Laid-Back J.J. Cale: Just Travelin’ and Strummin’ Through Life

Having written such songs as “Cocaine,” “After Midnight” and “Call Me the Breeze,” J.J. Cale is taking it easy these days. After knocking around the music industry since the late ‘50s, not just as a songwriter but as a guitarist, singer and engineer as well, Cale is wandering around the Southwest in his travel trailer, playing concert dates if and when the mood catches him.

It’s such a mood that brings him to the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano tonight.

“I’m semi-retired now,” he reported from a pay phone somewhere on the outskirts of San Diego, “but I do get the guitar out and play it for people, and I can make money doing it. Plus, I like to travel around and meet the people. It’s fun doing it this way.”

Not that the last 30 years haven’t been fun. On the contrary, Cale--who pioneered what some critics call “the Tulsa Sound,” a laconic rock hybrid based on simple blues variations played mostly in minor keys--is quite pleased with the way his life has gone so far.

“I’ve had a ball,” he said, laughing. “I don’t work much now, but then I’ve never really, truly worked that much over the last 20 years. That’s the nice thing about songwriting: You don’t have to punch a clock or be in a specific place to do it. There’s really a lot of freedom to it.

“Sometimes I make up songs, and they’re just strictly fiction,” Cale continued. “Other times, I draw on things that have happened in my life or friends, women, all sorts of things. Songwriting is just like any other kind of writing--it’s either fiction or nonfiction. You can even get into philosophy and politics, which I’ve done on occasion. But mostly, it’s totally open.”

Cale said he started writing because he wanted to make a living without having to put his guitar down and because he realized: “You certainly can’t make a living (just) playing the guitar.” Nobody’s more surprised than he is at how successful he’s been: His songs have been covered by everyone from Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynyrd to Cissie Houston and Brian Ferry.

“You never know how people are going to find songs for their records,” Cale said. “Sometimes people will hear songs on someone else’s record and really like ‘em. That’s what I guess happened with ‘After Midnight’; apparently, Eric Clapton had heard the original version that I’d put out on Liberty (Records). I couldn’t give that record away, it stiffed so bad. But then I guess he heard it and liked it so much that he decided to record it himself.

“But it’s always like that. I’m always the last one to know when somebody records one of my songs. Someone’ll usually come up to me and say: ‘Hey, I really loved so-and-so’s version of your song,’ and that’s how I find out.”

Clapton’s hit with “After Midnight” led to a continuing relationship. Not only has the British guitarist also recorded Cale’s “Cocaine” and “I’ll Make Love to You Anytime,” but he has been influenced by Cale in his own songwriting, most notably on “Long Tall Sally.” Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits is another of Cale’s disciples.

Both Clapton and Knopfler have been far more successful than Cale commercially, but Cale says he begrudges them nothing. “Everybody picks up from somebody who went before them,” he noted. “I had my influences, and they had theirs. The music I made, the next generation was able to pick up on . . . and that’s fine. Besides, I make money from their doing my songs, so I can’t complain.”

If anything, he added, he’s happier with his own cult following than he would be as a bona fide star.

Meanwhile, Cale said, he’s enjoying the thrills of semi-retirement, shuttling back and forth between Anaheim, San Diego and Phoenix at 49 years of age, watching television and reading a lot of newspapers and magazines.

“The last record company I was with was Polygram,” he said, “and I signed with them to do four records, and I’d turned in two. But the way record companies work today, they need to have hit records to make any money because of their huge overhead. Since I don’t make very commercial records, I asked for a release rather than make music that wasn’t right for me, and they gave it to me.

“What I needed to do was take a breather. I’d made eight albums in 10 years, so I’d spent 9, 10, 11 months in the studio or on a tour bus and I’d gotten tired of that.”

He said he occasionally toys with the idea of making another album some day. For now, though, Cale says he’s happy going out on the road with a percussionist. Occasionally he finds that some people “think I’m just playing some Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynyrd songs,” but he’s not losing any sleep over that. He’s too busy trying to schedule his time so he’ll be able to see all the tourist attractions he finds along the road.

“I’m not out knocking on people’s doors hyping them about my new songs. Just like always, if they hear something they like, then they’re welcome to cut it.”

J.J. Cale performs at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, tonight at 8. Tickets: $13.50. Information: (714) 496-8930.