The Blues, for the longest time, seemed to shrink back in itself, a natural reaction perhaps to being seen as a bloated, out of touch, left behind behemoth that many could not face being played in their company. The fear arguably that it had somehow become a pastiche of itself, too drawn out and like Jazz, an entity of music that wasn’t in keeping with the modern way of the world, the bright future that many believed involved leaving such genres of music behind.
It wasn’t the only genre to be affected by the dominance of a new culture sweeping the music tastes of the late 80s and throughout the 90s, Jazz, American Country and Progressive Rock also took wound after wound of barbed criticism, however like those three particular modes of musical feeling, the Blues had an artist who bridged the gap between two great eras, the cement, the foundation of the intelligently pursued songs and albums that makes a crowd beam with joy when performed, the talented Robert Cray.
Between the likes of Robert Green, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, and even Eric Clapton in his Yardbirds and Cream heyday together with today’s incredible endowed musicians such as Joe Bonamassa, Joanne Shaw Taylor and Kenny Wayne Shepherd can only be the soft touch of fingers but one with a resonating and powerful persona all of its own, Robert Cray.
The musician from Columbus in Georgia has recently celebrated his 65th birthday, a time perhaps when most look forward to the days of comfortable retirement, when the ethic of labour is behind them and the more carefree dotage is to not be tied to the pen and the clock. Not so for Robert Cray, busier than ever and with a back catalogue behind him that would make any self-respecting musician look upon with more than an ounce of jealousy, he is already planning his next album and coming back to the U.K. for a series of dates, one that includes returning to Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall, a scene in recent times of beauty and triumph.
Ahead of the night in October, I was fortunate enough to receive a phone call from Robert Cray, to talk about the Blues, his influences and loves, the childhood recollections. What came across is the absolute sincerity in his voice, this was a conversation not just with a musician, not somebody with the chance to talk shop, but with a gentleman, a legend of the genre.
It could be argued that you are the link between two great eras of Blues, the pre-1990s and now, is that how you see yourself or been told that you are?
RC: “In a way, yes, I know that there’s a generation after me of Blues players and the likes of Buddy Guy are before me – he’s one of the last of his generation.”
Who were your influences when you were growing up?
RC: “There are a lot, of course there’s BB King, guitar players like Albert Collins, Magic Sam and Otis Rush, even Taj Mahal and Eric Clapton. Hendrix – lots and lots of guitar players.”
Was it the guitar then that drew you into the world of music when you were starting out?
RC: “Well, you know, I had been into music before I started playing guitar because I had played piano and my father had a big record collection, both my parents did. We listened to Ray Charles, I guess that was the reason why my father started me off on the piano as he was a big Ray Charles fan. We listened to a lot of music and Blues and Jazz and R ‘n’ B and Gospel were some of the stuff we were listening to but then I got into the guitar when The Beatles hit the States and I, like all my friends up and down the street, got guitars and we listened to The Beatles. We paid more attention though to what was being played on the radio, we’d attempt to play anything on the guitar and show one another how to do it and it wasn’t until my latter years of high school – about 15 or 16 years old that I started to get into the Blues.
The first Blues player that I saw perform was Albert Collins and he had been playing some of the rock festivals in the late 60s that were going on and I saw Albert Collins whoop everyone who had been on before him and after him. That was something fantastic, he just walked out into the crowd with one long guitar cable and it was really powerful and exciting so unbeknownst to me, there were a lot of my high school buddies who had seen Albert playing and we had a vote as to who was going to play our high school graduation party and it was between Albert Collins and another band who had a top 40 hit at the time on the radio and Albert Collins won, So he performed for us 16-19 year olds at our high school graduation party.”
That must have been pretty something! To get Albert Collins there – that was pretty cool!
RC: “It was pretty cool! He walked out amongst us with his long guitar cable and after the show was over, I got the opportunity to tell him how much I appreciated the show and he said to me – you’re learning to play guitar – keep it up!”
That really is a thing – with your early days being entrenched in music, your first album came out in 1980, to create so much and your last album The Hi Rhythm was incredible, it was very deep in many ways, it encapsulated your journey if you like as a musician was that something that you were aiming for?
RC: “Well you know Steve Jordan sent me an email because we were going to record together but we didn’t have enough ideas where we wanted to go with the next project but then he sends me this email and said I’ve got it! – We’ll record in Memphis and Royal Studios so get to work writing so I set out to put some songs together and we emailed back and forth about other options and then White Fox came up and we together in Memphis and I’d met a couple of the guys before but I didn’t know them and how we got everything going was we got Steve Jordan to start playing and we all fell in and after 20 minutes we’re all friends. The record says Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm but it was as that band. We’ve done several shows over the time the record’s been on release and they’ve evolved in to the Robert Cray Band.”
Are you looking forward to coming back to Britain? I know you’ve played here several times over the past few years – is there a particular enjoyment you have with coming back?
RC: “Yes, I always enjoy coming back as it was the first place where we really started working as the band that we are now. My wife is from England – she’s from Leicester so we have family there, so we have to come back home.”
Youre coming back to the Liverpool Philharmonic as well where you’ve done some of your most incredible gigs over the past few years including those at the Jazz Festival and events like that – there’s an atmosphere that surrounds you when you’re on stage.
RC: “Oh thanks, we have fun and that’s what it’s all about you know and that’s why we continue to do it.”
Is there a reason why you keep coming back to Liverpool at all? Is that to do with your love of The Beatles you mentioned before? Have you noticed any difference in the way that you’re treated in Liverpool by the audience?
RC: “I think we have a strong fan base here and I think when we first came to the U.K. we could never get a gig in Liverpool and we kept saying that we wanted to play in Liverpool – so did the rest of the guys too. We finally got our foot in the door and it doesn’t always work out, it depends on the routeing but this time it’s coming around again and we’ve got the chance. We want to play as many places as we can. There are some great fans in Liverpool for us.”
Are there any surprises for the audience in Liverpool, are you planning anything a bit different, a bit special?
RC: “Well I don’t know if we’ve been to Liverpool with our current drummer Terrence Clark he’s from Memphis he’s a really strong driving force for the band now and he’s kicked it up a notch now.”
One last question if I may, with your career so far being so varied and wide encompassing the Blues are there any more albums coming out?
RC: “We’re trying to co-ordinate recording another record at the start of August in this coming year with the hope that it would be out in the Spring.”
Thank you very much for your time especially as it’s a long way to call and I look forward personally to seeing you back at the Philharmonic Hall.
Robert Cray and the band will be performing at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on October 28th.