Eric Clapton: Slowhand at the Crossroads.
‘In order to keep what I had, I had to give it away. In order to stay sober, I had to help others get sober. This is the main principle that governs my life today.’ — Eric Clapton

On September 20^th and 21^st 2019, Eric Clapton held his fifth Crossroads Guitar Festival.  The event was held to raise funds for the Crossroads Centre in Antigua.  An extraordinary array of guitar talent, seldom seen in one location at one time, appeared before packed audiences at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.   The audiences were treated to two days of extraordinary musicianship and musical collaboration.  Many of the performers seemed just as starstruck as members of the audience.

While the Festival was an extraordinary event from a musical perspective, what made the event even more special was the cause—funding for the treatment of substance and alcohol addiction.

Mr. Clapton’s story, as chronicled in Clapton: The Autobiography and the feature length documentary Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, is marked by rejection, emotional pain, despair, and tragedy that fueled a decades-long addiction to drugs and alcohol. It is also a story of ultimate victory and triumph. The Festival, and the rehabilitation centre it supports, symbolizes a journey where gut-wrenching tragedy was transformed into a positive and inspiring force for good.

‘On My Own’

On March 30, 1945, a sixteen-year old girl, Patricia (Pat) Clapton, gave birth to a baby boy in the wooded county of Surrey, just south of London, England. The baby’s father was not present.  The 24-year old married Canadian soldier had returned to his native country while Pat was pregnant.

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