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Live Review: Robert Cray @ The Birchmere — 9/28/21

Robert Cray is the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful blues artist of his generation. He demonstrated exactly why that is when the Columbus, Georgia native appeared with his band — Richard Cousins on the bass, Les Falconer on drums, and Dover Whitecliffe-Swinbourne on keys — at The Birchmere recently.  In front of a hot, packed crowd, and backed by a tight band, Cray showed off his considerable skill on the guitar and his incredible voice.

In an era when blues records were selling in the thousands, Robert Cray’s albums and songs were making the major charts.  First attracting critical notice with 1983’s Bad Influence , he achieved his commercial breakthrough with 1986’s Strong Persuader . Between 1986 and 1992, eight of his songs made it to the top 40 American Rock Singles, with “Smoking Gun” and “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” reaching number two and number four.

While he is a formidable guitarist and singer, Cray’s music is most distinctive in his lyrics. He maintains the forms of Southern soul and blues, but he nonetheless found new and interesting ways to tell those stories. Strong Persuader  takes its title from “Right Next Door,” a detailed story of affairs and domestic strife. There’s an economy and  a directness to  Cray’s writing, and he manages to pack complex ideas and emotions into a small number of simple words.

On Sept. 28 at The Birchmere, Robert’s set opened with “Anything You Want,” a fine love song. After the band wrapped up an audience member loudly proclaimed their love for the bassist. Without missing a beat, Robert quipped, “You’re supposed to love me more!” Throughout the show, he displayed a sparkling wit. After “Hot,” which includes the line, “my baby thinks I’m hot,” he commented, “And the men think so, too. That’s the way of the world.”

Stream “Anything You Want” by Robert Cray on YouTube:

There were a number of love songs in the set; Cray followed “Anything You Want” with the equally devotional “Anytime.” Toward the end of the set, the band played “To Be With You,” and he closed his encore with “Time Makes Two.” As much as he emphasized songs of love and devotion, Cray also touched on the defiant side of the blues with “You Can’t Make Me Change,” and he finished the main set with the inspirational “You Must Believe In Yourself.”

There’s a saying about the blues, that it’s music that you listen to when you have the blues, but once you listen to the blues, your blues are gone. Songs like “Sittin’ On Top Of The World” and “Bouncing Back” celebrate resiliency, and, when you hear these songs, you can’t help but feel your mood improving.

Cray’s version of the blues incorporates a lot of R&B, too. Introducing “Two Steps From The End,” a song about mortality, he said, “Let’s get down and funky on it.” “Boogaloo,” which he played in his encore, emulates the Godfather of Soul. After he finished playing, Robert declared himself “faster than James Brown.” Before “Shiver,” which is an ice-cold jam, he told the audience, “I’m sick y’all. I’m shiverin’ all over.”

Slice-of-life songs, like “Chicken In The Kitchen,” make up a lot of his catalog. The stories he tells are the stuff of everyday life, the struggles, trials and tribulations, and little victories that have long made up the substance of the blues. He doesn’t spin grand narratives, and what he does is pretty grounded. Robert’s guitar work — which is impressive — has been described as clean and without showboating, and the same can be said about his lyrics. Economy and directness are of paramount importance with the limited space available in a song, and Cray’s songbook is full of those qualities.

Though he’s a southerner, Cray’s voice has little accent. Both in speech and in singing, his voice is clear, expressive, and emotional. It provides a compelling vehicle for his songs.

If you are, to any extent, a fan of the blues, you really owe it to yourself to see Robert Cray. He’s every bit as good live as his records — which are exceptional — and his band is incredibly tight. The blues don’t get any better than this.

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From Keith Richards' hotel room to 'Strong Persuader': Robert Cray on his career highs

Robert Cray had yet to take the masses by storm with the smoldering blues of “Smoking Gun,” the breakthrough single from his “Strong Persuader” album, when he found himself in Keith Richards’ St. Louis hotel room, having been invited by the Rolling Stone to lend his talents to the filming of “Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

“We all met and went to Keith's room, just to get acquainted,” Cray recalls.

“And there’s a boombox on the fireplace mantel in his room. So I went over and checked it out and there was this cassette tape. It said, 'Strong Persuader.'”

The young guitarist’s album hadn’t even been released at that point.

“I said, ‘How’d you get this?'” Cray recalls. “He says, 'I'm a Rolling Stone. I have everything.’”

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When Eric Clapton turned Keith Richards on to Robert Cray Band

Not only did director Taylor Hackford’s Berry documentary, which also featured Linda Ronstadt, Etta James and Eric Clapton, elevate Cray's profile, it introduced him to the great Steve Jordan, who played in Richards’ band X-Pensive Winos and went on to produce several albums for Cray, including his most recent effort, 2020’s award-winning “That’s What I Heard.”

As Cray recalls, “Steve tells the story that Keith heard our 'Bad Influence' album. Eric Clapton turned him onto it, and he became a fan. That's how I was invited.”

Cray had a “fantastic” time working with Richards on that 1987 documentary.

“The whole thing was really funny because here it is Keith Richards trying to pay homage to one of his main heroes, who was treating him like a little boy,” he recalls with a laugh. “Chuck just seemed like Keith was a pest to him. But you know, Keith was in love with him and treated him as such throughout the whole thing.”

The culmination of the filming was a pair of concerts at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis.

“The day of the show at the Fox, we got our setlist,” Cray recalls. “Mine was handed to me and I was on more songs than I had rehearsed, sitting next to Eric Clapton, who said, 'Hey, how do you rate?'

“I was playing on songs that Eric had rehearsed. He looked at my list and was pissed. But it all got sorted in the end. Chuck did that. It was funny. And it just set the mood.”

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Breaking through with 'Smoking Gun' and 'Strong Persuader'

It was only a matter of weeks after the filming of those concerts in St. Louis that Cray hit the streets with “Strong Persuader,” a double-platinum breakthrough largely driven by the airplay he received on “Smoking Gun,” a rock-radio hit that peaked at No. 2 on that format.

The album made its way to No. 13, a significant improvement on his previous career high — No. 141 with 1985’s “False Accusations,” the guitarist’s third release on the well-regarded independent label High Tone Records.

