Who Sang Everyday I Havename of Guitarist Singing the Blues at 2013 Crossroads Guitar Festival

Eric Clapton strolls out to center stage, straps on a grey Stratocaster, and launches into the choppy rhythm figure that opens his 1970 Derek and the Dominos' song, "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad." Speaking of the Dominos, the young man named for the group, Derek Trucks, begins laying some legato, Duane Allmanesque licks over Clapton's chords and the current version of Duane's group, the Allman Brothers Band, kicks in as Clapton steps to the microphone. Clapton and Trucks then trade solos, with Trucks having replaced his customary Gibson SG with the model of guitar associated with Duane, a Gibson Les Paul. Not just any Les Paul guitar, but THE Les Paul guitar. "Yes," Trucks would tell me later, "that was Duane's guitar. That was the one he played on the Layla record and the Fillmore east record. It's a holy musical relic. [laughs] I wanted to play it on that tune with Eric. It speaks. It's got a sound. I got it in Eric's hands and you could tell he was moved. It's a powerful instrument. Not many material items hold that significance."

At song's end Clapton and Trucks reprise the interweaving dual leads that graced the original recording. Both are clearly enjoying the moment and what had been a boisterous crowd is now spellbound. The performance comes to a quiet, elegant conclusion and Clapton simply stands still briefly, staring at the floor as if reflecting on the passage of time and the poignancy of the moment. He then looks at Trucks, grins widely, and the two exchange hugs. Clapton then puts down his guitar and walks offstage without uttering so much as a word.

It's a beautiful, moving performance that would be a fitting conclusion to a momentous day one of the fourth rendition of Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, the event the guitarist conceived to benefit the substance abuse treatment facility he founded in Antigua. But, this being the Allman Brothers Band, the night isn't finished until we're treated to a ten minute rendition of "Whippin' Post."

Actually, the Allmans close tonight's festivities at New York City's Madison Square Garden because as a humble and self-effacing host Clapton has kept the spotlight on others during most of the five-hour event. Even when on stage he is careful to allow others to shine, doling out more guitar solos than he plays. He's gracious, quiet, and exudes humility. The perfect host.

He's also been the perfect musician, playing within his comfort zone at times and taking risks at others. He opens the evening's performance with an elegant acoustic rendition of Johnny Moore's 1940s blues hit, "Driftin' Blues." with Steve Jordan playing a stripped down drum set, Willie Weeks on bass, and his one-time band mate Andy Fairweather-Low on guitar. Making clear that he is the consummate host, Clapton then yields the spotlight to Fairweather-Low for the traditional "Spider Jiving" with which the guitarist had a modest hit in the 1970s. At the close of that song, Clapton plays some slow arpeggios from which one of the evening's most moving performances emerges, a quiet rendition of "Tears in Heaven" featuring Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar. Leisz remains in the spotlight, playing the solos on a relaxed "Lay Down Sally" and "Wonderful Tonight" even though Vince Gill has now taken a chair next to Clapton. The set closes with Clapton intoning some of the few words he will utter this evening: "Thank you. Have fun. Have a great weekend."

The stately, selfless set establishes the tone for the evening. This is a gathering of old friends that will be filled with grins, hugs, laughter, and guitar pyrotechnics. The host will offer some musical fireworks but he'll also be careful not to dominate the festivities. Clapton appears twice more before joining the Allman's in the closing set. First, he sits in with Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan, and BB King. Here the focus is on the King. At 87 years old, King is happy to play a few notes, sing a chorus or two, and bask in the spotlight. Clapton and company are careful not to overshadow the elder statesman and Cray in particular is attentive to King's needs, helping him to adjust his amplifier and continually watching to see that his mentor is happy and comfortable.

Clapton's next appearance is one of the evening's revelations. Kurt Rosenwinkel plays a couple of straight ahead jazz tunes, somehow managing to coax a 1970s, Roland Jazz Chorus, smooth-jazz sound out of a Fender Twin amplifier. (And when Allan Holdsworth joins Rosenwinkel we experience the concert's only technical difficulty when it takes Holdsworth nearly ten minutes to coax a sound from of his bank of stomp boxes mounted chest height on a stand. Rosenwinkel raises both arms in mock triumph when a squawk finally emerges from Holdsworth's signal chain. After one song, Holdsworth and stomp boxes exit stage right.) Clapton joins the jazzer for a stunning rendition of "If I should Lose You," a song best associated with jazz singer Nina Simone. After Clapton's simple, understated vocal deliver, Rosenwinkel plays a lovely solo exhibiting hints of Wes Montgomery (but still with highly processed sound). It's a quiet, jazzy moment and the crowd seems, well, disinterested. But I'm leaning forward in my seat to see what Clapton does in this musical context. Yes, his solo has a biting and blues-tinged tone, but the man plays the changes. Yep, it's Eric Clapton jazz man. It's a bold and surprising stretch for Slowhand and if most in the sea of faces in Madison Square Garden don't appreciate the significance, the guitar players I meet later are abuzz with talk about Clapton 'embracing new musical challenges."

The duo close the set Clapton the 1920s Lonnie Johnson blues song, "Way Down that Lonesome Road." Here Rosenwinkel returns the favor by meeting Clapton on his own turf but the host again surprises. Yes, he offers up a bluesy solo with a trebly, out-of-phase Stratocaster sound, but he adds chromatic runs and, again, plays the changes. Who knew?

The evening offers a few other revelations. Perhaps chief among them is the moment when Blake Mills joins the pantheon of the guitar gods. Mills is an in-demand session player and solo artist whose rootsy, raucous guitar playing has graced recordings and live performances by the likes of Lucinda Williams, Kid Rock, Weezer, the Avett Brothers, Norah Jones and Lana Del Rey. Here, he joins Booker T, Steve Cropper, and other luminaries. The band runs through Booker T. and the MGs classics "Time is Tight" and "Hip Hug Her" that feature Booker's minimalist, syncopated organ fills and Cropper's stinging guitar licks. Mills then quietly takes the stage and hits the opening notes to "Sleepwalk," the 1959 proto surf instrumental by brothers Santo & Johnny Farina. WithCoricidin bottle on ring finger a la Duane Allman, Mills fingerpicks his Telecaster to render the familiar melody in raw but perfectly controlled fashion. All heads on stage turn to Mills and Cropper is seen smiling and shaking his head as Mills frets a staccato closing run and finishes with a keening slide outro.

Booker T. and group close the set with "Born Under a Bad Sign" that again features Mills and the indispensable "Green Onions" that is fittingly all Booker and Cropper.

There are many other great moments in the five hours of music. Buddy Guy shreds, preens for the crowd, and features thirteen year old guitar slinger Quinn Sullivan. Louisiana slide guitar wizard Sonny Landreth plays a solo instrumental that mesmerizes. His trademark fingerpicking, slapped harmonics, and fretting behind the slide all make their appearance within the tune's first two bars. It's a masterful demonstration of what ten fingers and one guitar can accomplish when in the right had. Earl Klugh offers sensitive fingerstyle and Bossa nova on classical guitar and accompanied by upright bass.

Doyle Bramhall II, Clapton's second guitarist for the past decade or so offers up an energetic set and is joined by Citizen Cope on vocals. But this setting really comes alive when blues meister Gary Clark, Jr. joins them and adds menacing fills and solos laden with Hubert Sumlin-like strangled vibrato.

Clark really comes into his own when he performs, well, on his own. He takes the stage alone, but accompanied by guitar, bass drum, and high hat cymbal. In one-man-band fashion he performs "Next Door Neighbor Blues" and "Don't Owe You a Thing." At one point he's stomping out quarter notes on the bass drum, swinging eights on the high hat, fingerpicking syncopated figures against both percussion instruments, and singing. "Bravura" doesn't begin to do the performance justice.

The great music keeps coming. John Mayer plays a very effective set, displaying his versatility while switching between electric and acoustic guitar on songs like "Who Says," "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room," and "Queen of California." But he and band really light up the stage when country crooner Keith Urban joins them for an impassioned cover of John Lennon's "Don't Let Me Down." This is the sort of demonstration I always hope for but seldom see in a gathering of the stars: unexpected, masterful, and transfixing. Urban, especially, nails the vocals and the two trade blistering solos. How could a guitar festival get any better?

OK, a couple of false notes do grace the Garden's stage. When announcer Dan Aykroyd intones in a big, TV-announcer voice "Look at us, this is like some juke joint down in Mississippi" and then affects a faux southern accent to render Muddy Water's "I've Got My Mojo Working" with Keb Mo accompanying on guitar, it's a truly uncomfortable moment. But, otherwise, it's a near perfect musical experience for the fan of the electric guitar.

The dueling lead guitars of the Allman Brothers' Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes are still ringing as the crowd heads for the exits, with many a voice echoing the "I can't wait for tomorrow night" sentiment.

Indeed.