Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing J. J. Cale (2021)

John Weldon (J.J.) Cale was born on 5 December 1938 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, graduating from Tulsa Central High School in 1956. As well as learning to play the guitar, he began studying the principles of sound engineering while still living with his parents in Tulsa, where he built himself a recording studio. After graduation he was drafted into military service, studying at the Air Force Air Training Command in Rantoul, Illinois, where he learned a little bit about electronics, which he later used to create the distinctive sound of his studio albums. Along with a number of other young Tulsa musicians, Cale moved to Los Angeles in late 1964, where he found employment as a studio engineer, as well as playing in bars and clubs. He first tasted success that year when singer Mel McDaniel scored a regional hit with his song 'Lazy Me', and the following year he managed to land a regular gig at the increasingly popular Whisky a Go Go. It was the club's co-owner Elmer Valentine who rechristened Cale as J.J. Cale, to avoid confusion with the John Cale of the Velvet Underground, who had started to gain a reputation on the scene. 

In 1966 he cut a demo single with Liberty Records of his songs 'After Midnight' and 'Slow Motion', which they released as a single, and Cale distributed copies of it to his Tulsa musician friends living in Los Angeles, many of whom were successfully finding work as session musicians. In 1967 he returned to Tulsa, as he'd found little success as a recording artist in Los Angeles, and he couldn't make enough money as a studio engineer, so had to sell his guitar. In 1970 it came to his attention that Eric Clapton had recorded 'After Midnight' on his debut album after hearing it being played on his radio, and he finally started to make some money from his music. It was suggested to Cale that he should take advantage of this publicity and cut a record of his own, and his first album, 'Naturally', was released in October 1971, and it immediately established his style, described by Los Angeles Times writer Richard Cromelin as a "unique hybrid of blues, folk and jazz, marked by relaxed grooves and Cale's fluid guitar and iconic vocals". His biggest U.S. hit single was 'Crazy Mama', which peaked at No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1972, and this was later covered by Johnny Rivers, who had appeared at the Whiskey A Go Go at the same time as Cale. Over the next few years other tracks were covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Poco and Kansas, with the rest following over the years, until by 2021 every song from the album had a cover version, and here is a collection of the best of them.

Track listing

01 Call Me The Breeze (Lynyrd Skynyrd 1974)
02 Call The Doctor (John Faulk 2021) 
03 Don't Go To Strangers (Ali Claudi & Friends 1975) 
04 Woman I Love (Janos Huba Group 2014) 
05 Magnolia (Poco 1974)
06 Clyde (Dr. Hook 1978)
07 Crazy Mama (Johnny Rivers 1972)  
08 Nowhere To Run (Bo Fortin 2021) 
09 After Midnight (Eric Clapton 1970)
10 River Runs Deep (Romuald Slawinski 2016)
11 Bringing It Back (Kansas 1974)
12 Crying Eyes (Steve Gunn 2009)

And so ends this series, as I've exhausted the supply of suitable singer/songwriter's albums where every track has received a cover version. I really enjoyed putting them together, so if anyone has a suggestion for someone that I've missed then just let me know. The criteria is one album with all, or most, of the songs written by the artist, and with a large majority of them being covered by other artists. 

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Down South Jukin' (1977)

In 1964, Ronnie Van Zant, Bob Burns, and Gary Rossington became acquainted while playing on rival baseball teams in Jacksonville Florida, and they decided to jam together one afternoon after Burns was injured by a ball hit by Van Zant. They set up their equipment in the carport of Burns' parent's house and played the Rolling Stones' then-current hit 'Time Is On My Side', and liking what they heard they immediately decided to form a band. They approached guitarist Allen Collins to join them, and after he agreed, they rounded out the line-up with bassist Larry Junstrom, naming themselves My Backyard, although this was later changed to The Noble Five, before becoming The One Percent by 1968. Van Zant sought a new name after growing tired of taunts from audiences that the band had "1% talent", and at Burns' suggestion the group settled on Leonard Skinnerd, which was in part a reference to a character named 'Leonard Skinner' in Allan Sherman's novelty song 'Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh' and in part a mocking tribute to P.E. teacher Leonard Skinner at Robert E. Lee High School. Skinner was notorious for strictly enforcing the school's policy against boys having long hair, causing Rossington to drop out after constantly being hassled about his hair, and they adopted the distinctive spelling of the name as early as 1970, by which time they had become a top band in Jacksonville, headlining at some local concerts, and opening for several national acts. The band continued to perform throughout the South in the early 70's, further developing their hard-driving blues rock sound and image, and experimenting with recording their sound in a studio, crafting a distinctively 'Southern' sound through a creative blend of country, blues, and a slight British rock influence. During this time, the band experienced some lineup changes for the first time, with Junstrom leaving and being briefly replaced by Greg T. Walker on bass, and Rickey Medlocke joined as a second drummer and occasional second vocalist to help fortify Burns' sound on the drums. In 1972, the band were spotted by musician, songwriter, and producer Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat & Tears, who had attended one of their shows at Funocchio's in Atlanta, and Kooper signed them to his Sounds of the South label, and produced their first album. 

