{"id":497776,"date":"2025-10-14T03:31:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T03:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/497776\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T03:31:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T03:31:14","slug":"eric-claptons-favourite-producer-to-work-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/497776\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Clapton’s favourite producer to work with"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Eric<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Chris Hakkens)<\/p>\n

Tue 14 October 2025 1:00, UK <\/p>\n

The relationship between a musician and a producer is make-or-break. A good collaboration can turn a star into an icon, a bad one can make a star suddenly sound like an amateur. That\u2019s why Eric Clapton<\/a> tried to only work with the best.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are fairytales and nightmares. Paul McCartney\u2019s run-ins with Phil Spector fall into the latter category as the Beatle ended up sending a scathing letter to the producer, claiming he utterly ruined his work. \u201cDon\u2019t ever do it again,\u201d<\/a> he said as harsh words from the typically sweet man.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there are countless <\/a>fairy tales. PJ Harvey and Steve Albini. Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty. George Martin and The Beatles, before they ruined it with someone new. And, in Eric Clapton\u2019s case, his relationship with Glyn Johns has to be in that category of when things go well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clapton and Johns first officially worked together in 1973 on Eric Clapton\u2019s Rainbow Concert, but the guitarist was more than aware of him. Johns had become a legend already as he worked with the likes of The Who, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones and more. He was the favoured workhorse of the British rock and roll scene, so Clapton was more than familiar with his work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For a two-album run, the pair worked together on Slowhand and Backless, crafting some of Clapton\u2019s biggest hits like \u2018Wonderful Tonight\u2019<\/a> and \u2018Promises\u2019. It was simply one of those collaborative relationships that just worked, mostly because Johns took no shit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a disciplinarian who did not like people mucking about or wasting time. When we were in the studio we were expected to work and he\u2019d get frustrated if there was any goofing off,\u201d Clapton recalled. There truly was something almost teacher-like about Johns, despite the fact that they\u2019re basically the same age. But while the world of rock and roll basically runs on messing about, the producer knew how to silence the class of petulant kids and get them to work, as Clapton said, \u201cHe brought out the best in us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In all the stories of the best relationships between producer and artist, that seems to be the trait they need. A good producer knows how to guide while still letting creativity run free. \u201cIf he thinks you\u2019re on to something, he\u2019s very enthusiastic and encouraging. If he thinks you\u2019re going in the wrong direction, he\u2019ll try and shut it down,\u201d Clapton said about Johns, who was always there to make sure he didn\u2019t wander too far down a bad path and waste too much time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clapton\u2019s take on it all is that it comes from Johns\u2019 own time as a musician. \u201cHe has a musical background, he\u2019s a musician and had a small career a long time ago, so he knows what he\u2019s talking about,\u201d he said, recalling Johns brief period of being a solo artist. Maybe there is something in that though, as if Johns knows how to direct musicians because he\u2019s one too, and he knows how to keep himself on course. <\/p>\n

Either way, there was magic there, crafting two great records, and then reuniting them in 2016 for another as even after taking time away from music, Clapton coaxed Johns back to work on I Still Do. It\u2019s no small praise as the artist said, \u201cUltimately for me, he\u2019s one of the best guys I\u2019ve ever seen on the board.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Chris Hakkens) Tue 14 October 2025 1:00, UK The relationship between a musician and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,42028,163621,269,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-497776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-eric-clapton","10":"tag-glyn-johns","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115370412340945240","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}