"Over the years of collaborating with Albert, I found myself yearning to hear him play in a minor key, and he delivered excellently in that instance": Robert Cray recounts the key moment of the outstanding '80s blues supergroup collaboration.

The '80s may have been known for hair metal, synth-pop, and hip-hop, but it was a golden era for blues guitar. Yes, you've got the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Robert Cray, and Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, but let's not forget the pioneers who inspired them.

Just like the British blues boom of the '60s, fans in the '80s began to dig deeper and rediscover the heroes of their heroes. Guitar greats like Albert Collins, Son Seals, Lonnie Mack, Johnny Winter, and Roy Buchanan were all part of Chicago's Alligator Records family in the mid-'80s.

Against that backdrop, in 1985, Alligator dropped one of its most successful albums, Showdown!, which featured three legends - Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Johnny Copeland. The album, labeled as "thirty years in the making," brought together the two Texans who'd known each other since the '50s, and Cray, who'd known Collins since the '70s.

According to Cray, it took just a day or two to assemble, and they were happy with the end result. Although they couldn't have predicted the success, Showdown! became one of Alligator's top sellers and won a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Recording.

"We just had fun," Cray says. "One thing that cracked me up was for the [Grammy] ceremony, when they called our names, as we were walking to the stage, there were [stairs], and as the three of us walked up, we did the Three Stooges thing, where we all bumped into each other. It just reminded me of all the fun we had in the studio. It was still with us."

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FAQ

Did you know Albert and Johnny all that well going into the sessions?

"I'd known Albert for a while because we used to work with him quite a bit. Whenever he was on the West Coast, we were his backup band. That started in about '76 or '77, long before we did Showdown! But I didn't know Johnny Copeland. I only met Johnny when he was coming into the studio."

So the vibe going in was nice and light.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool. The idea had actually come about, I guess, with [co-producers] Bruce Iglauer and Bruce Bromberg, who I worked with, wanting to have Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown on the album so that there would be three guys from Texas. I don't know why Gatemouth didn't do it, but I was invited."

How did you blend your three styles?

"It was pretty easy for us to get along. Albert is a great comp. When he comes in, he's like a jazz organist. When you go back and listen to some of those instrumentals he did, that was Albert's thing. So, with that in mind, I did the counter to that; Johnny just did what he did. There was no stepping on anybody's toes or anything like that."

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The '80s blues guitar scene was enriched by the rising popularity of Chicago's Alligator Records family, which included renowned guitarists like Albert Collins, Son Seals, Lonnie Mack, Johnny Winter, and Roy Buchanan.
Against this backdrop, in 1985, Alligator released its successful album, Showdown!, featuring three legendary guitarists - Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Johnny Copeland.
The success of Showdown! was evidenced by its status as one of Alligator's top sellers and its win at the Grammy Awards for Best Traditional Blues Recording.
During the recording of Showdown!, Robert Cray, Albert Collins, and Johnny Copeland shared a harmonious atmosphere, with Cray recounting that they all had fun and even created a comical moment at the Grammy ceremony by mimicking the Three Stooges.

"Over the years of collaborating with Albert, I found myself yearning to hear him play in a minor key, and he delivered excellently in that instance": Robert Cray recounts the key moment of the outstanding '80s blues supergroup collaboration.