Provogue Records artist: Robert Cray - Nothin' But Love - New Release Review

I just received a copy of the new release (UK date August 27, 2012), Nothin' But Love by Robert Cray. It's unbelievable that this is actually Cray's 16th album and it's as fresh as his first. The recording opens with (Won't Be) Coming Home with Cray's signature soulful smooth vocals and gripping guitar work. Cray has carved a niche for himself to where his music is totally distinguishable from everyone else with only a few notes yet preserves it's freshness and unique character. Robert crafts stories of torn love affairs set to R&B based blues track. Worry has a little quicker pace and Cray weaves his story punctuated with clean knife like guitar riffs. On I'll Always Remember You You Cray slows it down and presents his beautiful guitar work behind a full brass section. Using a smooth jazzy swing Cray directs a very seductive musical track that is evenly balanced between instrumental and vocal components. The guitar soloing on this track is particularly interesting. Side Dish is a fast tempo R&B style track with hot blues riffs on guitar. A Memo gets back into the R&B groove and Robert's signature sound. Possibly the airplay track from this release with more vocal orientation and blending of voices. Blues Get Off Of My Shoulder follows a smooth jazz line again with Cray in fine style on vocal and guitar. Tracks like this set Cray up for nice soloing opportunities. Fix This crosses over almost into Reggae with his R&B blues sound. It really has a cool beat and Cray is always molding the track to create increased interest. This is another track that is primarily vocally oriented and more likely to see broad airplay. Possibly my favorite track on the recording, I'm Done Cryin' is a slower blues style track with shimmering backing of his vocal and guitar. Cray has a cool ability to build tracks up slowly from the bottom with more and more anticipation of the deep soulful guitar rip. Great Big Old House has a strong R&B influence, Cray telling the painful story in a way that he has become famous for. Another contender for massive airplay. Cray completes the recording with Sadder Days, a story of lost love. Guitar is woven into the track punctuating his efforts rather than leading them. This is a very creative effort by Cray and one that I am sure will excite existing Cray fans as well as generate a new following as well.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Robert Cray streams new single "(Won't Be) Coming Home"

Pre-order the album from the Robert Cray Shop

Five-time Grammy award winning legend and Blues Hall of Fame Inductee Robert Cray is pleased to announce that his brand new studio album Nothin But Love will be released in the UK by Provogue Records on Monday August 27th.

Produced by Kevin Shirley (Joe Bonamassa, Aerosmith, The Black Crowes), the ten-song album includes material written by all four Robert Cray Band members; Robert Cray (vocals/guitar), Jim Pugh (keyboards), Cray Band co-founder Richard Cousins (bass) and Tony Braunagel (drums). The new album blends blues, rock, soul and jazz, with a lyric-sheet that examines the triumphs, fallouts and follies of love.

Nothin But Love is Cray’s sixteenth studio album and marks the latest milestone in a career that has produced 15 Grammy award nominations (5 wins), over 12 million record sales worldwide, thousands of sold out concerts across the globe, and even his own signature line of Fender guitars.

Produced with what Shirley refers to as “the dirt under the fingernails,” Nothin But Lovewas recorded live over two-weeks at the Revolver Studios in LA. The album features the soaring break-up blues of Won’t Be Coming Home, the jazz chops of I’ll Always Remember You, the soul-drenched ode to repossession that is Great Big Old House and the frantic ’50s-flavoured rocker Side Dish.

Since the release of his 1986 break-out album Strong Persuader, Cray has been Blues rock royalty. He has performed and recorded alongside the best in the business - from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughn, from Bonnie Raitt to John Lee Hooker. Cray was recently inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at the age of 57; making him the youngest living legend to receive the prestigious honour.

ROBERT CRAY - BIOGRAPHY

With 5 Grammy Awards, 15 nominations, over 12 million of records sold worldwide, and thousands of sold out performances, rock blues icon Robert Cray is considered “one of the greatest guitarists of his generation.” Rolling Stone Magazinein their April 2011 issue credits Cray with reinventing 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” with the release of his Strong Persuader album in 1986.

Since then, Cray has gone on to record fifteen Billboard charting studio albums and has written or performed with everyone from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan, from Bonnie Raitt to John Lee Hooker. Recently inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at the age of 57, he is the youngest living legend to receive the prestigious honor. And while he can look back over an astonishing three-decade career punctuated by his trademark sound and distinct playing style, Robert Cray is too busy moving forward on an amazing journey that has him releasing his sixteenth studio album and embarking on yet another world tour.

Nothin But Lovewill be released on August 27, 2012 and will be both his first collaboration with the Provogue Records label and super-producer Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, The Black Crowes, Joe Bonamassa). This ten-song stand includes material from all four Robert Cray Band members; Cray (vocals/guitar), Jim Pugh (keyboards), Richard Cousins (bass) and Tony Braunagel (drums) that blends blues, rock, soul and jazz with a lyric-sheet that examines the triumphs, fallouts and follies of love.

“Kevin did an amazing job producing this album and I’m really happy with the outcome,” says Cray, “he captured the real essence of the Robert Cray Band, that live energy we deliver on the road that is usually so difficult to nail down in the studio. I think it’s one of the strongest records that we’ve done.”

