ROBERT CRAY

[tony_carey]

I have a lot of favourite blues artistes. My very favourite 'classic' artiste is Albert King....intermediate is without doubt Roy Buchannon, but out of all the great contemporary artistes (of which Buddy Guy, Albert Collins etc are close, close contenders), my favourite has to be Robert Cray. I listen to his albums more than any other.....his voice, gtr style & songwriting all strike a chord with me. When he launches into a full blues solo, he thrills me with his feel & style, which is totaly unique to him. But all though he has millions of fans all over the world, I have become aware that there are also many that don't quite see him as I do....can't understand it!

A friend of mines condemnation was 'he makes a Strat sound like a Strat'!!! What are your thoughts?

[peewee]

Tony, I happen to like him quite a bit myself. The guy has a voice like O.V. Wright, a killer vocabulary of guitar licks and a tone that is so distinguishable that you know right off who it is when you hear it. My favorite recordings are his first two releases on Hightone; Bad Influence and False Accusations. His playing on those two records are unlike anything that was done once he signed with Polydor and his take on Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Don't Touch Me" is every bit as good as the original, IMHO; just a new slant on an already great song. I think of the two, Bad Influence is probably the better LP; some great Soul ballads and fantastic vocals on that one.

I'll never forget the first time I'd heard of him. A friend had just seen a show the night before at the now defunct Wax Museum in Washington, DC and came back raving about these two guitar players who were destined to be the next stars of the Blues; this cat named Robert Cray from Oregon and another guy from Texas by the name of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Believe it or not, the admission price was a scant $5! Well, I think we all know the rest of the story.........

[vito]

I am a huge Cray fan as well. I was able to catch him 3 times last year. I love the way he blends R&B and soul with the blues. I also think his band does not get the credit it deserves. Those guys are spot-on tight and they stand out on their recent live cd.

[soundmasterg]

Robert Cray is from the area around here ( Portland, Oregon) and as such is well known to me. He used to be in a band with Curtis Salgado (very good singer and harp player) and was playing in Eugene, Oregon when Animal House was being filmed. Belushi based his character in the Blues Brothers on Salgado's stage act. Later, Cray and Salgado parted ways and Cray went on to stardom. Cray uses lots of Magnatone amps in the studio and his #1 Strat has a very thick neck and weaker than usual pickups as compared to many Strats. I played his Strat briefly at a local guitar repair shop that he sends his instruments to when they need work and the big thick neck and the weak pickups were what stood out to me. That guitar is his sound right there. He's a very polished player and a really nice guy. I've seen him a couple times live, including at the Curtis Salgado benefit last year before Curtis had his liver transplant. The benefit raised money for the surgery and Robert Cray left a tour with Eric Clapton in Europe to come in here and help his friend out before he rejoined the tour. That says it all about the man right there as far as I'm concerned, but his guitar playing is very tasteful too. Other artists such as Steve Miller and Taj Mahal were at that show as well.

Greg

[charlyg]

The stuff I have heard of Robert's is no great shakes. Maybe I need to listen to a different album. What would be good?

Ps - this has already worked with Funderburke. I didn't care much for him until I heard his best stuff.

[vito]

Charly,

I would recommend either his recent live 2 cd set, "Live from Across the Pond" or an older cd, "I Was Warned". I have just about all of his cd's and to me, his sound hasn't changed a whole lot over the years. Ya either dig it or ya don't.