Back to the Roots (John Mayall album)

Back to the Roots is a 1971 double album by John Mayall released on Polydor. Recording sessions took place both in California and London where Mayall invited some former members of his band, notably guitarists Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor. At the end of the 1980s Mayall remixed some tracks and issued them along with some of the older material as Archives to Eighties. An expanded two-CD version of Back to the Roots now includes both the original and later remixed versions of the tracks.

Besides Mayall, who sang and played piano, harmonica and guitar, the musicians who recorded the original tracks were:

• Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel and Jerry McGee on guitars;
• Larry Taylor and Steven Thompson on bass;
• Keef Hartley and Paul Lagos on drums;
• Don "Sugarcane" Harris on violin;
• Johnny Almond on saxophone and flute.

For Archives to Eighties Mayall recorded new bass and drums tracks played by Bobby Haynes and Joe Yuele.