J J Cale: Singer-Songwriter Par Excellence, and The Original Slow Hand
On the 26th of July, 2013, I left whatever I was doing mid way and cancelled everything for the rest of the day. For that day my hero had died. A man called JJ cale, who's music had become a part of my life, and his death felt like a portion of me was truncated for ever and I wished to go home, listen to his tunes, and drown my grief in alcohol.
But his music lives on, and though some of you may not have heard of him, I am ready to wager a million, that you have heard his songs and his tunes. They were that popular!
This is the story of a humble man who shunned celebrity, yet created some of the most iconic songs on earth, but was relatively unknown due to his own choosing.
Many of you would have heard the song "cocaine" or "after midnight" by Eric Clapton, or even heard songs like "call me the breeze" and "I Got The Same Old Blues" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. But did you know these were basically covers of a song by a relatively obscure musician named JJ Cale?
Not only was Cale a Song writer, he was also a singer and a musician who, also, was his own sound engineer who created a sound so unique that he is credited to be one of the originators of the "Tulsa sound", a mix of blues, rock, jazz and country.
He had a voice which sounded more like a whisper, and a very laid back style to his guitar, which was adopted and refined further by legends like Clapton, a style nick-named "slow hand", whose creation is erroneously attributed more to Clapton than to Cale.
But when his songs became famous, he had all the opportunity in the world to go out there and milk the fame for what it was worth. But in a telling testament to his humility and his commitment to keep himself grounded, he refused every opportunity and perhaps became the only musician in modern times to do so, in a world obsessed with celebrity and fame.
This nature of his had contemporary stalwarts look up to him and see him for who he was, and musicians like Neil Young has even mentioned Cale in his biography, Shakey, saying
Of all the players I ever heard, it's gotta be [Jimi] Hendrix and JJ Cale who are the best electric guitar players.
It is a rare realization that a genre-spanning list of stars, including Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, John Mayer, Johnny Cash, Captain Beefheart, Santana, The Allman Brothers, Jerry Garcia, The Band, Chet Atkins, Freddie King, Beck, Band of Horses, Jose Feliciano, George Thorogood & The Destroyers, Waylon Jennings, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Lee Fields, Deep Purple, Widespread Panic, John Mayall and many more have covered his timeless music.
After his death, Clapton took initiative and released a tribute album called The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale, which he did with myriad artists like Mark Knoffler, but his respect and love for Cale really shows when he declared that
"He was a fantastic musician. And he was my hero."
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Upvoted and resteemed!!!!
Thank you! I literally had tears in my eyes while writing this post. He was that special for me!
He is special, glad I saw you promoting this in Steemit.chat
And I am happy you think so too. We don't have a lot of guys like him on the planet!
That's your dad? Aw......I'll bet you miss him. What a talent and legacy for you...so much humility. Thanks for telling your story.
Not my dad, but I wish.
And thank you.
I read it wrong three times!! Guess it's time for la la land......but regardless...this man was someone to you so that's important as well. I like Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Neill Young and many in the list you mentioned - I think I may have heard of Cale from my son who is a music expert.
They all became famous singing his songs!
I do like JJ Cale! His music is timeless. I'll listen to him tomorrow and think of your post.
In fact I listen to his tunes while gardening and my phone is full of his songs! And they are timeless indeed!
Thanks.
I've been enjoying his songs. :D
When I was 17, me and a couple of friends of mine ended up in a bar underaged. It was exciting, of course because it was illegal and all.
We met an older guy there, who took a liking to us, since we seemed intelligent, or so he says.
He became a good friend of ours, and he would always play us records and let us borrow them. This post reminded me of him since he would always play JJ Cale and talk about him, in a similar way that you are here.
I, too, enjoy Cale a lot.
That man must have been from my generation, who were exposed to such good music between the 60's and the 80's, it is only the connoisseur who would settle for Cale! And we all talk in similar ways!
Thanks, and continue listening to Cale.
Yeah, it was stuff from the 60s and 70s. :)
But that's what I prefer, as well.
Rock on and steem on! :)
Yes. :)
Other music I like from that era is Cream, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and stuff like King Crimson and Rush. And of course Purple, Zeppelin, etc. There's just so much to choose from.
And I have all of those in my collection! :)
Wow thanks for shedding light on this. Been checkin him out!
He's been my favorite for years now and I want the younger lot to hear him, and I am sure you will find his music good!
Thanks.