Eric Clapton Bids Farewell, Doyle Bramhall II Picks Up the Torch

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Eric Clapton Bids Farewell,

Doyle Bramhall II Picks Up the Torch

By Alan Sculley and

Robert E. Martin

Eric Clapton, Photo by Kay McEntee

Widely reported to be his 'Farewell Tour', guitar icon Eric Clapton

rolled into the Palace of Auburn Hills on June 6th to display his stunning

musical prowess to the masses.

The last time I saw Eric in performance was for his Journeyman tour, and

the difference that 9 or 10 years can make was obvious.  On the Journeyman

tour Clapton came out in black leather pants and a white billowed shirt,

looking like a true rock star, and proceeded to blow the audience away with

a 2-hour set of blistering up-tempo material.

This time around, Eric came out in blue jean shirt & pants, proceeded to

sit in a chair, and went through several acoustic numbers from his new

release Reptile.  And apart from a delightful re-working of the Derek & the

Dominoes classic 'Bell Bottom Blues', the first half of the show consisted

mainly of slow-tempo blues numbers - enough to put this critic to sleep,

and definitely a far cry from the 'rockin' Eric' of yesteryear.

Not to say that Eric didn't have his 'moments'.  The second half of the

2-hour plus performance was more 'plugged-in' and up-tempo, finding Eric

and band flourishing on familiar classics such as Layla and Sunshine of

Your Love.

And when it comes to executing a rapid arpeggio with shimmering precision,

bite, and definition, the talent of Clapton is without doubt incomparable.

My only wish is that if this is indeed Clapton's last tour, he could have

gone out with more of an impact.  But most likely he'll be back, and

undoubtedly he will remain a musical force throughout upcoming years.  In

retrospect, perhaps it is best that he take a little 'breather'.

Doyle Bramhall II

Doyle Bramhall II...Photo by Kay McEntee

On the other hand, opening act Doyle Bramhall II gave the audience a glimpse of what the 'next generation' is up to. And our reporter Alan Sculley caught up with him, filing this dispatch:

As Doyle Bramhall II was in the studio with Eric Clapton, playing guitar on "Riding With The King," the CD Clapton recorded last year with blues legend
B.B. King, and on Clapton's own newly released studio CD, "Reptile," he made a discovery that changed his approach to making his own records.

Bramhall sensed just how at ease Clapton was in the studio, how confident he was and how Clapton could focus on music at its most pure level.

 "It just sort of rubbed off, like wow, making music is just about making

music," Bramhall said. "It's not about trying to write hits. I mean,

obviously everybody wants hits and everybody wants all that, but also I

think what's more important to me and somebody like Eric is making music

that's good and that isn't compromised by a political side to it."

That wasn't always the way Bramhall approached songwriting and recording.

Having seen his first CD, "Doyle Bramhall II," stiff commercially, Bramhall

said he consciously aimed to create commercially viable songs on his 1999

sophomore release, "Jellycream."

 "I ended up wanting to keep up with the Joneses, and I would go in, I

would think about a song, and it would enter my mind every time I wrote a

song, is this going to do anything, or how can I make this a perfect pop

tune?"

Bramhall said.

"Or how can I construct it where it's exactly three and a half minutes or

three-forty-five? And all this, you can't be thinking about that when

you're making music."

 Bramhall never got the hit single he sought with "Jellycream." The CD

never made much of a dent on the charts, although it received its share of

positive reviews.

 But Bramhall's activities since "Jellycream" was released have certainly

gotten him noticed within the music industry -- and could help give his

newly released third CD, "Welcome," a boost with record buyers.

First came tours with former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters in 1999 and

2000. In that role, Bramhall played lead guitar and sang the Pink Floyd

songs that had originally been sung by David Gilmour.

Following two tours with Waters, Bramhall

was recruited by Eric Clapton to play on "Riding With The King" and then on

"Reptile."

Two of Bramhall's songs from the "Jellycream" CD -- "I Wanna Be" and "Marry

You" -- were recorded on the "Riding With The King" CD, while Bramhall

co-wrote the song "Superman Inside" for Clapton's "Reptile" CD.

 Bramhall looks back on both of these experiences with considerable

fondness. The tours with Waters, in particular, may have changed the image

that has surrounded Bramhall since he first came on the scene. Early on,

Bramhall, 31, had been cast into the role of being the latest Texas blues

rock guitar

phenomenon -- something that was understandable given his heritage.

He's the son of Doyle Bramhall Sr., an artist of considerable renown within

Texas music circles. His father drummed for blues legend Lightning Hopkins

and Stevie Ray Vaughan and later became Vaughan's chief songwriting

collaborator, co-writing such familiar songs as "The House Is Rockin',"

"Wall

Of Denial" and "Tightrope" with Vaughan.

Bramhall II spent his teen-age years jamming alongside Stevie Ray Vaughan,

and then at age 16, toured as second guitarist in the Fabulous

Thunderbirds, playing alongside Stevie Ray's older brother, Jimmie Vaughan.

Such associations prompted talk of Bramhall being the next Stevie Ray

Vaughan, a

reputation that seemed to gather steam when Bramhall teamed with guitarist

Charlie Sexton and Vaughan's former Double Trouble rhythm section of

drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon to form the Arc Angels in

the early 1990s. That band recorded one self-titled CD in 1992 before it

split and Bramhall began building his solo career.

To land his gig with Waters, Bramhall submitted an audition tape of himself

singing and playing guitar on the Pink Floyd hit "Comfortably Numb."

"It was a great demo, and I sent it to him and I got the gig," Bramhall

said. "Roger called me personally and said he loved the demo and I was

hired.  I think that playing with Roger Waters was just a great experience

for me, because it's such an exclusive club of musicians that, especially

coming from that side of it where most of the players are English, and it's

a pretty elite club. It's hard to get into," Bramhall said.

The studio sessions with Clapton came about after Bramhall's manager, who

is  a friend of Clapton, sent a copy of "Jellycream" to the legendary

guitarist.

Clapton and King liked "I Wanna Be" and "Marry Me" well enough to record

them for "Riding With The King," and invited Bramhall to play on the CD.

 This paved the way for Bramhall to play on much of the "Reptile" CD and

collaborate with Clapton in writing "Superman Inside."

As a guitarist steeped in the blues, Bramhall viewed the chance to work

with Clapton and King as a special experience.

"It was amazing, because it's stuff as a younger kid that you just sort of

fantasize about, being a guitar player, especially growing up listening to

the kind of music I did," he said.

"For me, I grew up listening to these  guys, so getting to be in there and

not only just watching them play, but playing off of them and adding what I

did to their music, it was a pretty surreal experience. But it was also

really laid back. It was like Eric made me feel so comfortable and he was

very complimentary toward me and everything I did."

 Before getting invited to open Clapton's current world tour, Bramhall went

into the studio with his own band, Smokestack, and recorded his third CD,

"Welcome."

"When we got together in that formation, it was just really exciting,"

Bramhall said. "It was really unique and we sounded completely different

than any other band out there. I think that that's the great thing about a

band, when you get different people together, that makes for a chemistry

and a friction and all this new stuff that you wouldn't necessarily get if

you were out there running the show and being Whitney Houston."

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