If home is where the heart is, then Eric Clapton hides his emotions inside a sprawling countryside retreat aptly named Hurtwood Edge. The name of this peaceful sanctuary reveals more about Eric Clapton than any compilation album stuffed with breathtaking guitar solos.

Despite the warm domestic tranquility, the living room still looks like a rehearsal room. Clapton studiously picks out a tune on a beautifully crafted dobro.

A Don Williams album blasts out of speakers that look more like lethal onstage amplification than your usual home stereo console. Wearing a hazy, just-beginning-to-wake-up-look, Clapton stared a half empty bottle of beer in the face. He gently puts the dobro down on the couch and sighs restlessly.

"If people want that heavy metal thing they can go somewhere else."

"What can I do?" he says in frustration, "I'm at home here on my own 'cept for the old lady and the dog. It's hard to be influenced, hard to do any electric. I can't just pick up an electric guitar and play on my own. So I play acoustic all the time. That's how the songs are written. And it's difficult to break that mold once you've stepped into it."

Cardboard boxes burst at the seams with hundreds of records that spill over into an antique chest, testifying to his diverse musical preferences. Some of his favorite guitars share a seat on the couch. Behind Clapton, a complete drum kit and a Fender Rhodes piano beg for attention. Mysteriously perched atop the bass drum, a cuddly teddy bear waits patiently. Like his last three studio albums, the teddy belongs to a new mold totally divorced from Clapton's adolescent past.

"Mine was stabbed and stitched up so many times," Eric laughs in bemused recollection. "It was the only thing I could take everything out on."

That was before he discovered the electric guitar as a useful vehicle for unleashing pent-up frustrations. Never stabbed nor stitched, this new teddy is destined for a healthy lifetime.

No longer treading that thin line between public demands and private priorities, Clapton's personal battles have

reached a healthy impasse. Now he's got room to breathe.

. "1 spend my time listening to people and being heavily influenced by them," Clapton says as Don Williams plays on. "Then when it comes time to record, I go down to the studio, try something new, and it comes out as me again. .

"I don't want to be immodest but I like to attract people to my music and not to anything else." If they don't know who it is and they put the record on and like it, then it means I've succeeded rather than selling something on the strength of my name or the legend that has built up around me."

Always more a musician than a personality from his first stint with the Yardbirds* the retiring guitarist who turned his back on sold-out Cream audiences prefers anonymity to the spotlight. That was the whole premise upon which Derek and the Dominoes was initially built.

"I got very annoyed during our American tour when we would turn up and it would say DEREK AND THE DOMINOES FEATURING ERIC CLAPTON, I'd call the office and have dreadful rows. Obviously they wanted to sell the tickets but I just wanted it to be a group for it's own sake."

When Lay la 'was first released, no one really knew that Derek was Eric. Once his identity surfaced, adulation and acclaim grew in such large proportions that Clapton quickly adopted a lifestyle based around hibernation and public withdrawal.

"All the emotion is in the writing now instead of the guitar playing," E.C. says emphatically finishing off the first of many beers. "The important thing to preserve is the emotion rather than the technique: If you listen to anybody who's been at it a long time there's always a thread of similarity that runs through each record.

"I don't mind people expecting just one thing of me, it's just that they don't recognize what that one certain thing is. Just cause my exterior changes, fuck!" he sighs in exasperation. "That doesn't mean my insides have changed.

"If people want that heavy metal

thing they can go somewhere else. I'm not in any kind of competition. If they put me onstage with Begk," he says in reverence with small pangs of insecurity, "who's really fast and tough, I'd just have to play rhythm guitar.

"What I'm trying to do is find another way of making music that's distinctly me. And if it has to be softer and even unrecognizable at first then that's alright even if it's not the current trend. There's always gonna be some young kid who can do it twice as good as you. So you develop something else, try and stay away from the line of fire." '

No longer concerned with being the fastest gun in the West, Clapton speaks maturely from a wounded past. Rather than mechanically repeat previous accomplishments, it's taken three years of natural growing pains to free himself from his lead guitar bondage. Withuhis American band, he has taken full advantage of this freedom.

