If You Can't Hear the Music, Turn it Up Loud

Back in 2000, there was collation of epic proportions, in one corner you had the greatest blues player ever to pick up a guitar, in the other was the greatest rock guitarist ever. And in a dream made in music history, the two greats decided to team up for an album Riding with the King. Those two were of course B.B. King and Eric Clapton. The album was a classic in its own right and the only complaint anyone could have was that they didn’t do it earlier or more often. Well Clapton is back at it again, this time with another hero of his, J.J. Cale.

Cale may not be the household name that Clapton is but you have undoubtedly have heard his songs before including a couple of Clapton’s biggest hits, Cocaine and After Midnight. One of the reasons Clapton reached out to Cale to make a record together is that he has for a while tried to make a Cale sounding album but could never get it right so the best way to accomplish that feat would bring in the man himself which culminated in the album The Road to Escondito. And the session musicians the pair brought in to help them are no slouches which including Steve Jordon, Pino Palladino, Derek Trucks, Taj Mahal, and John Mayer and also featured the last songs Billy Preston ever played on.

Cale naturally took over most of the writing for the session writing all but three of the tracks. Clapton then had credits of two of the song, one of which, Hard to Thrill, he co-wrote with Mayer that turned out to be the albums most bluesy song. The rest of the songs are harder to pin down as they blend folk, blues, country, bluegrass, and rock but never focus on a specific genre for any given song. The duo even get political on When the War Is Over where the sing that even if we bring the boys home that still doesn’t help the ones already dead from the war.

The pairing on the album also seems to help Clapton. On his last couple albums it sounded as if he was struggling with being the guitar god he once was and the elder statesman he was becoming now that he’s in his sixth decade. With King Cale’s guidance and more laid back approach to music, maybe Clapton’ next solo outing will finally make that transition complete.

Song to Download - Ride the River

The Road to Escondido gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.