Eric Clapton Meets the New Martin Signature Guitars for the Crossroads 2026 Collection

In this exclusive Guitar Center interview, Clapton gets his first look at the Martin guitars created for his signature Crossroads 2026 Collection. Presented by his longtime friend Michael Doyle, the two explore the Martin 000-42 EC and Martin 000-13 EC acoustic-electric while discussing Clapton’s passionate connection to acoustic guitars—from the blues musicians who first inspired him, to his world-shaking performance on MTV Unplugged in 1992 and beyond.

“I started on the acoustic,” says Clapton. “And when I practice, I practice on an acoustic. It makes you play a certain way. I always revert to what I heard as a kid that made me want to play, and that was acoustic blues.”

Clapton’s Favorite Acoustic Guitar Shape

“I still find it difficult to play a dreadnought,” admits Clapton. “It’s the space it takes up and the bottom end is so big. It’s a strummer. But when I saw the 000 model, I thought, ‘That’s the most beautiful shape. Picasso could have done that, you know. I just think 000 Martins are the most superb guitars—that’s the shape and the concept for me.”

The Album Clapton Didn’t Want Released

“I didn’t want it out,” Clapton says of Unplugged. “I bet [Warner Bros. Records president] Lenny Waronker $100 it wouldn’t even go into the Top 50 album charts.”

“Eric, that physical album alone—not including current streaming numbers—sold 26 million copies."

“Well, I had a real aversion to it for a long time,” answers Clapton. “Then, I found out over the next 20 years or so that the Clapton on that album is the one people know. Because, a lot of what I was doing before Unplugged was either too far one way or too underground or too pop-y. And I thought, ‘Well, I have to listen to this again. So, yeah, I have to acknowledge it, but I still have a funny thing about it. It’s just a little bit polite or something to me.”

Acoustic Blues Beginnings

Clapton fascination with acoustic blues brought him under the spell of players such as Big Bill Broonzy, Josh White, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. But it is Robert Johnson who he reveres to this day.

“Everybody ought to know his name,” says Clapton. “Everyone should know who this man was, because, for me, he opened it all up. I mean, I thought I’d heard everything until I heard him perform ‘Crossroads.’ Looking at ‘Crossroads’ as a name [for Clapton’s recovery facility in Antigua and his guitar festival], it’s all connected to that buzz I got from hearing him for the first time.”

At the Crossroads …

Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival is quite an experience—especially as it appears somewhat irregularly. It’s always a charitable event for Clapton’s Crossroads Centre drug treatment facility in Antigua, and it’s constantly a cauldron of stellar, up and coming and iconic guitar talent.

If you want to dig into a few of the articles Guitar Center has written on the festival, here are some excellent options to kick off your reading: Eric Clapton: Music Saved My Life, Backstage at Eric Clapton’s 2019 Crossroads Guitar Festival and Crossroads Guitar Festival 2026.