And he’s right. In terms of production, long-time fans will be thrilled with a recording featuring what Shirley calls “the dirt under the fingernails.” Recorded live over a two-week burst at the Revolver Studios in LA, Nothin But Love features the soaring breakup blues of “Won’t Be Coming Home”, the jazz chops of “I’ll Always Remember You”, the soul-drenched ode to repossession that is “Great Big Old House” to the frantic ’50s-flavoured rocker “Side Dish.”

Cray still remembers the first love that led him here. “My dad was in the army, so we moved around quite a bit,” he explains. “I had a lot of time and the guitar became my friend. Also, when I first picked up a guitar, The Beatles were just out, and that’s why I got one. That’s why a lot of kids got guitars. The whole atmosphere of that time was, ‘Hey, I learnt this’. ‘Well, let me show you this…’ So that’s what sparked my interest, and it never really went away.”

Cray cites Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy and B.B. King as formative guitar influences, alongside singers like Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, but just as pivotal for the aspiring bluesman was witnessing Albert Collins play a set at his high-school dance.

It was that Collins performance that led to the formation of the Robert Cray Band in 1974, a four piece touring band featuring Cray on lead vocals and guitar and longtime friend Richard Cousins on bass, whose thrillingly modern take on the blues was the talk of the circuit, even if the singer was a bit of an introvert on stage. “I just couldn’t speak to the audience,” says Robert with a smile, “so Richard would do all the introductions. These days I think I’m better at it.” In 1976 after two years of touring and in the first of many pinch-yourself moments the band was invited to be the house band for Albert Collins; a stellar musical apprenticeship and schoolboy fantasy that lasted over 18 months.

Opening their account with 1980’s Who’s Been Talkin’, the Robert Cray Band fired off three albums in quick succession, and although 1985’s False Accusations hijacked the charts and won an industry blues award, it was the following year’s Strong Persuader that achieved lift-off, hitting a US#13 chart position that was unprecedented for a blues record in the synthesizer age. “I guess Strong Persuader just captured a good spirit and energy,” Cray reflects. “People are still calling out for some of those songs at shows. It gave us a good springboard. I guess it was the songs, but it was also the era, because radio and MTV gave us a foothold, and we had videos out too.”

Cray had arrived in the big league. As singles like “Smoking Gun” scaled the singles charts across the planet and word spread of his incendiary live shows, his name began to be mentioned in the same breath as the blues heavyweights, and he was regularly to be found working alongside them. He spent the years that followed guesting on Eric Clapton’s Journeyman album, jamming live with Keith Richards, appearing in Tina Turner’s TV special Break Every Rule, posthumously inducting Howlin’ Wolf into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, and supplying solos for the late John Lee Hooker. “We became good friends,” says Cray of this latter hero. “We were with the same agency, so we did a lot of shows together. I went to Japan with John Lee and watched as the Japanese fans mobbed him. It was fantastic. He was a real one-off.”

The oft-quoted line reads ‘bluesmen improve with age’, and Cray’s evolving output through the next two decades gives weight to the theory. “In the ’90s, we had the I Was Warned album (1992), and then Sweet Potato Pie (1997), which was a Memphis kind of thing that got into the soul bag,” he recalls. “I really liked those two records: there was some good songwriting.”

In 2000 he took home a Grammy for the album Take Your Shoes Off and went on to release two additional Grammy nominated albums Twenty (2005) featuring the poignant anti-Iraq war song of the same name, and This Time (2009) featuring the soul drenched favorite “I Can’t Fail.” The following year, the Robert Cray Band release the live album Cookin’ In Mobile (2010) and once again toured worldwide to sellout crowds.

“We have been very lucky,” says Cray, “with music becoming mostly digital in recent years and artists not selling the same number of physical records, we’re afforded the luxury of having a great loyal and amazing fan base around the world, allowing a band like ours to continue to work.”

It’s quite a humble and unassuming statement, given his illustrious career – but that’s always been Cray’s style. He doesn’t take anything for granted, doesn’t rest on his laurels. So on this sixteenth studio release, Robert Cray is once again laying down his cards, testing his talent, fusing that dazzling voice to some of the most powerful material in his three-decade back catalogue and offering his fans Nothin But Love.

Nothin’ But Love is not the kind of album you have a casual fling with. It’s the kind of album you fall for.

Listen to “(Won’t Be) Coming Home” Here

Anytime - The Robert Cray Band

The five-time Grammy Award winner summarized 35 years of mastery on the debut Nozzle release Live From Across the Pond (2006), an electrifying two-CD concert set drawn from a series of shows (opening for Eric Clapton) at London’s Royal Albert Hall. When the time came to follow up that widely praised collection with a studio recording, Cray viewed it as an opportunity to move his sound in other directions.

He found exactly what he was looking for by turning to one of his oldest friends and colleagues: bassist Richard Cousins, whose tenure with the Robert Cray Band began with its barnstorming regional origins in Eugene, Oregon, in 1974 and extended through 1991, encompassing such early high-water marks as Strong Persuader (1986) and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1988), both winners of the best contemporary blues performance Grammy.

I’ve known Richard for 40 years,” Cray says. “We go back to 1969, and we grew up in the same area together. We’ve always had a really good rapport together stage-wise. Richard and I have remained the best of friends ever since he departed way back in ’91. I’d still see Richard, whether it was in the States or in Europe – where he still lives. He’d always come to see us at the gigs. We always remained close. We talked on the telephone all the time.

