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Robert Cray Band

What:

Looking Back.

On the Friday following the big earthquake, local soundman/deejay Russ Cole subbed for vacationing deejay Mike Dronkers on KHUM. Because he’d worked at the Old Town Bar & Grill, Cole did a lunch hour set with music by bands who’d played at the soon-to-be demolished nightclub. To start, he chose “Smoking Gun” by the Robert Cray Band, a single from the 1986  album Strong Persuader that was proved a turning point in the guitarist’s career.

Between the MTV video for the song (at a time when that meant something) and a push from his label, Mercury, “Smoking Gun” landed in Billboard‘s Top-20, and Cray managed to cross over into the mainstream, an unusual thing for a guy who plays blues guitar. The album went double-platinum and won a Grammy, and Cray was soon on his way to playing venues bigger than the OTB&G. Of course it hadn’t happened overnight.

By 1986 Cray had already been playing the bar circuit for more than a decade. As a teenager in Tacoma Wash. he took up guitar, and discovered the blues through records by guys like Texas bluesman Albert Collins. In 1974, he started an R&B band with his high school friend Richard Cousins on bass, and the pair actually landed a gig backing Collins. Working out of Eugene, Ore., the Cray Band played frequent local gigs at bars like the Jambalaya and OTB&G.

They figured they had it made when they released their first album in 1980, but Who’s Been Talkin’ came out on a label that was about to go under and basically went straight to the cut-out bin. Like much of the band’s repertoire over the years, that first record mixed blues and Memphis soul: The title track is a Howlin’ Wolf song, but there’s also a cover of soul man O.V. Wright’s “I’m Gonna Forget About You.”

“That’s the music I enjoy,” said Cray in an interview before a previous Humboldt visit. “I like songs that talk about the breakups and heartache and that kind of thing. Those are songs you can put a lot of emotion into - the kind of songs that make me want to pull out my O.V. Wright and Otis Redding records, and the blues songs.”

Over the year he continued his exploration of blues and soul, earning a few more Grammys along the way. He looked back with his 2006 double-disc, Live From Across the Pond, recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall when he did a series of shows opening for Eric Clapton. For his next studio recording, he looked back again and reunited with Cousins, who’d left the Cray band years ago.

“I’ve known Richard for 40 years,” said Cray in a press release about the 2009 record, This Time. “We go back to 1969, and we grew up in the same area together. We’ve always had a really good rapport together stage-wise. Richard and I have remained the best of friends ever since he departed way back in ‘91… It just so happened that last year, I wanted to make personnel changes in the band. So I asked Richard to come back.”

Keyboardist Jim Pugh, who’s been playing with Cray since 1989, is still with the band. Drummer Tony Braunagel is a friend of Cousins who Cray met when they all played a benefit in Portland for former bandmate Curtis Salgado. When Cousins rejoined the Cray band, he brought Braunagel along. Everyone contributed to the writing when they recorded This Time, and it’s clear the musicians clicked. They sound great. 

See for yourself when the Robert Cray Band plays at the Arkley Center Friday, Jan. 22. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are still available for $55. Get them at www.arkleycenter.com or by calling 442-1956.

Bob Doran

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