Most notably at the time, Carlton performed as a guitarist, composer and producer for two of Germany's biggest rock stars, Peter Maffay and Udo Lindenberg, with whom he recorded thirteen and six albums, respectively.

At the end of the 1980s, Carlton began writing film and television scores, while, in addition, he played guitar for Joe Cocker, Keb Mo, Jimmy Barnes, Eric Burdon, Mother's Finest, Simple Minds and numerous other bands.

In the early 1990s, Carlton and longtime musical partner Bertram Engel, a drummer, formed a band called New Legend,[1] which also included keyboardist Pascal Kravetz and the two Dutch blues rockers Harry de Winter and Peter Bootsman.

The band's inner circle consists of Carlton, guitarist Moses Mo, bassist Wyzard (of the Atlanta funk group Mother's Finest), and Pascal Kravetz.

With more of an international membership than before, the band this time in addition to its core members consisted of Robert Palmer, Levon Helm, Sonny Landreth, Jon Smith, the White Trash Horns, Bobby Keys and Xavier Naidoo.

Also in 2005, Carlton joined Eric Burdon and The Animals and recorded a blues album called Soul of a Man with Ivan Neville, James "Hutch" Hutchinson, Ricky Fataar, and Mike Finnegan.

One of the album's tracks, a cover of Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth", included the voices of Carlton's son, Max Buskohl, and Eric Burdon.

Carl Carlton & the Songdogs backed up more than 50 internationally renowned musicians, who contributed to the song in Levon Helm's studio The Barn in Woodstock, among them Kris Kristofferson, Warren Haynes, Donald Fagen, Keb Mo, Rosanne Cash, Carly Simon, Marianne Faithfull, Jimmy Barnes, Jane Birkin, Eric Burdon, Levon Helm and many others.