New Eric Clapton album a happy affair

LONDON, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Eric Clapton says his new album, "Back Home," is the happiest set of songs he's ever recorded.

"I think it's just my state of mind, probably, as much as anything else," says Clapton, 60, a rock guitar legend who began his career in the mid-'60s with the Yardbirds and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times, with that band, Cream and on his own.

"I'm having a good time and a fairly contended kind of life in the middle of disaster all around us. I think the fact that I'm here and I'm OK with me, I'm kind of happy just being me, I've got a feeling I know who I am -- it couldn't be better, really."

Clapton, who's endured past heroin addictions, romantic travails and the 1991 death of his 4-year-old son Conor, now resides in England with his second wife, American-born Melia McEnery, and their two young daughters. He also has a 20-year-old daughter, Ruth, from a previous relationship.

In addition to "Back Home," which comes out Aug. 30, Clapton appears on an Oct. 4 CD and DVD recorded at the Cream's May reunion concerts in London. A New York engagement by the band is rumored but has not been announced.