“Strong Persuader” was his first release on Mercury, a major label with the resources to get him on the radio.

“So that's how that happened,” he says with a laugh.

Those were exciting times for Cray.

“It was amazing,” he says. “A band playing the music we were playing, it was a lot more than we could have ever expected. And we thought that we couldn't do any more work than we had been doing already. But we did.”

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Robert Cray traces his roots, from Sam Cooke to the Beatles

Cray had grown up surrounded by music.

“My dad would play gospel music on Sundays, so we heard the Swan Silvertones and Dixie Hummingbirds and all that stuff,” he says.

“And then my mom was into Sam Cooke and Bobby 'Blue' Bland. We had Sarah Vaughan and Ray Charles and all that stuff coming up.”

It took the British Invasion to lead him to his instrument of choice, though.

“The Beatles came out, and I got involved with listening to the radio and playing guitar like all my friends did on the military bases I grew up on,” Cray says.

It was right before the end of high school that he started gravitating toward the blues.

“A couple of my friends who played guitar were listening to Buddy Guy and B.B. King and all that,” he says. “I fell in with that crowd and started listening to blues more than anything else, then opened up the earlier pages of my life to music I had listened to and added that back into the mix.”

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How a rare soul comp inspired songs on Cray's 'That's What I Heard'

Cray’s latest effort was initially inspired by an album Jordan recommended titled “Groove & Grind: Rare Soul ’63-‘73.”

“Steve suggested that I get this one CD, a compilation of hits, kind of regional hits from the East and different parts of the country,” Cray recalls.

“So I ordered it off the internet. And there was one song that started the… I think it's a four-disc set: 'My Baby Likes to Boogaloo.' I instantly called Steve and said, 'Man, you told me to get this CD and I want to do the first song.’ He said, 'Yeah, me too. And I'm playing drums.'

“That kind of set the whole record in motion. We started looking for other R&B tunes going in that kind of direction and picking out some favorites from the past. We picked a Bobby 'Blue' Bland song; one by Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions. And then we started putting some songs together ourselves.”

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Why Steve Jordan is a perfect fit for Robert Cray Band albums

Working with Jordan again was a joy for Cray.

“Steve has a great frame of mind for recording whatever it is we want to do,” Cray says. “Whatever kind of vehicle the music is, the first thing we do is we get in the room and just start playing. What we're gonna play? We don't know. We just start playing. It loosens everybody up.”

As the session progresses, if they’re struggling to find the groove a song requires, Jordan will dig up a record that has the feel he has in mind and lay it on them.

 “He’ll say, 'This is where this vibe is,’” Cray says. “So he takes that time. Besides that, he's a fantastic guy and a great musician. And he participates in it. Sometimes he'll play guitar. He'll play bass. He'll play drums. He's in it 100%.”

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Why Robert Cray called his album 'That's What I Heard'

Although his music tends to favor the soulful side of blues, Cray says he isn’t interested in playing favorites when it comes to genres.

“I like it all,” he says. “I'm a big fan of a lot of the R&B singers. Johnnie Taylor, Bobby 'Blue' Bland. Gospel singers as well. But I'm a fool for Otis Rush and I dig Howlin’ Wolf's voice.”

That’s why he titled the new album “That’s What I Heard.”

“It kind of represents a little bit of everything I grew up listening to,” he says.

“And the music that I listen to is why I play the way I do. I think it's something that just happens. Every guitar player or instrumentalist listens to different things and plays out of their soul what they've absorbed. It's the listener who decides what makes that person recognizable amongst the masses of others.”

Robert Cray on why he loves to tour: not knowing what might happen

Playing live remains a thrill for Cray, who brings his band to Phoenix’s historic Celebrity Theatre on Thursday, Jan. 26 — in part because he’s always done his best to keep things as spontaneous as possible.  

“I just like the idea of being up there and not knowing exactly how everything's gonna pan out,” he says.

“To me, there is nothing more boring than playing what you did the night before. It’s best to be in the moment, even if you do some of the same songs on a nightly basis.”

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The Robert Cray Band

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26.

Where: Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix.

Admission: $30-$55. 

Details: 602-267-1600,  celebritytheatre.com . 

Reach the reporter at  [email protected]  or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter  @EdMasley .

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Review: Robert Cray ‘That’s What I Heard’

By Mike O’Cull

Blues legend Robert Cray unleashes his considerable talents yet again on his new record That’s What I Heard . The set drops February 28th, 2020 thanks to Nozzle Records/Thirty Tigers. Produced by Steve Jordan, That’s What I Heard is a show of gratitude to Cray’s soul, gospel, blues, and R&B inspirations including Bobby “Blue” Bland, Curtis Mayfield, The Sensational Nightingales, and others but also contains four fresh new originals from Robert’s own hand. From start to finish, the record is funky, cool, and full of life and it does an excellent job reminding us of some outstanding moments in American music.

Robert Cray needs no introduction to anyone who has followed blues-based music over the past 40 years. He’s recorded 20 studio albums, won five Grammy Awards, and been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. His 80s hit “Smoking Gun” helped spearhead a resurgence of interest in the blues in those days, landed Cray an MTV Video Music Award nomination, and has become a standard in its own right. His slinky, understated guitar style and emotive vocals make him stand apart from the over-the-top blues/rock heroics so many others indulge in and give everything he does an unshakable identity.

That’s What I Heard kicks off with a Cray original, “Anything You Want,” that grooves hard in his trademark way and spotlights Cray’s vocal ability before his guitar starts talking. The track walks the line between hard blues and R&B extremely well and works perfectly as the opening cut. It’s everything you’ve ever loved about Cray’s sound and shows that his musical power remains undiminished. The traditional gospel gem “Burying Ground” follows and takes listeners in a completely different direction. Most notably done by The Sensational Nightingales, it’s a throwback to the Sundays of Cray’s younger days when his parents’ gospel records dominated the family stereo. Cray aces the song’s sanctified feel and takes us all to church in the process.

