Fresh off another scorching set, Susan Tedeschi signs a few autographs, greets a few well-wishers, and then escapes out the side door, where her tour bus awaits. It is a chilly and rainy night, but once she settles down within the cozy confines of the bus-her home for the last two years-the elements don't matter. As the door closes behind her, she slips out of her raincoat, cracks the cap on a bottle of spring water, and makes herself comfortable. Another high-energy show, another night in Tedeschi's seemingly endless run of gigs, is in the books.

Mild-mannered and genial, the 29-year-old Tedeschi comes down quickly from the adrenaline rush of performing and is quite amenable to answering questions. There is certainly plenty to talk about. Her career during the past two years has taken flight, culminating in a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist alongside the likes of teen queen Christina Aguilera (who won the award), hot popper Britney Spears, and hard-rock hipster Kid Rock. She snagged a gig opening for Bob Dylan, hopped into an Austin studio to record a couple of tracks for Double Trouble's first recordings since their records with Stevie Ray Vaughan, and earned a prestigious Orville H. Gibson Award for Best Female Blues Guitarist. "It's really kind of trippy," says Tedeschi. "I'm honored that these things are happening to me."

A guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Susan Tedeschi is part of the new generation of blues musicians searching for and finding new ways to restore excitement and vitality to the genre. She peppers her sets with classic R&B, swing, blues, and gospel-flavored songs, embellished with a belting voice that belies her years.

Tedeschi began singing at age 4. Active in local choir and theater, she started to sing with local bands at 13. She continued her music studies at Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts, honing her guitar skills and joining a gospel ensemble. Her first blues-based band gigged in and around Boston's fertile blues scene, and the experience helped her develop into a highly skilled, road-ready performer.

Since then, there's been no turning back. The Susan Tedeschi Band released its first official album, Just Won't Burn, on the Boston-based Tone-Cool Records in early 1998. It's a powerful collection of originals, plus a few sparkling covers including John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery," Ruth Brown's "Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean," and Junior Wells's "Little by Little."

Years of touring followed the release of Just Won't Burn. At the time of this interview, Tedeschi was scheduled to go on the road for the B. B. King Blues Music Festival with Buddy Guy and Tommy Castro-another remarkable opportunity for an artist who never seems to run out of them.

What are your first memories of gigging? I started at 13. I had put a rock band together, and I sang. We played cover tunes at yacht clubs and private parties. After that, I played in Top 40 bands.

How did you feel up on the stage? It was fun. I loved being in front of people and still do. I'd actually been onstage before, doing musical theater, but being in a band was different. I just remember getting good reactions, and that kept me going.

When you went to Berklee, was it with the intention of learning how to be a better guitar player? Not at all. I didn't play guitar there. I went there to be an arranger. I arranged mostly for horns at first. Then I started concentrating on other areas of music like performance and the legal side. I did everything from arranging and singing in a gospel choir to studying the legal aspects of publishing and recording.

What was your goal when you were going to school then? Did you want to arrange for a big band? That was just one of the things I had my eye on. I graduated college when I was 20; I'm 29 now. A lot has happened since then that I never would have predicted. [For example,] I started playing guitar in 1992, and I love it. It's so much fun for me.

Ironically, it has become the thing you're best known for. Yeah, it's funny. I'm trying to catch up with all the expectations people have of me and my playing.

You don't think you're there yet? I've got a lot of work to do. One good thing is that I'm around great guitar players all the time, guys like Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes, who can really show me a thing or two about how to play.

One of your former guitar players, Sean Costello, just released a nice album. Yeah, he's got a real flair for the vintage style of playing. That's his whole bag, and I think he's excellent.

Who are your heroes from a performing standpoint? Mahalia Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Donnie Hathaway, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Freddie King, Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Jimmie Rogers, Little Walter. I also really like gospel and classic soul singing: Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye. I grew up listening to the Stones, Zeppelin, and Aerosmith, so I have a lot of that side under my belt, too. But it was more the soul, blues, and R&B guys who inspired me to play music.

Looking back on the years you've spent in the music business, would you have changed anything? Looking back, yeah, I probably would have changed some things. Some of the guitar players I had were very talented, but tough on me emotionally. That's usually where you encounter the biggest egos, in guitar players. All musicians have egos, but they have the biggest.

Is that why you took control of playing guitar? One day Buddy Guy came up to me after a show and said, "Susan, you don't need a guitar player! You should play guitar!" So I got rid of the guitar player on his advice. Then he heard me later and he said, "I told you! You've got your own style. So many players just copy everybody else. Do your own thing, even if you don't know what you're doin'!"

