Divorce, illness, failure ... how musician Larry McCray beat his own blues

He wowed the blues scene with his holler – but bad decisions and worse luck sent him into a rut. Now, with a loving relationship and Joe Bonamassa championing him, he says he’s grabbing a second chance

‘As long as people have problems, the blues can never die,” wrote BB King. By that logic, Larry McCray has endured the kind of struggles that bluesmen have lamented for decades. A promising career slumped at the turn of the century. In 2013, he was diagnosed with cancer. His marriage fell apart and he was divorced a year later. His ex-wife was then sentenced to 18 months in prison for fraud, leaving him to raise their teenage son alone. But at the age of 61, with his first new songs in 15 years, the US musician says he’s ready for the recognition he has always dreamed of.

McCray’s sound is a tussle between the Delta blues – the raw acoustic music that originated from the Mississippi Delta in the early 1900s – and the later Chicago blues that brought heavily amplified electric guitars into the mix. While Hammond organs and brass swirl around, McCray’s licks crackle under his own booming vocals. Like Chicago legend Howlin’ Wolf, McCray is a blues shouter: one who can sing without vocal amplification. His first albums – 1990’s Ambition and 1993’s Delta Hurricane – wowed the blues scene with their fusion of rock and soul, and he has toured non-stop since, with the likes of Albert King, Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan and BB King himself.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/7BGgkiX