By the time he recorded "5" in 1979, Cale had also met singer and guitarist Christine Lakeland, and the LP marks her first appearance on his albums. In the 2005 documentary "To Tulsa and Back", Lakeland says they met backstage at a prison benefit show featuring B.B. King and Waylon Jennings. Cale and Lakeland would later marry. As William Ruhlmann observes in his AllMusic review of the album, “As Cale's influence on others expanded, he just continued to turn out the occasional album of bluesy, minor-key tunes. This one was even sparer than usual, with the artist handling bass as well as guitar on many tracks. Listened to today, it sounds so much like a Dire Straits album, it's scary.” The release of "5" coincided with a remarkable live session with Leon Russell recorded at Russell’s Paradise Studios in June 1979 in Los Angeles. The previously unseen footage was discovered in Nashville in 2001 and features several tracks from "5", including “Sensitive Kind,” “Lou-Easy-Ann,” “Fate of a Fool,” “Boilin’ Pot,” and “Don’t Cry Sister.” Lakeland also performs with Cale’s band. While living in California in the late sixties, Cale worked in Russell’s studio as an engineer. The footage was officially released in 2003 as "J.J. Cale featuring Leon Russell: In Sesison at the Paradise Studios".