Writers: Eric Clapton and Bonnie Bramlett
Producer: Delaney Bramlett
Recorded: January 1970 at the Village Recorder, Los Angeles
Released: August 1971
| Players: | Eric Clapton–vocals, guitar Delaney Bramlett–guitar, vocals Steven Stills–guitar, vocals Leon Russell–piano Bobby Whitlock–organ Carl Radle–bass Jim Gordon–drums Jim Price–trumpet Bobby Keys–sax Bonnie Bramlett, Rita Coolidge, Sonny Curtis, and Jerry Allison–vocals |
| Album: | Eric Clapton (Atco) |
After Blind Faith broke up in early 1970, Eric Clapton joined the group Delaney & Bonnie And Friends, the opening act on Blind Faith's U.S. tour. Inspired by the group's low-key, friendly atmosphere, Clapton relished his role as a (semi-) anonymous sideman.
At the time, he told Rolling Stone that “on certain nights, I'd get up there and play tambourine with Delaney's group and enjoy it more than playing with Blind Faith…And by then I kind of got this crusade going for Delaney's group. I wanted to bring them over to England.”
The group's early 1970 tour–which also featured George Harrison and Dave Mason–is chronicled on the Atlantic album, Delaney & Bonnie On Tour.
At the same time, Clapton was inspired by the Band's album Music From Big Pink. He told Rolling Stone, “I thought, well, this is what I want to play–not extended solos and maestro bulls–t, but just good, funky songs.”
Clapton also credits Delaney Bramlett with helping him get over his shyness about singing: “Delaney looked straight into my eyes and told me I had a gift to sing and that if I didn't sing, God would take it away. I said, 'No, man, I can't sing.' But he said, 'Yes, you can…' That night, we started talking about me making a solo album with his band.”
Steven Stills, a longtime fan of Clapton's, appears on “Let It Rain” simply because he happened to be hanging around the studio.
Clapton and Bramlett had a falling out after the Eric Clapton album was recorded, but the guitarist wound up using Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock, andJim Gordon–along with Mason–in a charity concert in London for Dr. Benjamin Spock's Civil Liberties Defense Fund.
Radle, Whitlock, and Gordon wound up joining Clapton in the band Derek & the Dominos.
The Eric Clapton album–which competed with the release of Live Cream–hit Number 13 on the Billboard 200 and Number 17 in the U.K