some past interviews

Here's some JJ interviews from recent years:
http://vguitar.com/features/artists/details.asp?AID=3172
http://vguitar.com/features/artists/details.asp?AID=2248
http://vguitar.com/features/artists/details.asp?AID=2203
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/jj-cale-talks-guitars-417/
http://www.jambase.com/Articles/Story.aspx?StoryID=5129
http://www.puremusic.com/cale1.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1924087
of course there's more on jjcale.net: http://www.jjcale.net/press.php

...and here's the April 2009 gig in Eugene, very lo-fi as it is recorded on my cheapo cell phone: http://www.box.net/shared/fm2h2adj33

JJ and drugs

(disclaimer: I never smoked a cigarette, don't drink often, never had any drugs. I don't advise anybody else to do those things either.)

"Cocaine" is the most known JJ song. But at least by my impression and JJ's 1977 interview, he himself did marijuana... cocaine just wasn't the thing. He said he knew all the musicians through knowing all the drug dealers, which I find kinda funny (in a sad way).

"Cocaine" is mostly seen as a pro-drug song. I don't see it like that, really. I think it is a straight-on account: It feels good, that's why people take it, but you know it ain't good for you. It's of course up to you if you take it or not.

Anyway, here's some interesting mentions of JJ in books about drugs:

"If the current fashion for cocaine is related to drug's outlaw status and its use by 'rebel' entertainers such as John Belushi, J.J. Cale, Eric Clapton, Richard Pryor and Keith Richards, then cheap, legitimate cocaine would probably be much less popular".

(Chester Mitchell: Drug solution, 1990, page 242)

"In the 90s, several over 30s musicians, such as JJ Cale, Tom Petty, and Sheryl Crow, released albums that lauded marijuana"

(Preston Reet: Under the influence, the disinformation about drugs", 2004, page 252 ...the same page 252 also mentions the song "Cocaine" as "hardly a negative" view on cocaine use)

By that pro-pot album, I assume they refer to "Days go by" ("When you light that funny cigarette...") on Guitar man album. Although I don't do that stuff, I think the song is OK. It's cast in a positive light, but not 100% positive. To me it's the way he sees it, and I can understand it. I like the "it's illegal, but what isn't these days, no matter what you do, they'll put somebody on the case" (though I don't really think marijuana should be legalized in my country).

To me a song like "Reality" off album #8 is potentially a bit more disturbing:
"One toke of reefer, a little cocaine
One shot of morphine and things begin to change
Things don't seem quite like they used to
As reality leaves, so does the blues"
...but being a grown-up, I do understand what he is saying. People take alcohol or other drugs to forget their troubles. I don't think JJ uses morphine even though he mentions it, it just fits the lyrics. But what do I know. :P

JJ himself has said recently he doesn't do drinking or drugs anymore. Adding that he most probably wouldn't be alive, if he did. I bet he has seen too many good lives ended too soon by all that.

He does still smoke, though. A couple of years ago he replied "soon", when somebody asked when he is quitting. But well, he hasn't, yet. But, hey, it's all going to end for all of us someday, even without the new laws. :P

Oh that mysterious mr. JJ

In the early to mid-seventies, we had a music magazine called "Musa" (=music). They did reviews of the first three JJ albums as they came out. All of them got quite good reviews, but none were given any "instant classic" status. Though 3rd of them, Okie, was the album of the month, they were slightly disappointed with it.

Although their earliest reviews complained the music lacked edge, the editor-in-chief and some of the other journalist at the mag slowly got really big into JJ.

Here's some quotes from the article on JJ Cale from 1974, by editor-in-chief Waldemar Wallenius, since then a major figure in Finnish rock journalism (and even ran for EU parliament a decade ago):

"There's something about JJ that makes a grown man squirm on the floor from pure pleasure, making sounds of cry and laughter"

"...I am not far from crying out loud, so strongly his sighing touches the deepest parts of my soul"

At first at the office, JJ was considered just a midly interesting artist,
"but then the record was on the turntable constantly, and there were five editors fighting over who can listen to it... and so there were already 5 JJ Cale fans in Finland".


"Naturally and Really are in the top ten records of all time, and it is of no use anybody claiming otherwise. It is a fact. Just believe it!"

"So I've been meaning to write an article on JJ Cale for half a year, so that word would spread. The only problem is there is no info on him to spread"

... he adds, in the beginning of this 4 page article, and continues with info like this:

"Readers with eagle eyes and an astute memory will remember, that in both our album reviews [Naturally and Really] we have mentioned that JJ Cale is blind. The source for this information is long lost, but the belief in it grew stronger by all the photos of him, as his eyes don't look normal. But now the well-known Rolling stones magazine had an article about him, and apparently he can see very clearly, as among others he says, he has been watching TV. I wonder how the facts stand on this now? Oh well, the music still remains, regardless".

I'll get back to playing JJ guitar in a day or two. But just wanted to post this bit, as I always found it amusing. JJ got into the brains of these guys so that they wrote about him, although didn't have any facts to share, except the bit about Naturally and Really being in the top 10 records of all time. Well, at least that fact has stood the test of time. :D Anyways, lessens my load, I ain't the first nonsensically about JJ!

(translations are mine, thus quotation marks are used quite freely here. The source is "Musa", 4/1974, pp.32-35 if anybody wants to check :) )