The famously fabled “Devil’s Crossroads,” where blues icon Robert Johnson, as the story goes, once sold his soul to the devil in exchange for otherworldly guitar skills, lies in Clarksdale, Miss. It’s a nearly century-old tale that’s served as American music’s most mystical origin story, and it’s one that’s compelled millions of blues-lovers from across the globe to visit the now-suburban intersection of Highways 61 and 49.
For two nights this weekend, however, the American Airlines Center in Dallas served as the satellite location of the center of the blues guitar universe. Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival took over Victory Park for its fifth edition, and the first since 2013, when it was held at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
For the uninitiated, Dallas is a logical location for the fest, due to Clapton’s professed appreciation for the Big D’s blues history, and the fact that the first Crossroads festival was held at the Cotton Bowl in 2004. It would be tough to find a more fitting spot for a festival with this specific name, given that in 1937, Johnson recorded a large portion of his catalog a mere mile and a half away at 508 Park Avenue.
On Saturday night, the blues was celebrated while appreciating the numerous ways it nourished a number of branches of American roots music. As 7 p.m. neared, Grammy-winning delta blues maestro Keb’ Mo’ performed a few solo songs on one of the two smaller stages set on the front corners of the main stage. Although he performed for only a few minutes, the packed-out arena was hushed in extreme reverence.
This audience was on hand to take in the spirit of the music as much as the actual sounds. It wasn’t all solemn admiration, of course. Noted comedic actor and Crossroads Festival veteran Bill Murray provided hilarious emcee banter between sets.
Murray’s role was far more than a novelty though. Unlike pretty much any other major festival these days, the schedule of performances was a mystery to the audience. Fans who showed up just in time to catch that truncated Keb’ Mo’ set missed out on influential band Los Lobos. The crowd didn’t know which performer was next up until Murray told us.
What initially felt like an inconvenient, unnecessary frustration became a thrilling source of surprise. When Murray introduced the legendary Buddy Guy and legend-in-the-making Jonny Lang as a special collaborative performance, it carried every bit as much triumph as the guitar solos.
Along the same logistical lines, the Crossroads stage crew was as on top of its game as the performers. A large, rotating circular section of the stage ensured there wouldn’t be any momentum-killing set changes.
If the side stages offered short, stripped-down sets – John Mayer’s few acoustic minutes would be missed by anyone making a trip to the restroom – the main stage made up for it with full-band performances that would test the arena’s speaker system. The Tedeschi Trucks Band, complete with a horn section, backup-singing crew and guitar army, put on nothing short of a driving blues-rock-soul clinic over its 30-minute slot.
The following set from Austin’s breakout blues star Gary Clark Jr., an electric performer, felt a bit anti-climactic. Had he performed before Tedeschi Trucks, it surely would’ve been a satisfactorily groove-oriented gig. But his tight crew felt a tad one-dimensional in the face of the all-out soul assault of the band before him.
Country superstar Vince Gill opted to emphasize the connective tissue that binds blues, gospel, country and rock together in an unmistakably American way. Eschewing his mainstream country radio hits, the Country Music Hall of Famer welcomed Bradley Walker, a bluegrass singer with muscular dystrophy, for a couple of songs, followed by a raucously rootsy take on Jimi Hendrix’s “Hey Joe,” courtesy of acclaimed dobro master Jerry Douglas. Veering away from roots and into plugged-in rock, Gill welcomed his recent Eagles mate Joe Walsh on stage to close his slot out with “Rocky Mountain Way,” and a revved-up “Life in the Fast Lane.”
Following the big-band celebration of Gill, Eric Clapton started off a little one-dimensional, but heated up nicely. The host of the festival came out with a cover of Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man” and, naturally, Robert Johnson’s “Little Queen of Spades,” one of the storied Johnson songs recorded around the corner.
But Clapton was offering his take on his favorite art form. He’s not Gill, not Clark, not Susan Tedeschi. He’s enough of a giant to be comfortable with letting others shine on his stage. If nothing else, the blues is a richly textured stew comprised of a number of moods, tempos, themes and speeds.
By the time John Mayer returned to team up with Clapton and respected Texas blues vet Doyle Bramhall II for “Layla,” the night of guitar magic had produced enough thrills to feel as though Johnson’s storied exchange from generations ago was worth it and then some.
1/7(from left) Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Jimmie Vaughan, of Dallas, and singer Bradley Walker take part in a group finale during the Crossroads Guitar Festival on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2019 at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. The concert put together by Eric Clapton, which benefits his Crossroads addiction recovery center, took place over two nights with different performers each night. (Michael Hamtil/The Dallas Morning News)(Michael Hamtil / Staff photographer)
