In My Soul’ =will be the 17th studio album for the 5x Grammy winner, 15x Grammy nominee and multi-platinum selling artist. The album will be followed by an extensive UK/European Tour that kicks off at The Anvil in Basingstoke, UK on May 2nd, with dates at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and London Barbican, plus many more.
Produced by American multi-instrumentalist, composer, musical director, Grammy Award-winning artist and long-time Cray friend Steve Jordan (John Mayer, Keith Richards), ‘In My Soul’ captures Cray at his finest with an outstanding 10 song collection of Stax and Chess influenced soul and blues that showcases his trademark guitar playing and his extraordinary vocals. A bonus track ‘Pillow’ is also be included on the limited edition CD.
From the driving original classic Cray ‘You Move Me’ with its scorching guitar leads, to the melodic 60′s sway of ‘Fine Yesterday’ featuring Cray’s trademark soul drenched vocals, ‘In My Soul’ draws listeners in very quickly. Recorded at Santa Barbara Sound and engineered by Niko Bolas, ‘In My Soul’ features the Otis Redding cover ‘Nobody’s Fault But My Own’ that finds Cray trading vocals with drummer Les Falconer and features a punchy horn ensemble and catchy guitar verse.
Long-time band mate Richard Cousins co-wrote the Booker T homage, an instrumental entitled ‘Hip Tight Onions’ as well as the poignant 70′s tinged ‘Hold On’ that talks about relationship perseverance during difficult times. Cries of lost love are told in both ‘Pillow’, the haunting bonus track co-written by Cray and Jerry Friedman as well as ‘I Guess I’ll Never Know’ – a funky hard driven tune.
The album also features a version of ‘Deep In My Soul’ a staple in the set list of the great soul and blues singer Bobby Blue Bland as well as a version of the Isaac Hayes / David Porter cover ‘Your Good Thing (Is About to End)’ first recorded by Motown’s Mable John in 1966 and then became a hit single for Lou Rawls in 1969.