Five-time Grammy winner Robert Cray Band plays Paramount

Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 8 p.m.—RUTLAND—The Robert Cray Band, five-time Grammy Award winner (and 15-time nominee) makes a stop in Rutland, at the historic Paramount Theatre on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 8 p.m.
Robert Cray is widely recognized as one of the greatest guitarists of our time. The New Yorker recently called him “one of the most reliable pleasures of soul and blues for over three decades now.“ He has written or performed with everyone from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan, from Bonnie Raitt to John Lee Hooker, and in 2011, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
With his 17th studio album, In My Soul, Cray reasserts his position as one of his generation’s great musical storytellers—this time steeped in the down-home sound and rich emotion of  Southern soul, yet never straying far from his incomparable guitar mastery. Produced by Steve Jordan, whose long list of credits includes extensive work with Keith Richards and John Mayer, the album blends funky originals with surprising covers, and captures a new configuration of the Robert Cray Band: long-time bass player Richard Cousins is joined by keyboardist Dover Weinberg (returning to the group, with which he played in the 1970s and 80s) as well as new drummer Les Falconer.
Cray’s career has spanned more than four decades. He notes, with pride and with some amusement, that he continues to see new, younger faces in his audience. “There’s a younger generation now whose parents turned them on to our music,” he says. “It reminds me of when I was young and going to see Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, all the blues I could. It is kind of funny to be in the position of being the older generation now. But I’m just going to continue to do what we do. I can only do what I know, and we’ll see what happens.”
Tickets ($35, $40 and $45) are available at the box office located at 30 Center Street in downtown Rutland. Patrons may charge-by-phone via the venue box office at 802-775-0903 or online at paramountvt.org.