We've teamed up with the folks at BackStory Events to present a special, live-streamed interview with Robert Cray and Steve Jordan on Thursday, June 8, 2017 at 5:30pm EST, live from The Cutting Room in New York City.
Tune in at YouTube.com/GuitarWorld as we talk to these legendary musicians about the new album, Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm, plus discuss career highlights with these two Grammy Award-winning artists. Robert and Steve will be interviewed by New York Times best-selling author and journalist, Alan Paul.
Robert Cray has been bridging the lines between blues, soul and R&B for the past four decades, with five Grammy wins and over 20 acclaimed albums. For his latest project, Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm (April 28, 2017/ Jay-Vee Records), the Blues Hall of Famer traveled to Memphis with his friend, renowned Grammy Award winning producer Steve Jordan, to make a classic soul album with Hi Rhythm, the band that helped create that sound.
Jordan and Cray met in 1987 while working on the concert film Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll, a tribute to Chuck Berry. Steve produced Robert’s Grammy winning Take Your Shoes Off in 1999 and a number of other albums, including the exciting 4 Nights of 40 Years Live. He knew of Robert’s deep love of O.V. Wright and other Memphis soul legends, and suggested they take up residence at Royal Studios, where Wright, Ann Peebles, Al Green, Syl Johnson, Otis Clay and many others recorded with the venerable producer, songwriter, arranger and engineer, Willie Mitchell. The core of Mitchell’s Hi Rhythm band used on many of those landmark sessions was still around, though Mitchell himself had passed in 2010.
Set inside an old theater, the funky Royal Studios looks much as it did when Al Green was cutting those classics for Hi Records. Guitarist Teenie Hodges has passed away, but his brothers Rev. Charles Hodges (organ and piano) and Leroy “Flick” Hodges (bass), along with cousin Archie “Hubbie” Turner (keyboards), were still there. “It was a soul, rhythm and blues, fantasy camp for us. Those guys have been playing in that room for 50 years,” says Jordan.
“Robert is a great person besides an extraordinary talent,” says Steve. “People gravitate to his guitar playing first, but I think he’s one of the best singers I’ve heard in my life. Not only because of his singing ability, but his interpretations. He’s an honest soul.”
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