He's been imitated a lot but never equaled, even by (let's be) his biggest fan . Singer-songwriter and guitarist JJ Cale found his own sound in the late 60's and always stayed true to it. Music with laid-back rolling grooves, bluesy guitar playing, a pinch of country and restrained, sometimes almost lisping vocals. It's also called the Tulsa sound, after the town in Oklahoma where Cale came from.
In 2013 he died of a heart attack. His first posthumous album Stay Around was composed by his widow Christine Lakeland Cale and manager and friend Mike Kappus. They are definitely not rest recordings, Cale was always good in his songs. Stay Around therefore ties in seamlessly with his consistently strong oeuvre. It is even surprising that pearls like Winter Snow, shrouded in hushed melancholy and the sultry title track, only see the light after his death. JJ Cale never changed and that was his strength. (MR)more
