Veteran bluesman Robert Cray bringing new album, old funk to Kentucky

For an artist so readily associated with the blues, Robert Cray began 2020 in high spirits.

The five-time Grammy-winning guitarist, vocalist and bandleader had been sitting on another gem of album, “That’s What I Heard,” for much of the previous year. Rather than release it in the fall prior to an extended tour break, Cray held up the record’s release until the following February. After all, nothing at that point could disrupt a hearty run of concert activity to promote a new record, right?

“I was really happy with the way the album turned out,” said Cray, who performs a concert this weekend at the Grand Theatre in Frankfort. “We went into the studio, our first time going into Capitol Studios. That’s such a historic place. We recorded in Studio B, where people like Nat Cole and Frank Sinatra worked. There are all these beautiful photographs of people like The Beach Boys and Les Paul on the wall. You just felt like, ‘Wow. You’ve made it somewhere to be in a studio like this.’

“We did the record in April and May of 2019 and released it at the end of February of 2020. Then we went out on the road. We were back home on the 12th on March.”

Cray capped that recollection with a laugh that sounded more like a sigh. Any serious promotion for “That’s What I Heard” was put on hold, as were all foreseeable touring plans.

Then again, the same held true for everyone’s road schedules. That’s when the COVID-19 erupted and froze the performance livelihood Cray has enjoyed for over four decades.

“Nothing like this has ever happened,” he said. “I mean, this is all we do. This is all we know. So we’re now playing music from what is kind of a new record even though it’s really two years old.”

Cray’s Frankfort show, which has been postponed twice due to the pandemic (it was originally scheduled for June 2020), will be among his first concert performances in 17 months. When asked if he has ever had this much time off the road, his reply was swift and succinct: “Never.”

“As we rehearsed, we thought everything would just fall back into place, but it’s taking a little bit of time for things to get moving again. The hand muscles take a little bit of time to come back to where they used to be. The hands, voice, memory – all of that. It’s a challenge. But what’s been gone for the longest time is also what we’ve been missing the most. We’re happy to be doing it again.”

The good news out of all this is that “That’s What I Heard” continues a string of sterling studio recordings that extends back nearly four decades to when the guitarist was the leader of a new blues generation, receiving very public recognition from the likes of Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, B.B. King, Tina Turner and other notables.

It is also an affirmation of a broad, root-conscious sound that has always sat at the heart of Cray’s music. He may be known to most audiences as a bluesman, but his guitar and especially vocal preferences borrow just as generously from soul, R&B and elemental rock ‘n’ roll.

While “That’s What I Heard” offers rich platefuls of blues, slow-cooked soul and even jubilant gospel, its real head-turner is an obscurity by the great Philadelphia soul stylist Don Gardner titled “My Baby Likes to Boogaloo.” Driven, as one might by suppose by the title, by an instantly infectious and unrelenting groove, the tune was suggested to Cray by Steve Jordan. A long-heralded drummer and studio pro, Jordan has served as producer for Cray’s last three studio albums (he will also serve as substitute drummer for Charlie Watts on the Rolling Stones’ upcoming North American tour).

“Steve Jordan… he’s a groove master,” Cray said. “He sent me this CD with all of these old ‘60s tunes that were kind of obscure. ‘My Baby Likes to Boogaloo’ was the first track. I called up Steve immediately and said, ‘We’re doing this song.’ He said, ‘I already know that, buddy, and I’m playing drums on it for you.’

“’My Baby Likes to Boogaloo’ … man, that song is extremely funky.”

While drive and spirit have remained consistent in Cray’s music through the years, his place in the blues-rooted world has reversed. When his “Strong Persuader” album became a major rock/soul crossover sensation in 1986, Cray was a disciple of the roots music maestros that came before him. Having turned 68 earlier this month, he is now one of the elders who eyes the same devotion and vitality in younger artists that pioneers like John Lee Hooker and Albert Collins first saw in him.

“The thing is, though, everybody is doing it their own way,” Cray said of the incoming blues/soul generation. You see guys like Kingfish (Clarksdale, Miss., guitarist Christone Ingram, who will perform in Lexington at Manchester Music Hall on Nov. 9) and it’s really cool. They’ve got their own take on stuff, and it’s good that way.

“We were afforded that same kind of thing when we were coming up, when we were hanging out with Albert Collins or watching Muddy (Waters). They let us do what we did. They showed us the same kind of respect.”

The Robert Cray Band

When: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 21

Where: Grand Theatre, 308 St. Clair St. in Frankfort

Tickets: $45-$65

Phone: 502-352-7469

Online: thegrandky.com

In response to increased COVID-19 infections, Cray and his staff are requiring patrons, staff and volunteers attending the concert to be masked.

Bonus concert pick of the weekend:

After a year-and-a-half break thanks to COVID-19, the Origins Jazz Series returns Aug. 22 to kickoff its fourth concert season. Leading the charge will be a quartet featuring Louisville vibraphonist Dick Sisto, one of city’s busiest and most longstanding jazz artists, and pianist Steve Allee performing the spiritually based music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.

The show will also introduce a new performance home for the series – Base249, an event space at 249 E Main, which was part of the former Portofino restaurant. Tickets for the 6 p.m. concert are $20 at originsjazz.org. Those attending should also review the program’s COVID-19 precautions listed on the website.