Track Listing

1. My Gal
2. Chains of Love
3. New Lover
4. I Step
5. Stone River
6. The Problem
7. Homeless
8. Fancy Dancer
9. Rio
10. These Blues
11. Moto Mouth
12. Blues for Mama
13. Another Song

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46250 in Music
• Released on: 2004-06-07
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This is surely the musical credo of JJ Cale as To Tulsa and Back sees him deliver yet another collection of heart-warmingly laid-back and uncluttered blues. Though half the album was recorded with his old bar-room buddies back in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, nothing much has changed on Planet Cale. He still comes across as the world's most easy-going musician, the Baloo-the-Bear of the Blues. Perhaps a new genre, the Baloos, could be named in his honour? But this is not to say the album is simply an easy listen. Though it opens with the mooching rock'n'roll of "My Gal", a comic paean to a young lady who spends all her time getting wasted and having sex, there's also the environmentally aware "Stone River", the anti-capitalist "The Problem" and the desolate, intensely human "Blues for Mama", facing death without morbidity. There's some musical variety, occasional Latin inflections and jittery R&B, but mostly this is Cale giving the people exactly what they want, rootsy blues marked by that innately groovy vocal style and a guitar technique that was such a heavy influence on Mark Knopfler. --Dominic Wills

Customer Reviews

Live, Alive and Really Kicking !!
Bought this CD some 3 years ago, played it once and was not impressed at first so didn't really play it again. Pulled it out recently, put the cans on, turned up the volume and from the intro "Ladies and Gentlemen - Mr. J.J.Cale" I was now immersed in a true live concert. Yes the music is not perfect (if you want perfect go and see a modern group miming to their latest CD), but it has atmosphere, excitement and soul. After all you probably got the studio version of most of the tracks anyway - so on a live version you want something different (warts and all)- and you get it. A good example is "Call me the Breeze", a nice jogger on the studio version but real rocker on this Album...and this applies to all the tracks.

Go for it - this is a "must have" album

A class act
When I bought this CD, I somehow thought it would be the soundtrack to the (superb) documentary DVD of the same name. In fact, it's a studio album, and a great one at that. J.J. Cale's composition and performance are as masterful as ever - it's a beautiful album, the quientessence of laid-back, consumately professional yet marvellously warm. The production matches the quality of the music - another classic from the master. Picking individual tracks would be almost invidious, but give a special listen to the haunting "Homeless". Terrific.

Keep it up JJ
More of the same from JJ. For those who know his music that's all they'll need to hear. I've never heard a bad (or even mediocre) piece from him in the 21 years I've been buying his albums.

Yes there are a couple of political songs in there, and yes having all of his old pals round for a session does take away a little of the simple beauty of JJ's music, but it's fun (and brilliant) all the same.

I was introduced to JJ's music as an 18 year old student, I'm 40 in a few weeks, I'd still like to be listening to new albums from JJ when I'm a pensioner, his music really is that good.