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Personnel: Dobie Gray (vocals); Reggie Young , Troy Seals (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Weldon Myrick (pedal steel guitar); Buddy Spicher (fiddle); Charlie McCoy (harmonica); David Briggs (keyboards); Kenny Malone (drums, percussion). Liner Note Author: Ian McFarlane. Raven's 2011 two-fer combines Dobie Gray's 1972 album Drift Away and its 1973 sequel Loving Arms, adding three bonus tracks -- "Hey Dixie," "So High (Rock Me Baby and Roll Me Away)," "The Music's Real (Mentor's Song)" -- from 1974's Hey Dixie. As the years pass, it's possible to hear Dobie Gray move steadily further into country, adding more down-home elements to his soul. Country is indeed present on Drift Away, whose slow-grooving provided Gray a signature tune that nevertheless did not reveal everything about his personality. "Drift Away" is heavy on soul but not so much on the country that anchors the rest of the record, yet its warm, welcoming vibe is evident throughout the album. If Gray's touch is so friendly it obscures how inventive his arrangements are -- how the steel guitars sit next to funky clavinets with nary a mention of the two worlds colliding -- that's also the strength he shows on both Drift Away and Loving Arms; he's an easy innovator, melding country and soul because it comes so naturally to him. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