"Quile honestly I don't think I could play one of those solos on every track. My lead guitar playing has slipped because I'm controlling the band, writing songs, everything else. Consequently something has to suffer and the lead guitar playing has probably suffered most of all.

"I don't listen to clever lead guitar playing anymore. I'm more interested in total songs. The trouble is people expect electric music from me. If I go to a session I take an electric guitar because it's second nature to me. But lately,''the smiles, quite pleased with the transition, "the dobro has taken up all my time."

The dobro is not exactly a radical departure for Clapton. He explored the realms of that instrument, trading motel shot licks with Duane Allman, in the studio with both Delaney and Bonnie and later the Dominoes. Renewed interest in dobro flavored anguish has made him Don Williams' biggest fan.

Finally beginning to wake up, Clapton jumps up, almost knocking the handmade dobro on the floor. He charges over to the stereo and selects a tape recorded at home, at Hurtwood Edge with Williams and band.

Clapton first spied Williams on the tacky Dinah Shore Show and was impressed both with the music and with the fact that Williams refused to indulge in idle gossip with Dinah and the other guests. Clapton himself would have behaved in a similarly introverted fashion.

During a recent British tour, Eric joined Don Williams onstage in London for some fancy dobro pickin'. Haunted by memories of self doubt, E. C. brought along friends Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane for encouragement. Ambling onstage in faded, patched jeans, Clapton cherished this pressure-free opportunity: When big Don announced his special guest, one girl screamed. Two thirds of the orthodox country crowd had never heard of Clapton.

Eric Clapton's TOP TEN

1) "Drown In My Own Tears** by Ray Charles. "He recorded it live and in the studio but the live one is just great. I like it very much."

very old. He did a record called 'Mona Lisa' which Conway Twitty had a hit with. But Carl Mann did the original and he did another one called 'Pretend.' It's sorta like 'Smile' only rocked up with a really nice guitar part." 3) "Help Yourselves To Each

Other** by Don Williams. "He's a new favorite of mine. It's got really nice words and a pleasant melody. No you can't dance to it. It's just mesmerizing." 4) Stevie Wonder Presents

Syreeta and Syreeta. "I'm not sure which is better. Stevie Wonder produced both and they're both good. Then nothing happened. She had one hit off the second album with 'Spinning And Spinning.' " 5) Chirping Crickets. "That was ■

the first album I ever bought. And it still plays after all these years. I have records I've hadfor only six months that don't play anymore. Chirping Crickets I've had since I was 16. Buddy Holly's first album. I learned the whole thing straight away. I couldn't believe it. It was the first time I'd seen a Stratocaster as well. He's standing on the cover holding a Stratocaster and I thought 'What is this space vehicle?' " 6) "Bridge Over Troubled

Water** by Stevie Wonder. "It's ^from an album Live At The Talk Of The Town, which I think is only available in

Britain. You should hear it—he slows it right down. The dynamics are very heavy. It builds up and comes down to almost silence." 7) "Caress Me Baby** by Jimmy

Reed. "That was the firsf time I heard really low, low down r&b. They released it as a single in Britain. I probably heard that before I even heard Muddy Waters. It's on the Rockin ' With Reed album." 8) "Loving You Is Sweeter Than

Ever** by Stevie Wonder. "Well, he wrote it. It's a great song. The Four Tops did it too. The Band recorded it but haven't released it. They do it like they do that Marvin Gaye song 'Baby Don't You Do It.' Rick Danko sings a great vocal." 9) "Willowy Garden.** "It's a

traditional song with a Scottish melody. I only know the first verse so I wrote off for the words but couldn't understand a bloody word because it was written in old English. All the s's are f's. It's an old pub song that goes back centuries. " 10) "Little Man You ve Had A

Busy Day.** "That's the oldest song I know cause it used to rock me to sleep. Someone like A1 Bowlly might have done it. The words go 'Someone stole your marbles I know what I'll do/Dad , will buy some new ones/Time to go to sleep now/Little man you've had a busy day.' It's one of my favorite songs. It used to knock me out. That's why I don't know it well. I'd never get to hear the last verse cause I'd be asleep." Richard Young

"I'm always more comfortable in situations like that," Clapton said honestly, opening another beer. "The pressures are off and I feel comfortable because there is no one to prove myself to."