Bobby “Blue” Bland’s sweet and romantic “You’re The One” comes next and Cray uses it to deliver one of his best vocal takes on the entire album. The whole band exudes an old-school charm and grace and Cray allows himself the freedom to soar over their outstanding foundation. Bland is clearly one of Robert’s heroes and it shows in the best-possible way. Don Gardner’s “My Baby Likes to Boogaloo” is an obscure hip-shaker that shows the down-and-dirty side of these sessions and lets Cray lead his band and us fans deep into a gritty bag of soul. It’s an amazing track and one of Cray’s many high-water marks.

The delicate and heartfelt ballad “To Be With You” is a Cray-penned tribute to the memory of his departed friend, songwriting giant Tony Joe White. It’s a sparse, breathtaking song of loss that comes across as genuine and sincere. It also shows the incredible emotional range of Cray and this band and all involved run it down masterfully. Curtis Mayfield’s “You’ll Want Me Back” also works in the same profoundly human territory and it’s impossible not to be moved by the way Cray sings it. “Promises You Can’t Keep,” written by Steve Jordan, Kim Wilson and Danny Kortchmar, is another heartbreaking slow jam that features Steve Perry on backing vocals.

Taken as a whole, That’s What I Heard is another smashing chapter in Robert Cray’s long career and is a not-to-be-missed record that will delight blues fans everywhere. Cray is one of the greats of our modern times and anything he does is always worth some listening time. This is a killer set that will only extend Robert’s name and fame.

Listen to “This Man”

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GIG REVIEW: The Robert Cray Band

Welcome to UK Music Reviews » GIG REVIEW: The Robert Cray Band

The Robert Cray Band performing their 4 Nights Of 40 Years Live Tour at The Royal Concert Hall Nottingham on Monday 5 th October 2015.

Images and Review by  Kevin Cooper

The Robert Cray Band returned to The Royal Concert Hall last night after an absence of nearly three years, and it was as though they had never been away.

With an unpretentious set, this four piece band, fronted by the now legendary Robert Cray strode out onto a stage decked just with keyboards, drums, and guitars and launched into their opener, Blues Get Off My Shoulder.

Cray, really is something else as he plays a wide variety of guitars effortlessly through a set that had this enthralled audience head nodding and foot stamping in time with the beat. With songs such as Great Big Old House and Your Good Thing (Is About To End), Cray showed how easy it was to swiftly change the mood and the momentum. His deep soulful tones echoed out amongst those fans, both young and old that had come to see him.

On tour to promote his latest album, 4 Nights Of 40 Years Live, he showcased songs from his four decade long catalogue. Bad Influence was really well received and Won’t Be Coming Home showed the depth of Cray’s vocals.

Throughout, he was admirably supported by long time band member Richard Cousins who kept the watchers entertained with his charismatic charm. With this band there is no established set list, so deciding what to play after each number kept Cousins quickly changing bass guitar to the amusement of the audience.

With his songs telling stories of love, hate, despair and relationships, it was easy to see why they are one of the best and most enduring blues bands around. Whilst this was by no means a sell-out crowd, those that were there were treated to a fabulous evening by most certainly one of the leading artists in shaping modern blues music.

Saw Robert at Birmingham Town hall last night absolutely fantastic awesome guitar splendid support from Shawn Jones thank you Robert and co please please come back soon

Cancle Replay

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Blues legend Robert Cray is enjoying his 50th anniversary tour

Dave Popkin: It's my pleasure to be joined by one of the greatest blues guitarists, soul singers, and band leaders in the world. A member of the Blues Hall of Fame, Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award. He's kicking off a 50th anniversary tour. Robert Cray is with me. How are you doing?

Robert Cray : I'm good Dave, thanks man.

How did you use the off time between the tours this ye ar?

Well, just getting settled in at home because you know you're away for so long and you’ve got to spend some quality time with the family. So that's what we did and that it's a holiday season, so we did that too and just settling in, trying to write some material for another project.

I'd love to go down memory lane a little bit since it is the 50th anniversary tour. You started so young. What were your first gigs like like, what kind of venues, what kind of response?

The first gigs that we did, Richard Cousins our bass player and myself, we moved down to Eugene, Oregon from Tacoma, Washington. We ran into a guy by the name of Curtis Salgado that a lot of people know and he had a band that was called The Nighthawks out of Eugene, Oregon. Those guys helped us to get gigs and so some of the first gigs we got. First, we had the audition and we went to this one club whose name I can't remember. We only had about 12 songs and the owner of the club dug it, but he had us move our equipment to another part of the club and play those 12 songs again and that was great, but then Curtis and The Nighthawks we were able to do some double bills at some of the places that they were known at and that helped us to get started in Eugene.

Who were some of the people that you opened for in the early days where you just said, “Wow, I can't believe I'm opening for one of my heroes.”

Albert Collins was working a lot on the West Coast and you know we started the band in ’74. Albert came through in about ‘75 or ‘76 and I had met him because he played our high school graduation party in 1971 in Tacoma actually. He came through and a club owner asked us in Eugene if we would like to back up Albert and we said “yeah man” because we were already doing some of his material anyway. It turned out in the long run that we were able to work off and on with Albert from Vancouver, British Columbia to San Francisco for a period of about a year and a half, whenever he was on the West Coast we were his band.

So that was great and he was like a father to us. When we were on the road with him he would always ask if we had called our parents to let them know where we were and he was that kind of guy. He was really, really great and so we were really honored to be working with him. And we got a chance to work with Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. We did several shows with them and in the early days we got a chance to play with Muddy and well, I got a chance to sit in with Muddy on the shows that we opened up when he came through. At the time, Eugene was a place where bands had to stop because they were on their way from Portland or Seattle to San Francisco, so we got a lot of people coming through. We had Otis Rush, we had Albert Luandrew, you know Sunnyland Slim, tons of people came through.

Then fast forward about eight years and you got to do an album with Albert and with Johnny Copeland called Showdown . What was that experience like?

That was great. We were at that point working with Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker, they were our producers. Bruce Iglauer and Bruce Bromberg got together and they just said they were going to do this record. So, we got to Chicago and I was standing outside the studio with Albert Collins and we are waiting for Johnny. Johnny was just pulling up so before we got into the building, Johnny was slow getting out of the car. He'd been fasting and Albert and Johnny go way back to the 50’s, back in Houston, and they're old friends. Albert saw Johnny and saw that he was pretty weak and that just made the whole session fantastic because Albert was picking on Johnny the whole time we were recording and we took all that fun into the studio. That was great.

