Christopher Cross - Take Me As I Am (2017)

"Take Me As I Am" is a unique offering from Christopher Cross, a hybrid of sorts - the songs are instrumentals with choruses to create the lyrical landscape. This is not quite a "guitar" album, but it leaves the listener with no question about his expertise on the subject. Two very special songs are "Roberta," dedicated to Christopher's mentor, Joni Mitchell, and "Truth" with a lyric by Rob Meurer, one of the last songs Rob wrote before his tragic passing. This song is sung as a duet with Gigi Worth, a name that will be familiar to Christopher's fans. Gigi and Rob were also very close, which makes her performance on this track all the more meaningful. The album closes with a song in memory of Rob called "Alvah," (Rob's middle name), which features beautiful string arrangements by Chris Walden. In Christopher's words, "It was a blessing to work with all these talented folks in the making of this album which holds so many bittersweet emotions for me. I didn't expect to make another one, but, as Rob reminded me once, it's what we do."