Personnel includes: J.J. Cale (vocals, acoustic, electric, gut-string & slide guitar, piano, organ, synthesizer, bass, drums); Tommy Cogbill (electric guitar, bass); James Burton, Tommy Tedesco, Richard Thompson (guitar); Bill Kenner (mandolin); Josh Graves, Walter Haynes (dobro); Buddy Emmons (steel guitar); Vassar Clements (fiddle); Garth Hudson (accordion); Bobby Emmons, David Briggs (piano, organ); Pig Robbins (acoustic & electric piano); Bill Payne, Barry Beckett (acoustic piano); Leon Russell (electric piano); Farrell Morris (vibraphone); Billy Cox, Carl Radle (bass); Jim Keltner (drums, percussion); Hal Blaine, Russ Kunkel, Roger Hawkins (drums); Robert Greenidge (steel drums); Hoyt Axton (background vocals).

Producers include: Audie Ashworth, J.J. Cale.

Compilation producers: Bill Levenson, Bas Hartong, Audie Ashworth, J.J. Cale.

Engineers include: J.J. Cale, Chip Young, Christine Lakeland.

Contains deluxe 12 page booklet with photos and annotations.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Recording information: 1972 - 1983.

A one-disc, 20-track condensation of Mercury's two-disc, 50-track anthology ANYWAY THE WIND BLOWS, THE VERY BEST OF J.J. CALE is the one J.J. Cale CD to have when you're having only one. Leading off with a new recording of "Call Me the Breeze," featuring Johnny Cash's R&B-playing son John Carter Cash, THE VERY BEST OF J.J. CALE runs through 19 other Cale gems, including the original versions of "After Midnight" and "Cocaine," both made famous by Eric Clapton.

The surprise to new listeners used to the more showboating Clapton versions will be how laid-back and seemingly offhand Cale's originals are. That goes for every song on this set. A master of the two-minute blues, Cale plays and sings with remarkable restraint and economy. There's no one like him.