"T Bone Shuffle" from SHOWDOWN – Albert Collins, Robert Cray, Johnny Copeland:

That was a fun record and you mentioned Dennis Walker who passed away about a year and a half ago and some people don't know that name, but what was his impact on your career and your life?

Dennis Walker was a great guy, great producer, and a fantastic songwriter. We recorded a lot of things that Dennis wrote. He was the one that taught me that visual aspect of the lyrics and a song. Dennis really had that. He painted pictures with his stories. We had a good time together.

After Showdown , "Smoking Gun" comes along and the Strong Persuader album and it made you part of the public consciousness, at least with blues and rock fans and mainstream radio. How would your career have been different, if not for that record?

Obviously, the record did a lot for us, but when that record came out we were working so hard I didn't think that we were able to work any harder than that. We had already made a trip or two to the UK and we had the Bad Influence and False Accusations albums out and our name was getting really popular. So, I guess that was the impetus for the major record label to pick us up. Who knows. We would have still been playing music because we were we were into it, because we love doing what we do. Obviously then Strong Persuader , it's on a different level.

"Smoking Gun" official video from Strong Persuader:

I have all your records, but the one that I kind of gravitate back toward a lot is Midnight Stroll . It came out a few years after Strong Persuader . You played Bouncing Back when I saw you recently in Connecticut. So many great songs on there: "These Things," "Consequences," "The Forecast (Calls for Pain)." You've played those songs a lot over the years. What collided musically for you at that point that made that such a special record.

A lot of personnel changes going on at the particular point. Kevin Hayes came in playing drums, Jim Pugh came in playing keyboards, Tim Kaihatsu was in the band, I think, at that point. All these guys were we added, all these different songwriters, along with still having Dennis Walker and Richard (Cousins) and I was still writing. So we had all this music coming to us. "Consequences" was one written by Kevin Hayes and his sister Bonnie. We just had all these things happening. So, I think that's what made that record and when I go back and I look at the band in different phases, I mean we had different versions of the Cray band. There was the Bad Influence band there was the Strong Persuaders, as Richard calls them. We had the Midnight Stroll band and then things change and so that's why that one particular record stands out.

And the horns on there.

The Memphis Horns, yeah, yeah.

Incredible.

"The Forecast (Calls For Pain)" from Midnight Stroll - Live in Bloomington, IN – 8/21/22:

Off the air last time you and I talked about Otis Redding and you'd done "Try a Little Tenderness" before. Just in terms of your singing, who are your main guys, your main people that that you still just go to and really gravitate toward?

I was listening to O.V. Wright last night, as a matter of fact. And, you know, when I was hanging out with Curtis Salgado quite a bit, we'd sit and we'd listen to Otis Redding and O.V. Wright and Sam and Dave and all that Memphis stuff. Gospel music too. We'd listen to the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Blind Boys of Alabama and Mississippi and just all that gospel music and gospel-influenced soul music. Sam Cooke, all that stuff is very inspirational. I still listen to that stuff all the time, like I mentioned.

O.V. Wright – Medley – "God Blessed Our Love/When a Man Loves a Woman/That’s How Strong My Love Is":

It all makes its way onto your records. The 50th anniversary tour starts in February in Florida makes its way north to New Jersey, of course, in the middle of February, a mainstay stop for the band. Is there any particular feel or direction for this version of the tour that you're thinking about and crafting as you as you hit the road?

You know we're always looking to pick and choose things that we've done in the past that we haven't done for a while, just to flavor things up and after the 50 years we've been together the book is quite large and it's always nice to pick out stuff and do something haven't done for a while. Then change that up. As a matter of fact, kind of on a nightly basis we'll do a few of the favorites, but we always try to pepper it up with something different on a nightly basis.

You mentioned you were doing some writing and sometimes these records take a little bit of a different slant, it might be a funky thing or a little gospel, a little soul, straight blues. What are you writing lately?

A little a bit of everything because I like a lot of different things and a lot of styles cannot be denied. And when you when you sit down to write stuff you don't try to block yourself, tell yourself you're going to do this one particular style for this next record. Just keep your head open and let what's in there come out and in your heart as well. So, we'll see when it comes down to the picking and choosing of the material after it's laid down and see where it goes, but it should be all over the place that's good, that’s how we like it.

What do you still like best about what you do, because 50 years, it's a long time. It's a lot of hotel rooms and bus trips and flights and all that stuff, but where's the magic for you still?

Soon as you soon as you start playing. OK, what have you got today? How hot, where's your voice, how's it gonna go? Are you going to be able to hit those high notes? When we look at one another on the bandstand and we're there on the side in the wings before going out, just kind of checking one another out and see what we're gonna do and turn around and look and laugh and just have fun. That’s what keeps this going, I think.

Robert, we really appreciate all the time and your support of WBGO over the years and I look forward to seeing you in Wayne at William Paterson University, that's February 16th. Best of luck on the tour and congratulations on 50 years.

Thank you so very much Dave. Appreciate it.

A night to celebrate: On his birthday, Robert Cray showcases Harrah’s Lake Tahoe audio equipment

Robert Cray celebrated his 62nd birthday Saturday and Harrah’s Lake Tahoe gave him a present: a new sound system on which to perform.

Cray’s bright, razor-sharp guitar playing was an ideal way to showcase the venerable South Shore Room’s biggest audio upgrade in about 14 years.

“That was part of our plan going in because we wanted to work with his type of sound,” said Wayne Carlson, the head sound technician. “It went great.”

“Feeling all right?” Cray bantered to the audience of more than 500 early in the performance. “Then we can dig it.”

The Blues Hall of Fame member was in an unusually playful mood. “I’m not getting any older,” he quipped.

It was a 15-song, 70-minute set for the tight and talented Robert Cray Band. Barefoot bass player Richard Cousins, Cray’s best buddy since they both were kids, pranced about the stage. He always seems to be in a playful mode. The newest band member is Les Falconer, who tastefully solidified the pocket for today’s greatest rhythm guitarist.

