J.J. Cale
J.J. Cale born John Weldon Cale on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Cale is a Grammy Award winning singer songwriter and musician.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5Tiqv4Irjs"]YouTube - Eric Clapton/JJ Cale-After Midnight[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8uk7vlk0sE"]YouTube - Eric Clapton/JJ Cale-Call Me The Breeze[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm-euFpRLMg"]YouTube - JJ Cale and Leon Russel - Going Down[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGnPxJl-DlM"]YouTube - JJ Cale & Leon Russell - I Got The Same Old Blues[/ame]
With his laid back rootsy style, J.J. Cale is best known for writing "After Midnight" and "Cocaine," songs that Eric Clapton later made into hits. But Cale's influence wasn't only through songwriting, his distinctly loping sense of rhythm and shuffling boogie became the blueprint for the adult oriented roots rock of Clapton and Mark Knopfler, among others. Cale's refusal to vary the sound of his music over the course of his career caused some critics to label him as a one trick pony, but he managed to build a dedicated cult following with his sporadically released recordings.
Born in Oklahoma City but raised in Tulsa, OK, Cale played in a variety of rock & roll bands and Western swing groups as a teenager, including one band that also featured Leon Russell. In 1959, at the age of 21, he moved to Nashville, where he was hired by the Grand Ole Opry's touring company. After a few years, he returned to Tulsa, where he reunited with Russell and began playing local clubs. In 1964, Cale and Russell moved to Los Angeles.
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.
His songs have been performed by a number of other musicians; "Magnolia" by Poco, "After Midnight" and "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton, "Bringing It Back" by Kansas, "Call Me the Breeze" and "I Got the Same Old Blues" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and "Travelin' Light" by Widespread Panic.
Source: Bio and JJ Cale Fan Network .home
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Yeah, it`s laid back alright......Mr. Excitement! 
Originally Posted by Yossarian
