Melody Trucks & Bobby Lee Rodgers: Listening Room Tour

Melody Trucks and Bobby Lee Rodgers are on their Listening Room Tour, which kicked off last night (Wednesday, August 21) in Jacksonville at Blue Jay Listening Room. They have six more dates on this run of shows, including Tallahassee, a pair in Marietta GA, and Richmond before finishing in Ocean City MD and Lewes DE. Here is video of last night’s show!

Rodgers and Trucks first met in 2013 at Wanee Music Festival at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, an event started by Melody’s father, Butch Trucks of the Allman Brothers Band. Rodgers was a regular performer at Wanee.

Trucks is a talented vocalist and percussionist who has performed at major music festivals including Peach Fest, Suwannee Rising, and Suwannee Hulaween. She and brother Vaylor Trucks are dedicated to education, including Roots Rock Revival, the important annual event where aspiring musicians can learn from some of the greatest on the scene. They are also involved with the Masters at Sea program on Jam Cruise.

Melody Trucks – Sunshine Get Down ’24. 📸: Mitch Levine Photography

Although Trucks claims she wasn’t looking for another band after her outstanding Jacksonville-based Melody Trucks Band disbanded, a group instead found her through Roots Rock Revival. The Fitzkee Brothers have adopted Trucks, or the other way around, and the result is absolutely spectacular. The Fitzkee Brothers feature drummer Alex and bass player Drew from Delaware and two fine Maryland players, guitarist Otto Grundman and Nick French on keyboards. Trucks has been playing with these young men (Alex is 17; Drew is 19) for two years, and they are stunning. The depth of their grooves is amazing.

Melody Trucks & The Fitzkee Brothers Band. 📷: Tucker Joenz

Bobby Lee Rodgers was a founding member and creative force behind The Codetalkers with Col. Bruce Hampton. Since then, he has played shows fusing rock, funk, jazz, and blues into a magical musical tapestry. He was one of the youngest instructors of Jazz Studies with the prestigious Berklee College of Music at just 23. Bobby is currently on the 20th anniversary tour of Jazz is Dead with band founder Alphonso Johnson.

Rodgers brings a unique sound to his performance because he plays through a combination of Leslie cabinet and vintage guitar amp which gives him the beautiful sound of an organ and guitar together. He is playing a hybrid banjo on the Jazz is Dead tour. A stellar songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist he fuses rock, funk, jazz and blues into a magical musical tapestry.