More than anything else, Clapton longs to be one of the band. Given the chance to escape from his legend with "DonWilliams, he wasn't ERIC CLAPTON, he was simply a musician.

Shy and retiring, Clapton never wanted to be God anyways. He always wore the adulation aivkwardly. Right now he's more concerned with musical enjoyment than sales figures. Bent on a long career , He talks enthusiastically about one day playing down at the local pub.

"I don't want people to sit down and listed to my album really hard 20 times to find out what I'm saying," he stressed. "I'd like to make it as simple as possible^. There will always be somewhere to play. I'm in the musicians union. I could get a job playin' for the BBC. There's no panic.

"That's what I see in a lot of groups today, this sort of mad panic; gotta get a number one, then do the TV's. It's like they expect their careers to end in three years," he laughs in disbelief. "Everyone is so busy trying to think of new approaches to catch the eye and it doesn't really matter cause it's all been done before."

And much of what's done before has been done to perfection by Clapton himself. He has been given mass media credit for having defined modern day electric guitar playing.

"I think my audience now is probably the same one I've had all along only they're very disgruntled that I keep laying new tricks on them and they're not really sure if they want to accept them. The best things happen by accident. I trust in that more than deliberate plan."

All this conversation has made Clapton's normally reticent speech patterns lively and animated. The beer has also whetted his appetite. He jumps up from the couch and heads for the kitchen, passing a clutch of gold albums in the corridor.

In the kitchen, his main inspiration is busy being domestic and fixing some food. "Hurry Up," Clapton chides Pattie Boyd, "I'm starving." The refrigerator door is decorated with various backstage passes. Pattie and Eric giggle

as I point to a poster pic of Clapton above which has been pasted a newspaper headline which asks the thou1 sand dollar question: "DOES THIS MAN LOOK WORRIED?" This is not the behavior of troubled souls.

Over food and another round of potent British beer, Eric and Pattie tell amusing tales of c&w visits from the Don Williams crew. The raw emotion that lies at the roots of country music hypnotizes Clapton.

What drastically altered his musical frame of reference was his discovery of the Band. Upon hearing their debut album Music From Big Pink, Clapton decided that Cream was "a con." The homespun authenticity of the Band was more attractive than Cream concoctions of strange brews.

"I'd never really liked country music before because I thought it was oversentimental," he says a Pattie attentively listens. "That was when I was into being very aggressive and just playing straight blues. Country music was just sloppy. But the Band bridged the gap. They gave country music a bite it didn't have before."

Clapton was not content with a taste. He wanted a whole mouthful. After a memorably short lived stint with superstar ego clashes driven by Blind Faith, Clapton ran off with the support group

Delaney and Bonnie and Friends. Some of the friends soon became Dominoes. Then there was a period of silence.

An eerie hush surrounded Hurtwood Edge. His lengthy "retirement' was not merely the case of too many drugs. He had overdosed on the big business machinery behind superstar rock.

"The problem is you grow to hate the rock business. That's why I always have to keep putting my situations where I can enjoy it. That's why I dpn't go into London much. You'go from one office to another and they're all bitchin' about each other. Who do you believe?

"I just come back here and get in the cocoon. Bugger them all. 1 just live for the art of making good music, not filling anyone's pockets." 1

Over a year ago, Clapton talked about a rock 'n' roll album. Not totally convinced, he was on the brink of making artistic concessions to an impatient audience crying out for rock 'n' roll.

"In fact I did put out a rock album more or less with E.C. Was Here which maybe covered that for awhile, filling that space I was complaining about. If the album had horns on it, it would have been perfect for hard rock. So now," he smiles shyly, "I've got time to be myself again."

Clapton needed some prodding to record a new studio album, his first since There's One In Every Crowd. Manager Robert Stigwood supplied deadlines and Ron Wood tried to provide directional guidance.

"Woody came to stay with us in Nassau. He was pushing me around trying to get me to write songs but I couldn't because the situation was too idyllic. We finally wrote a couple songs that we didn't use. One was called "You're Too Good To Die You Should Be Buried Alive." He laughs uncontrollably. "Can you believe that?"

While the Nassau retreat begged for ' workless enjoyment, the initial atmosphere which permeated the Los Angeles No Reason To Cry sessions was one of chaos and confusion. Clapton started to write.

