Roy Rogers, 'Into The Wild Blue,' Chops Not Chaps/Red Eye Worldwide (REVIEW)

At 64, Californian Roy Rogers has to be considered one of America's top slide guitar masters. On Into The Wild Blue, the former co-star of John Lee Hooker's touring band from '89 to '93 transcends the blues into a rocking Southern stew that encapsulates his years working highway roadhouses in tar-pit terrain for far too long, very little money and even less acknowledgment.

Blossoming late, he recorded three albums in eight years with Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek fronted The Delta Rhythm Kings and performed with everyone from Raitt, Ronstadt, Hagar and Santana to Steve Miller, Elvin Bishop and Ramblin' Jack Elliott.

Roy can make his slide guitar sing the blues on "Song For Robert (A Brother's Lament)," where he wears his heart on his sleeve in loving memory without uttering a word. Yet when he does sing, like on the lusty "She's A Real Jaguar" or the prideful "Don't You Let Them Win," he dredges up the kind of feeling that transcends race and answers the oft-asked ridiculous question of whether a white man can sing the blues.

Funny, but after a career steeped in the blues, one can hardly call this a straight blues album. Southern Rock? Funky Blue-Eyed Soul? Instrumental Easy-Listening? Yes, yes and yes. Still, the blues is his base from which he finally flies here on his own. Five years in the making, this is his masterpiece. Backed by a guitar/bass/drums smokin' band with keyboard fills, strings, extra percussion and female background vocals, Roy Rogers has finally put it all together. No more cowboy jokes, ok?