Eric Clapton and his music

J.J. Cale says 'whole idea was Eric's' as album with Clapton puts him in spotlight
By George Varga
UNION-TRIBUNE POP MUSIC CRITIC
November 5, 2006

Veteran singer-songwriter J.J. Cale was understandably flattered when longtime musical admirer Eric Clapton asked him to make an album together. But the spotlight-shunning Cale, who has lived quietly on three acres in Valley Center for the past 17 years, was taken aback at the title Clapton chose for the album, which is due out Tuesday.

“The Road to Escondido” hits a little too close to home for Cale, a low-key artist who has always cherished his privacy and his ability to go unrecognized in public.

“That was all Eric's idea; he thought that title was hilarious. Well, 'hilarious' is the wrong word,” Cale said Monday from Valley Center, where he lives with his wife and musical partner, Christine Lakeland. After a week of rehearsals with Clapton at Cale's rural abode, the album was recorded last August in Los Angeles.

“Coming up with album titles is kind of an art form, and Eric stayed here while we were getting ready to make the album in L.A. 'The Road to Escondido' caught his fancy. He asked me: 'What do you think?' I said: 'I don't know, man. I live around here and you don't.' ”

Then again, at least the album isn't called “The Road to Valley Center.”

“You got that right,” said Cale, who moved to Valley Center in 1989 primarily because of the privacy its under-the-radar location afforded him.

“You gotta remember there's hardly any town in Valley Center. ... What's really ironic is I go to Escondido almost every day to get gas or groceries, and people think I'm some retired guy walking around. The week Eric was here, we'd go eat

at Denny's or IHOP or wherever ...

“... and anywhere we walked in, everybody recognized him, I mean, we're talking autographs ... we couldn't eat. That's one of the reasons I didn't like the title 'The Road to Escondido,' because I don't want to (deal with) that.”
But album titles can be misleading. So can album covers.

None of the 14 songs on “The Road to Escondido” – 11 of which Cale wrote – are about Escondido. None of them mention or make any reference to the city, any surrounding community, or anywhere in San Diego County.

Commenting on the themes of his song lyrics over the course of his nearly 35-year solo career, the 67-year-old Cale laughingly noted: “It's been mainly (about) sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.”

The cover photo for “The Road to Escondido” was shot on the shoulder of a two-lane country road. It shows a baseball-hatted Clapton, 61, casually strumming an acoustic guitar as he sits on the back of a weathered pickup truck. Its hood is aloft and Cale stands nearby with a hand-scrawled cardboard sign that reads: Escondido.

In fact, the album cover was shot at Paramount Ranch, which is north of Los Angeles between Highway 101 and Malibu Creek State Park.

“What Eric originally wanted was a picture of me and him in my little van,” Cale recalled. “And I said, 'I don't really like people coming up and (recognizing me), and saying “Hey, man.” ' So, of course, that didn't impress him at all.”

A warm, self-effacing man who is as laid-back as his music, Cale has been a quintessential cult artist since not long after Clapton scored a Top 20 hit in 1970 with his reverent rendition of “After Midnight,” which Cale wrote around 1968.

Cale's version was recorded after he and musical pal Leon Russell moved from their native Oklahoma to Los Angeles in 1964. Released as a Cale single, the original “After Midnight” was an instant flop. Saxophonist Bobby Keys, who played with Cale in an early version of Delaney & Bonnie, later gave Clapton a copy of “After Midnight.”

Cale, who had moved back to Tulsa, remembers Keys phoning to tell him “After Midnight” would be on the English guitar star's first solo album.

“I thought: 'Well, that won't go anywhere,' ” Cale said. “A year later, they started playing it on every radio station, including in my hometown. The first time I heard it on my car radio I just drove off to the side of the road. Because I'd never heard anything of my own on the radio before.”

Clapton's success with “After Midnight” earned Cale a record deal that led to his 1971 debut album, the aptly titled “Naturally.” Fifteen more solo albums have followed, each featuring Cale's earthy but impeccable blend of blues, country, rock and Western swing.

Clapton recorded Cale's “Cocaine” in 1977. Their understated but stirring work together on the “The Road to Escondido” reaffirms why Cale is so revered by his peers. In a Union-Tribune interview last year, Clapton said: “J.J. is pretty close to the ideal ... I like his principles.”

