Robert Cray departed from Mercury Records and moved to Rykodisc in 1999, releasing Take Off Your Shoes that spring.

At the end of 1999, Mercury released Heavy Picks: The Robert Cray Collection, which also compiles his work for Tomato and Hightone Records as well. All the familiar hits are here ("Smoking Gun," "Right Next Door," "I Guess I Showed Her") as well as some of his lesser-known, but equally powerful songs ("Phone Booth," "Playin’ in the Dirt," "Shiver," "Consequences," and the wonderful duet with Albert Collins "The Dream").

Combining his powerful vocals with his "less is more" guitar chops, Cray has always been as much about deep soul as the blues. He has also shown considerable improvement over the last few releases as a songwriter.

My only complaint with this collection is that they could have done away with the annoying "Too Many Cooks" and the dull "Trick or Treat," and put a couple more Cray originals in their place. That’s a minor complaint, however, because this is an otherwise great introduction to one of the artists who put the blues back on the map in the mid-80s. If you don’t have any of his work (yeah, right!), this is a great place to start.