Before he played with Otis Rush and Albert Collins, keyboardist Dover Weinberg was with Cray’s Eugene, Oregon, band from 1974-79. He’s back now, and he combined licks with Cray the first time the band slowed the tempo for the only cover song of the night, “Sitting on Top of the World,” a classic that was written in the 1930s.

And if you’re are going to play down-home blues why not play it on the best new low frequency equipment? — The Meyer Sound Labortatories’ model 1100 subwoofers and a new Galileo Callisto processor, which were used on this night for the first time with a live band.

A rare talent with the combination of a great voice, songwriting and guitar skills, Cray first broke out with national success in 1986 with the album “Strong Persuader,” and he played that record’s most popular song, “Right Next Door (Because of Me),” when he brought his Fender guitar to a whisper.

“Young Bob,” he sang. “Just 29 today!”

Related story: Robert Cray doesn’t mess with the silly stuff LINK

• Robert Cray Band Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, Aug. 1, 2015
• 1 “Side Dish” 2 “I’m Coming Home” 3 “Sitting On Top of the World” 4 “Shiver” 5 “I’ll Always Remember You” 6 “Sadder Days” 7 “Poor Johnny” 8 “Forecast Calls for Pain” 9 “One of These Days” 10 “I Can’t Fail” 11 “Right Next Door (Because of Me)” 12 “Chicken in the Kitchen”

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That’s What He and We Heard, Robert Cray Returns to Santa Barbara’s Lobero

Veteran R&B/Bluesman and Santa Ynez Resident Robert Cray Is Back on Stage in Downtown Santa Barbara

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In setting up an interview with prominent bluesman (and rhythm and bluesman) Robert Cray, we agreed to meet down by the railroad tracks at the station. Java Station, that is, a Hollister Avenue coffeehouse-of-choice for locals. Cray qualifies, having lived with his family in Santa Ynez for years. It’s a happy home base for Cray’s world-traveling ways as a five-time Grammy-winning artist with a deep story and discography going back to the ’80s. He shifted into a higher profile with his career-launching 1986 album Strong Persuader , with the signature hit “Smoking Gun.”

Cray, 69, makes one of his fairly regular hops over the 154 to play the Lobero Theatre on Saturday, July 29. At the moment, he is still in the long shadow of a dazzling album That’s What I Heard , celebrating a more old-school soul mode than usual for him. It also showcases Cray’s vocal powers, sometimes overshadowed by his legacy as a bold, supple guitarist.

As timing worked out, the 2020 album came out under the COVID cloud and didn’t receive the love, attention, and tour support it deserved. Then again, That’s What I Heard represents timeless music, making a personal nod to music mostly of the ’60s, in R&B and gospel (a prize in the mix is “Burying Ground,” by the Sensational Nightingales). Cray noted, “The title came after the selection of covers that we did, the whole overall view of the varieties of music. All that stuff is stuff that I listened to, coming up, basically, or was inspired by.”

Tracing his history, from a time in Munich, when his military father was stationed, to spending his formative adolescent years in Tacoma and Seattle, Cray said, “I was a big fan of the Beatles, and still am. In the latter days of high school, as 15- and 16-year-old kids, we got the blues bug. That just became the focus, and I shut out everything else. Then it wasn’t very long afterward, I opened the pages back up and listened to Otis Redding records and stuff like that again, and let everything else back in.

“But for a short while, we just absorbed all we could by listening to records by the blues people and seeing those people. I played guitar and was a big fan of people like Albert Collins and BB [King]. … Then, with the R&B stuff, that’s all we wanted to do, play R&B and blues.”

I distinctly recall hearing Cray on bills with such blues legends as Albert Collins on the Lobero stage, when he was just a young upstart from Seattle with a tasty and blues-informed guitar style — the protégé playing with much older living legends of the true blues.

As Cray said, “A lot of the younger kids now who are doing the blues and whatnot haven’t had the opportunity as we did to play with a lot of the old people, who are gone now. There were Albert Collins, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, now BB, and Muddy [Waters], and on and on. We were able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and pick up how to back up and just see it [in action].”

Cray’s 40-plus-year career has wended through the ages and stages of the music business, up to the heavily digitized reality for working musicians. Sounding like a blues veteran of yore, Cray finished his java and noted that, in the current era, “Records are not paying the bills. You have to go out and work. Which is fine — that’s where I’m happiest anyway, onstage.”

Here he comes back to the Lobero again, and thankfully so.

See lobero.org .

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Concert Review: Boz Scaggs, Robert Cray Band, Jeff Leblanc

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• BOZ SCAGGS/ROBERT CRAY BAND/JEFF LEBLANC
• Kauffman Center – Kansas City, Missouri
• August 19, 2022

What an amazing weekend of music I just concluded.  Keep an eye out for my piece on the HAPPY TOGETHER show – this one is all about the night I got to listen to one of my all-time favorites and discovered a new one.

I had certainly heard of the Robert Cray Band, and was familiar with their biggest song, “Smoking Gun,” and I had known for years that Mr. Cray was the guitarist for Otis Day and the Knights in “Animal House.”  But I’d had no idea that he was a master of the guitar, with an amazing band to match him lick for lick.  I will mention here that my wife is a big fan and has told me for years that I didn’t know what I was missing.  She was right.  With Mr. Cray changing guitars for almost every song played, the music lept from his fingers and filled the sold-out Kauffman Center.  His band kept pace, with bass player Richard Cousins supplying the beat while changing instruments almost as much as Mr. Cray did.  The set ended with a bluesy rendition of Chuck Berry’s (You Never Can Tell) C’est La Vie.

After a short break it was time for headliner Boz Scaggs and his band to take the stage.  I’m old enough to remember when hits like “Ledo Shuffle,” “Lowdown” and “Look What You’ve Done to Me” – a great song to have on the turntable when you were “entertaining” a lady friend – were first released.  I played Mr. Scaggs’ “Silk Degrees” album constantly as a teenager and it was quite a joy to hear those songs – and others – performed live.   I just realized I may have confused our younger readers by using both words “turntable” and “album.”  Still the best way to listen to music.  Don’t believe me?  Ask your parents.

