Jaguars reveal national anthem, halftime acts for Saturday playoff game against Chargers
Derek Trucks likes the Jaguars' chances in Saturday's playoff game, even though they didn't fare well the last time he played the national anthem before one of their games. That's because his wife, Susan Tedeschi, will join him, and the team is 2-0 when she does the anthem.
Trucks will play guitar and Tedeschi will sing the anthem Saturday night when the Jaguars take on the Los Angeles Chargers in a Super Wild Card Weekend game at TIAA Bank Field. They spent much of Wednesday working on an arrangement in their Jacksonville recording studio to find room for both to do their thing while keeping the anthem reasonably short.
"It’s a first for us," Trucks said. "It’s actually kind of fun. You try to ride that line between keeping the traditional melody and maybe adding a flourish or two. You have to let it breathe a little."
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Trucks spent time playing with the Allman Brothers Band and he and Tedeschi now lead the Tedeschi Trucks Band, both of which have been known to play a song for 10 minutes or more. That won't happen with the anthem, he said.
"People forget that the Jimi Hendrix version was a protest against the Vietnam War," he said.
Trucks and Tedeschi have been Jaguars season-ticket holders for about 20 years, and Trucks' father had tickets since the team's first year. He said he just hopes he and Tedeschi will have time to reach their seats before the game starts. If not, he said, they'll watch the kickoff from field level.
He said he's also a little concerned about the weather forecast, which calls for temperatures in the 30s Saturday night.
"It's gonna be cold," he said. "I've got to practice outside."
Jaguars-Chargers pregame, halftime entertainment acts announced
The Jaguars announced Thursday that Tedeschi and Trucks will perform the anthem before the nationally televised game. Former Jaguar John Henderson will do the opening "Duuuu-val!" before the game and New York band American Authors will play a brief halftime show on the field. Because it's a night game, there will be no military flyover.
Trucks performed a pre-recorded version of the anthem before a 2020 game that the Jaguars lost to the Miami Dolphins. Tedeschi has sung the anthem twice for Jaguars games, a 2012 victory over Tennessee and the team's 2018 playoff win over the Buffalo Bills.
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If the team wins on Saturday and advances to the next round of the playoffs, Trucks has a problem. The game would be played Jan. 21 or 22, and the band has shows booked for those nights in Clearwater and Gainesville. That also happened in 2018, when the band had a show booked in Boca Raton the same day the Jaguars beat Pittsburgh in the playoffs.
"I gotta say, I have faith in the Jags but I didn’t hold dates going into February," he said. "We’ll have to think about that going forward."
He said he thinks the Jaguars have a good shot at winning Saturday's game with the Los Angeles Chargers.
"I like our chances against the Chargers," he said. "I feel like it’s a coin flip. We can hang with them, there’s no doubt."
This will be the second nationally televised Saturday primetime home game for the Jaguars, who beat the Tennessee Titans last week to win the AFC South and advance to the playoffs. Guitarist Paul Wane of local band Duval County Line played an instrumental version of the anthem on electric guitar that was televised before the game. Wane is also involved in Guitars for Kids, a foundation that donates new and refurbished instrument kits to youth and adults with intellectual developmental disabilities.
Wane said the Jaguars were very accommodating and made him comfortable before his anthem performance. His phone has been ringing off the hook since the game, he said.
"I'm about to throw it out the window," Wane said.
Guitars for Kids has received donations from around the country this week, he said. "It's very humbling."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi to sing national anthem at Jags vs Chargers
