JJ Cale: Crazy Mama 
       They Call Me The Breeze
              One Step Ahead of The Blues
                     Mama Don't 

Tomorrow summer week returns but for now please enjoy this Tuesday request day offering

JJ Cale died July 26, 2013
one of the most influential musicians ever

       Before I started researching JJ Cale, I had assumed he was a country outlaw star similar to Waylon Jennings or Willie Nelson.  I generally prefer rock & roll over country so I didn't really know anything about his music and even less about the man.  Many of my teenage nights were spent cruising the narrow and crooked streets of Massachusetts North Shore rocking out to Eric Clapton's After Midnight, or Cocaine.  My deepest foray into country was probably Lynard Skynard who had released many energetic and fun songs like They Call Me The Breeze.  When I heard Cale had died I was not moved beyond the distant sadness that we all feel when we get the news that someone we'd heard of passes. 
       A good friend of mine from Portland, Oregon was deeply moved by Cale's passing and requested that I profile him.  He described Cale as a man who's influence on rock and roll was deeper than anyone outside the industry knew.  He insisted Cale was important & that he deserved a tribute.  I was a bit reluctant because, other than his name, I knew virtually nothing about Cale.  What I learned was that he was a towering figure in the music industry who avoided the spotlight reserved for people rightfully on the tower.  He is described by Rolling Stone magazine in their under 400 word encyclopedia entry as *"reclusive". The LA Times said **"Cale remains one of rock's most doggedly enigmatic figures" in their write up for Cale's last album The Road To Escondido which he created with Eric Clapton. 
     There isn't much available about Cale's personal life.  He was born in Oklahoma City in December 5, 1938 & he died at La Jolla, California on July 26, 2013 at the age of 74. He left in his wake a couple of dozen low charting singles and 15 well reviewed yet modestly selling albums.  In between he was a guitar player, singer, songwriter, recording engineer, composer, arranger, and producer credited strongly by industry insiders but not by many others.  If you Google "JJ Cale" you come up with a wiki page and a website that says virtually nothing about Cale the man.  Add the search terms family, wife, children, mother, father, or even gay and you come up empty handed.  His personal life is shrouded in a self spun cloak of invisibility   It is known that he loved animals and he lived in a trailer on a few acres set back in the hill country above Escondido, California.  When the LA Times described him as "enigmatic" they really meant it.  

Mark Knopfler of Dire Straights
Fashioned his playing & singing style
as well as his early look after JJ Cale

      Being unable to find anything useful about his personal life I turned to where the rubber meets the road, the music.  WOW!!!  Cale really was a giant deserving of whatever praise the industry or fans could heap on him.  The aforementioned songs (Clapton: Cocaine, After Midnight, & Skynard: They Call Me the Breeze) were written by Cale as were perhaps a dozen or more other hits for acts like Captain Beefheart, Dr. Hook, Jose Feliciano, Poco, Johnny Cash, Bill Wyman, & Kansas to name just a few.  His style and influence can be felt in the music of Clapton, Skynard, Neil Young, Bonnie Raitt, The Allman Brothers, The Rolling Stones, and Dire Straights as well as many, many others.  

Leon Russell

      Cale might have been the smoothest guitar player to have ever picked up the instrument   His fingers were light, fast, and nimble yet his leads were always clean and understated.  A great example is this live recording of Cale's song After Midnight.  His fret board work appears effortless, his fingers look like a spider crawling up a pipe.  Aside from his beautiful guitar work he also had an original vocal style that influenced and helped make Dire Straights Mark Knopfler a household name.  In the background playing keyboards in the After Midnight video linked above is the nearly as quiet and enigmatic Lawton, Oklahoma native Leon Russell who, like Cale, was also a behind the scenes giant in the recording industry.  It made me wonder if there was something in the Oklahoma air or water that creates these stoic yet masterful musicians?

Cale & Clapton on The Road to Escondido

       To prepare writing this I listened to probably 50 or more songs over a several day period.  I came away with many strong impressions. I can't find the words to explain how good this guy really was. As I stated earlier he might have had one of the best left hands to ever grace a six string.  His playing style is understated and classy.  What it lacks in flash it more than makes up for by simply being amazing.  His songs were usually built on blues scales but his lead work was generally created from jazz scales which gave his songs a slightly off angle attractiveness. His singing, like his guitar sound is also laid back and understated. His vocal style and lyrical patterns have been copied by many and can best be described as unpretentious. In fact I would say that unpretentious is exactly the right word to describe this publicly unheralded, little recognized music industry icon.  And that really seems to be exactly the way JJ Cale wanted it.  He did not seek fame and when it came he quite literally headed for the hills and chose to remain anonymous.
       The problem for Mr. John Weldon Cale is that when you've cut a swath of originality through the record industry jungle people are going to notice and follow.  Dozens of artists representing Folk, Country, Pop, R&B, Blues, Rockabilly, & Rock have followed him down that road.  I think, perhaps, the best way to remember Cale is as a talented singer/songwriter, and an extraordinary guitar player.  He was a true original that, without his encouragement or even his desire, influenced everyone that ever heard or saw him play.  Generations from now we may not remember his name, but his influence will continue to reverberate as long as people love the laconic yet innovative strains of the country/rock/blues shuffle which was brought to worldwide recognition and paid forward by an almost unknown guy living in a trailer in the quiet and private foothills outside of Los Angeles.  
      
       
*The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001).
**http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/02/jj-cale-rolls-o.html


I would like to thank one of my favorite pen pals Marty for making the JJ Cale request.  I  probably would not have done this without his suggestion and that would have been a shame.  Cale seems to represent the best the recording industry has to offer.  He was a brilliant musician who seemed to be genuinely unaffected as a man by either his amazing gifts or his fame.  If it had been his desire there is no question that Cale could have made himself one of the most well known & possibly best selling artists of his era.  His career spanned the same 50 year period as the Rolling Stones, who count him as an influence, and yet he never sought the riches and recognition that drove them.  Marty's suggestion spurred me to write about Cale and I hopefully I've contributed to making the world more aware of this brilliant and "enigmatic" artist and man because he deserves it.  Thanks Marty!!!  RIP JJ Cale...