It is a fact that a song can launch an artist’s career.
Sometimes seems like a spontaneous entity that chooses a talented person to incarnate in a “forerunner” song.
However, it is rare for two artists to emerge from obscurity at the same time, with completely different paths up to that moment.
Although they were not new to music, recognition for them was an elusive dream or so they thought.
Eric Clapton, 5 years after his Greek adventure and with many problems in his collaborations, was trying to find some pressure to stand alone in the music scene.
Eventually, he found this pressure on a musician, who created a new style of playing but also became a legend, later.
Thus, JJ Cale’s “After Midnight” was a catalyst for these two musicians.
The creator wrote it for his demo in 1966.
From then until Clapton discovered it, it was like a state of shakiness.
He discovered JJ Cale and his music when he collaborated with Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett.
The first to hear it, the great, later Oklahoma musician, was thrilled by the style and melody at first.
It was not long before he adopted it, as it was his first attempt to sing.
After Midnight
“After Midnight” was one of the first covers he made of songs by Cale, who was a good friend of Bramlett.
So the song was released in August 1970, on the artist’s eponymous and first album.
The album was well received and JJ Cale’s song became a single two months after the album’s release.
Cale first heard Clapton’s cover on his car radio.
He later recalls: “I was dirty and very poor, I did not even have money to eat.
I was not young, I was thirty and I was very happy, it would be good to make some money “.
In essence, however, he began his career to become a legend of the Blues-rock scene.
Two years later, he released his own version of his album “Naturally”, which was also his first.
The song is also a success with its own performance.
The Briton went on to cover other JJ Cale songs, including “Cocaine” and “I’ll Make Love To You Anytime”, taking off in both musical careers.
Another noteworthy event is the change of his guitar for his self-titled album, where instead of Gibson Les Paul, he used a Fender Stratocaster.