Merging blues and Memphis-styled R&B and soul into a smooth mix, and with a guitar and vocal style that hinges on clear and fluid phrasing, Robert Cray has been a remarkably consistent performer throughout his career. This set collects two discs of his early work for Mercury Records and adds in a third disc of guitar and vocal duets with the likes of Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, Chuck Berry, B.B. King, and Shemekia Copeland. There was more to come from Cray in the years after these recordings were made (which is why this really isn't the "ultimate" collection, as the title states), but what he did well later he was already doing well then.