Clapton and Cale first met in 1975, when he sat in with Cale at a London concert. They did not cross paths again until 2004, when he invited Cale to perform at his all-star Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas. It was then that Clapton asked Cale if he would produce a solo album for him.

Cale agreed and later sent Clapton nearly two-dozen songs, half by him, half by members of his band and other friends. Clapton chose all of Cale's songs and passed on the others. After completing a few songs in Los Angeles, Clapton asked Cale to fully share the musical spotlight on the album, which is credited to “J.J. Cale & Eric Clapton.”

Would the media-shy Cale have agreed to make a duo album with Clapton from the outset?

“No,” replied Cale, who politely declined an offer to join Clapton's imminent fall tour of Asia and Australia. “Not because of Eric, but ... I'm perfectly satisfied doing what it is I do. And I've noticed that because Eric is in the big time and up there with the greats ... there are a whole lot more people involved with what he does than with what I do.

“I'm pretty much retired; I've done everything I wanted to do. ... This whole idea was Eric's. ... He recorded those two songs of mine and kept me from having to get a job and gave me an income, so this was my payback to him. ... After the whole project was done and it came out the way it did, I kind of thought Eric snuck in ... and tried to raise my profile a bit.”

Former San Diego bassist Nathan East performed on several songs on the album and has been a member of Clapton's band since the mid-1980s.

“I would think there was no preconceived plan to ease J.J. in. But you never know, and Eric's a very clever guy,” East said. “They are almost like two brothers. In the studio sometimes they would trade lines on a song and at some points, unless you were looking at them, it was hard to distinguish whose voice you were hearing. They are very compatible, on and off their instruments. I know Eric has the utmost of respect for J.J.

“And,” East added with a laugh, “I think it's so great that little Escondido is now going to be on the world map.”

So does Escondido Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler, who last Wednesday read a proclamation declaring the album's Tuesday release date as “The Road to Escondido Day.” Copies of the proclamation were sent to Cale and Clapton, although neither attended.

“I'm really uncomfortable doing something like that,” said Cale, who happily notes he can again go unrecognized when he eats out in Escondido. “I've been here 17 years now, and it's been real smooth ... if Eric (couldn't) make it, I'd feel real stupid doing it by myself.”

Blackie Replicas Go On Sale "Black Friday" 24 November 2006

For decades, Eric Clapton's Blackie Stratocaster has been one of the world's most coveted guitars. Eric sold Blackie on 24 June 2004 at Christie's Auction House, New York to raise funds for Crossroads Centre Antigua (an alcohol and drug treatment centre) he founded. Blackie sold for $959,500 garnering the record for world's most expensive guitar. Blackie was purchased by the Guitar Center.

In 2006, the Guitar Center, with Eric's permission, announced it would issue a limited edition of Blackie replicas in connection with Fender Guitars a part of the master-built Tribute Series. A portion of each sale benefits the Crossroads Centre. The guitar has been recreated down to the smallest detail. All the parts, pickups and electronics are aged and matched to the original, unique specifications of Blackie.

On 17 May, 2006 Eric played and approved the first Blackie Prototype on three songs during his concert at London's Royal Albert Hall.

On 24 November 2006 (the day after Thanksgiving in America and known as "Black Friday" as it is the busiest shopping day of the year), 275 Blackie replicas will become available to the general public. One hundred eighty five will be sold in the United States through the Guitar Center with the remainder sold internationally. The guitars will go on display 10 November at select Guitar Center locations in the United States.

Eric Clapton FAQ: Blackie (Fender Stratocaster) - History Of -
http://www.whereseric.com/ecfaq/guitars-amps/blackie-black-fender-stratocaster-guitar-s...

Fender: The Eric Clapton Blackie Stratocaster Guitar - http://www.fender.com/blackie/

Fender: Blackie Stratocaster Video Press Release - http://www.youtube.com/fendermusical

Guitar Center: Pro Gear - Eric Clapton's Blackie - http://www.guitarcenter.com/clapton/detail.cfm?tabgray=1

Fender - The Return of the Blackie®!

Clapton's beloved guitar available as part of Tribute Series from Fender® Custom Shop

CORONA, Calif. - One of the world's most influential electric guitars, the Fender Stratocaster® guitar once owned by Eric Clapton and affectionately known as Blackie®, will be recreated and made available to the public this November from Fender's renowned Custom Shop.