The band released '(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)' on 13 August 1973, with it selling over one million copies, and it contained the hit song 'Free Bird', which received national airplay, and eventually reached No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Lynyrd Skynyrd's fan base continued to grow rapidly throughout 1973, and their 1974 follow-up album 'Second Helping' cemented their breakthrough, and its single 'Sweet Home Alabama', a response to Neil Young's 'Southern Man', reached number 8 on the charts that August. By 1975, personal issues began to take their toll on the band, and in January drummer Burns left the band after suffering a mental breakdown during a European tour, and was replaced by Kentucky native and former US Marine Artimus Pyle. The band's third album 'Nuthin' Fancy' was recorded in 17 days, but Kooper was unhappy with the band's lack of preparation for the album's recording, and so they parted ways by mutual agreement after the tracking was completed. Though the album fared well, it ultimately had lower sales than its predecessors, and midway through the promotional tour, guitarist Ed King abruptly left the band after a falling out with Van Zant. Collins and Rossington both had serious car accidents over Labor Day weekend in 1976, which slowed the recording of the follow-up album and forced the band to cancel some concert dates, and Rossington's accident inspired the ominous Van Zant/Collins composition 'That Smell' – a cautionary tale about drug abuse that was clearly aimed towards him and at least one other band member. When the 'Street Survivors' album appeared in 1977 it turned out to be a showcase for guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, who had joined the band just a year earlier and was making his studio debut with them. Publicly and privately, Van Zant marveled at the multiple talents of Skynyrd's newest member, claiming that the band would all be in his shadow one day, even allowing Gaines an unprecedented lead vocal on his own bluesy 'Ain't No Good Life' on the album. 

Following a performance at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina, on October 20, 1977, the band boarded a chartered Convair CV-240 bound for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they were scheduled to appear at LSU the following night. After running out of fuel the pilots attempted an emergency landing before crashing in a heavily forested area five miles northeast of Gillsburg, Mississippi. Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines, along with backup singer Cassie Gaines (Steve's older sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray were killed on impact. Other band members Collins, Rossington, Wilkeson, Powell, Pyle, and Hawkins, tour manager Ron Eckerman, and several road crew members suffered serious injuries. The accident came just three days after the release of 'Street Survivors', and following the crash and the ensuing press, it became the band's second platinum album and reached No. 5 on the U.S. album chart. The original sleeve for 'Street Survivors' had featured a photograph of the band amid flames, with Steve Gaines nearly obscured by fire, and out of respect for the deceased, MCA Records withdrew the original cover and replaced it with the album's back photo, a similar image of the band against a simple black background, waiting nearly thirty years before restoring it for the deluxe CD version of the album. Lynyrd Skynyrd disbanded after the tragedy, reuniting only on one occasion to perform an instrumental version of 'Free Bird' at Charlie Daniels' Volunteer Jam V in January 1979, with Collins, Rossington, Powell, and Pyle being joined by Daniels and members of his band. The surviving members did eventually reunite in 1987, but it's the first incarnation of the band that has provided these demos, out-takes, and a hard to find b-side, for a rarely heard overview of their formative years. 

Track listing

01 Mr. Banker (demo 1973)

02 Down South Jukin' (demo 1973)

03 Tuesday's Gone (demo 1973)

04 Gimme Three Steps (demo 1973)

05 Was I Right Or Wrong (demo 1974)

06 Georgia Peaches (previously unreleased 1977)

07 Take Your Time (b-side of 'Sweet Home Alabama' 1974)

08 Sweet Little Missy (previously unreleased 1977)

09 Jacksonville Kid (previously unreleased 1977)

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors (1977)

When Lynyrd Skynyrd were ready to start recording their fifth album, they set off to the Criterion studios in Miami, and in April 1977 laid down a number of tracks for their next release, 'Street Survivors', with producer Tom Dowd. However, these were rejected by the record company for not sounding commercial enough, and so six months later they went to Studio One in Doraville, Georgia, where they'd taped their first record, and recorded the whole album again. These were the takes which were used when 'Street Survivors' eventually came out, but the April recordings have surfaced on the Deluxe re-issue of the album, and as some of them are radically different and some were never used at all, this is a reconstruction of what the album could have sounded like if it had been released after the April recordings were completed. While 'What's Your Name' doesn't sound that different, 'That Smell' has an extended coda, making it two minutes longer than the take we know. 'Honky Time Night Time Man' was recorded under it's original title of  'Jacksonville Kid' and with different lyrics, and I've replaced some of the other August recordings with out-takes from the April sessions, including the lovely acoustic 'Four Walls Of Raiford'. 
The re-recorded album was released in October 1977, sporting a cover of the band engulfed in flames. Two days later, flying on to the their next gig from a date in South Carolina, their plane ran out of fuel and crashed, killing Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and his sister Cassie, as well as their assistant road manager and the two pilots, and seriously injuring the rest of the band. The record company immediately withdrew the album and re-issued it in a more sombre black sleeve, although the 'flames' cover was reinstated for the 2008 Deluxe re-issue. This album uses an alternate picture from that photo-shoot, with the band plus backing singers. 

Track listing

01 What's Your Name
02 That Smell
03 When You Got Good Friends
04 Georgia Peaches
05 One In The Sun
06 You Got That Right
07 I Never Dreamed
08 Jacksonville Kid
09 Four Walls Of Raiford
10 Ain't No Good Life

From The Album Fixer December 2014 - all notes and opinions are his.