Robert Cray Pond

Robert Cray may be a gloriously reliable musician when it comes to live performances, but he has become decidedly erratic when it comes to album releases. For 30 years America’s most successful contemporary blues guitarist and singer-songwriter didn’t release a live album, but now there have been three in just four years. In 2006 there was Live from Across the Pond, recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall when he was opening for Eric Clapton (rather confusingly, the title wasn’t changed for its UK release).

Tin-eared critics have frequently damned him as a yuppie blues wannabe whose slickly soulful offerings bear scant resemblance to the real down-home item. In reality, Robert Cray is one of a precious few young blues-based artists with the talent and vision to successfully usher the idiom into the 21st century without resorting either to slavish imitation or simply playing rock while passing it off as blues. Just as importantly, his immensely popular records helped immeasurably in jump-starting the contemporary blues boom that still holds sway to this day.

Robert Cray is one of a precious few young blues-based artists with the talent and vision to successfully usher the idiom into the 21st century without resorting either to slavish imitation or simply playing rock while passing it off as blues. Just as importantly, his immensely popular records helped immeasurably to jump-start the contemporary blues boom that still holds sway to this day. Blessed with a soulful voice that sometimes recalls '60s-great O.V. Wright and a concise lead guitar approach that never wastes notes, Cray's rise to international fame was indeed a heartwarming one.