Crossroads Reloaded - Eric Clapton's 2026 Revival

Crossroads Reloaded - Eric Clapton's 2026 Revival

 [The Trout]

Hey everybody, this is The Trout and welcome to another episode of The Trout Show Vinyl DeViral and this time we're going to be talking about one of my favorite guitarists out there and something he's done six other times. He's getting ready to do it seven more times. I'm talking about that great guitarist Eric Clapton where he's going to do another Crossroads Festival loaded with talented musicians over two days in Austin in September 2026.

I'm going to talk about that. I'm going to talk about why there is even a Crossroads Festival and why it's important to everybody that listens to this great music. And all that and hearing from the man himself is next on The Trout Show.

Hey, welcome back to The Trout Show and we're going to talk about the Crossroads Guitar Festival that's going to be held in Austin on the 26th and 27th of September this year. But let's just talk real quick about who's going to be there. This is just a few of the people that are going to be there over the two-day festival.

You might recognize some of them. Joe Bonamasa, Gary Clark Jr., Tommy Emmanuel, Billy Gibbons, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, John Mayer, Robert Randolph, Tedeschi Trucks Band, and come on now, Pete Townsend. I don't think Pete's ever been to other ones.

There's a lot of other people involved people, but that's just a few of them. And since I started listening to these festivals or watching them on TV, I've actually, I think I've downloaded or got the music to listen to because when these people get together, these famous musicians get together, magic happens. And of course, it's put together by the famous guitarist, Eric Clapton.

And I have to tell you when I first heard about this, that I thought, okay, it's named Crossroads Guitar Festival because one of the famous songs that made him famous was the famous Robert Johnson song, Crossroads. That's what you heard at the beginning of this show. But then I realized after reading more and more about it, it's not about the song.

It's about a treatment center in Antigua. And I became more entrenched in wanting to know more about it. So I studied it and I had the privilege one time to talk to the CEO of Crossroads Treatment Center down in Antigua.

His name is Nikos Piratikos. And he told me all about it and how Eric started the treatment center down there, why it's so important. And really, I want you to know this is why they had the festival.

Yes, the music's wonderful. Yes, hearing great musicians play is wonderful. And it's a fun time to go to these things.

But I want to focus on why it's important that they have it in the first place. And that is to raise funds for people to go down for addiction problems down there in Antigua. Now it's been in existence, it'll celebrate its 26th year this year.

And they have helped a lot of people with their addiction problems, their treatment center. And I just can't believe how great it's been for people that get together like these musicians play and the money goes to this wonderful facility down there in Antigua. As I said earlier, I had the privilege of talking to the CEO and I got to know a lot about it.

And here's a little inside baseball for y'all. Yes, I have people that had addiction problems in my family too. So I was, you know, it was important for me to know more about it.

But why am I telling you about it? Let's let the guy that put this all together, talk about why it's important and why there's a Crossroads Festival from the man himself.

[Eric Clapton]

It is composed of the two elements that make up my life apart from my family life, which is so precious to me. I have my career in music and my discovery and research and love of music and the Crossroads Treatment Center. It's small though it is and it's still run on old school methods.

It's not a spa. It's not a health club. It's a 12 step program treatment center, old school.

And there are very few of them left. And that's the one that's the system that's kept me sober for 35 years. And so they're all, you know, when I, when I, when I became a member of that community and realized that that was my responsibly chief responsibility, everything else seemed to click into place and my life became more manageable, you know.

[The Trout]

Well, there you have it from the man himself that's put this all together. And it's been going now with over 26 years at the Crossroads Center down in Antigua. So when you're thinking about, if you're thinking about going to the show, just think about that all the time you're enjoying yourself and all those people that they're playing, you're actually helping people become better, well, better humans, getting over addictions they may have had and, and, you know, devils in their souls, so to speak for their whole life.

And with the help of famous people like Eric Clapton and all the other people that come on stage, they can go there and attend it and become better people. I don't think there's anything better than to say that about it other than that fact. And if you can't make it there, you can actually go right to the Crossroads website and donate.

It is a very worthy cause. And these people donate their time to get out there and rock for you and help humanity. I don't think there's anything else you can say about it.

I can't say enough about Eric Clapton's career. You know all about it. One of the most famous guitarists in my lifetime.

And the fact that he put this together to help people just shows you what kind of human being he is. And along with all those famous musicians that come to the Crossroads Festival. So here's the website.

It's very simple. CrossroadsGuitarFestival.com. CrossroadsGuitarFestival.com.

You could go on there. If you want to order tickets, you can find out more about what time and everything is going on. But there's also a very important donate button on there.

So if you can't make it, think about donating to this wonderful cause. Because here's the thing. This may be the last one.

Nobody knows. Eric just turned 81 years old. And only he can decide when if there's ever going to be another guitar festival.

This is number seven. Lucky number seven. And it could be the last one.

So you may never see it again. You may never hear it again. I know they'll probably put the music out after the fact.

They usually do. And I can't wait to hear it. So thank you Mr. Eric Clapton for doing this and putting these wonderful. And I want to thank all the musicians that are going to show up because we know it's going to be a great show. Remember, help support the Crossroads Guitar Festival by going to that website. Or if you really are lucky, go to the Austin Guitar Festival.

That's it for this episode of the Trash Show. Thank you so much for stopping by. You know, I just want to tell everybody how much I appreciate them listening to these shows.

We're heard now in almost 3,600, listened to in almost 3,600 cities worldwide in 124 countries. Places I've never heard of before. People listening to all these different episodes and I appreciate it very, very much.

If you want to know more about the Trout Show, just go to my website, thetroutshow.com. Everything's there. More podcasts, YouTube, my music.

And of course, if you ever want to get in touch with me and say, how about interviewing somebody that I like, just shoot me an email at rickatthetroutshow.com and I'll see what I can do. So until next time people, you know what I always say, it's only rock and roll, but I love it. See ya.

 Thank you for listening - www.TheTroutShow.com