Watch Derek Trucks and Nels Cline bring different worlds of lead guitar greatness together in stunning live call-and-response duel with Wilco
The Chicago alt-rock lifers invited the Tedeschi Trucks Band slide ace to the stage in St. Augustine, Florida for a version of their fan favorite extended guitar workout, Impossible Germany
Alt-rock titans Wilco aren't exactly a jam band, even if they sometimes get lumped into that category, and have significant fan overlap with the Grateful Dead.
Impossible Germany – a standout cut from their 2007 album, Sky Blue Sky – however, is a song where they really get to stretch out. A longtime fan favorite, it features an extended guitar solo from Nels Cline that to this day stands as one of the most scintillating guitar moments in the band's discography.
When Wilco stopped by the St. Augustine Amphitheatre in St. Augustine, Florida for a show last month (April 19), they not only included Impossible Germany in their setlist, they also invited North Florida native and Tedeschi Trucks Band electric guitar ace Derek Trucks to the stage to spice the song up.
You can see fan-filmed footage of their performance of the song – which features some truly sublime call-and-response exchanges from Cline and Trucks – below.
Between the two of them, Cline and Trucks channel a world of guitar influences – the former is steeped in jazz and avant-garde music, in addition to the more conventional psychedelic classic rock influences he grew up with, while the latter takes his six-string cues from the blues, plus a number of stylistically diverse players from around the world, such as Madagascar native D'Gary.
All of these influences come to the fore in the duo's extended solo, which begins with Cline largely echoing what he plays on the studio version, before Trucks spins things off in new and fascinating directions.
Showcasing his stinging slide skills and evocative phrasing – and using, of course, his trusty Gibson SG – Trucks is the perfect foil for Cline, who's armed with one of his trusty Jazzmasters.
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Taking it all in is Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, who – playing his own SG – clearly enjoys watching the two guitar heroes engage in friendly battle.
Wilco are set to tour Europe this summer, with festival dates and shows of their own scheduled. For the band's full forthcoming itinerary, visit Wilco's website.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
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