Me and Mr Johnson features Clapton renditions of 14 of the 29-song legacy of Robert Johnson, mythical Mississippi bluesman recorded during his brief career in the 1930s.
The fact that Clapton could probably do an album like this in his sleep is not lost on the listener and for the most part he plays it straight, with respectful performances backed by a band of super sessioneers including Steve Gadd on drums and Billy Preston on keyboards.
The opener ‘When You’ve Got A Good Friend’ could be from any Clapton album of the last 30 years as could standards such as ‘Kind Hearted Woman Blues’ and ‘Little Queen Of Spades’. Some of these songs will be familiar through other versions, ‘Love In Vain’ being one example though it doesn’t quite have the menace of the Stones’ version.
Fans of Clapton’s more accessible side might find some of this hard going – Johnson was a scarily intense artist and numbers like, ‘If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day.’ and ‘Me And The Devil Blues’ display a deeply troubled soul which Clapton does his best to capture. By the closing track, the classic ‘Hellhound On My Trail’ he almost gets there with a seeringly powerful vocal performance that ranks with his best work.