jj cale

[boon]

any love? dude rules in my opinion. skynryrd covered his songs well, but i don't like clapton.

 

[Austintxusa]

One of my favorites for over 35 years. "Really" is one of the best albums of the 70s. I swear Dire Straits sounded just like his early work. And the" Road to Escondido" is outstanding recent work.

 

[boon]

'really'
is great. i like '5' a lot too, "mona" is one of my favorites. i'll have to check out Escondido, i have most of his earlier stuff

 

[jimmyjazz]

Fantastic songwriter. How could you not like Clapton's takes on his work? That's his best stuff, for the most part.

 

[boon]

never a big fan of clapton, not that his 'cocaine' and 'after midnight are bad, but i'l take cale's over his anyday. and i disagree with that being his best stuff. i would say far from it.

 

[jjoemaroul]

J.J. Cale.
The laid back Tulsa rockin' bad *** MF. This guy is one of my favorite musicians out there. He has lived the life. Starting out with trying to play like another bad ***, "Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, while growing up in Tulsa he hooked up with Leon Russell and other Tulsa sound musicans and they all moved to L.A. He played the Whiskey A-Go-Go and when he wasn't feelin' it bounced around between Nashville, New York, L.A., Europe, and Tulsa all along the way playing with and inspiring some the best damn guitar players in the world.

He produces, engineers, and even makes his own guitars. A lot of his records have him playing just about all the tracks on a song. He was using voice harmonizers, drum machines, and other recording techniques way before they became as mainstream as they are today. Avoiding stardom is his game and he does it well while still touring the world on his own time frame. If you like Red Dirt music it's without saying that these Tulsa guys had an influence in it's roots.

I missed the last half of my little brother's UT baseball playoff game to go see him play at the Texas Union Ballroom June 4th 2004 I like him so much. Maybe it's because I'm from Oklahoma or maybe he's just that damn good and I wasn't sure if I'd see him ever play live.

It's not that his guitar playing just blows you away or anything, it's the way it is laid back and cool. Same with the vocals. Solid.

Chet Atkins, Waylon Jennings, Santana, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eric Clapton, Jerry Garcia, John Fogerty, Kansas, Johnny Cash, David Allen Coe, The Allman Brothers, Johnny Rivers, The Band, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Freddie King, Pat Travers, Deep Purple, John Mayall, Widespread Panic, and even his old boy Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown have all covered him.

So yeah I'd suggest anyone to check him out. Start with the Anyway the Wind Blows: The Anthology. Since Cale don't believe in dragging songs out you can pack about 25 songs on a CD and this is a 2 disc set. 50 songs.

 

[MaceHorn]

Really like JJ Cale. Can't believe I missed him at Cactus in '04 and that he hasnt' been back here.