Week 34
Robert Cray, Strong Persuader
(Mercury 830568)

The Robert Cray Band had already spent over a decade paying their road dues when Strong Persuader, their fourth album, became a breakthrough popular success in 1986. In conjunction with Stevie Ray Vaughan's recordings of the time, it has since been rightfully credited with inspiring a blues revival that continues today.

Despite his revelatory impact upon popular culture on behalf of the blues, however, Cray has never claimed to be exclusively a bluesman. Although he certainly has a profound respect for and command of the form—as amply evident throughout this recording, particularly in his guitar solos—he is equally versed in rock and soul, and crafts songs that combine these influences into a polished whole.

Soul in particular substantially flavors much of Strong Persuader. This is due in large part to the presence of the Memphis Horns, the legendary team who helped power timeless hits by Booker T & the MGs and Al Green, among many others. The tight ensemble playing of the rest of the Cray band further reveals that theirs is a resolutely contemporary approach.

Though nearly always tales of loving, cheating, or leaving, Cray's lyrics are often more introspective than swaggering, revealing a man more likely to pace and ponder than to break out for the open highway. In embracing blues convention in this manner while refusing to be restrained by it, Strong Persuader points towards new directions for the blues, and remains a frequent and accessible "entry point" to the music for tens of thousands of listeners.

Listen: The Robert Cray Band - "I Wonder"
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