Cody Johnson, Tedeschi Trucks Band and Los Lobos to perform at Tuscaloosa Amphitheater in 2022

Cody Johnson will play the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater March 25, 2022.
Cody Johnson will play the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater March 25, 2022.
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Birmingham-based booking agent Red Mountain Entertainment has announced the first two shows booked for the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater's 2022 season.

Tedeschi Trucks Band with Los Lobos and Gabe Dixon will play 6:30 p.m. June 26, and Cody Johnson and friends are set for 7 p.m. March 25. Tickets for both 2022 shows go on sale at noon Friday, through www.ticketmaster.com, or at the Amp box office, 2710 Jack Warner Parkway.

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The country singer-songwriter recently cut his first holiday album, "A Cody Johnson Christmas," featuring eight traditionals along with a couple of new songs. His second major-label album "Human the Double Album" was released in October, debuting atop country charts.

Johnson's gold- and platinum-selling singles include "Nothin' On You," "With You I Am," and "On My Way to You." A feature-length documentary "Dear Rodeo: The Cody Johnson Story" is available to stream across multiple platforms, telling how Johnson's rodeo-circuit years prepared him for life as a country singer.

Tedeschi Trucks Band was among the many concerts planned for 2020 that were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Singer-songwriter Dixon was also to open that show.

The conglomerate rock-country-soul-blues band led by the married couple of guitarist Derek Trucks and singer-songwriter-guitarist Susan Tedeschi had last played the Amp in 2019, and earlier in 2012, opening for B.B. King.

Tedeschi Trucks Band will return to play the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater again, June 26, 2022. Opening acts for the Wheels of Soul Tour will be Los Lobos and Gabe Dixon.
Tedeschi Trucks Band will return to play the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater again, June 26, 2022. Opening acts for the Wheels of Soul Tour will be Los Lobos and Gabe Dixon.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band has cut almost as many live (three) discs as in the studio (four), because on stage is where they live. In a 2019 interview with The Tuscaloosa News, Trucks said they just don't make money off recordings.

"We've never lived or survived off of album sales," he said though Tedeschi Trucks Band's 2011 "Revelator" won the 2012 Grammy for Best Blues Album, and "Made Up Mind" sold gold. "We still make albums as if it was an era when everybody buys albums.

"I don't think we've ever gotten a check for an album we've done," Trucks said, laughing.

Earlier this year, the Tedeschi Trucks Band released "Layla Revisited (Live at Lockn')," recorded with guests Trey Anastasio and Doyle Bramhall II, playing the Derek and the Dominoes' epic album "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" top to bottom, live at the Aug. 24, 2019, Lockn' Festival in Arrington, Virginia.

Trucks has family links to the disc -- including that his first name was partly inspired by Eric Clapton's nickname -- which featured guitarist Duane Allman, founder of the Allman Brothers Band, which also included Trucks' uncle, drummer Butch Trucks. Though Duane was eight years dead by the time Derek was born, the younger Trucks first began jamming along with the slide playing on "Layla," and classic Allman Brothers Band discs such as "Live at the Fillmore." Years later, Derek Trucks filled in on slide with the Allman Brothers Band, playing alongside his uncle. Derek's younger brother Duane Trucks drums with Widespread Panic and Hard Working Americans.

In addition to opening their shows, Dixon's also played keyboards and sung with the Tedeschi Trucks Band. He's cut a pair of studio discs, the 2011 "One Spark" and 2016 "Turns to Gold," along with concert disc "Live in Boston," 2017. He's fronted his own bands, and played as sideman to Paul McCartney, Alison Krauss and Union Station, O.A.R. and Supertramp.

Los Lobos

East L.A.'s Los Lobos combines rock, Tex-Mex, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues country and traditional music including cumbia, boleros and norteños, breaking through to the mainstream with its 1987 cover of Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba," a No. 1 hit in several countries.

Though their name (Spanish for "the wolves") suggests something of their family heritage, co-founders David Hidalgo (guitar and vocals) and Louie Pérez (drums) bonded first over shared love for singer-songwriters such as Randy Newman, folk-rockers Fairport Convention, and instrumental wizard Ry Cooder.

Los Lobos will perform June 26 at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater.
Los Lobos will perform June 26 at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater.

Perez later recounted their meeting at Garfield High School: "We’re looking at each other, 'You like this stuff? I thought I was the only weird one.' "

As they evolved from rock, elements of the Mexican music they'd heard as children began to expand their sound. The band's name was originally Los Lobos del Este (de Los Angeles), aka The Wolves of the East of Los Angeles, but after finding a couple of existing bands with similar names, they cut it short. Los Lobos released an indie record in 1977 under the original name, and played hundreds of live gigs around L.A.

In 1983, Los Lobos recorded its EP "...And a Time to Dance," which earned critical acclaim and enough money for a Dodge van, to send them out on tour around the U.S. In summer of '84, Los Lobos cut the major-label debut "How Will the Wolf Survive?," and began getting opening gigs for punk bands such as The Clash and The Blasters.

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After the "La Bamba" cover hit, Los Lobos found its music in demand for TV and film soundtracks, landing songs in "Bull Durham," "The Mambo Kings," "The Sopranos," "I'm Not There" and numerous others; they wrote and recorded the score for Robert Rodriguez's 1995 "Desperado." Over the decades, Los Lobos has continued to record, and tour extensively, both headlining and opening for acts including U2, Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead.

Los Lobos has been inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame, and nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Also on the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater schedule in a June 7 concert featuring Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band. The show was originally set for Sept. 16, 2021, but was rescheduled.

For more, see www.tuscaloosaamphitheater.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa Amphitheater 2022 concerts include Tedeschi Trucks, Cody Johnson