“It just so happened that last year, I wanted to make personnel changes in the band. So I asked Richard to come back.

”

Cousins’ return to the Cray fold bonds him once again with keyboardist Jim Pugh, a cornerstone of the guitarist’s group since 1989.

In the hunt for a new drummer, Cray – with encouragement from Cousins—struck on a musician whose style and experience perfectly complemented his own: the road-tested Tony Braunagel, whose résumé includes work with Bonnie Raitt (including her Grammy-winning Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw), Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo’, and B.B. King.

Cray recalls, “I’d seen Tony work in a lot of different situations before. My first real opportunity to play with him was three years ago, when we did a benefit up in Portland, Oregon, for our friend Curtis Salgado. Tony was playing drums there, and Richard was there, too – they were the rhythm section. Richard was working really well with Tony, and they were kind of fronting the whole jam. It was great. I was talking to Richard after he’d rejoined the group, and I said, ‘We need to find a drummer.’ He just went, ‘Tony!’”

The refreshed lineup of Cray, Cousins, Pugh, and Braunagel came together at Santa Barbara Sound Design in Santa Barbara, California, to record what became This Time. Cray produced (though he notes, “Every time I produce, it’s like a communal effort”), with Don Smith engineering.

Cray says of the sessions, “I really looked forward to it—to how Richard and I were going to gel together after having not played together for a long time, and to bringing Richard back to work with Jim, because we did all get a chance to work together for two years, before Richard left—and then having Tony come in.

“Richard and Jim and myself have all known each other for a while, but when we added Tony to the mix, it was like, ‘Hey, where you been?’ We all get along really, really well. It was fun, and everybody brought something to the table. Tony’s interpretation of what we were doing was just spot-on, and of course, with his background, all the music that he’d listened to and played coincided with the music we’ve listened to and played over the years. It was like the perfect hand in the glove.”

All of the band members contributed fresh material to This Time. Cray brought in the title track, “Chicken in the Kitchen,” “I Can’t Fail,” and “Trouble and Pain,” and co-wrote “Forever Goodbye” with his wife Sue Turner-Cray. Pugh authored “Love 2009” and “To Be True.” Cousins and the Swiss soul/blues musician Hendrix Ackle collaborated on “Truce.” And Braunagel and guitarist Johnnie Lee Schell co-authored “That’s What Keeps Me Rockin’.”

As ever with Robert Cray’s undefinable sound, the music on This Time remains stubbornly beyond category. He has been internationally admired as a stylist whose innovations have brought new life to the blues, and such punchy outings as “Chicken in the Kitchen” and “That’s What Keeps Me Rockin’” should satisfy the most demanding blues fans. But the new album’s barrier-busting material – whether it’s the soulful “Love 2009” or the profound balladry of “This Time” and “Forever Goodbye” – demonstrate once again that attempting to slot Cray in a single genre is an exercise in futility.

Blues is one of the foundations of our music, but it’s not all that we play,” Cray says. “When I first started playing guitar, I wanted to be George Harrison – that is, until I heard Jimi Hendrix. After that, I wanted to be Albert Collins and Buddy Guy and B.B. King. And then there are singers like O.V. Wright and Bobby Blue Bland. It’s all mixed up in there.”

He continues, “Every time somebody asks me about where my music comes from, I give them five or six different directions – a little rock, soul, jazz, blues, a little gospel feel. Then there are some other things that maybe fall in there every once in a while, like a little Caribbean flavor or something. You just never know. I always attribute it to the music we grew up listening to, and the radio back in the ‘60s. It’s pretty wide open. It’s hard to put a tag on it.”

Cray, who began 2009 with concert appearances in Brazil and Japan, will support This Time with shows around the country with his reconfigured band.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Robert Cray - New Studio Album & UK Tour

Pre-order the album from the Robert Cray Shop

Five-time Grammy award winning legend and Blues Hall of Fame Inductee Robert Cray is pleased to announce that his brand new studio album Nothin But Love will be released in the UK by Provogue Records on Monday August 27th.
Produced by Kevin Shirley (Joe Bonamassa, Aerosmith, The Black Crowes), the ten-song album includes material written by all four Robert Cray Band members; Robert Cray (vocals/guitar), Jim Pugh (keyboards), Cray Band co-founder Richard Cousins (bass) and Tony Braunagel (drums). The new album blends blues, rock, soul and jazz, with a lyric-sheet that examines the triumphs, fallouts and follies of love.

Nothin But Love is Cray’s sixteenth studio album and marks the latest milestone in a career that has produced 15 Grammy award nominations (5 wins), over 12 million record sales worldwide, thousands of sold out concerts across the globe, and even his own signature line of Fender guitars.
Produced with what Shirley refers to as “the dirt under the fingernails,” Nothin But Lovewas recorded live over two-weeks at the Revolver Studios in LA. The album features the soaring break-up blues of Won’t Be Coming Home, the jazz chops of I’ll Always Remember You, the soul-drenched ode to repossession that is Great Big Old House and the frantic ’50s-flavoured rocker Side Dish.

