| To Tulsa and Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 8, 2004 | |||
| Recorded | June 2003 | |||
| Studio | Natura Digital Studio, Tulsa, Oklahoma | |||
| Genre | Americana Roots rock Blues Southern rock The Tulsa Sound | |||
| Length | 49.29 | |||
| Label | Blue Note | |||
| Producer | Mike Test, David Teegarden | |||
| J. J. Cale chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
To Tulsa and Back is the 13th album by J. J. Cale, released in 2004.
Between 1996 and 2003, Cale released no new music but admiration for his work and musicianship only grew among his fans and admirers. In the 2002 memoir Shakey, Neil Young told biographer Jimmy McDonugh that Cale was one of his favourite guitarists of all time, comparing him to Jimi Hendrix. Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton were also effusive in their praise for the Oklahoma troubadour, but Cale’s early 90s output left him at odds with the music industry and, to an extent, his own fans, which he acknowledged in an interview with Vintage Guitar:
The last four albums, with me playing with the synthesizer, everybody hated. [Then producer/manager] Audie Ashworth did the first eight albums, and those were kind of semi-popular, for an obscure songwriter like me. Then I started doing these albums in California with all synthesizers and me being the engineer. I liked those, but the folks wanted a little warmer kind of thing. [2]
Always accustomed to doing things his own way, Cale handled nearly all the instrumentation on his previous album Guitar Man, recording in his home studio, but for To Tulsa and Back he opted to change his approach by regrouping with long-time producer Audie Ashworth, as he recalled to Dan Forte:
A few years ago, before Audie passed away, I said, “I’ve been making synthesizer records; ain’t nobody likes ’em but me. I’ll come to Nashville, and we’ll hire all the guys who are still alive who played on the first albums.” Audie said, “Great.” I told him to book some studio time. But then he passed away, and I put the deal on hold. Eventually, I decided to do the same program, only go to Tulsa instead of Nashville. David Teagarden, of Teagarden & Van Winkle, is a drummer who has a studio, so I told him to get the guys in Tulsa that we used to play with when we were kids. I cut some there, and had some demos I did here at the house, and I sent them all to Bas [Hartong] and to Mike [Test]. [2]
The album returns to the style and sound Cale became famous for – a mix of laid-back shuffles, jazzy chords, and bluesy rock and roll with layered vocals – but it also embraces technology, resulting in a cleaner sound than on Cale’s earlier albums. In his AllMusic review of To Tulsa and Back, Thom Jurek writes, “Cale steeps himself in technology and evokes the moods and frameworks of music that intersect with the blues or stand in opposition to them. The keyboards, drum loops, and horns on this record are as pervasive as the guitars…It's just that the sheeny beats and clean synth lines feel odd when juxtaposed against the murky lyrics and Cale's wispy, smoke-weathered voice.” The horns on the album came from synthesizers, with Cale later saying, “[Keyboardist] Walt Richmond did the [synth] horns on ‘My Gal,’ and they almost sound like real horns. I did them on everything else – either on keyboard or MIDI’ed out of my Casio [PG-380] guitar. You can plug the MIDI from the guitar into any synthesizer that has MIDI.” [2]
Lyrically, Cale makes a rare foray into political songwriting with “The Problem,” an indictment of then-President George W. Bush with lines like, “The man in charge, he don't know what he's doing, he don't know the world has changed.” “Stone River” is an understated protest song about the water crisis in the West. (Cale expressed similar ecological concerns on “Death in the Wilderness” from his previous LP Guitar Man.) The blue collar “One Step” examines the struggles of the working class, while “Rio” recalls several of the songs on 1990’s Travel-Log, such as “Tijuana” and “New Orleans,” and pays tribute to the Brazilian city. Cale expresses his love for the blues on “These Blues” and displays his banjo skills on “Another Song,” although he was unimpressed by his skills on the instrument, later telling Derek Haley, "I have not learned how to play it, and I’m embarrassed about that cut. I’m a shade tree banjo player. I’ve always noodled on the banjo, but never in public or in front of anybody. It’s something I like to do. I wrote that song here in the kitchen, man. I had my DAT recorder on and my mic set up, and everybody at the record company liked the song so I let them go ahead and put it out. But, the banjo playing is pretty bad, so I don’t want to talk about no banjo playing.” [3] Women and romance are the subjects of several songs, such as “Fancy Dancer,” the funky “New Lover," and "My Gal." Cale said of "My Gal," "That particular song I wrote in Nashville many years ago. When I got ready to make the album, I didn’t re-write it, but I just used the words from it. The original demo sounds nothing like that. And we did it in that kind of rhythm and blues kind of bag, you know?" [3]
In 2005 a documentary called To Tulsa and Back:On Tour with J.J. Cale was released. It featured interviews with Cale, wife Christine Lakeland, Eric Clapton, and other family and band members as well as behind the scenes tour footage.
