The Robert Cray Band – In My Soul

I wrote a while back about the ubiquity of Robert Cray in the ’80s, and the thought that here was the bright young star who was going to bring the blues back to the masses – maybe that was a lot to put on one guy, but he had everything he needed to make that happen – talent, skill, looks, charisma, and so much cool. Well, the great blues revival didn’t quite happen, but Robert Cray went on to enjoy a splendid career. Unfortunately, just a little turned off by the ’80s sound that I remembered, even though Robert Cray was my entry point for serious blues music, I didn’t stay with him through the years, preferring instead to focus on his heroes and inspirations, like John Lee Hooker and Buddy Guy.

Well, that was unfair of me! I had heard of this album, which came out to great notices in 2014, but didn’t pick it up at the time and thought little more of it until I ran across it at Forever Changes at the end of 2022. This is … so cool. Produced by the legendary (to me, anyway) Steve Jordan (who has a bit of a Syracuse connection, being married to former PopTart Meegan Voss), this may be the smoothest record in my entire collection. Just effortless, easy, perfect soul and blues, with Cray’s wonderful voice and the smoothest little Fender licks you’ll ever hear in your life. An utterly perfect album, start to finish.