She's on a new level but still local

By Steve Morse, Globe Staff, 11/18/2002

Susan Tedeschi, the pride of Norwell on the South Shore, shocked the nation two years ago by earning a Grammy nomination for best new artist. The other nominees - Britney Spears, Kid Rock, Macy Gray, and Christina Aguilera (who won) - were all on much bigger record labels. Everyone loves an underdog, so Tedeschi was showered with attention. Given that she'd recorded on the tiny Tone-Cool Records in Wellesley and played blues jams at Wally's in the South End and Johnny D's in Somerville, her Grammy nomination was viewed as a victory for the Boston scene in general.

Much has happened since - a headlining tour, gigs with Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers Band, a marriage to Allman Brothers guitarist Derek Trucks, a new home with him in Jacksonville, Fla., a new baby named Charlie, and concerts this fall singing with Grateful Dead offshoot the Other Ones, starting at the FleetCenter tonight.

But Tedeschi, 32, hasn't forgotten her Boston roots. Her long-awaited follow-up CD, ''Wait for Me,'' is due out tomorrow on Tone-Cool/Artemis Records and boasts a who's who of Boston musicians. The new single, ''Alone,'' was recorded at Milt Reder's Rear Window Studios in Brookline (where Tedeschi also made ''Just Won't Burn,'' the album that led to her Grammy nomination). It features local guitar hero Kevin Barry (a former classmate of Tedeschi's at Berklee College of Music), drummer Dave Mattacks, bassist Dean Cassell, organist Tom West, and a hot local horn section of Paul Ahlstrand and Gordon Beadle.

''I got addicted to the blues in Boston, and I love these players,'' says Tedeschi. ''I can't say enough about them.''

This story ran on page B9 of the Boston Globe on 11/18/2002.