By Rosalind Cummings-Yeates
ROBERT & HAYES
I t’ s been over 30 years since Robert Cray blazed into the ' 80s blues revival with his seminal album, Strong Persuader( High Tone). He managed to harness a pivotal moment in blues culture where renewed visibility pushed the music into mainstream attention for the first time in decades. But along with the sold out shows, with a cover of Bill Withers“ The Same Love That Made Me Laugh,” complete with churchy organ and Southern-fried belting, the magic is clear. The spirits of Wright and Clay must surely have been floating around because the effect of Robert’ s reverence for Memphis blues and soul, paired with seamless Memphis musicians channeled some
Robert Cray
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crossover hits and Grammy’ s came accusations that Robert’ s brand of blues was watered down and more of a hybrid of soul and rock. Despite playing blues guitar with the soul of Albert King and penning contemporary blues tunes that haunt the most jaded listener, Robert has never received his due with blues purists. He doesn’ t fit into the narrow“ down home blues” box that many artists are forced into but that’ s a good thing. It may be because his crooning is a little bit too smooth and his playing a tad too effortless that encourages so much oversight but 18 albums and five Grammys later the Robert Cray sound is still grounded in blues. His current CD, Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm( Jay-Vee) digs even deeper into the Memphis influences that has colored his music from the beginning.
Memphis has always been at the heart of Robert Cray’ s music. From his great admiration of Memphis soul blues legend O. V Wright, to his collaboration with the renowned Memphis Horns on three of his albums, traces of Grind City are all over Robert Cray. So it makes sense that he headed to Memphis’ s fabled Royal Studios( home to the Hi Records sound of O. V. Wright, Al Green, Otis Clay, Syl Johnson and Ann Peebles) to record Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm. The 11-track collection showcases his facility with obscure blues and soul covers as well as his songwriting skill on three standouts.
With producer / drummer Steve Jordan spearheading the project, the surviving members of the Hi Rhythm section – Rev. Charles Hodges( piano, organ,) Leroy“ Flick” Hodges( bass) and Archie“ Hubbie” Turner on keyboards were recruited along with Royal Studio’ s background singers, horns and strings to turn out the ultimate contemporary blues / soul album. Kicking off sort of classic and contemporary blues juju.“ You Must Believe in Yourself” with its funky horn blasts and soul shouts is a straight up O. V. Wright homage and Sir Mack Rice’ s‘ I Don’ t Care” gets flaming guitar riffs to set it apart.
But Robert has always been the sort of blues musician who believes in progressing the genre and not just reinterpreting classic tunes. The CD’ s showstopper is actually his original blues stomp“ How Low Can You Go,” a pointed and political tune that opens with a few bars of the national anthem and then drives into a funky blues beat with Robert singing:“ why you want to pull us down / separate / we come with all kinds of customs and colors and features / that’ s what makes this country great / united / do you know what that means / why you want to go from town to town / gassing up with gasoline / one never knows / just how low someone can go.” If critics can’ t recognize that as a piece of blues perfection, they need to go back and study the messages of electric blues pioneers.
The album also features another original standout, the heart wrenching blues ballad” You had My Heart,” which showcases Robert’ s ability to transmit emotions with his voice and his guitar. There’ s also a fun tribute to the 5 Royales with a full on doo wop jump blues number“ I’ m With You Pt. 1” and then closing out with the smoldering guitar and vocal send off of‘ I’ m With You Pt. 2.” Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm deserves a place in every blues fans collection.
With a history that extends back to slavery, there are many blues musicians that are lost to time and flimsy recordings. Hayes McMullan might have been included in that group but his talent and
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