"After a couple of days I was walkin' round the studio saying 'I'm packin' it in, I don't want anymore to do with it.' Much to the surprise of everyone the album turned out well but we walked in loathing the idea.

"If I go in the studio with my band they're gonna look to me for something and I had nothing," Clapton playfully winces. "Richard Manuel came up with 'Beautitul Thing' and from there we just went!"

Visions of Big Pink danced in his head. Using the Band's homebase, Shangri-la Studios, Clapton surrounded himself with his own able-bodied Oklahoma outfit, along with Wood, the Band, and Bob Dylan. The old Clapton who used to stab teddy bears would have been inhibited and withdrawn, »

TURN TO PAGE 68.

"My lead guitar playing has slipped because I'm controlling the band writing songs, everything else.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35.

CLAPTON

Even as late as August '75, Clapton displayed reticent studio behavior during a Dylan Desire session. With several guitarists rolling with Bob, Clapton stuck to the corner, strumming the odd rhythm. By March of '76, familiar insecurities were replaced by well nourished confidences.

"I was in a situation where people were coming to visit me," he says of this accidental twist of fate. "It wasn't so much 'Ah the BAND' it was just people who came to visit. Some of the jams were amazing because the Band hadn't played together in ages."

A funky .plaintive direction gradually evolved. Between Rick Danko and Dylan, Clapton gave up trying to bring the proceedings to order ana loosely rolled with the flow.

"Dylan can't restrict himself to one way of doing a song so we did 'Sign Language' three ways. I thought fuck it, I'll just go loosfe as he is. I'm used to doing a song one way but Dylan throws caution to the wind every time."

Onstage, Clapton indulges in sim^ ilarly spontaneous conduct. "You can't play the same song every night the same way because you really get to hate it. I think we did 'Layla' one night in 3/4 time,"' Clapton laughs. "It sounded like a good old waltz."

As it happens, the song's origins are not as removed from a waltz as one would imagine.

"Should I tell you where I got that riff?" Eric says excitedly, now enjoying himself with help from the beer. "It's an Albert King riff off an album Born Under A Bad Sign and there's a song called 'There Is Nothing I Can Do If You Leave Me Here To Cry.' Duqne Allman heard that and just went!"

He has employed a few tricks on No Reason To Cry as well. Like the Derek and the Dominoes album, Clapton makes the listener discover just which guitar is his.

In retrospect he feels There's One In Every Crowd suffered from a "contrived" approach and much prefers the live atmosphere which permeates No Reason To Cry. Not surprisingly, the album's best tracks are Clapton originals.

Stranded in between British and American tours, Clapton was stuck inside Hurtwood with those mobile blues again. Restless to play, he kept busy writing songs. One new tune, "You Look Wonderful Tonight," *is almost an acoustic, antithesis to "Layla." A sensual love song written about "taking the old woman out and getting too sloshed to drive home," Clapton can't wait to record it. Already he's done a demo with Ronnie Lane.

After the American fall tour, Clapton hopes to record the next album in Nashville, no doubt inspired by his recent Don Williams encounter. "I

really want to get down to Nashvjlle," he grins glancing quickly at the idle dobro. "It can't be very far from Tulsa. Can't be more than 24 hours."

Gradually stripping away layers of protective covering and revealing more of himself, Eric Clapton will one day have a hit single that refuses to make any concessions.

"I never even wanted 'I Shot The Sheriff' on the album—I didn't want it out at all. I thought it was a rip-off. To this very day I have to live with 'Eric goes reggae'," he says with more humor than hostility. "Then they follow it up with another bloody reggae song. Oh dear. Branded again."

You lose one cross and you gain another. He may never record another "Sunshine of Your Love" but you can bet he'll take a bluesy visit down desolation row on every album and in each concert. After all, there's no panic. He could always work for the BBC.

"I'm sure there will always be a circuit/' says this card carrying member of the musicians union. "I've been watching Stan Kenton's schedule for the last three years. He's a trumpet player who leads a 30 piece band! And he works every night of the year with only two weeks off for Christmas. When you see someone that age doing it for the pure love of the music , you've got no reason to cry." |||?