J.J. Cale
Roll On

LA RECENSIONE

I was also part of that wave of kids, a few years ago.

Those kids with the surprised: "Aaaaaaaaaah JJ Cale! But he's the one from "Cocaine" by Clapton, holy shit!".

Our statement "... he's the one from Clapton's Cocaine" very clean and without malice, disarmingly sincere, from novices with a strong enthusiasm to learn, spoke a lot about JJ Cale and without us knowing it, cast in shadow - a condition that suits him perfectly and in which he is deliberately at ease - by his own creations brought to the forefront by other artists; like Clapton indeed - not to mention "After Midnight" besides "Cocaine"-, Lynyrd Skynyrd and others.

The moment for JJ Cale arrived.

His moment, in our life as fierce enthusiasts and inexperienced music lovers. We eventually discovered that, although very beautiful, Clapton's "Cocaine" from that time didn't sound as sincere as the original version by JJ Cale. Clapton in these years has found his way back, his pleasure in playing, his desire to pick up a guitar and play it as if he were playing it while swaying on a hammock tied between two trees, on a beautiful sunny day in the countryside. Much of this rediscovered sincerity led to "The Road to Escondido". An album with strong honesty, which tells a lot about Clapton's serenity and Cale's low profile life, without any fanfare, with nothing to challenge. A reunion like old drinking buddies, nostalgic but not pathetic, of glory, not pitied. Unconcerned with trends, in the ever-changing musical times, where something goes "out of fashion" after a month, JJ still proudly carries his uncompromising Creed; God forbid.

Those who live by impressions try to create them, and since the album came to me in out-of-town purchases, what better way to give it a first taste while driving through the roads that blend with the fields of the Bassa Modenese, as if it were the Great Plains of Oklahoma? The peace of the senses truly exists. You open the CD case and you immediately feel Cale, his scents, his deep and austere gaze, mischievous but reassuring, like an old rascal with a sincere heart, a man of the South, part farmer part musician, his worn jeans, his tousled hair, his military green cap, his lived-in beard, his beloved rural landscapes that speak through him and he through them. If it were a young man, I would think that a man presenting himself this way does it only for pure "alternativeism"; but JJ Cale is the sincerity of a life that has followed him.

The album offers many American atmospheres, guarded like an old and secret recipe by Cale himself. Authentic jazzy & bluesy gusts in "Who Knew", serenely paced Folk flavors in "Hesitation Blues" in "Former Me", Rock Boogie in "Down to Memphis", old Country saloon style in "Cherry Street", R&B in "Oh Mary", and a "Roll On" that gives the album its name and features a guest on guitar... You know who, a piece that represents their synthesis.

An album like this leaves me surprised but certain, to find it in this 2009; after all, listening to JJ Cale is like opening the windows of a country house, after being closed all winter, ready to welcome the sun of a fantastic summer.