Besides the hits, Mr. Scaggs also played a selection of songs from his latest album, “Let it Roll.”  The mixture of old and new was well received by the audience, as was the rousing “Ledo Shuffle” sing-along.

The evening began with a short set from singer/songwriter Jeff Leblanc, who easily engaged the audience with his stories, including a folksy rendition of Al Green’s (or, if you’re my son’s age – Tina Tuner’s) “Let’s Stay Together,” which he introduced as a song he had to learn for a wedding.  A budding talent who I’m sure we will all hear more about sooner than later.

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Top 10 Robert Cray Songs

Robert Cray is considered one of the lasts remaining of the blues king’s era, besides Buddy Guy, Jimmy Vaughan, Robben Ford, and Clapton. Awarded with five Grammys, since the 1970s, he has played with several blues legends like Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, the Vaughan brothers, and B.B. King. Throughout all these years, Cray has released more than 25 albums as a solo artist or on behalf of the “The Robert Cray Band”. The smooth voice and cleanness of Cray’s guitar tone are unmistakable and have become his registered trademark. Below are our selected top 10 songs by Robert Cray, which we think can represent, as much as possible, all his contributions to blues music.

10. “Nothin’ But A Woman”

This song is omnipresent on the 10/10 blues collection ever made. It’s a classic by Robert Cray that marked the whole 1980s. It’s part of Strong Persuader (1985) album.

( Buy on Amazon )

9. “I Guess I’ll Never Know”

From the late harvest of Cray’s blues albums ( In My Soul , 2014), “I Guess I’ll Never Know” keeps maintaining the finesse and balance between guitar and horns, as always showed in Cray’s previous albums.

8. “I Shiver”

First recorded on the album Shame + A Sin (1993), that’s another song where Cray doesn’t spare good taste and bluesy guitar vocabulary.

7. “Phone Booth”

“Phone Booth” is a song first recorded in 1983 by Albert King in I’m In A Phone Booth, Baby album. Robert Cray also released this song on the album Bad Influence (1983) and in 2003, in the album Heritage Of The Blues: Phone Booth .

6. “Poor Johnny”

From the album Twenty (2005), this song narrates the tale of Johnny, a man who cheated on his family to try to live another life with his new “friends”. It’s a bluesy ballad with a nice clean guitar solo.

5. “Smoking Gun”

One of the greatest hits by Robert Cray, also part of Strong Persuader album. This song reached # 2 on the Billboard Rock Album Tracks as a single in 1986. This song was re-released in the album Cookin’ In Mobile (2009).

4. “Back Door Slam”

This song is part of the album Time Will Tell (2003). “Back Door Slam” is a huge classic by Robert Cray, and this song was the inspiration for the name of Davy Knowles’ first band.

3. “Blues Get Off My Shoulder”

With the traditional horn section, vastly used by Cray in his records, this song is part of the album Nothing But Love (2012).

2. “You Move Me”

Another one from the album In My Soul . Unmistakable guitar tones, precise vocal lines, and cohesive bases. That’s the recipe for a successful song!

1. “Right Next Door” (Because Of Me)

Definitely, Strong Persuader was one of the most successful albums by Robert Cray. Besides other classics listed above from that album, “Right Next Door (Because Of Me)” was an absolute phenomenon in the 1980s. Its lyrics tell the story where Cray himself is the subject of a couple’s fight. It’s another Cray class on the subject of elegance, guitar tone, and notes selection.

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4 thoughts on “ top 10 robert cray songs ”.

As with any artist who has released more than 15 albums it’s hard to pin down a top 10. What makes it more difficult for Robert Cray is that he walks the line between blues and soul easily and sometimes it is the latter that dominates the albums. This list is okay but some that would have made my list are I Guess I Showed Her, The Forecast (Calls For Pain), Bad Influence, Great Big Old House, 1040 Blues, Foul Play and I Can’t Quit all Cray (or at least Cray Band) originals. Of the covers Too Many Cooks, Got To Make A Comeback, Sleeping In The Ground and You’re Gonna Need Me are also worthy inclusions. Seems that a Top 10 doesn’t do full justice to a man whose career is now over 40 years.

“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” is probably my favourite. Not sure which of his albums it comes from.

All good songs, and I know it’s very personal to some extent, but this list suffers from overemphasis on the early years (which were important to his career because that’s when he gained exposure, had some minor hits that got radio play, had some MTV exposure and performed on some late night shows), and the latter years (2003 – present, emphasis on R&B/soul).

What’s missing are selections from the center, early 90’s – early noughts, an artistically spectacular period that includes CD’s like I Was Warned, Some Rainy Morning, Sweet Potato Pie and Shoulda Been Home. There are many pieces on these sessions that are magnificent, and really ought to have become culturally “important”, songs that sound better on the 20th listening than the 3rd, that seem to always be willing to reveal more riches, and that contain “impossible” moments. Also, this work draws from a larger variety of influences than the other phases which are a little more predictable.

For a career like RC’s, I believe ten is an inappropriate list length, kind of like with the Beatles and a few others.

I was present at the ‘Gorge’, in Washington State 1989, …listened to R. Cray, thought he was ten times better than, Stevie Ray… Cray went on a tangent of guitar numbers, for an extended time… Where are these lost tapping’s of that recorded- tangent he went on that night? Absolutely amazing! But, knew they weren’t his run of the mill everyday songs. How can I hear these scores again? I know they were recorded; but now lost in a sea of music out there. These were improv’ (Sp.). And want to experience again! His guitar wails were out of this world, and I know these lost-recording’s, are somewhere… can you direct me to? Without charge, want to hear again, and save… Please, am desperate for… TY, DFC

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Published: 2023/01/21 by Larson Sutton

Robert Cray Band Open 2023 Tour at SoCal’s Canyon Club

Last night, the Robert Cray Band kicked-off their 2023 slate of touring with an appearance at The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California. The venerable quartet performed a 100-minute set dotted with classics from Cray’s nearly 50-year career as a multiple Grammy-winning architect of modern blues. The Canyon show also marked the first of seven dates in the Western U.S. – six in the Golden State, including a two night stand at Oakland’s famed Yoshi’s.

