Underestimating Robert Cray is a real danger. He's so good at what he does – singing, writing and especially playing – that his albums have an effortless feel, as if it's easy to turn out soul-baring performances year after year. But his catalog packs a mighty punch, growing richer in time. On his new album, I Was Warned, Cray's out there telling the truth again, as strong as ever.

Working mainly in a Stax/Volt groove, with the Memphis Horns aboard once more, Cray examines broken relationships and seeks definition as a man. He may mourn that he's "Just a Loser," as on the opening track, but that's an atypical observation. Cray is given to taking hard looks at himself with confessional bluntness. But as he chronicles his faults and the endless quest to do the right thing, he comes to understand his strengths as well. In "The Price I Pay," for example, he sounds weary of bearing the burden of unreciprocated love, but the song's lilting arrangement and Cray's own singsong guitar solo hint at something positive coming out of this trial.

That life goes on is an overriding theme of I Was Warned, and nowhere is it better explored than on three consecutive songs near the end of the disc: "A Whole Lotta Pride," "A Picture of a Broken Heart" and the devastating "He Don't Live Here Anymore." Cray's soloing is superb throughout, from the popping, angular lines enlivening "I'm a Good Man" to the complex, multitextured workout on the title track; it's most revealing of the inner man, however, on "He Don't Live Here Anymore." This one's for the ages, an auspicious moment on an album rife with commanding performances. (RS 642)

DAVID MCGEE