Roll On [PA]

Performer: J.J. Cale
Engineer: Mike Test; David Teegarden; David Chapman
Producer: J.J. Cale; Mike Kappus
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: J.J. Cale (vocals, guitar). Audio Remasterer: Greg Calbi. ROLL ON is a perfectly apt title for a J.J. Cale album. Since the release of 1971's NATURALLY, the Oklahoma-based guitarist and songwriter has happily stuck to his own unique, low-key style. Released shortly after his 70th birthday, ROLL ON continues the easy-going lope of Cale's career, as if the five years since his last album (not counting the 2006 collaboration with longtime acolyte Eric Clapton, THE ROAD TO ESCONDIDO) had never passed. The album features one further collaboration with Clapton in the title track, but the rest of the album features Cale's laconic vocals and gracefully minimalist guitar style in its purest form.

Rolling Stone (p.77) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter-producer sticks to his low-key guns....Supremely chill, utterly ageless, Cale's style fits him as perfectly as it did three decades ago." Dirty Linen (p.51) - "[With] laid-back blues grooves featuring minimum guitar riffing, steady-beat bass and drums....Cale is a DIY man, and he does it all, playing guitars, pedal steel, bass, drums, piano, and synthesizer." Record Collector (magazine) (p.80) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "It's jazzy! It's brassy! It's old timey!....He's added new colours to the established template. Opener `Who Knew' is a loping jazz ballad..."

With his laconic voice, concise guitar playing, and subtly incisive songwriting, in the early 1970s J.J. Cale was the main architect of what would come to be known as the Tulsa sound, named for his Oklahoma hometown. Cale's laid-back mix of country, blues, and rock & roll was a huge influence on Eric Clapton, who had major hits with Cale songs. Everyone from British rockers Gomez to American jam band Widespread Panic pays homage to Cale's understated style, but it's best experienced on the humble legend's own solo releases, which unfortunately became more sporadic after the reclusive guitar guru went into semi-retirement.

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