Thursday, May 25, 2023

The Most Underrated Guitar Player EVER - Robert Cray

 

I discovered Robert Cray in 2005 while watching a DVD of the 2004 Crossroads Festival at a friends house. His song Time Makes Two hit me in a way that made my jaw drop and I was hooked. It was one of the defining moments in my life that added the momentum I needed to get serious about learning how to play the guitar. I still find his music to be filled with the gravity and tones that I want absorb completely. Hopefully this is just a reminder for you to revisit his music, but if Robert Cray is new to you then brace yourself as you check this out! 


Robert Cray live at the crossroads guitar festival...


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Bringing blues music to the Top 40 isn't easy: Only a handful of musicians have done it in the 30 years Robert Cray has spent winning awards, selling millions of records and otherwise kicking around on the national stage. But Cray has, crossing over from blues-club stages to arenas with the double-platinum 1986 album Strong Persuader and its single "Smoking Gun," and has continued to stick around as one of the most reliably gifted and accessible guitarists around. For all the attention Cray receives as an instrumentalist, it's his smooth, smoky voice that really sells his music. Equal parts soul man and blues belter, he presides over a crack band — bassist Richard Cousins, keyboardist Jim Pugh and drummer Tony Braunagel, who performs here by tapping a wooden box — at this Tiny Desk Concert in the NPR Music offices. Like any great blues singer, Cray makes heartache and other romantic dysfunction sound engaging and relatable: Ironically, if not surprisingly, his saddest song here (yes, sadder than "Sadder Days") is the one called "I'm Done Crying." But all three of these tracks, culled from Cray's new album Nothin But Love, execute the deftest possible blend of emotional misery and instrumental majesty — just the way the blues ought to be. Set List "Sadder Days" "(Won't Be) Coming Home" "I'm Done Cryin'"


Robert Cray has won Grammys, sold millions of records and achieved mainstream success with music that fuses blues, soul, rock 'n' roll and more. His most recent album Nothin But Love proves he's as energised and expressive as ever, underlining his position as an all-time great of the electric guitar. Hear what Robert had to say when he sat down with Guitarist magazine in mid-2012. He also brought a Strat along too... Guitarist on Apple Newsstand: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/guita... Subscribe to Guitarist: http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk...


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