Me and Mr. Johnson
In just two weeks, Clapton and his studio band – Andy Fairweather Low, Billy Preston, Steve Gadd, Doyle Bramhall II, and Nathan East – recorded an entire album consisting of Johnson cover songs."And even though I accept that it has always been the keystone of my musical foundation, I still would not regard it as an obsession; instead, I prefer to think of it as a landmark that I navigate by, whenever I feel myself going adrift.[This quote needs a citation]AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes Clapton sounds very "comfortable and relaxed" on the album, "as if he was having fun making music".[5] Rolling Stone critic David Fricke felt that "Clapton [goes] back to blues school on [this] cover [album], but [does] so with mutual fealty and honest delight".The journalist finishes his review finding "Clapton pays broad tribute to Johnson as a composer and public-domain synthesist".[8] Journalist Edna Gundersen from USA Today calls the 2004 studio album a "homage to the genre's godfather in 14 electric versions of acoustic blueprints that laid the groundwork for the '60s rock explosion" and rates the album with three and a half out of four possible stars, calling the songs "greasy as they are graceful, conveying an earthy intensity".With both wailing electric guitar and acoustic-slide under his arm, Eric runs through 'When You Got a Good Friend', 'Milkcow's Calf Blues', 'Come On In My Kitchen' and a dozen other tried and tested Johnson tunes.[11] Billboard critic Christopher Walsh thinks that on Me and Mr. Johnson "Clapton is in fine form, setting aside the slick instrumentation and production that have marked much of his more recent work in favor of a smaller ensemble", creating as the result "a sparse sound, allowing Clapton's usual outstanding lead and slide guitar work to shine.[12] All tracks are written by Robert JohnsonWhen the album was officially announced, experts from the American Billboard magazine concluded Me and Mr. Johnson would sell more than 100,000 copies in its first week on the U.S.Sessions for Robert J is the sixteenth solo studio album by the British rock guitarist and singer-songwriter Eric Clapton and was released on 7 December 2004 through Reprise Records.One notable segment features Clapton performing in the 508 Park Avenue building in Dallas, Texas, that served as a makeshift studio in 1937 for Johnson to cut his legendary recordings.In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton wrote that he asked his long-time friend Hiroshi Fujiwara to direct a video which would accompany some tracks from his then-new studio release Me and Mr. Johnson for either TV or Internet broadcasting, (but not for commercials).[74] For his review for the AllMusic website, Jurek notes: It appears that Eric Clapton had more Robert Johnson in his blood than he thought – or perhaps it was planned this way.The band that joins Clapton in the rehearsal studios is composed of guitar master Doyle Bramhall II, organist Billy Preston, Steve Gadd on drums, pianist Chris Stainton and Nathan East on bass.The CD contains 11 cuts culled from the DVD and the sequencing is in some ways preferable.Sessions for Robert J was not very successful on the album charts, possibly due to its predecessor released earlier in Spring of 2004.