I came across this wonderfully creative and point-full animated short film called an “Op-doc” by The New York Times…called “Naturally JJ Cale” written and produced by Drew Christie. Here is Drew’s website…he’s a creative genius those at “The Ranch” can appreciate.
Click here to watch on NYT.com. It is not available on YouTube.
The last paragraph of the article says…
“Cale” knew his band played tight and sounded hot, so didn’t need Billboard to tell him he was a success.
“Crazy Mama,” from Cale’s first album, was his highest-charting record.
As my short film shows, he refused to work with the music industry’s
promotion machine, and so managed to remain obscure even as his songs
“After Midnight,” “Cocaine” and “Call Me the Breeze” became hits for
other artists. Gaining fame and fortune was not worth it to Cale, if it
meant compromising his vision, or releasing work that didn’t move him.
This attitude may have sealed his fate with the recording industry, but
his music remains vital and his audience is growing, even after his
death this past July. His influence on younger musicians like John Mayer
puts us on notice that the J.J. Cale sound isn’t going anywhere,
whether or not we dig out his records.
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