Guitarist and singer Larry McCray has long been one of the most underrated, or at least under-discussed, bluesmen out there. McCray’s sturdy, soulful vocals and chops on guitar are among the very top in the business, and have been for quite some time, if you check out some of his earlier gems such as “Soulshine” and the booming “Blues is My Business”. Or you can just start at the present and give a listen to McCray’s new album, Heartbreak City (Keeping the Blues Alive Records), almost any of the tracks from which are also destined to be classics.
We’ve already told you about one of those tracks, the smoldering “Bright Side” that was originally penned for the late, great Bobby “Blue” Bland, but there’s a whole lot more here that you’re going to want to check out, from the smooth, swaying soul of “Bye Bye Blues” and bluesy, piano-accented (courtesy of Reese Wynans) “Stop Your Crying” to the opening simmering rocker “Try to Be a Good Man” and hard shuffling “Keep on Loving My Baby” that features fellow guitar slingers Kirk Fletcher and (album co-producer) Josh Smith along with Wynans on piano before McCray declares “my toin” and delivers his own monster solo.
The creeping, gritty-soul sound of the album’s title track nicely matches its lyrics–written by the same personnel that penned “Bright Side” (Smith, Michael “Harvey” Price, and Steve Shepherd) along with Dan Walsh and that include such lines as “where the losers at love can hide” and “ain’t no smiling face, y’all, in the whole damn place/ where sad eyes stare off in the dark and empty space”, in addition to talk of Tin Pan Alley and Bobby “Blue” Bland, so you know it’s got to be bluesy–and just try to find any catchier of a tune than the groovy “Everything Falls on Me”!
In addition to loaning out his band for the project, album co-producer and KTBA Records founder Joe Bonamassa joins McCray on guitar for the slow R&B power ballad “I Know What I’ve Done”, with the thumping, gospel-style acoustic number “Hangman” and groove-filled midtempo rocker “Crazy World” rounding out the album’s tracks.
As usual, this one from McCray is packed with soulful vocals and guitar, with some killer backing vocals from Jade Macrae and Dannielle De Andrea as well as terrific horns, in addition, of course, to the contributions from Wynans and guest guitarists Fletcher, Smith and Bonamassa. Sure, there are still a few others (such as Sugaray Rayford) who can belt out the blues like McCray does here, but we can’t think of anyone who collectively sings and plays as well as McCray. Here’s hoping folks will be talking about him when awards time comes around, as Heartbreak City is easily worthy of Album of the Year honors!