“It’s freezing,” Cray remarked after his “Anything You Want” show-starter, and indeed it was; Southern California temps on this Friday in January dipped into the low 30°s. Appropriately, the blues master followed with “I Shiver,” part of his 15-song evening for the packed-in, most-seated faithful. There was Cray’s adopted nugget, “Sittin On Top of The World,” that came early in the night, garnering the first of several standing ovations. And some relationship advice on “I Don’t Care,” after which Cray admitted, “I don’t think you should take everything I say seriously.”

The midpoint highlight came on a pairing of “You Had My Heart,” and his neo-classic “Bad Influence,” the title track from his 1983 album. Cray offered a tribute to Booker T. and the M.G.’s on “Hip Tight Onions, and catered to his longtime bassist, Richard Cousins, and his affinity for Tom Jones on “You Move Me,” with choreographed dance steps, buttressed by Dover “White Cliffs” Weinberg on keyboards and Les Falconer on drums. Then, it was the familiar strains of Cray’s certified hit, “Right Next Door (Because of Me),” that answered the crowd’s numerous shouted requests and served as the set’s penultimate showcase before a closing “You Must Believe In Yourself.”

A two-song encore of “Phone Booth” and “Time Takes Two” concluded the evening to one more standing-ovation for the quartet. After the Western leg wraps, the Robert Cray Band heads east for a series of shows throughout February, March, and April. A full tour schedule may be found at robertcray.com.

A full tour schedule can be found here .

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The Robert Cray Band tour dates 2024

The Robert Cray Band is currently touring across 8 countries and has 31 upcoming concerts.

Their next tour date is at Brown County Music Center in Nashville, after that they'll be at Memorial Hall in Cincinnati.

Currently touring across

• 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
• 🇳🇱 Netherlands
• 🇨🇭 Switzerland

Upcoming concerts (31) See nearest concert

Brown County Music Center

Memorial Hall

Porgy & Bess

Rockhal - Club

Bridge Guitar Festival

Muziekgieterij

Royal Circus (Cirque Royal/Koninklijk Circus)

Paradiso Grote Zaal

Mühle Hunziken

The Doobie Brothers

Past concerts

Infinity Hall

Keswick Theatre

Cary Memorial Hall

View all past concerts

Recent tour reviews

I’ve seen Robert Cray perform at least 10 times over the last 25-30 years. My first Robert Cray concert was at Cain Park, in Cleveland Heights in the early 90’s. He performed “Move a Mountain” and that began my love affair with his music. He is one of those performers that sounds just as good live, as he does on his cd’s. He is an amazing guitar player and I get lost in the emotion of his music.

I hadn’t been back to Cain park since that first concert all those many years ago, and had the pleasure of seeing Robert Cray there last night. He was as amazing as always, it was a wonderful show.

I’m disappointed that it has taken me this long to get back to Cain Park, what a lovely venue. It’s nestled back in a park setting. It’s an amphitheater and any seat in the house would be a good seat. What I remembered the most about my first visit and it was confirmed again last night is that the sound is amazing! The seats are very comfortable (for an amphitheater) and you have plenty of leg room. There is a little grill at the top of the amphitheater that serves a limited menu of things like ribs/pulled pork/hot dogs/fries/popcorn/hot dogs/hot pretzel s/drinks. Cheaper than what I would have expected. We had eaten before the show, so only did the hot pretzels, but everything looked and smelled wonderful. Everyone was so friendly, it was just a great night out.

My only advice would be go early, so you can get close parking. It’s in a park, so all of the parking is street parking around the park. We were lucky enough to get very close parking with a close walk right into the amphitheater, but I could see parking being a challenge, if you go later.

I recommend seeing Robert Cray, if you love blues music and check out Cain Park, if you ever have a chance.

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I've seen RC three times now, 1987 and most recently last year and last night. I think last nights performance was the best I've seen and corroborated from others around me. Dover on the keyboards was outstanding rivaling a Chuck Leavell. His guitar playing was super crisp and voice crystal clear. Fantastic performance primarily new work with some classics thrown in. I could do without the political slant but he still ranks as my top 10 performers to see.

Fantastic set, a blues player on top of his game with an outstanding backing band. Fluid, emotional, funky, slow and sad, he does it all. Don Bryant was a thrilling surprise with the Bo Keys, fantastic soul music, his voice and stage energy astonishing for a 76 year old. I would have been gone away happy if he was the main act. So glad he was nagged out by the Bo Keys.

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Upcoming shows, grand casino mille lacs (george thorogood) onamia, mn, the des plaines theatre des plaines, il, brown county music center (george thorogood) nashville, in, long center - mars theatre lafayette, in, memorial hall otr cincinnati, oh, cma theater nashville, tn, new orleans jazz & heritage festival new orleans, la, blues festival baden baden, switzerland, grolsch blues festival schoppingen, germany, studio krakow, poland, teatr szekspirowski gdansk, poland, progresja warsaw, poland, porgy and bess vienna, austria, colos-saal aschaffenburg, germany, rockhal club esch/alzette, luxembourg, bridge – eindhoven guitar festival eindhoven, netherlands, muziekgieterij maastricht, netherlands, cirque royal brussels, belgium, paradiso (sold out) amsterdam, netherlands, paradiso amsterdam, netherlands, kedelhuset (sold out) silkeborg, denmark, amager bio copenhagen, denmark, mühle hunziken bern (sold out) bern, switzerland, mühle hunziken bern bern, switzerland, kia forum (the doobie brothers) inglewood, ca, north island credit union amphitheatre (the doobie brothers) chula vista, ca, footprint center (the doobie brothers) phoenix, az, tobin center (george thorogood) san antonio, tx, dos equis pavilion (the doobie brothers) dallas, tx, the cynthia woods mitchell pavilion (the doobie brothers) the woodlands, tx, bok center (the doobie brothers) tulsa, ok, choctaw grand theater (the doobie brothers) durant, ok, knuckleheads – the saloon kansas city, mo, walmart amp (the doobie brothers) rogers, ar, daily's place (the doobie brothers) jacksonville, fl, ithink financial amphitheatre (the doobie brothers) west palm beach, fl, midflorida credit union amphitheatre (the doobie brothers) tampa, fl, ameris bank amphitheatre (the doobie brothers) alpharetta, ga, food city center (the doobie brothers) knoxville, tn, evans amphitheater (steve earle) cleveland heights, oh, hayden homes amphitheater (the doobie brothers) bend, or, rv inn style resorts amphitheater (the doobie brothers) ridgefield, wa, white river amphitheatre (the doobie brothers) auburn, wa, toyota pavilion at concord (the doobie brothers) concord, ca, toyota amphitheatre (the doobie brothers) wheatland, ca, featured merch, groovin' 50 years pullover hoodie (grey), groovin' 50 years pullover hoodie (grey)ssss, groovin' 50 years sweatshirt (grey), groovin' 50 years sweatshirt (grey)ssss, groovin' 50 years t-shirt (grey), groovin' 50 years t-shirt (grey)ssss, groovin' 50 years mug, groovin' 50 years mugssss, groovin' 50 years sweatshirt, groovin' 50 years sweatshirtssss, groovin' 50 years pullover hoodie, groovin' 50 years pullover hoodiessss, groovin' 50 years t-shirt, groovin' 50 years t-shirtssss.

