Credit: Todd V. WolfsonFormer Derek and the Dominos member Bobby Whitlock will be hitting the road next month with his wife, fellow singer/multi-instrumentalist CoCo Carmel, on a U.S. trek that they’ve christened the Just Us Tour. The 11-date outing, which will visit a variety of cities in the Northeast and Midwest, will feature the Austin,Texas-based duo performing with accompaniment by a guest guitarist at each venue.
While casual music fans may not be too familiar with Whitlock, he made major contributions to Eric Clapton‘s classic album with Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, writing or co-writing half of the 1971 double LP’s 14 tunes. Bobby tells ABC Radio that his all seven of his Layla compositions — including “Why Does Love Have to Be So Sad” and “Bell Bottom Blues,” for which he was not credited at the time — will be showcased at his concerts with Carmel.
“[I]t’s the first time anybody’s gonna be able to hear those [songs] the way they were put together originally…acoustically,” he explains. “You know, ’cause…those songs didn’t just happen with a band. They started with Eric and myself on acoustic guitars.”
Whitlock maintains that bringing in the various guest guitarists will turn the gigs “into this incredible thing that’s gonna be an experience for everyone.”
He says, “That’s pretty much what coming to one of our shows is anyway. It’s an experience. We talk about what’s behind the song and how it went down, and sing and play it. What we’re really doing is bringing our living room to you…We’re loading up four guitars, two amplifiers, a saxophone and my piano, and we’re gonna come and see you and play for you.”
Among the guitarists that will be joining Whitlock and Carmel will be Josh Roberts, who will appear at the duo’s tour kickoff in Memphis on September 11 and who Bobby describes as “an incredible Mississippi hill country rock ‘n’ roll blues [player].” Kelvin Holly, who previously worked with Little Richard and is a longtime member of the Amazing Rhythm Aces, will play with Whitlock and Carmel the next night in Nashville, while Godfrey Townshend, whose resume includes stints with the late Jack Bruce‘s and John Entwistle‘s backing bands, will take part in the couple’s September 19 show in New York City. You can check out more details about the trek at BobbyWhitlockandCoCoCarmel.com and KayosProductions.com.
Whitlock tells ABC Radio that he’s proud of the enduring influence the songs he helped create for Layla have had on other musicians.
“The Layla record is pretty much the Holy Grail of all the guitar players on the planet,” he maintains. “You know, everybody knows those songs. And I hadn’t thought about the fact that pretty much every guitar player on the planet got his bones and learned his craft around songs that I had written…and it was pretty amazing and a bit overwhelming sometimes to think about that.”
Whitlock and Carmel’s shows also will feature various other songs from the couple’s back catalogs, including tunes featured on their most recent effort together, the 2013 live album Carnival. In addition, the duo will play some brand-new songs.
Here are all of the dates on Whitlock and Carmel’s upcoming Just Us Tour:
9/11 — Memphis, TN, The Warehouse
9/12 — Nashville TN, The City Winery
9/15 — Decatur, GA, Eddie’s Attic
9/19 — New York, NY, B.B. Kings Blues Club & Grill
9/20 — Sellersville, PA, Sellersville Theatre
9/22 — Fall River, MA, Narrows Center for the Arts
9/23 — Somerville, MA, Johnny D’s
9/26 — Cleveland, OH, The Beachland Ballroom
9/27 — Rochester, NY, The Lovin Cup
9/29 — Ferndale, MI, The Magic Bag
10/1 — Berwyn, IL, FitzGerald’s
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.