The tour culminates April 12 and 13 at New York's Madison Square Garden, where Clapton and an all-star cast of fellow guitarists, including former San Diegan Allan Holdsworth, will perform at his Crossroads Guitar Festival 2013. "Old Sock," which features a cover photo of Clapton by Clapton, is a prelude to his upcoming North American concert tour, which begins March 14 in Phoenix but (sadly) bypasses San Diego and the West Coast. While other record labels would be eager to capitalize on such a high-profile partnership, Kaplan downplayed it, the better to avoid detracting attention from Clapton or the album. The company has not issued a press release about its affiliation with Clapton, nor did it approach U-T San Diego about the fact it will be distributing his new album. What Surfdog does not do is engage in hype. “We try to be laser-focused for the artists we work with.” “We’re tenacious and ferocious when we believe in something, and we do it with good old-fashioned hard work,” said Kaplan, whose 12-member staff takes surfing breaks with him on an almost daily basis. He prides himself on his long-term relationships with Surfdog artists, most notably former Stray Cats’ leaded Brian Setzer, who Kaplan began managing 21 years ago and who has since released 17 albums on Surfdog.
Phoenix-native Kaplan, 53, moved here from Los Angeles with his family in 1995, two years after he launched Surfdog in a Venice Beach garage. The record label and his management company have since been augmented by Surfdog Music Publishing & Licensing, Surfdog Entertainment Marketing, Surfdog Merchandising and Surfdog’s Java Hut, a “smoothies, coffee and grub” place on Highway 101 in Encinitas. Surfdog Records was founded by Kaplan as an outgrowth of his Dave Kaplan Management company. "Dave Kaplan and his associates at Surfdog have great ideas and a tremendous amount of energy," Campbell told Billboard magazine last year.
One of those artists is Glenn Campbell, whose second album for the Encinitas label is due out in June. It’s entirely up to Surfdog to (ensure) that any artist we work with wouldn’t want to go anywhere else.” I strongly intend to show them they made the right decision. “My whole mission now is to make sure they know they made the right decision and chose the place that would do the best job for Eric and this album. “It’s an honor because it’s not often you get a chance to work with rock ’n’ roll royalty,” said Surfdog founder Dave Kaplan. But Clapton is, without doubt, the most famous and celebrated musician to be affiliated with Surfdog in the label’s 20-year history. Since being launched in 1993, the Encinitas company has released more than 100 albums by such diverse acts as Brian Setzer, Joss Stone, Glen Campbell, The Stray Cats, Jamaican reggae singer Pato Banton and such San Diego bands as The Burning of Rome, B-Side Players and Slightly Stoopid. Obviously, Clapton and his people did due diligence and feel comfortable (Surfdog) is up to the job.” “You have an extremely well-established artist putting his faith and confidence into a small boutique company. “It’s absolutely a coup for Surfdog,” said Gary Bongiovanni, the publisher of Pollstar, the concert industry’s largest weekly magazine. The rest of the album mixes classics by Leadbelly ("Goodnight Irene"), George Gershwin ("Our Love Is Here to Stay") and the Ted Daffan-penned Hank Snow/Ray Charles gem ("Born to Lose") with more recent songs by Cale, Taj Mahal, Gary Moore and others. The album features a dozen songs, two of which ("Gotta Get Over" and "Every Little Thing") are new. It will be the first album to be released on Clapton’s new Bushbranch Records label - and his first to be distributed by Surfdog. Cale, a longtime musical hero of Clapton’s. “Old Sock” features guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood and Valley Center singer-songwriter J.J. But for his new album - “Old Sock,” due out March 12 - he has teamed up with Surfdog Records of Encinitas to exclusively distribute the album in the United States and Canada. The only musician to be inducted three times into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, guitar legend Eric Clapton has recorded for some of the world’s biggest record companies since launching his solo career in 1970.
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