The only guitarist Eric Clapton said he was “conscious of”
Eric Clapton was never known to be the most eclectic musician in the world. He may have innovated the rock genre in ways that no one imagined with Cream, but he was just as likely to fall back on the blues traditions of his youth than try to compete with the pop stars of his time. Despite living and breathing the work of Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, Albert Lee was the one guitarist he always kept tabs on.
If you were to condense Clapton’s style into just one style, it would be the blues. Whereas everyone else was playing the fastest rock and roll they could and making every song an exercise for their talent, Clapton found a confidante in people like Johnson, almost like he was hearing someone speak his musical language for the first time.
By the time he had picked up a guitar, though, ‘Slowhand’ seemed to follow in the footsteps of the bluesy troubadours that came before him. The British invasion may have set the world on fire, but who needs pop music when you have a fire in your heart that can only be channelled through beating the hell out of your guitar?
This meant taking cues from people like Howlin’ Wolf to get out his aggression, but Albert Lee was a bit of a different beast. He could still play like a madman in the English clubs, but he took his cues from rockabilly rather than traditional blues, usually combining different country-tinged sounds under one roof whenever he played.
When you’re a country player, it’s more important to serve the song rather than grandstand, and Lee was the ultimate example of tasteful guitar playing. He may have been able to play like a madman, but he was someone who picked his battles wisely, usually sticking with a slide guitar if that’s what the song needed or going for broke with his signature approach to hybrid picking.
For years, Clapton claimed to be a devotee of Lee’s work, telling Louder, “The only person I was really conscious of – and in a way, it was because he was really serious – was Albert Lee. Albert was playing with Chris Farlowe. And Albert, to me, was a very interesting guy because he was a devotee – and he still is – of the Everly Brothers”.
Although Clapton may have certainly been aware of what Lee could do, it wasn’t until his solo career that he actually started sounding like someone who listened to the country-rock icon. ‘Slowhand’ had already begun to delve into Americana when listening to The Band, so the next logical step was turning in his rootsy rock songs, which meant trading his abrasive “woman” tone from Cream for a clean Stratocaster sound.
It may have taken him a few years, but songs like ‘Lay Down Sally’ sound like a seasoned pro could have played them, with Clapton sliding up and down the scales and never concerning himself with whether or not he was being heralded as a God anymore. By the time he got to Unplugged, he had fully mastered it, even making bluesy songs like ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out’ sound folksy. Every guitarist has that fire starting out, but it’s only a matter of time before it begins to simmer.