Guitar Center, Inc. (NASDAQ: GTRC), the world's largest musical instrument retailer, is now the owner of the original guitar after paying $959,500 at a 2004 Christie's auction that benefited the Crossroads Centre, Antigua — a charity founded by Clapton and which remains close to his heart.

Guitar Center has commissioned the Fender Custom Shop to reproduce this truly iconic piece of rock 'n' roll history, and it is the exclusive United States distributor of the instrument.

Blackie®, a mid-1950s Fender Stratocaster guitar pieced together by Clapton himself from numerous individual guitars, was Clapton's main instrument throughout the 1970s and '80s.

Clapton's albums 461 Ocean Boulevard, Slowhand, No Reason To Cry, and Just One Night, among others, were all recorded with Blackie®.

And in addition to memorable solo tours, Clapton and Blackie® shared the stage with the likes of Pete Townshend, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters and The Band.

This historic addition to the Custom Shop Tribute Series will replicate Blackie® down to the smallest of details—from the worn-to-the-wood body, to the neck re-shaped by Eric's hand as he played a thousand heartfelt solos, to the unmistakable cigarette burns on the headstock.

"Everyone in the Guitar Center organization wants to share the world's most iconic guitar with collectors and fans," said Guitar Center's Keith Brawley, vice president of merchandising, guitars and amplifiers. "By working with Eric Clapton and Fender, we are able to offer some of our best customers the thrill we felt when we spent nearly a million dollars!"

Said Mike Eldred, director of sales and marketing for Fender's Custom Shop: "This is a dream come true, to work so closely with this magical piece of rock history. To hold Blackie® and to think about all it has been through and how much fantastic music has come out of it, it's really an indescribable feeling. The Tribute Series Blackie® guitar is instantly collectible and we're thrilled that it's now available to Eric's fans."

All of the 185 guitars offered for sale in the United States will be available exclusively through Guitar Center.

Guitar Center stores throughout America will introduce the guitar on "Black Friday" — November 24, 2006.

The manufacturer's suggested retail price is US$24,000, with a portion of the proceeds to go to the Crossroads Centre, Antigua.

Ох, хорош альбом Клэптона с Кейлом. Очень даже хорош!

Eric Clapton - Back Home Live in Studio

Kim Burrell, Fred Hammond, Eric Clapton *HEAVEN HELP US ALL*
http://vidsearch.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1336641229

BB King & EC 1999


Eric Clapton - No Alibis


Eric Clapton - I Aint Gonna Stand For It


Eric Clapton - Back Home (Live in New York MSG)

A letter written by a heartbroken Eric Clapton to an ex-girlfriend will go under the hammer later this month.

The letter, written by a 16-year-old Clapton to an art student girlfriend, reveals the guitar star's intimate feelings after she broke off their fledging relationship.

The farewell note to Vivian Stanistreet will go on sale at Christie's auction house in London.

Clapton writes, "Now that you have finally ended it, I am sad but relieved.

"It wasn't hard to see you had lost interest and it hurt. I shall go and look for another 'bird' now. Ah well, as you got your letter in first you can tell everyone you chucked me - love Eric."

Penned 45 years ago, the letter is expected to sell for between GBP600 and GBP800.

Eric Clapton's 2006 / 2007 World Tour moves on to Japan, with opening night slated for Osaka's Castle Hall on 11 November. It is the first of four shows in that city. Clapton and band will then perform in Nagoya, Tokyo, Sapporo and Saitama. Ten concerts will take place at Tokyo's famous Budokan Hall.

Clapton's touring band for Japan features Doyle Bramhall II and Derek Trucks on Guitar, Chris Stainton and Tim Carmon on Keyboards, Willie Weeks on Bass, Steve Jordan on Drums and backing vocals by Michelle John and Sharon White. There is no supporting act.

For more information about Clapton's 2006 Japan Tour visit:
http://clapton2006.jp/index.html

Clapton's World Tour kicked off with concerts in 32 European cities between 5 May and 31 July. It included an extended seven night run at London's Royal Albert Hall. The tour then moved on to the eastern region of the United States, with two dates in Canada, between 16 September and 23 October. In January and February 2007, Eric will perform in Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, New Zealand and Australia. More dates are expected in the U.S. later in the year. Eric's 23 September concert in Michigan, which was postponed due to illness, has already been rescheduled for 5 April 2007.

