This original version by J.J. Cale was released in September, 1976. Clapton released his version in November, 1977 on the Slowhand Album.
J.J. Cale
John Weldon Cale , professionally known as J.J. Cale, was an American singer-songwriter, recording artist and influential guitar stylist.
There are probably few artists like J.J. Cale, born in Oklahoma in 1938, who would be a champion for more famous ones. He played lazily, delicately, sparingly, singing almost gruffly. He fascinated not only Eric Clapton, but also Mark Knopfler, Neil Young, and Tom Petty.
Although he was born in Oklahoma City, he spent his teenage years in Tulsa. As a young boy, he performed in various rock and roll and swing bands. In 1959, at the age of 21, he worked in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry concert company, which broadcast country music radio programs. In 1964, he moved to Los Angeles with his friends from Tulsa – pianist Leon Russell and bass player Carl Radle. There they start playing with the then very popular Dalaney and Bonnie. This group, as it turned out later, had a huge impact on many rock performers, including Eric Clapton.
Though he deliberately avoided the limelight (being temperamentally averse to celebrity) his influence as a musical artist has been widely acknowledged by figures such as Mark Knopfler, Neil Young and Eric Clapton who described him as “one of the most important artists in the history of rock”.
In 2008, Cale and Clapton received a Grammy Award for their album The Road to Escondido.
He is considered to be one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz.
Albums
1971: Naturally
1972: Really
1974: Okie
1976: Troubadour
1979: 5
1981: Shades
1982: Grasshopper
1983: #8
1990: Travel-Log
1992: Number 10
1994: Closer to You
1996: Guitar Man
2004: To Tulsa and Back
2009: Roll On
2019: Stay Around
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