Since the release of his 1986 break-out album Strong Persuader, Cray has been Blues rock royalty.  He has performed and recorded alongside the best in the business - from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughn, from Bonnie Raitt to John Lee Hooker.  Cray was recently inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at the age of 57; making him the youngest living legend to receive the prestigious honour.

ROBERT CRAY - BIOGRAPHY

With 5 Grammy Awards, 15 nominations, over 12 million of records sold worldwide, and thousands of sold out performances, rock blues icon Robert Cray is considered “one of the greatest guitarists of his generation.”  Rolling Stone Magazinein their April 2011 issue credits Cray with reinventing 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” with the release of his Strong Persuader album in 1986.
Since then, Cray has gone on to record fifteen Billboard charting studio albums and has written or performed with everyone from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan, from Bonnie Raitt to John Lee Hooker.  Recently inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at the age of 57, he is the youngest living legend to receive the prestigious honor. And while he can look back over an astonishing three-decade career punctuated by his trademark sound and distinct playing style, Robert Cray is too busy moving forward on an amazing journey that has him releasing his sixteenth studio album and embarking on yet another world tour.
Nothin But Lovewill be released on August 27, 2012 and will be both his first collaboration with the Provogue Records label and super-producer Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, The Black Crowes, Joe Bonamassa). This ten-song stand includes material from all four Robert Cray Band members; Cray (vocals/guitar), Jim Pugh (keyboards), Richard Cousins (bass) and Tony Braunagel (drums) that blends blues, rock, soul and jazz with a lyric-sheet that examines the triumphs, fallouts and follies of love.
“Kevin did an amazing job producing this album and I’m really happy with the outcome,” says Cray, “he captured the real essence of the Robert Cray Band, that live energy we deliver on the road that is usually so difficult to nail down in the studio. I think it’s one of the strongest records that we’ve done.”
And he’s right. In terms of production, long-time fans will be thrilled with a recording featuring what Shirley calls “the dirt under the fingernails.” Recorded live over a two-week burst at the Revolver Studios in LA, Nothin But Love features the soaring breakup blues of “Won’t Be Coming Home”, the jazz chops of “I’ll Always Remember You”, the soul-drenched ode to repossession that is “Great Big Old House” to the frantic ’50s-flavoured rocker “Side Dish.”
Cray still remembers the first love that led him here. “My dad was in the army, so we moved around quite a bit,” he explains. “I had a lot of time and the guitar became my friend. Also, when I first picked up a guitar, The Beatles were just out, and that’s why I got one. That’s why a lot of kids got guitars. The whole atmosphere of that time was, ‘Hey, I learnt this’. ‘Well, let me show you this…’ So that’s what sparked my interest, and it never really went away.”
Cray cites Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy and B.B. King as formative guitar influences, alongside singers like Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, but just as pivotal for the aspiring bluesman was witnessing Albert Collins play a set at his high-school dance.
It was that Collins performance that led to the formation of the Robert Cray Band in 1974, a four piece touring band featuring Cray on lead vocals and guitar and longtime friend Richard Cousins on bass, whose thrillingly modern take on the blues was the talk of the circuit, even if the singer was a bit of an introvert on stage.  “I just couldn’t speak to the audience,” says Robert with a smile, “so Richard would do all the introductions. These days I think I’m better at it.”  In 1976 after two years of touring and in the first of many pinch-yourself moments the band was  invited to be the house band for Albert Collins; a stellar musical apprenticeship and schoolboy fantasy that lasted over 18 months. 
Opening their account with 1980’s Who’s Been Talkin’, the Robert Cray Band fired off three albums in quick succession, and although 1985’s False Accusations hijacked the charts and won an industry blues award, it was the following year’s Strong Persuader that achieved lift-off, hitting a US#13 chart position that was unprecedented for a blues record in the synthesizer age. “I guess Strong Persuader just captured a good spirit and energy,” Cray reflects. “People are still calling out for some of those songs at shows. It gave us a good springboard. I guess it was the songs, but it was also the era, because radio and MTV gave us a foothold, and we had videos out too.”

Cray had arrived in the big league. As singles like “Smoking Gun” scaled the singles charts across the planet and word spread of his incendiary live shows, his name began to be mentioned in the same breath as the blues heavyweights, and he was regularly to be found working alongside them. He spent the years that followed guesting on Eric Clapton’s Journeyman album, jamming live with Keith Richards, appearing in Tina Turner’s TV special Break Every Rule, posthumously inducting Howlin’ Wolf into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, and supplying solos for the late John Lee Hooker. “We became good friends,” says Cray of this latter hero. “We were with the same agency, so we did a lot of shows together. I went to Japan with John Lee and watched as the Japanese fans mobbed him. It was fantastic. He was a real one-off.”
The oft-quoted line reads ‘bluesmen improve with age’, and Cray’s evolving output through the next two decades gives weight to the theory. “In the ’90s, we had the I Was Warned album (1992), and then Sweet Potato Pie (1997), which was a Memphis kind of thing that got into the soul bag,” he recalls. “I really liked those two records: there was some good songwriting.”
In 2000 he took home a  Grammy for the album Take Your Shoes Off and went on to release two additional Grammy nominated albums Twenty (2005) featuring the poignant anti-Iraq war song of the same name, and This Time (2009) featuring the soul drenched favorite “I Can’t Fail.”  The following year, the Robert Cray Band release the live album Cookin’ In Mobile (2010) and once again toured worldwide to sellout crowds. 
“We have been very lucky,” says Cray, “with music becoming mostly digital in recent years and artists not selling the same number of physical records, we’re afforded the luxury of having a great loyal and amazing fan base around the world, allowing a band like ours to continue to work.”
It’s quite a humble and unassuming statement, given his illustrious career – but that’s always been Cray’s style. He doesn’t take anything for granted, doesn’t rest on his laurels. So on this sixteenth studio release, Robert Cray is once again laying down his cards, testing his talent, fusing that dazzling voice to some of the most powerful material in his three-decade back catalogue and offering his fans Nothin But Love.
Nothin’ But Love is not the kind of album you have a casual fling with. It’s the kind of album you fall for.

