<\/p>\n But Cale wouldn\u2019t remain in Tulsa. In 1964 he ventured to Los Angeles, where he connected with Russell, Radle and a few of his other Tulsa buddies who had moved there. Cale played some clubs, including the Whisky a Go Go, where co-owner Elmer Valentine suggested he change his name to J.J. to avoid confusion with Velvet Underground bassist\/violist John Cale. He also worked as a studio engineer for Russell’s Skye Hill studio.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n But nothing much happened for him, not even when he connected with Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, the musical couple whose extended troupe \u2014 Delaney & Bonnie and Friends \u2014 would shape Eric Clapton\u2019s career<\/a> in the years after he found success with Cream<\/a>, right up through Derek and the Dominos and Layla<\/a>. Cale briefly toured with the group, which included his old pal Radle. In 1969, the Bramlett\u2019s took their show to England, where they opened for Clapton\u2019s band Blind Faith<\/a>. Soon after, Clapton and his pal George Harrison were playing alongside one another in Delaney & Bonnie.<\/p>\n By then, Cale was back in Tulsa and making demo tapes at home<\/a>. After years of working as a backup guitarist and struggling to make ends meet, he decided to try his hand at writing and singing his own tunes \u2014 which is what eventually turned his career around, and in more ways than one.<\/p>\n \n Cale performs live at the Carre Theatre, Amsterdam in 1973. (Image credit: Gijsbert Hanekroot\/Redferns)<\/p>\n Carl Radle had some of Cale\u2019s recordings, and he played them for Clapton, including one titled \u201cAfter Midnight.\u201d Cale had released it on Liberty Records in 1966, but nothing much happened with it. Clapton loved the tune and decided to cover it on his self-titled 1970 solo debut album. It reached the Top 10. From then on, doors that had been shut to Cale began to open.<\/p>\n \u201cThe guy actually helped me break into real bread,\u201d Cale told GP. \u201cI was just playing guitar in bars, and all of a sudden I heard \u2018After Midnight\u2019 on the radio. I said, \u2018That’s my tune. Watch out!\u2019 Went out and bought a Chevrolet.\u201d<\/p>\n The publicity allowed him to cut his own record, Naturally, a 1971 release full of Cale\u2019s easygoing grooves, languid and soulful guitar lines, and intimate but understated vocal style. The record gave him his biggest hit single, \u201cCrazy Mama,\u201d which reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100.<\/p>\n The guy actually helped me break into real bread. I was just playing guitar in bars, and all of a sudden I heard \u2018After Midnight\u2019 on the radio.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 J.J. Cale<\/p>\n He also re-cut \u201cAfter Midnight\u201d at the suggestion of his producer, Denny Cordell, taking the song at a snail\u2019s pace.<\/p>\n \u201cThe history on that deal was, the original \u2018After Midnight\u2019 I recorded was on Liberty Records on a 45-rpm, and it was fast,\u201d he told Swampland.com<\/a> in 2004. \u201cIf you listen to Eric Clapton’s record, what he did was imitate that. No one heard that first version I made of it. I tried to give the thing away, until he cut it and made it popular.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n \u201cSo when I recorded the Naturally album, Denny Cordell, who ran Shelter Records at the time, and I had already finished the album, he said, \u2018John, why don’t you put \u201cAfter Midnight\u201d on there because that is what people recognize you for?\u2019 I said, \u2018Well, I’ve already got that on Liberty Records, and Eric Clapton’s already cut it, so if I’m going to do it again I’m going to do it slow.\u201d<\/p>\n JJ Cale – After Midnight (HD) – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n Which was appropriate given Cale\u2019s background. The approach was part and parcel of the Tulsa sound in which he was steeped.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the guys around Tulsa always play in a sort of subdued way,\u201d he told Guitar Player, \u201ckind of the opposite of \u2018show-off\u2019 music I guess you might say.\u201d<\/p>\n At the time he grew up there, Tulsa\u2019s music scene was dominated by heartfelt country-western rather than brash rock and roll. The city\u2019s musicians, similarly, reflected the laid-back nature of life in the city prior to its rapid growth in the 1960s. Cale believed he and others helped establish the tenor of the times for Tulsa performers.<\/p>\n All the guys around Tulsa always play in a sort of subdued way, kind of the opposite of \u2018show-off\u2019 music I guess you might say.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2014 J.J. Cale<\/p>\n \u201cI guess I had something to do with that, and Leon had something to do with it,\u201d he said. \u201c[Drummer] Jamie Oldaker, Carl [Radle]\u2014 everybody’s kind of that way. They’re not real outward kind of people. They may get that way under the influence of alcohol or whatever, but they’re not usually.\u201d<\/p>\n Cale\u2019s introduction to music came about casually at age 10. A friend up the street had a guitar, and they sat around trying to learn songs from the radio and records, although it took years before he found any guitarists to inspire him.<\/p>\n \u201cRecords were always popular, but there wasn’t a whole lot of guitar on them,\u201d he explained. \u201cI didn’t start listening to guitarists till I was about 17, and that was Les Paul and Chet Atkins<\/a> \u2014 you always heard their stuff. There was a guy in Tulsa \u2014 Bruce Cline \u2014 and Bob Wills’ guitarist, Eldon Shamblin, too. Later on, I got into blues and jazz. I bought every record I’d hear.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Clapton and Cale perform at the Fair Park in Dallas, June 5, 2004. (Image credit: Rick Diamond\/WireImage)<\/p>\n He began gigging around Oklahoma in the late \u201950s and continued into the mid \u201960s, playing mostly country-western and rock and roll on the job, while listening to and learning blues and jazz at home, primarily through records.<\/p>\n Remarkably, long before Clapton made him famous, Cale was a fan.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, I liked Eric Clapton when he was with Cream,\u201d he said. \u201cI loved that, because I don’t really play that way.\u201d<\/p>\n By the time of our interview, Clapton\u2019s solo career had gathered steam and he\u2019d cut Cale\u2019s tune \u201cCocaine,\u201d turning it into yet another signature hit. Cale found it remarkable that Tulsa should affect Clapton so intensely that he would abandon his high-intensity hard rock style for the slower, more deliberate approach taken by Cale\u2019s fellow Oklahomans and the musicians they played with.<\/p>\n![\"JJ](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/hGPB9ngQwvfaqP6yDaomkM.jpg\")
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