Description
Susan Tedeschi – Just Won’t Burn – 180 Gram Vinyl Record
25th Anniversary Edition
Released in September 1998, Just Won’t Burn was Susan Tedeschi’s sophomore album and the one that firmly announced her arrival as a major force in contemporary blues. Recorded in Nashville with producer Tom Dowd, the record balances raw, church-inflected gospel fervor with tight, rock-leaning grooves—showcasing Tedeschi’s impassioned, husky vocals and fluid, expressive guitar work. From the opening slide-driven riff of “You Need to Be with Me” to the Memphis-soul shimmer of her cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel,” the album never lets up on energy or emotional urgency.
The core band—featuring Reese Wynans on organ, Ron Perry on bass, and Jeff Perkins on drums—provides a foundation that’s both supple and muscular, allowing Tedeschi’s voice to soar over churning Hammond swells or lock into gritty, blues-rock riffs. Highlights include the slow-burn groove of “It Hurt So Bad,” where Tedeschi’s plaintive delivery rides atop a swampy rhythm, and her reinvention of Maria Muldaur’s “Don’t Pick Me for Your Fool,” which she reimagines as a defiant, up-tempo assertion of self-respect. Throughout, the arrangements lean on tasteful horn punctuations and backing vocals that echo the call-and-response traditions of southern gospel.
Just Won’t Burn drew widespread acclaim for its fusion of traditional blues sensibilities with a modern rock edge. Tedeschi earned a nomination for the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award at the Blues Music Awards, and the album eventually went Gold—a rare feat for a blues release in the late ’90s. Reviewers praised not only her vocal prowess but also the authenticity of her songwriting: several tracks bear Tedeschi’s own credits, revealing a keen storytelling gift rooted in personal experience and classic blues themes of love, loss, and redemption.
In live performances, many of these songs became cornerstones of Tedeschi’s sets, with “You Need to Be with Me” often extended into rousing, multi-minute jams that underscored her dynamic interplay with bandmates (and, later, with husband Derek Trucks in the Tedeschi Trucks Band). Looking back, Just Won’t Burn can be seen as the record that bridged the gap between the electric blues revival of the early ’90s and the roots-rock resurgence of the 2000s—cementing Susan Tedeschi’s role not just as an interpreter of the blues tradition, but as one of its most vital contemporary voices.
Brand new, never played and still in the factory plastic sealed
Track Listing
Rock Me Right
You Need To Be With Me
Little By Little
It Hurt So Bad
Found Someone New
Looking For Answers
Can’t Leave You Alone
Just Won’t Burn
Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean
Angel From Montgomery
Friar’s Point