If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Robert Cray - EPK!

THE ROBERT CRAY BAND

“NOTHIN BUT LOVE”

The brand new studio album produced by Kevin Shirley

UK release date: 27^th August 2012

Five-time Grammy award winning legend and Blues Hall of Fame Inductee Robert Cray is pleased to announce that his brand new studio album Nothin But Love will be released in the UK by Provogue Records on Monday August 27^th.

Produced by Kevin Shirley (Joe Bonamassa, Aerosmith, The Black Crowes), the ten-song album includes material written by all four Robert Cray Band members; Robert Cray (vocals/guitar), Jim Pugh (keyboards), Cray Band co-founder Richard Cousins (bass) and Tony Braunagel (drums). The new album blends blues, rock, soul and jazz, with a lyric-sheet that examines the triumphs, fallouts and follies of love.

Nothin But Love is Cray’s sixteenth studio album and marks the latest milestone in a career that has produced 15 Grammy award nominations (5 wins), over 12 million record sales worldwide, thousands of sold out concerts across the globe, and even his own signature line of Fender guitars.

Produced with what Shirley refers to as “the dirt under the fingernails,” Nothin But Love was recorded live over two-weeks at the Revolver Studios in LA. The album features the soaring break-up blues of Won’t Be Coming Home, the jazz chops of I’ll Always Remember You, the soul-drenched ode to repossession that is Great Big Old House and the frantic ’50s-flavoured rocker Side Dish.

ROBERT CRAY – NOTHIN BUT LOVE

ALBUM TRACKLISTING

01 – (Won’t Be) Coming Home

02 – Worry

03 – I’ll Always Remember You

04 – Side Dish

05 – A Memo

06 – Blues Get Off My Shoulder

07 – Fix This

08 – I’m Done Cryin’

09 – Great Big Old House

10 - Sadder Days

Since the release of his 1986 break-out album Strong Persuader, Cray has been Blues rock royalty. He has performed and recorded alongside the best in the business - from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughn, from Bonnie Raitt to John Lee Hooker. Cray was recently inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at the age of 57; making him the youngest living legend to receive the prestigious honour.

ROBERT CRAY - ESSENTIAL WEB LINKS

Robert Cray – Official Website

www.robertcray.com

Robert Cray – Official Facebook

www.facebook.com/robertcraymusic

Mascot Label Group – Official Website

www.mascotlabelgroup.com

For interview opportunities and album review copies:

Will Taylor and Peter Noble at Noble PR

0207 272 7772, will@noblepr.co.uk, peter@noblepr.co.uk

Robert Cray unveils "Nothin But Love" album

Pre-order the album here

Five-time Grammy award winning legend and Blues Hall of Fame Inductee Robert Cray is pleased to announce that his brand new studio album Nothin But Love will be released in the UK by Provogue Records on Monday August 27th.

Produced by Kevin Shirley (Joe Bonamassa, Aerosmith, The Black Crowes), the ten-song album includes material written by all four Robert Cray Band members; Robert Cray (vocals/guitar), Jim Pugh (keyboards), Cray Band co-founder Richard Cousins (bass) and Tony Braunagel (drums). The new album blends blues, rock, soul and jazz, with a lyric-sheet that examines the triumphs, fallouts and follies of love.

Nothin But Love is Cray’s sixteenth studio album and marks the latest milestone in a career that has produced 15 Grammy award nominations (5 wins), over 12 million record sales worldwide, thousands of sold out concerts across the globe, and even his own signature line of Fender guitars.

Produced with what Shirley refers to as “the dirt under the fingernails,” Nothin But Lovewas recorded live over two-weeks at the Revolver Studios in LA. The album features the soaring break-up blues of Won’t Be Coming Home, the jazz chops of I’ll Always Remember You, the soul-drenched ode to repossession that is Great Big Old House and the frantic ’50s-flavoured rocker Side Dish.

Since the release of his 1986 break-out album Strong Persuader, Cray has been Blues rock royalty. He has performed and recorded alongside the best in the business - from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughn, from Bonnie Raitt to John Lee Hooker. Cray was recently inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at the age of 57; making him the youngest living legend to receive the prestigious honour.

ROBERT CRAY - BIOGRAPHY

With 5 Grammy Awards, 15 nominations, over 12 million of records sold worldwide, and thousands of sold out performances, rock blues icon Robert Cray is considered “one of the greatest guitarists of his generation.” Rolling Stone Magazinein their April 2011 issue credits Cray with reinventing 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” with the release of his Strong Persuader album in 1986.

