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| Eric, Delaney and Bonnie |
For a seven-night, 13-show tour of England in December 1969, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett added to their band the guitarists Eric Clapton and George Harrison. Earlier that year, when Delaney & Bonnie & Friends opened for his group Blind Faith, Mr. Clapton had taken to sitting in with them. (More after the break.)
So when the Bramletts' own tour began, Mr. Clapton, looking to join a working band, signed on. Harrison, still a Beatle then, did too. They traveled by bus with the rest of the group. The Los Angeles-based Delaney & Bonnie & Friends weren't well known in Britain. But concertgoers would soon find out they were hearing one of rock's best bands. Its core—Carl Radle on bass, Jim Gordon on drums, Bobby Whitlock on keyboards and vocals, Bobby Keys on sax, Jim Price on trumpet—would go on to perform together on Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" and on Mr. Clapton's eponymous album, which was produced by Delaney Bramlett. Both of these solo debuts were released in 1970. Mr. Clapton then recruited them, minus the horns, to form Derek & the Dominos and record the masterwork "Layla and Assorted Other Love Songs." Other Friends went on to significant careers, most notably guitarist Dave Mason and vocalist Rita Coolidge. Mr. Keys has been the Rolling Stones' saxophonist of choice for most of the past 40 years. Delaney & Bonnie & Friends married rock and R&B, Mr. Keys said in a recent phone interview. "We were doing that Southern gospel, rock 'n' roll thing that until that time you heard very little of. It was one of the best times of my life." "There was magic in the music," Ms. Coolidge said by phone. "It was unlike anything I'd ever heard." Delaney & Bonnie & Friends are celebrated in the new four-CD "On Tour with Eric Clapton—Deluxe Edition" (Rhino), which, with three complete shows and parts of two others, just about quadruples the number of songs released four decades ago. The gritty, fluid group is a treat as Radle and Mr. Gordon show that the heart of any great band is in its rhythm section. And then there's Ms. Bramlett, whose quivering vocals are laced with sensual bravado even when she's joined by her then-husband and Ms. Coolidge and Mr. Whitlock in honeyed four-part harmonies. Her three renditions of Bessie Griffin's steamy blues "That's What My Man Is For" are the boxed set's most riveting performances. Delaney Bramlett put it all together. Born in Mississippi, he was featured in the house band of the '60s TV variety show "Shindig!" which also included Leon Russell and, on occasion, Mr. Keys. He met Bonnie Lynn O'Farrell when they were both booked to perform at a bowling alley. After they married, they became linchpins in the music scene in North Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley. "A lot of great acts played there," Mr. Mason recalled when we spoke by phone, "but Delaney & Bonnie, they blew me away the first time I heard them. There sure as hell wasn't anything in England like they were doing." Much of the band's material reflected a passion for Southern soul, particularly out of the Memphis-based Stax label, which released Delaney & Bonnie's debut album. Among the previously unreleased performances are compositions by Stax's songwriting teams William Bell and Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper and Bettye Crutcher, and Isaac Hayes and David Porter. On "Just Plain Beautiful," Messrs. Keys and Price channel the Memphis Horns. And on the William Bell standard "Everybody Loves a Winner," Delaney Bramlett delivers his most affecting vocal performance. Another new highlight: A fetching rendition of the Booker T & the MGs instrumental "Pigmy," featuring Mr. Whitlock on organ. For fans of Mr. Clapton's singing, there are multiple versions of "I Don't Know Why," a previously unreleased tune he wrote with the Bramletts. As Ms. Bramlett says in the boxed set's ample liner notes, the British tour was "the beginning and end" of Delaney & Bonnie as a musical act and a couple. It's said that Delaney Bramlett had an ornery nature that drugs and drink did not improve. When the tour concluded, some of the Friends joined Joe Cocker and Mr. Russell on the Mad Dogs & Englishman tour, and Delaney & Bonnie recorded their next studio album with a new group that included Duane Allman, the Memphis Horns and guests King Curtis and Little Richard. The Bramletts "were never quite received by the public, at least as reflected by sales," Mr. Keys noted. Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett cut their last album together in 1972, the year they divorced. Delaney Bramlett died in 2008. Now the boxed set celebrates their exceptional work on that December 1969 tour. "The bar was set real high," Ms. Coolidge told me. "Carl Radle, Jim Gordon, Bobby Keys, Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Dave Mason, all these fabulous people....You just want to live up to all that brilliance."
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