Dedicated is a 2011 tribute album to The 5 Royales, the pioneering 1950s R&B group and, particularly, their guitarist/songwriter Lowman “Pete” Pauling. Pauling was one of Steve Cropper's biggest early guitar influences, so this is a very personal project rather than a routine covers album.

Cropper is best known for his work with Booker T. & the M.G.'s and the classic Stax recordings of artists such as Otis Redding and Sam & Dave. On Dedicated, he surrounds himself with a superb group of musicians and a remarkable collection of guest singers.

🎵 Track highlights

Thirty Second Lover – Steve Winwood

Don't Be Ashamed – Bettye LaVette & Willie Jones

Baby Don't Do It – B.B. King & Shemekia Copeland

Dedicated to the One I Love – Lucinda Williams & Dan Penn

My Sugar Sugar – John Popper

Right Around the Corner – Delbert McClinton

Help Me Somebody – instrumental

I Do – Brian May

Messin' Up – Sharon Jones

Say It – Bettye LaVette

The Slummer The Slum – Buddy Miller

Someone Made You for Me – Dan Penn

Think – instrumental

Come On & Save Me – Dylan LeBlanc & Sharon Jones

When I Get Like This – Lucinda Williams

⭐ What makes it special

The guest list is extraordinary: B.B. King, Steve Winwood, Brian May, Lucinda Williams, Sharon Jones, Bettye LaVette, Delbert McClinton, Buddy Miller and John Popper, among others.

But the real star is Cropper's guitar. His playing is economical rather than flashy—short, perfectly placed fills, sharp rhythmic chords and little melodic responses to the singers. That's very much in the tradition of Pauling and the early Memphis R&B style that eventually fed directly into soul music.

The two instrumentals, “Help Me Somebody” and “Think,” are particularly worthwhile if you're buying the CD for Cropper's guitar. They let you hear him without a featured vocalist taking the spotlight.

“Baby Don't Do It” with B.B. King and Shemekia Copeland is a terrific blues performance, while “Messin' Up” with Sharon Jones has tremendous energy. “I Do” is an especially interesting pairing because Brian May brings his unmistakable guitar personality into Cropper's R&B world.

💿 Overall

★★★★½ / 5

This is one of those tribute albums that actually works as an album rather than merely a collection of famous people covering old songs. Cropper's affection for the material gives it a strong identity, and the performances are consistently lively.

For a collection focused on soul, R&B, Stax, Memphis music and great guitarists, I'd consider Dedicated a very worthwhile CD. It's also a nice historical bridge between the 1950s R&B of The 5 Royales and the Memphis soul sound that Cropper helped create in the 1960s.