Since then, Cray has gone on to record fifteen Billboard charting studio albums and has written or performed with everyone from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan, from Bonnie Raitt to John Lee Hooker. Recently inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at the age of 57, he is the youngest living legend to receive the prestigious honor. And while he can look back over an astonishing three-decade career punctuated by his trademark sound and distinct playing style, Robert Cray is too busy moving forward on an amazing journey that has him releasing his sixteenth studio album and embarking on yet another world tour.

Nothin But Lovewill be released on August 27, 2012 and will be both his first collaboration with the Provogue Records label and super-producer Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, The Black Crowes, Joe Bonamassa). This ten-song stand includes material from all four Robert Cray Band members; Cray (vocals/guitar), Jim Pugh (keyboards), Richard Cousins (bass) and Tony Braunagel (drums) that blends blues, rock, soul and jazz with a lyric-sheet that examines the triumphs, fallouts and follies of love.

“Kevin did an amazing job producing this album and I’m really happy with the outcome,” says Cray, “he captured the real essence of the Robert Cray Band, that live energy we deliver on the road that is usually so difficult to nail down in the studio. I think it’s one of the strongest records that we’ve done.”

And he’s right. In terms of production, long-time fans will be thrilled with a recording featuring what Shirley calls “the dirt under the fingernails.” Recorded live over a two-week burst at the Revolver Studios in LA, Nothin But Love features the soaring breakup blues of “Won’t Be Coming Home”, the jazz chops of “I’ll Always Remember You”, the soul-drenched ode to repossession that is “Great Big Old House” to the frantic ’50s-flavoured rocker “Side Dish.”

Cray still remembers the first love that led him here. “My dad was in the army, so we moved around quite a bit,” he explains. “I had a lot of time and the guitar became my friend. Also, when I first picked up a guitar, The Beatles were just out, and that’s why I got one. That’s why a lot of kids got guitars. The whole atmosphere of that time was, ‘Hey, I learnt this’. ‘Well, let me show you this…’ So that’s what sparked my interest, and it never really went away.”

Cray cites Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy and B.B. King as formative guitar influences, alongside singers like Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, but just as pivotal for the aspiring bluesman was witnessing Albert Collins play a set at his high-school dance.

It was that Collins performance that led to the formation of the Robert Cray Band in 1974, a four piece touring band featuring Cray on lead vocals and guitar and longtime friend Richard Cousins on bass, whose thrillingly modern take on the blues was the talk of the circuit, even if the singer was a bit of an introvert on stage. “I just couldn’t speak to the audience,” says Robert with a smile, “so Richard would do all the introductions. These days I think I’m better at it.” In 1976 after two years of touring and in the first of many pinch-yourself moments the band was invited to be the house band for Albert Collins; a stellar musical apprenticeship and schoolboy fantasy that lasted over 18 months.

Opening their account with 1980’s Who’s Been Talkin’, the Robert Cray Band fired off three albums in quick succession, and although 1985’s False Accusations hijacked the charts and won an industry blues award, it was the following year’s Strong Persuader that achieved lift-off, hitting a US#13 chart position that was unprecedented for a blues record in the synthesizer age. “I guess Strong Persuader just captured a good spirit and energy,” Cray reflects. “People are still calling out for some of those songs at shows. It gave us a good springboard. I guess it was the songs, but it was also the era, because radio and MTV gave us a foothold, and we had videos out too.”

Cray had arrived in the big league. As singles like “Smoking Gun” scaled the singles charts across the planet and word spread of his incendiary live shows, his name began to be mentioned in the same breath as the blues heavyweights, and he was regularly to be found working alongside them. He spent the years that followed guesting on Eric Clapton’s Journeyman album, jamming live with Keith Richards, appearing in Tina Turner’s TV special Break Every Rule, posthumously inducting Howlin’ Wolf into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, and supplying solos for the late John Lee Hooker. “We became good friends,” says Cray of this latter hero. “We were with the same agency, so we did a lot of shows together. I went to Japan with John Lee and watched as the Japanese fans mobbed him. It was fantastic. He was a real one-off.”

The oft-quoted line reads ‘bluesmen improve with age’, and Cray’s evolving output through the next two decades gives weight to the theory. “In the ’90s, we had the I Was Warned album (1992), and then Sweet Potato Pie (1997), which was a Memphis kind of thing that got into the soul bag,” he recalls. “I really liked those two records: there was some good songwriting.”

In 2000 he took home a Grammy for the album Take Your Shoes Off and went on to release two additional Grammy nominated albums Twenty (2005) featuring the poignant anti-Iraq war song of the same name, and This Time (2009) featuring the soul drenched favorite “I Can’t Fail.” The following year, the Robert Cray Band release the live album Cookin’ In Mobile (2010) and once again toured worldwide to sellout crowds.

“We have been very lucky,” says Cray, “with music becoming mostly digital in recent years and artists not selling the same number of physical records, we’re afforded the luxury of having a great loyal and amazing fan base around the world, allowing a band like ours to continue to work.”

It’s quite a humble and unassuming statement, given his illustrious career – but that’s always been Cray’s style. He doesn’t take anything for granted, doesn’t rest on his laurels. So on this sixteenth studio release, Robert Cray is once again laying down his cards, testing his talent, fusing that dazzling voice to some of the most powerful material in his three-decade back catalogue and offering his fans Nothin But Love.

