It’s been three decades since his career-cementing, multiplatinum album Strong Persuader, but contemporary blues master Robert Cray still loves performing live. So when the Robert Cray Band returns to Santa Barbara on July 24, expect the Grammy-winning Fender bender to squeeze some sublime notes from his Stratocaster as he and the boys deliver such chestnuts as “Smoking Gun” and “Right Next Door (Because of Me).”
Perhaps it’s only natural that Cray loves touring because, in essence, he’s been on the move his entire life. Born in Columbus, Georgia, Cray grew up the child of an itinerant military father who took his family to Washington, California, and even Germany. He and Robert Cray Band bassist Richard Cousins met in 1969. “We attended rival high schools in the same school district,” Cray said in a recent interview with The Santa Barbara Independent. “We started hanging out and getting into the music.”
In 1971, blues guitarist Albert Collins was playing a lot of rock festivals, and Cray reckons some students at his high school must have caught him because they voted to have him play their graduation. “He was the first blues guy we saw close-up to say thank you for playing,” Cray said.