Tag: On Tour With Eric Clapton

In the past few years, I’ve learned more about this group of musicians. The first time I noticed Delaney and Bonnie was in the great movie Vanishing Point. 

There’s a carefree spirit to Comin’ Home that feels like a blend of Rock, Soul, and Blues. It was released in 1969 on On Tour with Eric Clapton, and after listening to the album…I wish I could have seen that tour. Delaney & Bonnie were leading a rotating group of talented players at the time, and you can hear that sense of a band finding its way together perfectly.

By this time, they had built a strong live band that mixed rock, gospel, and soul, and it caught the attention of Eric Clapton, who was looking for a way out of the pressure surrounding Blind Faith. Clapton joined their touring group, not as a headline name, but as part of the band. He also occasionally brought his friend George Harrison to join in. 

 Clapton’s guitar work sits along with his work with Blind Faith at the time. The sound tilts toward gospel and Southern soul, which makes for some great roots music. The tour itself ran through the UK in December 1969, with a lineup that was deep to say the least! The backing band featured Leon Russell, Delaney Bramlett, Bonnie Bramlett, Rita Coolidge, Dave Mason, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle, Jim Gordon, George Harrison (on some shows), Tex Johnson, Bobby Keys, and Jim Price.

If you wanted a big tour back then, you grabbed Leon Russell. He would soon be on the notorious Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour of Joe Cocker. The recordings were taken from shows in cities like London and Birmingham, captured on the fly rather than built in a studio. Producer credit went to Delaney Bramlett, and the goal was simple: to document the band as it sounded in the room.

What gets me is the looseness of the recordings. Songs like Things Get Better and Only You Know and I Know stretch out, driven by Russell’s piano, while Clapton adds fills and does his thing.

The album also mattered for what came next. Clapton carried this experience forward into Derek and the Dominos, both in personnel and in feel. The Dominos were all in this band except Duane Allman. The idea of a band built around feel and fluidity hit home for Clapton. He would not be the spotlight of that band, just a member.  In that sense, On Tour with Eric Clapton works as a bridge record, a live document of one group, and the starting point for another.

You want to listen to a great live album that sounds like the musicians are in the room with you? Listen to this album and hear some of the greatest musicians of the era. The album peaked at #29 on the Billboard Album Charts and #12 in Canada in 1969. The single Comin’ Home peaked at #84 on the Billboard 100 and #55 in Canada.