EC - rehearsal in Japan 2006

On 11 November, Eric Clapton and his band kicked off an 18-date tour of Japan with the first of four nights at Osaka Jo Hall. The opening night setlist was different than that of the recently completed U.S. Tour. It included "Tell The Truth" - from 1970's Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs - and "Outside Woman Blues", which Eric first performed with Cream. The latter was performed during the "sit down" portion of the concert. Also of note, Eric broke out a Gibson Les Paul in the second half of the concert, playing it on "After Midnight" and for part of "Little Queen of Spades" after which he returned to playing his trademark Fender Stratocaster.

One fan in attendance told Where's Eric!, "Eric is now sixty-one but he is definitely not a boring old fart as
some cynics might call him. The thrill is not necessarily gone...in fact, it has only just begun".

Clapton's touring band for Japan features Doyle Bramhall II and Derek Trucks on Guitar, Chris Stainton and Tim Carmon on Keyboards, Willie Weeks on Bass, Steve Jordan on Drums and backing vocals by Michelle John and Sharon White. There is no supporting act.

For the 2006 Japan Tour, Eric will have a signficant web presence with exclusive Japan-based internet sites. Of great interest, Eric has launched a blog in conjuntion with honeyee.com. Hiroyoshi Fujiwara, who has worked with Eric on a number of projects, also hosts a blog which has some content related to Eric's tour of Japan.


Setlist 11 November 2006: Osaka Jo-Hall (Castle Hall), Osaka, Japan
Opening Night Set List:

01. Pretending
02. I Shot the Sheriff
03. Got to Get Better in A Little While
04. Old Love
05. Tell the Truth
06. Motherless Children

Sit Down Set
07. Key to The Highway
08. Outside Woman Blues
09. San Francisco Bay Blues
10. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
11. Running On Faith

12. After Midnight
13. Little Queen of Spades
14. Further On Up The Road
15. Wonderful Tonight
16. Layla
17. Cocaine

Encore
18. Crossroads
(125 min.)

Eric Clapton, 61, opens his tour of Japan in Osaka on Saturday night. He will give 18 performances in five cities.

Review: The Road to Escondido - J.J. Cale and Eric Clapton
by Tom Watson.

Reviews of the J.J. Cale and Eric Clapton album, The Road to Escondido, make me laugh. They read like a botanist walking through a field of flowers - heavy on facts and light on scents. The important context of Escondido isn't the Cale-Clapton music connection unless you're an historian. If you're a sympathetic listener, the important context isn't music at all, it's place.

In Spanish and Portuguese, escondido means a hidden place. That's the straight definition. But the word often also implies somewhere dark as well as hidden - a sinister hidden locale with the emphasis on sin.

Weeds grow tall around the gas pumps in front of the Ponderosa Club, a converted 1950s gas station hidden in the remote Midwest countryside not far from a military base. The pumps give the place a roadhouse feel and provide cover for moms and dads who drive by in daylight.

It's the third Friday night of July in the summer of 1969. Payday. The local sheriff will stop by around midnight and collect some cash from Red, the club owner, a Vietnam vet with a metal plate in his head. Red's got a good thing going. He tells me that nobody can bust him because the State cops won't touch him until the local sheriff calls them in, which isn't going to happen as long as he makes payroll. With the backroom poker game, women, tampered booze, and lack of licensing, Red's in need of protection.

But, this particular Friday night Red's wasted early. His girlfriend gut shot the doorman-bouncer the night before. She and the bouncer had been playing games in the parking lot. Then she found out he'd also been playing with Red's half sister. Relationships and codes of conduct in the Ponderosa are complex. Red's pissed he has to work the door and swims in water-based booze. Bartender tells me that Red's metal plate and liquor are a bad mix. Red takes me to a supply closet before things go dark and pushes some cash at me for the sheriff. He figures you got to trust a tall skinny guitar player that wears glasses.

Red's down. I make the monthly donation between sets. Billy, the card mechanic that runs the game, works the door. Fights break out. Locals take it outside and damage each other's pickups. The military guys are more of a problem. They fight indoors. Every time that happens Billy screams at us to play louder.

