Time Will Tell (2003)

If, like some of us, you got bored with the blues a few thousand 12-bar progressions ago, Time to reconsider: Here, Cray offers a Los Lobos-esque take on the genre, with psych-pop sitars, string sections, and frantic shuffles as eclectic bait. This expansionism works, though it's inevitably the guitar-organ interplay that kills. Worth the price: ''Good Man,'' a funny look at fatale attractions (''You don't need a smart man to do the math/When I see you in your bubble bath'') penned by drummer Kevin Hayes and sis Bonnie that's funny enough to have been written by Cray's summer tour mate, John Hiatt.