023 at the Blues Music Awards. In the fall of 2023, Tedeschi Trucks Band played a pair of career-defining arena shows at TD Garden in Boston and a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York City, dubbed "The Garden Parties." Tedeschi and Trucks remain very much active performers today. In 2026, in support of their new album Future Soul, the group brings their electrifying live show across the U.S., with the 11 songs on TTB's sixth studio LP marking the most powerful and unique album to date by the revered 12-piece Tedeschi Trucks Band. On top of an 82-show tour in 2024, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi performed at the Kennedy Center Honors in December, honoring Bonnie Raitt, Grateful Dead, and more, and the following year the full band played the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony honoring one of their biggest influences, Joe Cocker. Across more than three decades, Tedeschi has remained one of the most respected voices in American roots music, equally celebrated for her raw solo blues records and her ongoing musical partnership with Trucks.
Tedeschi's soulful, powerhouse performances made her a natural subject for concert photographers documenting the live music world, and she is remembered fondly in this archive as well. Wayne Dennon photographed Susan Tedeschi at one show in 2010, capturing a moment right as she and Trucks were forging their new joint musical chapter together. Fourteen photos from that night live on in this collection, and archive visitors have returned to view them 15,564 times, a testament to the enduring pull of her voice and stage presence even in still frames.
