J.J. Cale Dies At 74

[chefcraig]

Singer-songwriter J.J. Cale dead at 74


By Gerrick D. Kennedy

July 27, 2013, LA TIMES (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-singer-songwriter-jj-cale-dead-at-74-20130727,0,7365598.story)


J.J. Cale, the songwriter behind Eric Clapton classics such as “Cocaine” and “After Midnight,” died Friday at the age of 74.

The singer-songwriter's official website confirmed Cale passed away at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla after suffering a heart attack Friday night.

Born John Weldon Cale in Oklahoma City, he’s revered for pioneering the “Tulsa Sound,” a blend of rockabilly, country, jazz and blues.

Cale, who scored minor solo hits like "Crazy Mama" and "Lies," is better known for tunes like “After Midnight” and “Cocaine” which Clapton covered and turned into smashes.

In a career that spanned more than five decades Cale issued 14 albums and his songs have been covered by a slew of iconic musicians including Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Waylon Jennings and Captain Beefheart.

Though his first single, “Shock Hop/Sneaky” came out in 1958, Cale didn’t release a proper debut until 1971. "Naturally" featured songs like "Call Me the Breeze" (later popularized by Lynyrd Skynyrd), “Clyde” (a 1980 hit for Jennings) and “After Midnight.”

Clyde eventually collaborated with Clapton. The pair released “The Road to Escondido” in 2006. The project won the Grammy for contemporary blues album in 2008.

Damn, I always thought this guy was super cool.
RIP, Mr. Cale

[Kristy]

Holy shit! No way.


(Now who is Clapton going to steal from?)

[FORD]

Presumably the cause of death was too much cocaine after midnight?

[So this is love]

Holy shit! No way.


(Now who is Clapton going to steal from?)

nobody ever creates anything anymore..haven't you noticed.

[VHscraps]

Now they can call him the breeze - just as long as it ain't his ashes blowing in the wind ...

I did recall, being an occasional JJ Cale listener in the 90s, being surprised to read in an interview around about that time that he liked to mow the lawn and listen to Van Halen.

There is a quote to that effect in this story below - which is not the one I remember, so he probably said it in more than one interview.

A rare conversation with J.J. Cale
by David Hoekstra


J. J. Cale always sounded like he was looking for a drink of water. But he was a deep well of American music that absorbed rural blues, country, jazz and rockabilly. Mr. Cale died Friday night of a heart attack at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif. He was 74.

Mr. Cale’s parched vocals and reclusive persona helped establish a devoted cult following, but his distinct style was not lost on his collaborator Eric Clapton, who had hits with Mr. Cale’s “After Midnight” and “Cocaine”: and Lynyrd Skynyrd who hit the charts with Mr. Cale’s “Call Me The Breeze.” He won a Grammy for his 2006 collaboration with Clapton called “The Road To Escondido.”

Mr. Cale loved to explore the open spaces between his smooth country chord changes and his seductive Jimmy Reed bass lines, which were delivered to him on a night train straight out of Gary, Ind. “I always try to put that in,” he told me during a rare interview before a 1990 gig in Boston, Mass. “Sometimes I overplay, but I try to keep it kind of sparse. My music is a little more ratlly now than it used to be. I don’t know why. I’ve lived in the Los Angeles area for 10 years , and it’s a little more uptown than Tennessee (where he made his earliest records).”

But like an oil stain in a favorite shirt, Mr. Cale always revealed a part of Tulsa, Okla. John “Jean Jacques” Cale was born in Oklahoma City, but moved to Tulsa as a kid. He graduated from high school in 1956 and began playing country, swing and rockabilly in Tulsa bowling alleys, nightclubs and school dances, fronting bands like Johnnie Cale and the Valentines. About a dozen Tulsa musicians—including Leon Russell and David Gates of Bread—migrated to Los Angeles in the early 1960s to seek work in the music industry. One of Mr. Cale’s first jobs were as a studio engineer. He once told an interviewer, “I like the smell of electronics.”

On his earliest records, Mr. Cale sounded like a singer on the outside looking in. About the time I met up with him in Boston, he was becoming more comfortable in becoming the centerpiece of the music. He was on the road to promote his “Travel-Log” record. He had one of the most remarkable six piece touring bands I have seen: the late saxophonist Steve Douglas (Duane Eddy and Phil Spector), deep soul keyboardist Spooner Oldham and late bassist Tim Drummond (James Brown, Ry Cooder).

The night before Mr. Cale’s gig at the Channel nightclub in Boston, I had gone soul music record shopping with Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band. I told Wolf I was planning to see Mr. Cale. The hyperactive singer-musciologist was so amped up, he picked me up at my hotel before the show in his ratty van laced van with Mickey-D’s wrappers on the floor.

The downbeat Mr. Cale demanded that kind of excited following.

“I’m a background person,” he said in a raspy whisper. “I’m not a household name. People have heard my music, but all my famous songs were made famous by somebody else. “But that was my goal. I didn’t do to many interviews and kept my pictures away (and off of album covers.) I’ve had more pictures taken of me in the last two months than in my whole career.”

I wondered how the elevated profile affected his music.

“I mainly write on guitar,” he said. “Sometimes I cut the tracks and write the words afterward. Sometimes I’ll write with the guitar and voice, and add the band to what I already did. I’ve tried every way there is. “The only thing I don’t do is try to be a poet. I very seldom write the words and try to put music to it. It’s either the music first or the music at the same time.”

Mr. Cale’s laid-back lifestyle always reflected the soft shuffles of his music. In the early 1990s he began emerging from his mystical private persona. “I wanted to get rid of the recluse deal,” Mr. Cale said with soft eyes set against a hard, weatherbeaten face. “The reason they made up the recluse thing is that if you don’t do interviews and make yourself accessible, they say. ‘Oh, he’s private.’ I’m no private than any other guy walking around. It’s just that I’ve always considered myself a songwriter.”

At the time of our conversation Mr. Cale had just left a two-year residency in a 24-foot trailer anchored near Anaheim, Calif. He only drove a car when he had to. “When I lived in the trailer park, I didn’t own a phone, so I didn’t do much," Mr. Cale said, “If you don’t own a phone in America, you don’t do too much business. And, I got to take care of my health a little bit. Musicians are not known for their longevity. So I started riding a bike. I’d get groceries on my bike, and that’s hard to do in L.A. Over all, I tried to slow it down and enjoy it a little bit. I bought a house and got into mowing the lawn every Saturday I’m not working."

“I’ve been listening to music. I like some rap. I’m a guitar player, so I like heavy metal. I love Eddie Van Halen."

“You can never stop trying to learn.”

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Given that Clapton loved JJ Cale, and hates Eddie (apparently), and Eddie loved Clapton, I do find that both funny and interesting.

[fryingdutchman]

One of those guys who never got the credit or fame he deserved...but he probably didn't want it.

But he made a huge impact toiling away behind the scenes for Clapton and others. Clapton owes the "second half" of his career to J.J. Cale.

Rest In Peace J.J..

[Kristy]

Our of all his songs that were covered that best (at least to me) was Skynyrd's 'I Got The Same Ol' Blues' preferably for the beautiful slide work

[78/84 guy]

Bummer ! More underated than Roy Buchanan. RIP