If ever there was an artist who firmly stood at the intersection of rhythm and blues, it’s Robert Cray. While the Georgia native has earned numerous accolades (and Grammys) for his acumen as a blues artist, Cray’s vocal and playing style is far more reflective of his deep and abiding love of soul music.
So it goes with his latest album, That’s What I Heard. While this collection features its share of original numbers penned by Cray, there are a few obscure R&B covers the 71-year-old was inspired to cover by longtime friend Steve Jordan, who reunited with Cray to play drums and produce this set.
“We once again had the opportunity to work with Steve Jordan, which is always a good thing; we started talking about songs,” Cray recalled. “He told me about this CD [Groove & Grind: Rare Soul] and said I should order it, which I did. It’s a compilation of old R&B tunes, from which we got two songs for this record. We got My Baby Likes to Boogaloo and another one called Do It.
“Upon hearing the first track on that compilation, I called Steve and told him I had to do that song. He said he knew it and that he was going to play drums on it. That set us in the mood. We started looking at tunes after that. Steve came up with the idea of maybe doing a gospel tune, so I went to the record pile and came up with the Sensational Nightingales song, Burying Ground. The band started putting songs together, I started thinking of other cover songs, and Curtis Mayfield and Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland came up. That’s how it came about. But Steve always sets the mood.”
For this album, Cray and Jordan did a deep dive, with the aforementioned “Boogaloo” and the 1971 Bill Sha-Rae representing hard-edged funk, with a bonus being the six-string contributions of guest guitarist Ray Parker Jr. (who played in Sha-Rae’s band as a teenager) lending some grit to the proceedings.
“We were all in the control room watching this cat work and he was hitting it hard,” Cray shared.
Elsewhere, the inclusion of Burying Ground was a nod to Sundays from Cray’s youth, when his parents reserved the stereo for spinning numerous gospel records. As someone who inherited the blues elder statesman mantle from idols like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Albert Collins, all of whom Cray had played with years ago, he sees this blending of sounds as part of the evolution of the blues that he’s seen occurring in the past few decades.
“There’s all kinds of stuff going on. There are a whole lot of younger cats playing guitar and coming out. People are playing acoustic-style blues, and there are many female singers now, which is great,” he said. “I spoke with someone earlier today, and we mentioned that the music is changing because it’s supposed to. It’s incorporating a lot of other genres mixed into it, because nobody is an Albert Collins, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, or anybody like that. It’s a whole new world now, and I’m glad people are picking up on the old, putting their stamp on that, and adding their own thing to it.”
Cray’s own musical journey had him playing piano as a child. That is until he caught The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. Cray switched to guitar at 12 and spent his teen years growing up in Tacoma, WA. While playing the West Coast college circuit and collaborating with fellow blues artist Curtis Salgado in the Cray-Hawks, Cray got cast as an uncredited bass player in Otis Day and the Knights, the house band in the 1978 film Animal House.
By the ‘80s, he’d built his reputation as a live artist in Europe and the United States. He eventually found crossover success with Strong Persuader, his 1986 major label debut, which also yielded the hit crossover single Smokin’ Gun. Over time, he’s shared stages with Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Stevie Ray Vaughan––all while compiling quite a canon.
Over time, he’s seen quite a change in the music industry.
“You don’t get all that support you used to get from the record companies. That seems to be gone, where you had these big family-type situations. It’s a big change. You hope you can sell something online that more people might get hold of,” he said.
That said, his approach to playing live music hasn’t changed, and he still enjoys it immensely. His touring plans include heading to Europe for a string of dates in April after a quick run through the East Coast.
“We go out and have fun—that’s what it’s all about. We change the set-list up every night, except for a few tunes that we do,” he said. “In the end, you’re on the stage because [fans] like what you do. They don’t tell you that, but you’re on the stage because they like what you do. So, you should do what you do and love what you do.”
Robert Cray will appear on April 12 at The Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts, 71 E. Main St., Patchogue. For more information, visit www.patchougetheatre.com or call 631-207-1313.
