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J. J. Cale

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Not to be confused with John Cale.
J. J. Cale

JJ Cale (also J.J. Cale), born John Weldon Cale on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,[1] is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and musician. Cale is one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz influences. Cale's personal style has often been described as "laid back". His songs have been covered by a number of other musicians, including "After Midnight" and "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton, "Bringing It Back" by Kansas, and "Call Me the Breeze" and " I Got the Same Old Blues" by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Biography

John Weldon Cale was born on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Some sources incorrectly give his real name as "Jean Jacques Cale". A Sunset Strip nightclub owner employing Cale in the mid-1960s came up with the "JJ" moniker to avoid confusion with the Velvet Underground's John Cale.[2] In the 2006 documentary, To Tulsa and Back: On Tour with J.J. Cale, Rocky Frisco tells the same version of the story mentioning the other John Cale but without further detail.

Career

JJ Cale in Munich, 1975

Cale is one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound, a very loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz influences. Cale's personal style has often been described as "laid back", and is characterized by shuffle rhythms, simple chord changes, understated vocals, and clever, incisive lyrics. Cale is also a very distinctive and idiosyncratic guitarist, incorporating both Travis-like fingerpicking and gentle, meandering electric solos. His recordings also reflect his stripped-down, laid-back ethos; his album versions are usually quite succinct and often recorded entirely by Cale alone, using drum machines for rhythm accompaniment. Live, however, as evidenced on his 2001 Live album and 2006 To Tulsa And Back film, he and his band regularly stretch the songs out and improvise heavily.

Cale is also well known for his longstanding aversion to 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. February 2009 saw the release of his 23rd album, Roll On, including the previously unreleased title track recorded with Eric Clapton.

Early on he was known for playing a heavily modified Harmony guitar. He is currently playing a Casio 360 MIDI guitar from ca. 1980.

Discography

Singles

  • 1958 Shock Hop/Sneaky [45 - as Johnny Cale][3]
  • 1960 Troubles, Troubles/Purple Onion [45 - as Johnny Cale Quintet] [4]
  • 1961 Ain't That Lovin You Baby/She's My Desire [45 - as Johnny Cale Quintet] [5]

Albums

Cover songs

Artists including Eric Clapton,[6][7] Mark Knopfler,[7] Neil Young ,[citation needed] Tom Petty, and Bryan Ferry,[citation needed] have noted Cale's influence on their music.

Several artists, including Clapton, have made hits of Cale songs, and many more have covered them. Cale's most covered songs include "Call Me the Breeze", "Sensitive Kind", "After Midnight", and "Cocaine". A partial list of performers who covered Cale's songs includes The Band ("Crazy Mama"), Beck ("Magnolia"), Johnny Cash ("Call Me The Breeze"), Clapton ("After Midnight", "Cocaine", and more), Bob Dylan ("Cocaine"), Kansas ("Bringing It Back"), Lynyrd Skynyrd ("Bringing It Back", "Call Me The Breeze", "Same Old Blues"), Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers ("Thirteen Days", "Call Me The Breeze," "I'd Like to Love You, Baby"), Johnny Rivers ("Crazy Mama", "Don't Go To Strangers"), and Santana ("Sensitive Kind").

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/c/cale5000.htm
  4. ^ http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/c/cale5000.htm
  5. ^ http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/c/cale5000.htm
  6. ^ "Guitar Legends J.J. CALE AND ERIC CLAPTON Unite For an Epic, Soulful CD Release "THE ROAD TO ESCONDIDO"". whereseric.com. 2006-09-14. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  7. ^ a b "J.J. Cale: The Early Years". Jam Base. 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
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