RIP Delaney Bramlett

"For a couple of years, in 1969 and 1970, Delaney & Bonnie, the gifted duo comprising the singer-songwriter and guitarist Delaney Bramlett and his vocalistwife Bonnie, were the names on the lips of the rock cognoscenti. Eric Claptonenthused about the Bramletts' blue-eyed soul after hearing The Original DelaneyAnd Bonnie – Accept No Substitute, their 1969 album, and asked them to open for Blind Faith, the supergroup he had formed in the United States with SteveWinwood of Traffic and the former Cream drummer Ginger Baker.

'For me going on after Delaney and Bonnie was really, really tough, because I thought they were miles better than us,' Clapton recalled in his autobiography last year. 'Their band was made up of all these great Southern musicians, who had such a strong sound and performed with absolute confidence ... Needless to say it wasn't long before I dropped all my responsibilities as being part of Blind Faith and started to hang out with them."

I caught Delaney and Bonnie on the legendary Festival Express tour in Toronto many, many years ago. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to them, though, because I just wanted to see Janis.