When Slowhand revisited Robert Johnson's legacy he said – "When all the original blues guys are gone, you start to realise that someone has to tend to the tradition"
“I was listening to a lot of blues,” Clapton said of his early adolescence, “As well as everything else you heard on Family Favourites. You’d hear the occasional Lead Belly song or Big Bill Broonzy or Check Berry, I eventually came across Robert Johnson’s ‘Crossroad Blues".
Describing the track, Clapton named it one of the “deepest of all the blues records in my life”. For the guitarist, Johnson was the “most disturbing and hardest to listen to of all the blues singers because it is such emotionally charged music. Although it may not sound like it to the uninitiated, it’s musically the most complicated style of blues playing there is I think
In the midst of recording his own new material, Eric Clapton suddenly started jamming on Robert Johnson songs... and ended up with a whole album, Me And Mr Johnson. Clapton spoke about Johnson’s influence.
“In a way, it does seem like I should’ve done it already. The truth is, it’s never been possible for me to do it before. I just wasn’t man enough – or I didn’t think I was. I’ve grown up and grown out of the myth. I’m not as in awe of it as I was and my priorities have changed. Now the most important part of my life is my wife and my kids. Music, while still important, has been relegated to a smaller part of my perspective on life. (Excerpt from MusicRadar.com - To read the ful interview click Here)
"I’m not as intimidated by Robert Johnson as I was. In a way, I see this project as more of a tribute to my love of Robert Johnson than it is to Robert Johnson, if that makes any sense.”
“When I first listened to him I was completely overwhelmed by his vulnerability. What struck me more than anything else was how in touch with his feelings he was. That is something that’s taken for granted today – there are so many different ways these days to get in touch with your feelings, either through therapy or support groups. But back in the early sixties, when I first heard him, the culture in England and the US was much more repressed.
About t he earlier interpretations of Johnson’s music, as Crossroads Eric says : “I don’t think about it at all [laughs]. I certainly put that one to bed quickly! I actually have about zero tolerance for most of my old material. Especially Crossroads. The popularity of that song with Cream has always been mystifying to me. I don’t think it’s very good. So, I never really revisit my old stuff. I won’t even go there.”
“The version of From Four Till Late on Fresh Cream was probably okay, but I don’t think I’ve ever listened to my performance of Rambling On My Mind [Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton] that I did with John Mayall. I can’t even imagine what that sounds like.”
“To tell you the truth, I never really played Robert Johnson . I’ve never actually sat down and played Robert Johnson unaccompanied. Even when I played Malted Milk on Unplugged, I did it as a duet with Andy Fairweather Low. I can play pieces of Robert Johnson songs, but not entire tunes note-for-note.
"There were very few people on record who sounded like they were singing from the heart, or knew who they were or what they felt. Most were just imitating other people or developing something for the stage. Music, for the most part, was very artificial. Even people I loved, like [the blues pianist] Leroy Carr or [Delta bluesman] Son House, still sounded like entertainers to me.
Eric Clapton's new album, The Lady In The Balcony, is out now.
