Robert Cray

The guitar says blues, but the voice says soul — and that killer combination in Robert Cray marks three decades of straight-up rock genius. Ambling out of the Pacific Northwest with 1980's Who's Been Talkin', Cray made his big-time breakthrough in 1986 with the GRAMMY-winning Strong Persuader. Great, progressive blues.

While a model of solid blues dependability, Robert Cray is also a risk-taker, even if you need more than a couple of listens to tease out his full agenda. On Time Will Tell (2003), Cray introduces a sitar and a string quartet into his mix, and on "Survivor" he adds his own voice of protest to the war in the Middle East.

Showdown! (1985) was a summit meeting of blues legends — Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland — with young hotshot Robert Cray, who clearly relishes the chance to let his fretboard do the talking in exalted circles. "Bouncin' Back," from Midnight Stroll, is one of several Cray collaborations with the Memphis Horns.

Robert Cray provides a bridge from blues to mainstream pop, and refuses to keep it exclusively low-down and gritty, instead preferring to cast his talent into the winds of innovation. The results are never less than mesmerizing: he can bend a Fender to his will with consummate ease, and after more than 1,000 live performances he shows no sign of losing steam. Oh, and that's Cray as an uncredited band member in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). The man gets around.