Eric Clapton Announces 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival to Be Held in Chicago
March 22, 2007 - Credited throughout his career with creating super sounds in super groups, the ultimate Clapton collaboration will take place July 28, 2007 when he gathers the past, present and future of guitar music onto one stage for an incredible full day musical event. Announced today, the second Crossroads Guitar Festival, scheduled for July 28, 2007 at Toyota Park in Chicago, will be a cornerstone of this year's summer music festival season. Profits from the Festival will benefit The Crossroads Centre in Antigua, a treatment and education facility founded by Clapton for chemically dependent persons.

Since its inception, Clapton's vision for the Crossroads Guitar Festival has been to create an event where his friends and contemporaries can have fun and jam together for the benefit of a good cause. This year's Festival will feature a full day of musical performances with once-in-a-lifetime guitar collaborations. Known as pioneers in their field, the roster of artists spans old and new, from BB King to John Mayer (anticipated guest list below). The audience can expect unrivaled entertainment, brilliant guitar work, surprise guests and impromptu jams that are the hallmarks of these performers.

The first Crossroads Guitar Festival, in June 2004 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, was an unprecedented collection of guitar icons from blues, rock and contemporary music. The sold-out show was chronicled in a 2-disc DVD that has since gone on to become one of the world's top-selling music DVD's, recently achieving the 8x platinum mark in the United States alone.

"The Crossroads Festival is the realization of a dream for me, to gather a group of amazingly talented musicians to perform on one stage," said Clapton. "The Crossroads performers are all musicians I admire and respect."

Additional Festival artists and elements to be announced shortly.

Ticket Sales Information
Tickets for the Crossroads Guitar Festival will go on sale to the public on Saturday, March 31 at 10am Central Time (11am EST) via www.ticketmaster.com or Ticketmaster phone charge at 312-559-1950 or Ticketmaster retail outlets. Both reserved and general admission tickets will be available for this event. All tickets will be priced at $90 plus applicable ticketing/service charges. The ticket price includes parking for the day and the concert begins at NOON.

About Toyota Park
Conveniently located just 15 minutes southwest of Downtown Chicago (at 71st and Harlem in Bridgeview), Toyota Park (www.toyotapark.com) is Chicagoland's newest and most exciting outdoor concert facility.

Current Artist Listing (Confirmed)
Jeff Beck
Doyle Bramhall II
Eric Clapton
Robert Cray
Sheryl Crow
Vince Gill
Buddy Guy
BB King
Alison Krauss and Union Station
Sonny Landreth
Albert Lee
Los Lobos
John Mayer
John McLaughlin
Willie Nelson
Robert Randolph
Hubert Sumlin
Derek Trucks
Jimmie Vaughan
Steve Winwood

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Eric Clapton Digs a Little Deeper with Robert Johnson
October 29, 2004 - Eric Clapton's love for the music of legendary Blues guitarist Robert Johnson seems to be growing. Look for "Sessions for Robert J" a CD/DVD package again influenced by Johnson on Dec. 7. The collection will include tour rehearsals from London, a Los Angeles hotel room and the Dallas warehouse where the late Johnson made some of his last recordings. The new CD follows up where his last tribute "Me and Mr. Johnson" left off with new interpretations of Terraplane Blues," "Ramblin' on My Mind," "Stones in My Passway," "From Four Until Late" and "Sweet Home Chicago." "Me and Mr. Johnson" has sold 563,000 in the United States alone. The new set will be on the Duck/Reprise label.

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Eric Clapton Finally On Hollywood Rock Walk
August 11, 2004 - It took a long time but Eric Clapton has finally been inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk. Clapton's spokeswoman Ronnie Lipton says the Rock Walk has been trying to get the legendary guitarist involved but schedules and life got in the way but things finally fell together on Monday August 9th. The RockWalk included hundred of acts including AC/DC, BB King, Van Halen, Toto and Steely Dan. Clapton requested that his signature and hand prints be put next to the Isley Brothers.

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Gentlemen Start Your Guitars! Clapton's Guitar Fest Kicks off In Dallas Today
June 4, 2004 - For a guitarist does it get any better than being asked to do a show by Eric Clapton? His 'A' list will be on parade at the Crossroads Guitar Festival today until Sunday in Dallas, Texas. The event features over sixty players including BB King, Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Joe Walsh, JJ Cale, Bo Diddley, James Taylor, Jimmie Vaughan, Pat Metheny and Vince Gill. Go to www.crossroadsguitarfestival.org for a full line-up. All the proceeds from the Guitar Festival will help fund Clapton's Crossroads Centre, the nonprofit drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre Clapton founded on the Caribbean island of Antigua. Clapton is also auctioning off some of his prized guitars for the Centre. Fifty-six guitars will be auctioned off today at Christie's in New York.

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Eric Clapton Puts Two Songs To Rest
March 2, 2004 - There are two songs you may not hear on Eric Clapton's next tour. As a matter of fact he may never play them in concert again. The guitar legend stopped performing both "Tears in Heaven" and "My Father's Eyes" during shows in Japan recently because he "couldn't perform them." Both songs were written when Clapton was dealing with the loss of his four year old Son who died when he fell from a New York apartment in 1991. More.He says the feelings around the loss are different now and he feels disconnected from to the sadness behind both songs which were both Grammy winners. Clapton says he felt "Conflicted" singing the material now that his live is quiet happy. Clapton is Touring Europe until May.

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Fourplay's Nathan East Helps Eric Clapton Stick to the Blues
February 6, 2004 - The legends have always said that he danced with the devil but Eric Clapton has chosen to remember Robert Johnson in another way - paying tribute through the music. Clapton will salute his Blues hero via his upcoming album "Me and Mr. Johnson." due March 23rd. The CD will feature Fourplay's Nathan East on Bass. East has been playing with Clapton since the mid eighties. Also on the album are guitarists Andy Fairweather Low and Doyle Bramhall II, drummer Steve Gadd, keyboardist Billy Preston and harmonica player Jerry Portnoy. Expect Johnson Blues standard like "Traveling Riverside Blues," "Love in Vain" and "Stop Breakin' Down Blues." Clapton has covered the legendary Blues guitarist music before on the 1974 album "461 Ocean Boulevard" and his 1992 "Unplugged." Clapton's last studio album was 2001's "Reptile," The guitarist will support the album with a European tour starting in March.

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Eric Clapton's tour dates:

March 26: Cournon, France (Zenith D'Auvergne) March 28: Zurich (Hallenstadion) March 30: Stuttgart, Germany (Schleyerhalle) March 31: Munich (Olympiahalle) April 2: Hannover, Germany (Preussag Arena) April 3: Hamburg, Germany (Color Line Arena) April 8: Frankfurt, Germany (Festhalle) April 9: Antwerp, Belgium (Sportpaleis Antwerpen) April 11-12: Rotterdam, Holland (Ahoy) April 14: Dortmund, Germany (Westfalenhalle)

April 15: Cologne, Germany (Cologne Arena) April 17: Copenhagen (Parken Stadium) April 23: Dublin (the Point) April 24: Belfast (Odyssey Arena) April 26: Glasgow (SECC) April 27: Newcastle, England (Telewest Arena) April 29: Manchester, England (Evening News Arena) April 30: Birmingham, England (NEC Arena) May 2: Sheffield, England (Hallam FM Arena) May 4-5, 7-8, 10-11: London (Royal Albert Hall)