Guy Robert

The 1996 concert video A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan gathers Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, B.B. King, Art Neville, Dr. John, and brother Jimmie Vaughan to celebrate the talent and life of the modern electric blues guitar virtuoso. Double Trouble and the Tilt-a-Whirl Band support these stars as they interpret Vaughan's songbook in an 80-minute concert; brief interviews with the featured artists enrich the proceedings with even more respect and affection. Highlights of Vaughan's performance on the PBS series Austin City Limits hit home just how great a talent was lost when he was killed in 1990. Ultimately, though, A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan focuses on the uplifting memory of his warmth and musical gifts, keeping them alive with the help of his very able friends.

It's hard to say that Buddy Guy's career was revived by his appearance in the Rolling Stones' Shine a Light, but his mesmerizing duet on Muddy Waters' "Champagne and Reefer" in that Martin Scorsese concert film was a bracing, welcome reminder of just how good Guy is, especially for listeners who may have let their attention wander in the years since Damn Right, I've Got the Blues. What made Guy so riveting was his coiled aggression: in stark contrast to the deferential Jack White, he came to cut the Stones down and he did so mercilessly, which made it the musical highlight of a show with plenty of great moments. That wildness has kept Buddy Guy unpredictable well into his senior citizenship, and it surfaces on Skin Deep, only perhaps not quite as often as it should…

Buddy Guy's career and discography have been marked by inconsistency. Especially since his high-profile comeback in the early '90s, it seems he's been all too willing to turn over creative control on his albums, both for better and worse. Even just looking at the covers of those albums bears this out: 1991's Damn Right I've Got the Blues has him dressed in your basic '90s casual dress, but the next album has him wearing overalls! Anyone who saw Guy live any number of times before that album was released would realize that he never wore overalls. Then fast forward to the neo-psychedelic look of Heavy Love. The productions themselves have been similarly schizophrenic: big glossy guest star-laden albums to a heavy blues-rock sound to deep modal electric blues to acoustic albums. Well, this time out, drummer/session man Steve Jordan is in the producer's chair, and it seems that he wanted to give Guy a more contemporary sound…

With each new release, the clothes of an old bluesman fit Guy Davis more and more comfortably. By now the blues are completely a part of who he is, so when he reworks an old Sleepy John Estes song into the opener, "Limetown," it feels completely natural; even with the familiar "Rollin' And Tumblin'" riff. He mixes it up well between covers and originals, taking in quite a range – there's John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, and Blind Lemon Jefferson all sitting amicably together in his style; as well as some pieces like "Step It Up And Go" that are just plain old. His own material is less familiar, of course, but just as good, with the careful (if not wholly accurate) patina of age about it. Perhaps the best thing about Davis is that he never tries to be something he's not; there's no fake Southern accent. What you hear is what you get. And while he's hardly the guitar genius that Charley Patton and Robert Johnson were, he's more than adequate, and his excellent band backs him up solidly and subtly, never stepping out too far. There's plenty of talent in Davis, but there's also an obvious and deep love for the blues, especially the rural country blues, and he brings to his music a real timelessness. The man just keeps getting better and better.

She is a piano legend, he has collaborated as a soloist with all leading conductors and orchestras around the world. Now Martha Argerich and Guy Braunstein come to the Pierre Boulez Saal with their first-ever duo program—an artistic encounter that promises to be an extraordinary musical experience.

For Delta Crossroads, Robert Lockwood Jr., a former student of Robert Johnson, returns to his Delta blues roots. This 16-track album features Lockwood with only his 12-string acoustic guitar. It is rather strange hearing old Delta blues sung by one of its originals on a modern recording. All of the notes from the guitar are clear. Plus, his voice isn't scuffed up by the scratches and pop of the vinyl recording. Lockwood plays a mix of Robert Johnson tunes, a few of his own, and some blues standards including "C.C. Rider." With its high production quality and Lockwood's unique and possibly near-extinct style of singing, Delta Crossroads is a strong testament to the endurance of a Delta blues original.

Of all Robert Cray albums, over a career that has now spanned 20 years, this is the one I keep coming back to time and time again. I Was Warned is not one of Robert Cray's more critically acclaimed or commercially successful albums, yet for me it's a handsome, undemanding record that is full of great songs and superb playing. As a practitioner of the blues, Cray has been instrumental in it's re-emergence as a popular art-form in the 80's and 90's, however he has never considered himself to be a 'bluesman' - preferring to call his sound a blues/soul/rock hybrid. I Was Warned tends towards soul and rock. There is a definite feel-good factor to 'Just A Loser' and 'I'm A Good Man', both carry an irresistable groove and Cray clearly revels in his everyman tales of love and life. 'The Price I Pay' is a meditation on fading love, it is one of Cray's finest ballads - a side of his music that seems to get overlooked. 'On The Road Down' is blisteringly good also and showcases some fine guitar-work.