Whitlock recorded four solo albums during the 1970s, among them Bobby Whitlock and Raw Velvet, and contributed to albums by Clapton, John Lennon, Dr John and the Rolling Stones. He then retired from music until releasing It\'s About Time in 1999. Following his return, Whitlock has recorded and performed with his wife, CoCo Carmel, and since 2006 with other musicians based in Austin, Texas. Among his and Carmel\'s projects, Other Assorted Love Songs, Live from Whitney Chapel contains acoustic interpretations of songs originally recorded by Derek and the Dominos.\n', '

In an article for Mojo magazine in May 2011, music journalist Phil Sutcliffe described Whitlock as having been born in Memphis and learning to play the Hammond organ "peering over Booker T\'s shoulder at Stax studios". While still a teenager, Whitlock befriended acts associated with Stax Records, including Albert King, Sam & Dave, the Staples Singers and Booker T. & the M.G.\'s, and was the first white artist signed to the label. His first contribution to a recording was in 1967, when he supplied handclaps on Sam & Dave\'s single "I Thank You".\n', '

Between 1965 and 1968, Whitlock performed regularly in the Memphis area, playing organ with local soul band the Short Cuts before forming the Counts. In his 2010 autobiography, Whitlock writes of this period in Memphis: "It was a great time and town for music then, especially soul music. It was real rhythm and blues. Albert King R&B, that\'s what I\'m talking about. It was loose and all about music everywhere that you turned." With established Stax musicians such as Steve Cropper as his mentor, and Donald "Duck" Dunn and Don Nix preparing to produce a pop album by him on a Stax subsidiary label, Whitlock instead left Memphis after meeting the husband-and-wife team Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett. Whitlock recalls that he was performing at a club with the Counts when the Bramletts invited him to join a soul-revue band they were forming in Los Angeles.\n', '

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