JJ Cale

  • To Tulsa & Back
    To Tulsa & Back
    Available at: Amazon
  • J.J. Cale Live
    J.J. Cale Live
    Leave it to J.J. Cale to press 30 years into his recording career before getting around to releasing his first onstage recording. Cale, after all, has his own pace for doing things and it ain't exactly breakneck. Unsurprisingly, the taciturn Oklahoman's approach to the stage and studio are pretty much the same: in any setting, Cale is one laid-back hombre. Here he ambles through 14 tracks without breaking a sweat, whipping off bluesy solos with offhanded aplomb and delivering his simple but spot-on lyrics with that unmistakable mumble. His infrequent hits resurface here ("After Midnight," "Cocaine," "Call Me the Breeze"), sounding fresher than they have any right to be. And, in truth, there really isn't much of a gap in quality between Cale's best and worst efforts; it's all good. In a world where entire careers are made around making the simple seem to be difficult, Cale has an all-too-rare gift for making the simple seem simple. Bless him for that. --Steven Stolder
    Available at: Amazon
  • The Very Best of J.J. Cale
    The Very Best of J.J. Cale
    As best-of collections go, this one is uncommonly understated. Decades into a career that has produced more commercial success than one might suppose, Cale's Very Best consists of one disc. There's no essay elevating the Oklahoman as a great blues-rock pathfinder, though Eric Clapton and Dire Straits are among the platinum performers who owe him a debt. As for the music, this 20-song CD consists of a representative selection of hits for himself and his partisans (Clapton scored with "Cocaine" and "After Midnight," while Lynyrd Skynyrd made "Call Me the Breeze" a concert staple). --Steven Stolder (Amazon.com)
    Available at: Amazon
  • Troubadour
    Troubadour
    Available at: Amazon
  • Travel Log
    Travel Log
    Cale's ninth album is in keeping stylistically with all the previous ones: low-boil blues-based rock. The easygoing Tulsa native counterpoints his phlegmatic vocals with his stimulating guitar picking in some of his most homespun, charming songs ever. Bassist Tim Drummond and drummer Jim Keltner conjure the fetching grooves. -- © Frank John Hadley 1993 (Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD)
    Available at: Amazon
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