This is a post-jazz honky tonk (or roadhouse or juke-joint, etc.). This is the place of The Road to Escondido.

You shouldn't listen to honky tonk music when the sun is shining. You shouldn't listen to honky tonk music when you're sober. The backdrop of Escondido is a no man's land cordoned off for hell raising.

That doesn't necessarily mean "hee-haw" hell raising. A lot of it is sad and quiet, but not less dangerous than loudmouth fistfights. That silent little blond at the end of the bar may be fondling a .38 in her handbag. You just never know.

The music these joints have spawned was designed to help patrons drown sorrows, raise hell, and, maybe above all else, help tonk owners sell more beer.

B.B. King knows honky tonks. J.J. Cale knows honky tonks. And Eric Clapton knows where the music that's inspired his career comes from. It's fitting that Clapton's two duet albums are with King and Cale.

For those who think this discussion of honky tonks is too literal, I acknowledge that it doesn't take a leap in logic to say they serve a more general, symbolic role - representing a dark, rebellious dimension of human nature. But what's the fun in that? Other writers with bigger dictionaries can wipe the blood off the floor.

Saying that the music on Escondido is honky tonk will be a problem for some who associate the phrase "honky tonk" with a particular style or sub-genre. That's a mistake. Again, it's about place. Honky tonks were to be found in a variety of locations with a variety of clientele. I use the past tense because I'm not talking about contemporary urban cowboy bars. As a honky tonk musician in the '50s - '70s, odds are the crowds you played for liked country, rock, blues, and R&B. Only way you could get the party rolling was to mix it up, throw in elements of a number of styles to keep the customers satisfied.

The bands in most honky tonks were straightforward - usually a drummer, bass player, one or two guitars, and a singer. Trios were prime because you made more money that way. Equipment was straightforward too - an old Telecaster or Strat and a medium sized Fender amp that had reverb and tremolo, which served as the guitarist's effects. In the '70s, pedals were introduced and things got more elaborate - maybe a fuzz box, a wah, or if you were cutting edge, an Echoplex.

Point is, most honky tonk music is direct and raw. J.J. Cale and Eric Clapton guitar fans should love Escondido. Want to hear what these two guitarists (and several of the guest artists on the album) sound like with guitar, amp and nothing in between - direct and in your ear? This is the album. Drop the pre, post and software effects - plug in and play. You're not going to get more pure Clapton guitar work unless you catch him noodling at home.

I have to admit, there are some non-honky tonk moments. "Three Little Girls", the tune penned by Clapton that's a nod to domestic bliss, seems out of place, though it makes some sense as a sequel to "Sporting Life Blues". But then, this honky tonk discussion is my take on the album, not Cale's or Clapton's (after all, the title isn't The Road from Escondido). I could say something similar about Billy Preston's Hammond B3. Preston, may God rest his soul, adds something sweet to any mix, but you'd be hard pressed to find that instrument in a honky tonk. Maybe a Fender Rhodes (which you will hear on the album), an upright acoustic piano (which you will also hear on the album) that belonged to the house, or a Vox Super Continental organ, but you wouldn't find a honky tonk bar band lugging around a monster B3. You'll hear Preston's B3 on Escondido because it sounds so good.

It may take a few, or several, listens for you to figure out who's playing what guitar parts (sometimes even who's singing), but this fact also tells you something about context. Cale and Clapton are in sync. Clapton's hit covers of Cale's music, such as "Cocaine" and "After Midnight", weren't remote Top 40 gimmicks. This music is Eric Clapton.

Some critics have opined that when you combine two "laid back" artists like Cale and Clapton you get an hour of laid back music that lacks sufficient fire or energy, and that might be true to ears that haven't spent quality time in dives where a left hook carries more weight than a college diploma. Something strange happens to musicians who work honky tonks. From up on stage, what takes place on the floor is the ultimate spectator sport. After you've seen more than Dante could imagine, some self-imposed distance is the only thing that keeps you from taking a step down that road to escondido.

While to music botanists the significance of The Road to Escondido and the ground from which it grew may be the Cale-Clapton connection, to the rest of us, the significance will be hormones inspired to swim upstream.

Клип про съемку обложки и дачные посиделки...
http://www.amazon.com/Road-Escondido-J-J-Cale/dp/B000I5X81A/sr=1-1/qid=1163336094/ref=p...