Back Beat

Robert Cray Onstage

By Tiffany Razzano

American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, Robert Cray, whose work often blurs the lines of pop, rock and blues, will be heading to the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on February 28.

Cray, who's working on a new album, moved around a lot when he was growing up because his father was in the Army. But he committed to playing guitar when he was 12. Cray spent much of his high school years in Tacoma, Wash., where he "caught the blues bug," after Albert Collins performed at his high school's graduation party.

He moved down to Eugene, Oregon, where he started The Robert Cray Band and released his first album, Who's Been Talkin', in 1978. Since then, he's won five Grammy awards and been nominated for 11 more. Originally, though, he made a name for himself in the UK, where, Cray said, "they love American music - rock and roll, blues, country - pretty much everything in the pop genre belongs to the United States and they pay close attention to it and get into it in a real fine detail. They're fanatical about records and whatnot... It happened for us over there before we had any success over here. We first had two to three records hit the top of the charts over in England."

Now, Cray and his band are busy working on their first studio album since 2005, and their first record since the double live album, Live from Across the Pond, recorded at Albert Hall, that they released a couple of years ago. Fans coming to the WHBPAC show can expect a good mix of old and new material, he says.

Cray will perform at the WHBPAC on February 28 at 8 p.m. For more information, go to whbpac.org or robertcray.com.

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