You've had some great experiences playing with amazing players. I got to play with Otis Rush, Irma Thomas, and John Lee Hooker. I saw John Lee once in San Francisco and he asked me to come up and play guitar with him. He said, "Susan, why don't you come up and play a boogie with me?" But I didn't have a guitar. He said, "Use my guitar. Here, take it." He sang and I played guitar with Derek Trucks. He joked with Derek, "You better marry that woman! She can play guitar! You know I'd try to get her if I could. You know I would!"

When guitar players gave you trouble, was it because they were trying to take advantage of you as a woman bandleader? I had relationships with two of them. They were threatened by the fact that we were doing very well; they couldn't handle it. I really cared about them. I had a bunch of good guitar players, but some of them have been tough to deal with.

Would life as a musician be easier if you were a man? I don't know if it would be easier, to be honest. I think it might be easier to get along with band members, but not generally in [terms of making] music. I think being a woman has given me an opportunity in music I might not have had if I were a man. There are so many men who look great, play great, sing great. There are a lot of great male musicians. As a woman, I don't have as much competition.

As a bandleader, do you have trouble getting your band to do what you ask? Sometimes it works out very well. I get them to follow and listen. If they don't, then I get people who will. Theorywise, sometimes the people I have working for me know more than I do, but I'll have a better vision as to where a song is going. I watch Dickey Betts all the time. Here's a guy who doesn't always know what he's doing theoretically, but he has a perfect sense, a vision of what makes a song work.

But you also have a technical foundation to your music. That's true, but I try not to think too much about that. In terms of chord changes and song structures I do, but once that's taken care of I try to make sure it's all about passion and soul.

You just kicked off another leg of your never-ending tour. What did you set out to accomplish in rehearsals for this tour? To tell you the truth, we didn't rehearse for this tour. We got the songs set in sound check. I was so busy with Grammy stuff and interviews that we really didn't have time for preparation.

When you do rehearse, do you really need to focus? If I had a new band, yeah, but these guys know my stuff really well and we can accomplish a lot in a short period of time. And besides, we were in the studio not long ago doing some new songs, so we were able to work those out, too.

What kind of problems do you encounter during sound checks? Usually monitor and grounding problems-the sound guys take care of them.

Do you ever use in-ear monitors? I did it once when I sat in with the Dixie Chicks at Lilith Fair, and I thought it sounded like crap. I'm such a live player. I really didn't like the in-ear monitors. If I were just a singer, I could understand. But I don't like the way it sounds. When I did the Mellencamp tour, it was interesting because John doesn't have monitors on the stage. He puts them overhead. That was cool, because you can really hear all the music.

What about your solo work? Do you script it out? No, it just comes out. Sometimes I'll play similar solos. I'll have an idea I start on, but I never know where it's gonna take me. It's goofy sometimes-like I sing something in my head and try to play it. I don't think I can play the exact same solo every time.

What about slide guitar? I haven't been playing as much slide as I used to. This band hasn't been playing that kind of material. Live, I like playing slide on acoustic, not electric, but I'll have to wait until the right songs come along. Tampa Red, Elmore James, and Earl Hooker do the kind of slide I like.

Your touring must be exhausting. How do you keep the process fresh? I've been getting excited about my own music since I started watching the Allman Brothers. Writing new songs really helps. If you can bring in new material all the time, that makes playing live a lot more interesting. I have a pretty decent pool to draw from now, so I'm not too worried about getting bored. In fact, we have a bunch of new songs I'm going to start bringing into rehearsal soon-sound-check rehearsals, I mean.

Is it easy for you to write on the road? It depends on how much time I have to myself. Sometimes when it's busy, I don't have much time at all. But when I'm left alone, I find it easy to write on the road. I love to do it-I just don't get the chance that often. I'm one of those people who needs to take care of everything else before I sit down to write. My room has to be clean, the phone calls have to be made, all the distractions have to be behind me before I start writing.

Do you use set lists? On what do you base your decision of which song to play? First, I make sure the songs we play are strong. Then I make sure I feel like singing it. Then I have to figure out what kind of show it is, what audience I'll be playing in front of, and what kind of stuff they've been hearing before it's my turn to play. Lots of factors come into play. Normally I change the set list every night.

You've played everywhere from roadhouses to stadiums. Does that affect your song choice and your performance? The venue has everything to do with what we play. When we played stadiums, the set list differed from when we played clubs. Plus, I try to check out the audience as soon as I get onstage to see what kind of response they're giving me.

