Alright before we get deep into a discussion about which version is best Clapton’s or Cale’s. Let’s back track a bit.

J.J. Cale was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 38, but my first experience with J.J. (not to be confused with John Cale of the Velvet Underground) is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter and musician best known for writing two songs that were made famous and huge hits for Clapton “After Midnight” and “Cocaine”, But you may not know he also wrote major hits for Lynyrd Skynyrd hits “Call Me the Breeze” and ” I Got the Same Old Blues”.

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As the story goes a Sunset Strip nightclub owner who emplyed Cale in the mid-1960s came up with the “J.J.” moniker to avoid confusion with the Velvet Underground’s John Cale.
To Tulsa and Back: On Tour with J.J. Cale, a 2006 documentary Rocky Frisco tells the same version of the story.

Cale is one of the first of the Tulsa Sound, a very loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz influences. Cale’s personal style is characterized by shuffle rhythms, simple chord changes, understated vocals, and clever, incisive lyrics.

His recordings in the late 60’s and early 70’s would today be deemed low-fi reflect his stripped-down, laid-back ethos; his album versions are usually quite bare and often recorded entirely by Cale alone, using drum machines for rhythm accompaniment.

Many artists, including Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler Neil Young and Bryan Ferry have noted Cale’s influence on their music; several artists in addition to Clapton have made hits of Cale songs, and many more have covered them. His most covered songs include “Call Me the Breeze”, “Sensitive Kind”, “After Midnight”, and “Cocaine”.

Cale also dislikes stardom, extensive touring, and even continual recording. He has happily remained a relatively obscure cult artist for the last 35 years.

The release of his album, To Tulsa and Back in 2004, his appearance at Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, and the 2006 release of the film documentary, To Tulsa and Back: On Tour with J.J. Cale, have brought his understated discography and songwriting to a new audience.

This mainstream exposure continued into late 2006 with the release of a collaborative album with Eric Clapton, The Road to Escondido, which won “Best Contemporary Blues Album” at the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008.

As Always Peace

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