In House With Tedeschi Trucks Band: Rock Couple Love Life on the Road, Despite Parenting 'Eleven' Kids

In House is AOL Music's series in which we welcome artists into our offices to play some music, chat with our staffers and, generally, just hang out. For our latest visit, Spinner sat down with blues singer Susan Tedeschi and her husband, guitar god Derek Trucks, to chat about their new live album Everybody's Talkin', playing at the United Nations, raising kids on the road and the power of family.

Derek Trucks and his wife Susan Tedeschi are wearing the same necklace, a silver feather that's been carefully etched into form -- they catch the light from the Friday evening sunset as they settle into Spinner's Manhattan office.

The charms, made by an old Japanese silver smith named Goro, are a lot more than just pieces of metal -- they are the very core of the blues tour-de-force that is the Tedeschi Trucks Band.

"Derek was our inspiration, because when he was out on tour in Japan with Clapton, he met the guy who made these," Tedeschi says fondly of her husband.

"He's a fascinating character, he's probably 80-something years old. He lives in a temple, right out of 'Gremlins': Long white beard, super high voice. He just makes beautiful silver work, all Native American inspired," Trucks says. "The Allman Brothers did tattoos and I didn't know if everyone [in Tedeschi Trucks] was into doing that, so I called our friend in Japan and had him make 18 for the band and crew, so everybody on the tour bus was traveling with one."

The band is bonded by this "birds of a feather" mentality, as each member has taken a long and weary road to their current position. "Almost everbody has been on the road for a long time and been through the fire, burned a few times," Trucks tells Spinner. "There's a level of maturity in this band. Everybody's still hungry, and still wants it to work, but it's not their first trip. It's almost a new beginning; a lot of the early mistakes that you might make have already gone and worked through. It's a great band that way, not as crazy."

Tedeschi Trucks' live album, Everybody's Talkin', puts this concept in motion by melding years of experience with the 11-piece's individual styles. Songs like "Midnight in Harlem," which begins with a wonderful instrumental of "Swamp Raga," and "Nobody's Free" show the band in top form. Pieced together from recent shows in Washington, D.C., Bridgeport, Conn., and Toronto, the rock outfit swarms like bees in fits, coasting through moments of jazz to land up a hive of pure blues.

And the duo is able to orchestrate the entire ensemble, onstage and off, in a way that seems telepathic.

"You get that sixth sense. I imagine it's a lot like managing a baseball or football team. Less people, but same mindset," he says. "You're constantly keeping everything in mind, trying to keep it in one direction. Sometimes you have to peel people off and talk to them, sometimes it's things that can be corrected without confrontation. You just have to keep your eyes and ears open.

"People ask, 'What's it like having two kids and traveling?' I was like, 'We have 11 kids: Nine in our band and two at home.' Two kids at home are much easier than nine at home."

Click Through Photos of Tedeschi Trucks Band In House For now, their children are simply interested in horseback riding and baseball. They have yet to go full tilt toward music, though these loving parents have seen glimmers of musicianship in their little ones.

"Our son sang today at school in the little honor choir," Susan says proudly as she holds her husband's arm. "You have to be chosen, or have straight A's, B's. He was really cute! He said, 'I didn't want to do it at first, but then some of my friends were doing it.' He stuck it out and is a little shy, but he can sing. He has good intonation. Our daughter's an entertainer though. She's trouble."

Just from their body language, one can tell that Susan and Derek, who married in 2001, are a match made in rock 'n' roll heaven: They finish each other's sentences; they stare lovingly at one another while answering questions; they have the same telepathy onstage that they do in interviews.

The pair recently performed together at the U.N.'s International Jazz Day Concert among some of their biggest heroes, and got one of their more frightening surprises. The blues duo was told last minute that they would be performing Stevie Wonder's "As" onstage with Herbie Hancock and Wonder himself.

"Derek is standing there watching them, and there's Steve at the Wurlitzer and Herbie is at the piano and right behind him is George Duke on keyboards. This is the part that I know that you love," Susan says as she giggles into Derek's arm.

"All of a sudden Stevie is trying to teach everybody this line. Of course, Stevie is like, 'Oh no Herbie that's not it. It's this.' Herbie's like, 'Oh, OK.' Derek's like, 'Did that just happen? Is Stevie Wonder teaching Herbie Hancock something on the piano?' It was so amazing."

The future is pretty solid for the Tedeschi Trucks Band. They've alluded to putting more albums out in the future, and it makes sense. This couple was made to play together.

"One thing the fans should know is that this band's going to be around a long time. There's going to be a lot of diversity coming out of this band -- not going to be one hit song and then that's it. Not going to fizzle up. A great thing about this band is that we all humble ourselves around each other, because we all have respect for each other, listen, love each other, and we know that whatever everybody's doing is the same common goal at the end of the day. We're all trying to make great music and trying to entertain the audience as well. We don't want to be bored either, so we're going to try to entertain each other. It's a lot of fun. We're thankful to play music."

Watch Tedeschi Trucks Band Perform "Everybody's Talkin'" Live