Discography

That’s What I Heard

Robert Cray and Hi Rhythm

4 Nights Of 40 Years Live

Nothing But Love

Cookin’ In Mobile

Live at the BBC

Since 1974, The Robert Cray Band has been touring and recording their unique groove, 

born from a love of Soul, R&B, Gospel, Blues and Rock n Roll. 

The five-time Grammy winner has been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and earned the Americana Music Awards Lifetime Achievement for Performance. 

“Having had the opportunity to play with some of our heroes was more than we could have ever imagined,” says Robert.  “Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and the big stages with The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, and Eric Clapton.”

Cray’s producer Steve Jordan adds, “People gravitate to his guitar playing first, but I think he’s one of the best singers I’ve heard in my life.” 

The Robert Cray Band has released over twenty acclaimed albums and has sold millions worldwide.  “The Band continues with the same enthusiasm and joy in what we do, and no matter the accolades,” says Robert.   “Today is all that matters!”

The Robert Cray Band features:

Robert Cray - Guitar & Vocals

Richard Cousins - Bass

Dover Weinberg - Keyboards

George Sluppick - Drums

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The Doobie Brothers Announce 2024 Tour With Special Guests Robert Cray & Steve Winwood

Rock & Roll Hall of Famers The Doobie Brothers have announced a major U.S. tour featuring special guests Robert Cray  and  Steve Winwood at select shows.

Set to kick off on June 15th at Seattle’s White River Amphitheater , the tour will carry the band through the summer months with stops in 38 cities, many of which the band has not played in several years. Following shows in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York City at Madison Square Garden , the trek will wrap in Salt Lake City at the USANA Amphitheater on August 30th.

Tickets for The Doobie Brothers’ 2024 tour will for on sale to the general public on Friday, January 26th at 10 a.m. local time. Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning Tuesday, January 23rd at 10 a.m. local time until Thursday, January 25th at 10 p.m. local through the Citi Entertainment program. Click below for a full list of tour dates, and visit the website for ticketing details.

The Doobie Brothers’ 2024 tour follows the band’s 50th Anniversary Tour , which saw Tom Johnston , Michael McDonald , Pat Simmons , and John McFee tour together for the first time in over 25 years. Formed in 1970, the band has earned five top-ten singles, 16 top-40 hits, three multi-platinum albums, seven platinum albums, 14 gold albums, and a rare diamond record for their 1976 Best of the Doobies album, with nearly 50 million albums sold worldwide.

In 2023, they released the single “Lahaina” in support of those affected by the devastating fires in Maui last year, marking the band’s first release since its 2021 album Liberté . The single also featured Mick Fleetwood , Jake Shimabukuro , and Henry Kapono ,

THE DOOBIE BROTHERS: THE 2024 TOUR DATES

June 15 ** – White River Amphitheater – Seattle, WA June 16 ** – RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater – Ridgefield, WA June 18 ** – Hayden Homes Amphitheater – Bend, OR June 20 ** – Toyota Amphitheatre – Wheatland, CA June 22 ** – Concord Pavilion – Concord, CA June 23 ** – The Kia Forum – Los Angeles, CA June 25 ** – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – San Diego, CA June 26 ** – Footprint Center – Phoenix, AZ June 29 ** – Dos Equis Pavilion – Dallas, TX June 30 ** – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion – Houston, TX July 2 ** – BOK Center – Tulsa, OK July 3 ** – Choctaw Casino and Resort – Durant, OK July 6 ** – Walmart AMP – Rogers, AR July 8 ** – Daily’s Place – Jacksonville, FL July 10 ** – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre – West Palm Beach, FL July 11 ** – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre – Tampa, FL July 13 ** – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre – Atlanta, GA July 14 ** – Thompson-Boling Arena – Knoxville, TN July 30 ++ – PNC Music Pavilion – Charlotte, NC July 31 ++ – Coastal Credit Union Music Park – Raleigh, NC August 3 ++ – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion – Camden, NJ August 4 ++ – Jiffy Lube Live – Bristow, VA August 6 ++ – PNC Bank Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ August 7 ++ – Madison Square Garden – New York, NY August 9 ++ – Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater – Bridgeport, CT August 10 ++ – BankNH Pavilion – Gilford, NH August 12 ++ – Xfinity Center – Boston, MA August 13 ++ – Broadview Stage at SPAC – Saratoga Springs, NY August 15 ++ – Pine Knob Music Theatre – Detroit, MI August 17 ++ – Ruoff Music Center – Noblesville, IN August 18 ++ – Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH August 20 ++ – The Pavilion at Star Lake – Pittsburgh, PA August 22 ++ – Blossom Music Center – Cleveland, OH August 24 ++ – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis, MO August 25 ++ – Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre – Tinley Park, IL August 27 ++ – CHI Health Center – Omaha, NE August 29 ++ – Ball Arena – Denver, CO August 30 ++ – USANA Amphitheater – Salt Lake City, UT

**with Robert Cray ++with Steve Winwood

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