J.j. Cale Live

Eric Clapton recorded The Road to Escondido, a collaborative effort with his laconic idol J.J. Cale, in 2006 but the pair didn't play supporting concerts due to Cale's aversion of touring. He wound up showing up for one show: a date near his home in San Diego, playing five songs on March 15, 2007 at the iPayOne Center. That guest set forms the heart of 2016's Live in San Diego, a double-disc live album released three years after Cale's death…

Collection by the influential Blues/Rock great best known for writing 'After Midnight' and 'Cocaine', two tracks that Eric Clapton brought to the masses with successful cover versions. Cale's own recordings are rootsy, laid-back affairs that are exciting, spine-tingling and filled with rough world-weary honesty. 60 tracks including the original versions of the afore-mentioned tracks plus many more including live tracks and radio sessions.

J.J. Cale drifts toward a more pop approach on this album, starting with the lead-off track, "City Girls," which could almost but not quite be a hit single. The usual blues and country shuffle approach is in effect, but Audie Ashworth's production is unusually sharp, the playing has more bite than usual, and Cale, whose vocals are for the most part up in the mix, sounds more engaged. It's not clear, however, that this is an improvement over his usual laidback approach, and, in any case, it shouldn't be over-emphasized – this is still a J.J. Cale album, with its cantering tempos and single-note guitar runs. It's just that, when you have a style as defined as Cale's, little movements in style loom larger.

Although it is a little too extensive for casual fans, the double-disc, 50-track Anyway the Wind Blows: The Anthology is a definitive retrospective of J.J. Cale's career, featuring all the highlights over the years. Cale's albums often sound similar, but they are remarkably uneven in terms of quality, which is what makes Anyway the Wind Blows essential for both neophytes and collectors. Not only is it a perfect introduction, containing of such essentials as "Cocaine," "Call Me the Breeze," and "After Midnight," but it is one of his most consistently listenable and enjoyable discs.

Okie is the third studio album by J. J. Cale, released in 1974. Several songs from the album were later covered by other artists, including "I Got the Same Old Blues", by Eric Clapton, Captain Beefheart, Bobby Bland, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Bryan Ferry; "Anyway the Wind Blows", by Brother Phelps in 1995 and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings in 1999; and "Cajun Moon", by Herbie Mann on his 1976 album Surprises with vocals by Cissy Houston, by Poco on their album Cowboys & Englishmen, and by Randy Crawford in Naked and True (1995). "I'd Like to Love You, Baby" was covered by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in 2003, appearing on their 2009 album, The Live Anthology.