Guitar legends find a sweet home in Chicago

Three years ago, Eric Clapton assembled a who’s who of guitar masters for the first Crossroads Guitar Festival, raising funds for the Crossroads Centre, Antigua, a chemical dependency treatment and education facility which Clapton founded. The sold-out show yielded a double-DVD that has been certified platinum eight times on the way to becoming one of the worlds’ top-selling music DVDs.

In a second stunning effort earlier this year, Clapton invited old friends and new for the Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago. The all-star cast featured Steve Winwood, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Jeff Beck, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks, John Mayer, Doyle Bramhall II, and more. Rhino Entertainment captured every angle with a two-DVD set chronicling that scorching summer day in Chicago with Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 from Chicago. Released 26 November 2007, the two-disc DVD will be available at regular retailers and at Rhino.com.

Filmed in HD, the DVDs contain four hours of legendary musicians performing alone and jamming together, along with remarkable footage taken backstage at this six-string summit. Clapton says he created the event so his friends and contemporaries could have fun and play together for a good cause. “The Crossroads Festival is the realization of a dream for me, to gather a group of amazingly talented musicians to perform onstage,” he explains. “The Crossroads performers are all musicians I admire and respect.”

With 38 tracks, Crossroads showcases a wide range of artists from rock, country, jazz, and blues including performances by jazz fusionist John McLaughlin, roots rocker Albert Lee, Chicago blues legend Hubert Sumlin, hit-making singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, Texas bluesman Jimmie Vaughan, slide guitarist Sonny Landreth, Latin rockers Los Lobos, and country star Vince Gill.

A seminar for guitar fanatics, Clapton’s set paid tribute to his close friend George Harrison with “Isn’t It A Pity” and revisited Derek & The Dominos with “Tell The Truth.” Jeff Beck delivered a mind-blowing instrumental set with “Big Block.” The Robert Cray Band was joined by Vaughn, Sumlin and B.B. King for “Sitting On Top Of The World,” “Rock Me Baby,” and “Paying The Cost To Be The Boss”; while young gun John Mayer flexed his skills with “Belief” and “Gravity.”

The concert provided plenty of impressive guitar heroics with some of the world’s best guitarists jamming together. Young phenom and member of The Allman Brothers Band, Dereks Trucks, battled legendary bluesman Johnny Winters on slide guitar during a rollicking version of Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited.” Robbie Robertson made a rare stage appearance playing with Clapton on Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love.”

Performing together live for the first time in 25 years, Blind Faith band mates Steve Winwood and Clapton soared through a set that included “Presence Of The Lord,” “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” “Had To Cry Today” and “Crossroads.” The Chicago show ended on a fitting note with Chicago-blues icon Buddy Guy playing a set featuring him solo and leading an all-star jam on “Sweet Home Chicago” that included Clapton, Cray, Mayer, Sumlin, Vaughan, and Winter.

CROSSROADS GUITAR FESTIVAL 2007 FROM CHICAGO is released on
Warner Music Entertainment/ Rhino on 26 November 2007.

Find out more at Crossroadsantigua.org.