![\"Issue36-robert-cray\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Issue36-robert-cray.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nWith a compelling mix of blues and R&B, the acclaimed artist is still one strong persuader\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
After 40 years, 17 studio albums and five Grammys, Robert Cray could be forgiven if he were a braggart. After all, he\u2019s shared the stage with Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, Buddy Guy and many more. He\u2019s an ace guitarist and a soulful singer who graced the cover of Rolling Stone<\/i> in 1987. Yet asked if he feels like one of the blues heroes that he looked up to as a kid, he\u2019ll humbly demur.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife says that now that I\u2019m 61, I\u2019m of legendary status,\u201d he says. \u201cI laugh when she says that. I still see myself as that young guy who started playing guitar a very long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cray\u2019s latest album, In My Soul<\/i>, offers a well-tended blend of sinewy blues and classic R&B. Aside from covers made famous by Otis Redding, Lou Rawls and Bobby \u201cBlue\u201d Bland, other entries\u2014notably, \u201cHip Tight Onions\u201d and \u201cI Guess I\u2019ll Never Know\u201d\u2014emulate the sound of Stax Records, and Booker T. and the MGs in particular.<\/p>\n
Cray heaps praise on producer Steve Jordan, a master drummer whose production credits include Keith Richards, Herbie Hancock, Buddy Guy, Boz Scaggs and John Mayer. \u201cSteve was there in the studio with us, not isolated in the control room,\u201d says Cray. \u201cHe was conducting us, giving us pointers\u2014that\u2019s his forte. Steve\u2019s personality just brings out the best in us. He takes you out of your comfort zone and takes you to a place you haven\u2019t been before. And he makes it fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019d say, \u2018Fellas, this is how I want you to approach this song,\u2019 and then he\u2019d change the snare or bass drum, adjust the mics and the amps\u2014even switch up the guitars for a particular song. Steve\u2019s always been about the sound\u2014and whatever it takes to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cray himself knows a thing or two about getting it right. When he emerged on the scene in the early 1980s, he was hailed as a blues savior, someone who could introduce the genre\u2019s timeless traditions to a new generation of enthusiasts. Early albums Bad Influence<\/i> and False Accusations<\/i> proved moderately successful, but his fifth, Strong Persuader<\/i>, was a breakthrough, garnering a Grammy and the Top 30 crossover hit \u201cSmoking Gun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The guitarist caught the ear of Eric Clapton, who invited Cray to join him on tour. And Keith Richards recruited him for the backing band in the 1987 documentary Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roll<\/i>. A decade earlier, Cray landed a cameo in National Lampoon\u2019s Animal House<\/i>, playing bass for the party band Otis Day and the Knights.<\/p>\n
Although the blues continued to command his attention, Cray and his band\u2014bassist Richard Cousins, keyboardist Dover Weinberg and drummer Les Falconer\u2014diversified their approach by embracing R&B. \u201cOur style was a little more straight-ahead in the early days,\u201d says Cray. \u201cSo when Strong Persuader<\/i> came out, some touted it as a blues record even though there\u2019s no blues on that album. But then we began getting grief from the blues purists. It seems you always get grief from people once you become well-known, no matter who you are. Still, it never crossed our minds that we were straying away with any kind of deliberate intent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cray insists his muse has remained consistent. \u201cWhen you look at the overall picture\u2014not just the blues but music in general\u2014it\u2019s songs mainly about broken hearts. It\u2019s a person telling a story. So if you know that, and if you have a story in mind, you go with it. Don\u2019t let anyone tell you it\u2019s been written before, because you\u2019re the one telling the story this time. At least that\u2019s the avenue we take.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Lee Zimmerman<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ROBERT CRAY With a compelling mix of blues and R&B, the acclaimed artist is still one strong persuader\u00a0 After 40 years, 17 studio albums and five Grammys, Robert Cray could be forgiven if he were a braggart. After all, he\u2019s shared the stage with Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[7652,7658],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14647,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14645\/revisions\/14647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}