Robert Cray - In My Soul on March 31st 2014

Legendary guitar musician and singer-songwriter Robert Cray releases "In My Soul" in the UK on March 31st, 2014 on the Provogue label. This will be the seventeenth studio album for the 5x Grammy winner, 15x Grammy nominee and multi-platinum selling artist.

 

The release of the album will be followed by an extensive UK and European tour that kicks off at the Anvil in Basingstoke, UK on May 2nd.

 

Produced by American multi-instrumentalist, composer, musical director, Grammy Award-winning artist and longtime Cray friend Steve Jordan (John Mayer, Keith Richards), "In My Soul" captures Cray at his finest with an outstanding 10 song collection of Stax and Chess influenced soul and blues that showcases his trademark guitar playing and his extraordinary vocals. A bonus track "Pillow" is also be included on the limited edition CD.

 

From the driving original classic Cray "You Move Me" with its scorching guitar leads, to the melodic 60’s sway of "Fine Yesterday" featuring Cray’s trademark soul drenched vocals, "In My Soul" draws listeners in very quickly.

 

Recorded at Santa Barbara Sound and engineered by Niko Bolas, "In My Soul" features the Otis Redding cover "Nobody’s Fault But My Own" that finds Cray trading vocals with drummer Les Falconer and features a punchy horn ensemble and catchy guitar verse.

 

The moving Cray penned "What Would You Say" pierced with his unique guitars licks, has Cray dreaming about a better world and in traditional Cray fashion asking listeners, "What would you say if we quit waging war, children felt safe to sleep. One of these days we may all learn to talk over a table with something to eat. What would you say? Can we do that? What would you say?" 

 

Longtime band mate Richard Cousins co-wrote the Booker T homage, an instrumental entitled "Hip Tight Onions" as well as the poignant 70’s tinged "Hold On" that talks about relationship perseverance during difficult times. Cries of lost love are told in both "Pillow", the haunting bonus track co-written by Cray and Jerry Friedman as well as "I Guess I’ll Never Know"  - a funky hard driven tune co-written by Falconer.

 

The album also features a version of "Deep In My Soul" a staple in the set list of the great soul and blues singer Bobby Blue Bland as well as a version of the Isaac Hayes / David Porter cover "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)" first recorded by Motown’s Mable John in 1966 and then became a hit single for Lou Rawls in 1969.

 

New Yorker Magazine (Sept 2013) calls Cray "One of the most reliable pleasures of soul and blues for over three decades now… "and Rolling Stone Magazine (4/2012) credited Cray’s "Strong Persuader" album to having reinvented the blues with his "distinct razor sharp guitar playing" that "introduced a new generation of mainstream rock fans to the language and form of the blues".

 

Robert Cray has written or performed with everyone from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan, from Bonnie Raitt to John Lee Hooker.  Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at the age of 57, he is one of the youngest living legends to receive the prestigious honour. With over 12 million records sold and his own line of Fender guitars, Cray has established himself as a genre defining artist- breaking through the pop ceiling with his gate crashing/blues-edged trademark sound and distinct style that has become a signature blend of R&B, pop, rock, soul and traditional blues. 

 

The New York Times says, "His voice, alternately smooth and craggy, is often richer and more emotive than Mr. Clapton’s, and he knows the best ways to use it," while Guitar Player Magazine noted, "Robert Cray is not only making great music, he's making history".

 

Tour Dates: