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For the uninitiated, Delaney Bramlett is a man who
has played with everyone, or more precisely, everyone has played with
him. Various Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Dr John, JJ Cale. Little Richard
and Duane Allman are just a few of the musicians that shared a stage
or studio with Delaney during the late sixties and early seventies.
Along with one time partner Bonnie Lynn O'Farrell, this son of a Mississippi
sharecropper headed up one of the hottest Southern soul combo's of
all time, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends.
His influence, certainly on the British music scene cannot be underestimated.
Delaney's "Friends" formed the nucleus of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band,
Joe Cocker's Mad Dog's & Englishman tour and Eric Clapton's Derek
and the Dominos. At one stage his own band featured George Harrison
and Eric Clapton. This was at a time when Clapton was already "god"
and the Beatle was, well a Beatle. Both put their own careers on hold
for a chance to take off on various madcap tours around the globe
with Delaney and his lunatic band of southern desperados.
"I was totally in awe of Delaney," acknowledges Eric Clapton. "He
was the first to instil in me a sense of purpose," Countless others
echo this sentiment.
Although many of his Friends went on to achieve megastar status an
even greater number fell by the wayside, often in spectacular fashion.
Delaney somehow managed to avoid either fate. Life has certainly had
it's moments but in the main he's been happy to keep a comfortably
low profile. He's still playing and hanging out with his various Friends
but unlike many of his contemporaries, Delaney has never lost touch
with his musical heritage, that Southern soul that once brought so
many of England's rock aristocracy to his door. Delaney is everything
that they aspired to be. Whereas they had been brought up on the banks
of the Thames and the Mersey, Delaney spent his formative years along
the shores of the Mississippi, and played his early gigs with a young
Elvis in front of a thousand screaming southern belles. Delaney was
the real deal.
Check out his first new album for over 10 years here.
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