Nothin’ But Love is not the kind of album you have a casual fling with. It’s the kind of album you fall for.

ROBERT CRAY - ESSENTIAL WEB LINKS

Robert Cray – Official Website
www.robertcray.com

Robert Cray – Official Facebook
www.facebook.com/robertcraymusic

Mascot Label Group – Official Website
www.mascotlabelgroup.com

If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

All Your Lovin - Robert Cray

Robert Cray (born August 1, 1953, Columbus, Georgia) is an American blues guitarist and singer.
Cray started playing guitar in his early teens. At Denbigh High School in Newport News, Virginia, his love of blues and soul music flourished as he started collecting records. Originally, he wanted to become an architect, but around the same time he began to study architectural design, he formed a local band "Steakface", described as "the best band from Lakewood you never heard of". Cray's guitar and vocals contributed greatly to Steakface's set list of songs by Jimi Hendrix, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Fleetwood Mac, The Grease Band, Blodwyn Pig, Jethro Tull, Spirit and The Faces.

By the age of twenty, Cray had seen his heroes Albert Collins, Freddie King and Muddy Waters in concert and decided to form his own band; they began playing college towns on the West Coast. After several years of regional success, Cray was signed to Mercury Records in 1982. His third album release, Strong Persuader, produced by Dennis Walker, received a Grammy Award, while the crossover single "Smokin' Gun" gave him wider appeal and name recognition.

By now, Cray was an opening act for such major stars as Eric Clapton (who remains a friend to this day), and sold out larger venues as a solo artist. Cray has generally played Fender guitars (Telecasters and Stratocasters) and there are two signature Robert Cray Stratocasters models available from Fender. The Robert Cray Custom Shop Stratocaster is made in the U.S. in the Fender custom shop and is identical to the guitars that Cray currently plays, while the Robert Cray Standard Stratocaster is a less-expensive model made in Fender's Ensenada, Mexico plant.

Cray had the opportunity to play alongside John Lee Hooker on his album Boom Boom, playing the guitar solo in the song "Same Old Blues Again". He is also featured on the Hooker album, The Healer; he plays a guitar solo on the song "Baby Lee".

Cray was invited to play at the "Guitar Legends" concerts in Seville, Spain at the 1992 Expo, where he played a signature track, "Phone Booth". Albert Collins was also on the bill on this blues night of the "Legends" gigs.

Cray continues to record and tour. He appeared at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and supported Eric Clapton on his 2006-2007 world tour. In Fargo, North Dakota, he joined Clapton on backup guitar for the Cream song "Crossroads". In 2011, Cray was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame.
In the film Animal House, Cray is the uncredited bassist in the house party band Otis Day and the Knights. He also had a small role as himself in 2002's Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat. He is scheduled to tour the UK in June and July 2010.

I Pity The Fool - Shemekia Copeland - Robert Cray

Shemekia Copeland (born April 10, 1979) is an American blues vocalist.

Copeland was born in Harlem on April 10, 1979. She is the daughter of Texas blues guitarist and singer Johnny Copeland. She began to pursue a singing career in earnest at age 16, when her father's health began to decline; he took Shemekia on tour as his opening act, which helped establish her name on the blues circuit. Copeland graduated in 1997 from Teaneck High School in Teaneck, New Jersey. She landed a record deal with Alligator Records, which issued her debut album Turn the Heat Up! in 1998, following it up with a tour of the blues festival circuit in America and Europe. Her second album, Wicked, was released in 2000 and featured a duet with one of her heroes, early R&B diva Ruth Brown. It earned her three Blues Music Awards W.C. Handy Awards.

The follow-up record, Talking to Strangers, was produced by Dr. John, and in 2005 she released The Soul Truth, produced by Steve Cropper.

In 2008 Copeland signed with Telarc International and released her first album, "Never Going Back" with that label in February 2009. She recently won "Rising Star - Blues Artist" in DownBeat magazine's critics poll, with the award scheduled to be announced in the December 2009 issue.

Recently, Copeland has participated in the Efes Pilsen Blues Festival. October 16 to November 21, 2009 the festival was held between the 20 different cities that Copeland has given concerts.

On June 12, 2011 at the 2011 Chicago Blues Festival, Copeland was presented Koko Taylor's crown and officially given the honor as the new "Queen of the Blues" by Koko Taylor's daughter, Cookie Taylor.

Robert Cray (born August 1, 1953, Columbus, Georgia) is an American blues guitarist and singer.
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All Your Love - Robert Cray

This is a great old song by Otis Rush. I know you all know Robert Cray but here's his bio. I would play a number of his influences but they are pretty far from the blues for the most part!
Enjoy!

Robert Cray (born August 1, 1953, Columbus, Georgia) is an American blues guitarist and singer.
Cray started playing guitar in his early teens. At Denbigh High School in Newport News, Virginia, his love of blues and soul music flourished as he started collecting records. Originally, he wanted to become an architect, but around the same time he began to study architectural design, he formed a local band "Steakface", described as "the best band from Lakewood you never heard of". Cray's guitar and vocals contributed greatly to Steakface's set list of songs by Jimi Hendrix, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Fleetwood Mac, The Grease Band, Blodwyn Pig, Jethro Tull, Spirit and The Faces.

