Susan Tedeschi has announced the 25th anniversary of Just Won’t Burn, set to be released on Fantasy Records on September 22.
Tedeschi is one of the most celebrated blues and American roots musicians of her generation, and her unyielding commitment to her craft—both as a solo artist and in Tedeschi Trucks Band—has earned her multiple Grammy nominations and the adoration of audiences around the world.
It all began humbly at blues jams in her native Boston back in the early 90s and led to significant regional acclaim, but with the 1998 release of her solo debut, Just Won’t Burn, Tedeschi put the wider music world on notice that she was a true force to be reckoned with.
In celebration of the album’s 25th anniversary, Fantasy Records will release Just Won’t Burn (25th Anniversary Edition). This special, 16-track expanded edition features the original album plus five previously unreleased bonus tracks: an alternate take of “Looking For Answers,” two new album outtakes, and two live versions of Just Won’t Burn album tracks recorded with Tedeschi Trucks Band at NYC’s Beacon Theatre. To celebrate the release, Tedeschi has offered up a blistering version of Koko Taylor’s “Voodoo Woman.” Check it out above.
“Making Just Won’t Burn was a pivot,” Tedeschi says of the album, which was co-produced by Tom Hambridge and Tedeschi and recorded by Sean Carberry at Rear Window Studio, Brookline, Massachusetts. The album features musicians such as guitarists Adrienne Hayes and Sean Costello and harmonica player Annie Raines tackling Tedeschi’s original songs in tandem with material popularized by Ruth Brown, Junior Wells, and John Prine.
“All of a sudden, I was working with different groups of people, new musicians, new songwriting collaborators. We had no idea how it was going to turn out. I think the thing that held it all together was the blues. Blues is a language that I love. You can take it anywhere in the world and communicate with people, which isn’t necessarily true about other forms of music. And being a white artist in a black milieu, you just have to let the music speak.”
Pre-order Just Won’t Burn (25th Anniversary Edition).