The song "These Blues" was used on an episode of Dog the Bounty Hunter .
AllMusic gives the album four out of five stars, with Thom Jurek singling out the closing track for praise: “The album closes with Cale playing a lone banjo on ‘Another Song,’ a mournful Appalachian ballad that feels like it comes from out of the heart of the Dust Bowl, it's full of ghosts and shadows and aches with the weight and displacement of longing as history.”
All songs written by J. J. Cale.
| Chart (2004–2005) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [4] | 45 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [5] | 62 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [6] | 53 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [7] | 82 |
| Greek Albums (IFPI) [8] | 36 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI) [9] | 54 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [10] | 99 |
Just One Night is a 1980 double album by Eric Clapton, recorded live at the Budokan Theatre, Tokyo, Japan, December 1979 when Clapton was touring to support Backless, his latest record at that time. The sleeve contains a Japanese painting by Ken Konno. The album reached No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 3 in the UK, and was certified gold by RIAA.
John Weldon "J. J." Cale was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Though he avoided the limelight, his influence as a musical artist has been acknowledged by figures such as Neil Young, Mark Knopfler, Waylon Jennings, and Eric Clapton, who described him as one of the most important artists in rock history. He is one of the originators of the Tulsa sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz.
Eric Clapton is the debut solo studio album by English rock musician Eric Clapton, released in August 1970 by Atco and Polydor Records.
Naturally is the debut studio album by J. J. Cale released on October 25, 1971.
"After Midnight" is a rock song by J. J. Cale, first released in 1966. Eric Clapton later covered it for his eponymous album, released in 1970. Clapton's rendition became a success, prompting Cale to re-record the song for his own 1971 album Naturally. In 1987, Clapton later re-recorded the song for a Michelob beer commercial and then released the re-recording as a single. "After Midnight" has been considered one of Clapton's signature songs throughout his career. Other artists covered the song in later years.
Troubadour is the fourth studio album by J. J. Cale. Eric Clapton covered the song "Cocaine" on his 1977 album Slowhand, turning it into one of his biggest hits.
The Road to Escondido is a collaborative studio album by J. J. Cale and Eric Clapton. It was released on 7 November 2006. Contained on this album are the final recordings of keyboardist Billy Preston. The album is jointly dedicated to Preston and Brian Roylance.
Really is the second studio album by J. J. Cale. It was released in 1972.
Okie is the third studio album by J. J. Cale, released in 1974.
5 is the fifth studio album by J. J. Cale. Released in 1979, it was his first album in three years. When the album was re-issued on CD, "Katy Kool Lady" was replaced by a new song listed as "Out of Style," though it was still listed as the former on the CD. "Out of Style" is also included on the 2007 album Rewind: The Unreleased Recordings under its proper title. There is still no U.S. domestic release of the song "Katy Kool Lady" on CD.
"Call Me the Breeze" is a rock song by J. J. Cale. It first appeared on his 1972 debut album, Naturally, as the opening track. The song consists of a 12-bar blues guitar shuffle and features the early use of a drum machine.
Grasshopper is a 1982 album by J. J. Cale. It was his seventh studio album since his debut in 1971.
Roll On is the 14th studio album by J. J. Cale, released on February 24, 2009, by Rounder Records. All songs were written by Cale; they include "Who Knew", "Former Me", and "Roll On", the last of which is a collaboration with Eric Clapton. Some tracks were recorded at sessions at David Teegarden's studio, north of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2003.
Shades is the sixth studio album by J. J. Cale, released in February 1981.
#8 is an album by the American musician J. J. Cale, released in 1983.
Travel-Log is the ninth studio album by J. J. Cale. It was released in 1989.
Closer to You is the 11th studio album by J. J. Cale, released in 1994. It was published under the independent French label Delabel and distributed by Virgin Records.
"Travelin' Light" is a song written and recorded by the Tulsa musician J.J. Cale. It was released in September 1976 on Cale's fourth studio album Troubadour under Shelter Records. It was also released as a single the same year. It was later covered by the British guitarist Eric Clapton for his 2001 studio album Reptile and helped to promote both the song and studio album on which "Travelin' Light" was first released. Athens, Georgia band Widespread Panic also covered it on their debut album, and it has continued to be a mainstay of their live show ever since.
Live in San Diego is the thirteenth live album by British rock musician Eric Clapton. It was released through Reprise Records as a live album on 30 September 2016 and as a 2-hour live DVD on 10 March 2017.
Stay Around is the 15th and final studio album by songwriter, guitarist and singer J. J. Cale, and his first and only posthumous album so far, released on April 26, 2019 by Because Music.
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