Upon regrouping, the four musicians started Derek & the Dominos as a blues-rock group focused on forming ideas at a natural pace and reveling in their relaxed friendship. After welcoming guitarist Dave Mason and coming up with their new band name, a rushed idea-turned-bungled onstage introduction, Derek & the Dominos played their first show and then entered the studio in June 1970 to record the singles “Tell the Truth” and “Roll It Over” with Phil Spector. That fall, after Mason’s departure, they hit up producer Tom Dowd to track their debut full-length: the 1970 double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.
Together, Whitlock and Clapton wrote effortlessly romantic blues-rock hits like “Bell Bottom Blues” and “Layla,” the latter a seven-minute sprawler that, belatedly, became a staple of classic rock radio and a highlight of Clapton’s career overall. They only recorded one studio LP together, but it’s since considered to be a classic of the genre for its songwriting and performances – including one from the Allman Brothers Band’s Duane Allman, who brought extensive contributions on lead and slide guitar, although he was not technically a member of the band. Halfway through writing their second album, Derek & the Dominos dissolved in a fit of tension and depression following the death of numerous friends in the months prior; Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident, and Jimi Hendrix died suddenly in his girlfriend’s apartment.
Whitlock’s songwriting ideas continued to flow freely, and he returned to the studio to start his own solo career. He released his self-titled debut studio album in 1972 and followed it with Raw Velvet later that same year. He went on to record four more solo albums, a few live LPs, and a handful of collaborative full-lengths with his partner Coco Carmel. Whitlock also steadily contributed to other artists’ records, including Dr John’s The Sun, Moon & Herbs, Clapton’s The History of Eric Clapton, and Manassas’ Down the Road. Whitlock also famously appeared, uncredited, on the Rolling Stones’ 1972 essential Exile on Main St.
In 2024, Whitlock was awarded a Brass Music Note on Memphis’ own Beale Street Walk of Fame for his work. “My business is to try to conduct myself as a decent person and a gentleman as much as I can, get through this world, navigate through this without making too many waves. But when you make them, make them big – ones to remember,” Whitlock told local paper Everything Knoxville. “I know the role that I’ve been playing in everyone’s music that I was a part of. Because my addition made that music mine as well – whether it’s a Jeff Healy record or whatever. I put my stamp on it.”
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