J.J. Cale
Roll On
Release Date: Feb 24, 2009
Genre(s): Rock
Record label: Rounder
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Album Review: Roll On by J.J. Cale
Great, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
While songwriter J.J. Cale has established himself as an elusive and even reluctant legend in popular music with his sporadic string of releases over the last 38 years, he's never drastically changed his approach. Cale is a workmanlike songwriter whose roots in blues, Okie folk, and roots rock music have been informing his tales of travel, nocturnal pleasure, and everyday life all the while.
Based on rating B
Best known as the guy who wrote Eric Clapton’s ”After Midnight,” JJ Cale has been releasing his own supremely mellow blues-rock records for nearly 40 years. So the fact that he just turned 70 is hardly an issue here; old-guy music is the only kind Cale knows how to make. Roll On is best at its loosest, as in opener ”Who Knew,” where Cale accents a throwaway jazz lick with some appealingly goofy scat singing, and the title track, which sports a sweet Clapton solo atop Cale’s rambling roadhouse groove.