By the age of twenty, Cray had seen his heroes Albert Collins, Freddie King and Muddy Waters in concert and decided to form his own band; they began playing college towns on the West Coast. After several years of regional success, Cray was signed to Mercury Records in 1982. His third album release, Strong Persuader, produced by Dennis Walker, received a Grammy Award, while the crossover single "Smokin' Gun" gave him wider appeal and name recognition.

Time Makes Two - Robert Cray

Robert Cray (born August 1, 1953, Columbus, Georgia) is an American blues guitarist and singer.
Cray started playing guitar in his early teens. At Denbigh High School in Newport News, Virginia, his love of blues and soul music flourished as he started collecting records. Originally, he wanted to become an architect, but around the same time he began to study architectural design, he formed a local band "Steakface", described as "the best band from Lakewood you never heard of". Cray's guitar and vocals contributed greatly to Steakface's set list of songs by Jimi Hendrix, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Fleetwood Mac, The Grease Band, Blodwyn Pig, Jethro Tull, Spirit and The Faces.

By the age of twenty, Cray had seen his heroes Albert Collins, Freddie King and Muddy Waters in concert and decided to form his own band; they began playing college towns on the West Coast. After several years of regional success, Cray was signed to Mercury Records in 1982. His third album release, Strong Persuader, produced by Dennis Walker, received a Grammy Award, while the crossover single "Smokin' Gun" gave him wider appeal and name recognition.

By now, Cray was an opening act for such major stars as Eric Clapton (who remains a friend to this day), and sold out larger venues as a solo artist. Cray has generally played Fender guitars (Telecasters and Stratocasters) and there are two signature Robert Cray Stratocasters models available from Fender. The Robert Cray Custom Shop Stratocaster is made in the U.S. in the Fender custom shop and is identical to the guitars that Cray currently plays, while the Robert Cray Standard Stratocaster is a less-expensive model made in Fender's Ensenada, Mexico plant.

Cray had the opportunity to play alongside John Lee Hooker on his album Boom Boom, playing the guitar solo in the song "Same Old Blues Again". He is also featured on the Hooker album, The Healer; he plays a guitar solo on the song "Baby Lee".

Cray was invited to play at the "Guitar Legends" concerts in Seville, Spain at the 1992 Expo, where he played a signature track, "Phone Booth". Albert Collins was also on the bill on this blues night of the "Legends" gigs.

Cray continues to record and tour. He appeared at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and supported Eric Clapton on his 2006-2007 world tour. In Fargo, North Dakota, he joined Clapton on backup guitar for the Cream song "Crossroads". In 2011, Cray was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame.

In the film Animal House, Cray is the uncredited bassist in the house party band Otis Day and the Knights. He also had a small role as himself in 2002's Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat. He is scheduled to tour the UK in June and July 2010.

Sittin On Top Of The World

Robert Cray (born August 1, 1953, Columbus, Georgia) is an American blues guitarist and singer.
Cray started playing guitar in his early teens. At Denbigh High School in Newport News, Virginia, his love of blues and soul music flourished as he started collecting records. Originally, he wanted to become an architect, but around the same time he began to study architectural design, he formed a local band "Steakface", described as "the best band from Lakewood you never heard of". Cray's guitar and vocals contributed greatly to Steakface's set list of songs by Jimi Hendrix, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Fleetwood Mac, The Grease Band, Blodwyn Pig, Jethro Tull, Spirit and The Faces.

By the age of twenty, Cray had seen his heroes Albert Collins, Freddie King and Muddy Waters in concert and decided to form his own band; they began playing college towns on the West Coast. After several years of regional success, Cray was signed to Mercury Records in 1982. His third album release, Strong Persuader, produced by Dennis Walker, received a Grammy Award, while the crossover single "Smokin' Gun" gave him wider appeal and name recognition.

By now, Cray was an opening act for such major stars as Eric Clapton (who remains a friend to this day), and sold out larger venues as a solo artist. Cray has generally played Fender guitars (Telecasters and Stratocasters) and there are two signature Robert Cray Stratocasters models available from Fender. The Robert Cray Custom Shop Stratocaster is made in the U.S. in the Fender custom shop and is identical to the guitars that Cray currently plays, while the Robert Cray Standard Stratocaster is a less-expensive model made in Fender's Ensenada, Mexico plant.

Cray had the opportunity to play alongside John Lee Hooker on his album Boom Boom, playing the guitar solo in the song "Same Old Blues Again". He is also featured on the Hooker album, The Healer; he plays a guitar solo on the song "Baby Lee".

Cray was invited to play at the "Guitar Legends" concerts in Seville, Spain at the 1992 Expo, where he played a signature track, "Phone Booth". Albert Collins was also on the bill on this blues night of the "Legends" gigs.

Cray continues to record and tour. He appeared at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, and supported Eric Clapton on his 2006-2007 world tour. In Fargo, North Dakota, he joined Clapton on backup guitar for the Cream song "Crossroads". In 2011, Cray was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame.

In the film Animal House, Cray is the uncredited bassist in the house party band Otis Day and the Knights. He also had a small role as himself in 2002's Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat.