J.J. Cale's debut album, Naturally, was recorded after Eric Clapton made "After Midnight" a huge success. Instead of following Slowhand's cue and constructing a slick blues-rock album, Cale recruited a number of his Oklahoma friends and made a laid-back country-rock record that firmly established his distinctive, relaxed style. Cale included a new version of "After Midnight" on the album, but the true meat of the record lay in songs like "Crazy Mama", which became a hit single, and "Call Me the Breeze", which Lynyrd Skynyrd later covered. On these songs and many others on Naturally, Cale effortlessly captured a lazy, rolling boogie that contradicted all the commercial styles of boogie, blues, and country-rock at the time. Where his contemporaries concentrated on solos, Cale worked the song and its rhythm, and the result was a pleasant, engaging album that was in no danger of raising anybody's temperature.

(by Thom Owens, All Music Guide)

J. J. Cale never recorded a full album until Eric Clapton scored a huge hit with Cale’s ‘After Midnight’. Encouraged by friend and producer Audie Ashworth, J. J. Cale recorded Naturally to capitalize on the success of his song. He released his debut album in 1972, not knowing this would be the beginning of the so-called Tulsa-sound. A lazy, rolling Boogie that contradicted all the commercial styles of Boogie, Blues, and Country-Rock that was popular at the time. This new sound became the blueprint for the adult-oriented Roots Rock of Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler, among others.

Naturally contains a new version of ‘After Midnight’ recorded by J. J. Cale as well as the hits ‘Crazy Mama’ and ‘Call Me The Breeze’, which was later covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Over the years J. J. Cale has written several hits for other musicians and recorded more than fifteen albums which makes him one of the most successful – and lasting – singer- songwriters of his generation.