The Road to Escondido by Eric Clapton
The Road to Escondido is an album by J. J. Cale and Eric Clapton. It was released on 7 November 2006. Contained on this album are the final recordings of Billy Preston, to whom the album is dedicated. In 2004, Eric Clapton held the Crossroads Guitar Festival, a three day festival in Dallas, Texas. Among the performers was J.J. Cale, giving Clapton the opportunity to ask Cale to produce an album for him. The two started working together and eventually decided to record an album. A number of high profile musicians also agreed to work on the album, including Billy Preston, Derek Trucks, Taj Mahal, Pino Palladino, John Mayer, Steve Jordan and Doyle Bramhall II. In a coup, whether intended or not, the entire John Mayer Trio participated on this album in one capacity or another. Escondido is a city near Cale's hometown of Valley Center, California, in San Diego County. Eric Clapton owned a mansion in Escondido in the '80s and early '90s. Cale and Clapton thought it would be a good name for the album because of their dual acquaintanceship with the city. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album in 2008.
Eric Clapton's successful '05 Cream reunion spurred the rock legend to revisit a less-heralded, if more personally inspiring muse from the musician's past, Oklahoma country-blues savant J. J. Cale. While Cale's ambling, laid-back ethos became a touchstone of Clapton's early solo career via hit covers of "Cocaine" and "After Midnight," this marks the first true collaboration between the laid back Okie blues man and the English guitar god he's so deeply influenced. The album's billing is more than alphabetical: 11 of the tracks are distinctive Cale originals while the acoustic folk of Clapton's "Three Little Girls" mines familiar pop territory, guest John Mayer contributes the jaded "Hard to Thrill" and the veteran duo turn in a languorously winning cover of "Sporting Life Blues." The signature Cale/Clapton sound makes "Danger" and the single "Ride the River" feel like familiar old friends, while the shuffling "Missing Person" and "When the War is Over" evoke even deeper American roots. Clapton's ever lyrical, restrained fretwork here is a stark contrast to his fiery Cream grandstanding, underscoring the truly collaborative musical partnership at the heart of one Clapton's warmest, most satisfying modern releases.