How do you warm up? Sometimes I sit and play along with Bobby Bland, or play scales, pentatonic scales, or just play. For my voice, I'll drink some tea and do a couple of little exercises, but not much.

How do you save your voice? Sleep. I try to take good care of myself, I don't get too crazy. I don't get as much as rest as I should. I do a lot of interviews, which is actually harder on my voice than singing. Talking is worse than singing for your voice.

Have you had vocal problems? I get to a point where I can sing but can't talk. I also am careful about how much I work. I'll do 45-minute sets four or five times a week, but not 90-minute sets that often. I try to have a day off where I don't speak or talk or anything.

What do you think are the keys to a good performance? Usually, if I feel like my singing is clear and strong or if my voice felt good that night-pretty and belty at the same time-I feel good about a show. I also feel good about a show if my guitar playing isn't too whacked out. If the band is on, the tempos are good, and the people ultimately respond, that's when a show is good.

What do you do if things aren't going well onstage? Cry! [Laughs.] No, I just scream at the band! [More laughing.] Usually it's not too bad, though. You try to leverage the band, give it more power. Listen to yourself and see what the problem is. If it's the band, you try to figure that out. But you have to trust yourself. You're supposed to be professional, right?

What advice would you give to musicians on the rise? Think about what your goals are. What is it you want to achieve? Do you want to play huge venues? Do you want to play little bars? Do you want to run a management company? Do you want to be an agent? Do you need an agent? How much do you want to work? Can you manage a tough work schedule? A lot of questions need answers. It's also really important to determine whether you have the kind of band you can take on the road. I'm not talking simply talentwise. Can you live with these people while you're on tour? Can you see yourself married to these four or five people?

You also need someone you can really trust managing your affairs. It's not a band manager's job to keep track of money. You need an intimate acquaintance, someone you really know, to take care of that responsibility. You need to get trustworthy people in key positions around you, so you can do what you really like to do best: play music. Has that made trouble for you? It used to be a big problem of mine. I didn't want to give up the power and the control for a long time. I wanted to do everything myself. I'd book the band, I'd be the accountant, I did everything. I was the corporation. Now I have a manager, an agent, and my father, who does a lot of work for me. My dad's the one I trust. Sometimes it's hard to have a family member involved, but if you can trust them, you're almost there.

Has the time you spent at Berklee learning about the legal side of things helped you in your current position? The one thing I learned at Berklee that's been most important is, never sign anything. I've pretty much adhered to that lesson. I really don't know what I want to do a year from now. I don't want to be tied to something for ten years. What happens if I want to get married or have kids? Never sign anything. You could be signing your life away. How many times have you heard that?

The road has been tough on you, too, hasn't it? I can see where a lot of people take to drugs and alcohol while they're on the road. The road itself can be hell sometimes. Those things can ease the pain of it.

You've traveled with B. B. King, the Allmans, and Buddy Guy. What have you learned from them in terms of survival? B. B. once said to me, "If you don't love it, don't do it." And there are days when I definitely don't love it. But then I think about what I would be doing instead and I can't think of anything. Not a thing.

What do you think is the true excitement of performing? Sitting in with people and playing in front of great crowds. That's the true excitement. That's why I do it.

Bob Gulla writes for a number of national music publications and has had bylines in Rolling Stones and People.

www.pipeline.com/~stb The band's official site contains a thorough listing of Tedeschi's comings and goings, awards, and appearances. Hard-core fans need look no further for Tedeschi information.

http://members.iquest.net/~dchristian/tedeschi.htm The Unofficial Susan Tedeschi Fan Club is chock-full of solid information about Tedeschi, her music, and her accolades.

Live, Tedeschi uses two amps: a Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue and a 4X10 Victoria. The amps connect via a Rapco A/B box, into which she plugs a Dunlop Cry Baby wah pedal (her only effect other than reverb), a Boss TU-12 tuner, and her guitar.

On her tours, Tedeschi uses two Fender Telecasters, one from 1982 and one from 1975. "I learned on a Strat but I play Teles now," she says. When playing, Tedeschi sometimes uses a pick and sometimes her fingers. "I like the sound of my fingers, especially live, but a lot of times I can't hear it well enough. Sometimes it's because the bass is too loud or the band is overwhelming. Plus, I can't hear it because I'm so far away from my amp when I sing. That's why I use my pick."-Thanks to "Max" Maxson and Tyler Sweet from Tedeschi's crew