Eric Clapton has spoken about the influence Curtis Mayfield's 1996 album New World Order had on his own record Pilgrim, released the same year, describing it as "great on so many levels". Clapton, long celebrated as one of rock's finest guitarists, spent much of his career prioritising songwriting over technical flash, and by the mid-1990s his approach had shifted further towards emotion and restraint rather than guitar heroics, partly inspired by the R&B production style he heard on Mayfield's record.

Clapton praised Mayfield for working in a "very hip field" despite being older than him, singling out the involvement of production team Organized Noise for giving the album a progressive, urban feel. Rather than borrowing musical style directly, Clapton said the album changed how he thought about the guitar's role, encouraging him to treat it as one voice within a song rather than the main attraction, a philosophy that fed into tracks like Tears in Heaven and the wider Pilgrim album.