Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame Announces JJ Cale As 2025 Legacy Inductee

/by

JJ Cale. Photo: Jane Richey

The late JJ Cale will be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame on Oct. 6 at the organization’s 55th Anniversary gala at Nashville’s Music City Center.

Cale was elected in NaSHOF’s Legacy category, designed specifically to honor hall of fame-worthy candidates who are deceased. He will be inducted posthumously along with the previously announced members of the Class of 2025: Steve Bogard, Don Cook, Emmylou Harris, Jim Lauderdale, Tony Martin and Brad Paisley. The seven new electees will join the 247 existing members of the Hall, which was established in 1970.

Famed for his bluesy, rootsy, laid-back style, Oklahoma native JJ Cale moved to Nashville in 1959 and found work as a guitarist with touring Grand Ole Opry troupes. After stints in Los Angeles and Tulsa, Cale returned to Music City in 1970 to record his debut album. In 1972, he built his own studio in Nashville, where he continued to record and live part-time throughout the ’70s and early ’80s.  Both Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler have acknowledged JJ’s influence as a guitarist, with Clapton making international hits of Cale’s “After Midnight” and “Cocaine.”

Over the years Cale’s various albums have yielded “Crazy Mama” (a pop hit in 1972), “Call Me The Breeze” (turned into a Rock standard by Lynyrd Skynyrd),“Clyde” (a Top 10 country hit for Waylon Jennings in 1980), “Any Way The Wind Blows” (Brother Phelps in 1995) and “The Sensitive Kind” (Santana in 1981), as well as the oft-covered “I Got The Same Old Blues,” “Magnolia,” and “Travelin’ Light.” As an artist, Cale released 16 albums, including the Grammy-winning collaboration with Clapton, The Road to Escondido (2006).  In 2014, after Cale’s death, Clapton released the tribute album The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale.

“We are thrilled to have JJ Cale join this year’s class,” says chair of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame’s board of directors Rich Hallworth.  “With classics such as “After Midnight,” “Cocaine” and “Call Me The Breeze,” JJ’s work as both a songwriter and an artist will be remembered always.  He is richly deserving of our ultimate recognition.”

Lorie Hollabaugh
Latest posts by Lorie Hollabaugh (see all)