From what I’ve read, Jim’s drug use aggravated his mental illness, which had been long undiagnosed. According to Bobby Whitlock, Clapton and Jim did not get along, especially when they went on tour. After their first tour Whitlock remained in England (waiting for Clapton to come out of his own house---where he was shooting heroin---and start working on a second Derek & The Dominos album. When it bacame apparent to Bobby that that was not going to happen, he returned to the States, getting himself his own record deal.), living in one of Ringo’s houses.
Bobby and Keith Moon became drinking buddies, but when asked about playing music with Moon Whitlock said no, it was Bobby’s style of drumming that he preferred. Bobby had started out as a drummer, and loved that Southern "feel", also heard in the playing of Roger Hawkins, the drummer of The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section/aka The Swampers.. To hear Roger’s drumming, listen to "Loan Me A Dime" by Boz Scaggs, Paul Simon’s There Goes Rhymin’ Simon album, or any of the Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett albums on Atlantic Records (Atlantic record producer Jerry Wexler took both to Muscle Shoals expressly to record with The Swampers). A master’s class in drumming!
Did ya’ll know that Jim Gordon and Roger Hawkins were for a time the 2-drummer rhythm section (along with fellow Swamper David Hood on bass) of Traffic? Seeing Jim and Roger playing together? Daaaaamn!