How cool is Robert Cray? He can communicate with his all-star band without speaking while his guitar whispers to the audience.

But concertgoers can expect plenty of time to rock when the bluesman plays Saturday at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe with a new rhythm section and songs from a recently released CD.

Bassist Richard Cousins, a member of Cray’s band from 1974-91, has rejoined the band. Drummer Tony Braunagel, well known for his work with the Phantom Blues Band, also has joined Cray and his longtime keyboardist Jim Pugh.

“This band has a feel for playing beyond what is written,” Cray told Lake Tahoe Action. “A lot of things were done where we are really listening to what one another were playing onstage live and going places with it.”
Cray and Cousins have been friends since 1969.

“There is a lot of unspoken energy that goes on onstage,” Cray said. “I move my body one way and Richard responds. We read each other so well, so it’s good to have him back.”

The Robert Cray Band’s album “This Time” was recorded in January, but the group’s formation began three years ago in Portland at a fundraising concert for Oregon singer Curtis Salgado, who is winning a battle against cancer and liver disease but has astronomical medical bills.

At the show, Cray performed with Braunagel and Cousins, who came out from his Zürich, Switzerland home to support his old friend. Cray’s band and Salgado’s Nighthawks often teamed up in the 1970s in Eugene, Ore., for “Double Trouble” shows that ended with a jam with both bands who called themselves the Crayhawks.

Cray, who has five Grammy Awards, has had eight mainstream hit singles — an unheard of achievement for a blues artist. Cray credits his musical background for this.

“It’s part-and-parcel to the way we grew up,” he said. “I was inspired to play guitar by The Beatles. And that was after listening to my parents’ records, which was jazz and blues and R&B. After I started playing guitar there was a whole wealth of guitar players to turn to. I saw Jimi Hendrix a couple of times and I saw Albert Collins and got into the blues and all of that. So the writing comes from all different directions. It makes the music accessible.”
After the 2006 release of a double-CD, “Live from Across the Pond,” a compilation of greatest hits, Cray decided to change his musical direction.

He said Cousins was “ecstatic” to return, and when he asked about who should be the drummer, the five-string bassist simply said, “Tony.”

Rehearsals before touring last winter in Japan and Brazil became recording sessions.

“All the tunes are written by the band,” Cray said. “Richard wrote one, Tony one, Jim a couple and I brought in a few. Because the band is new, there’s a whole lot of energy that you can feel on the record and the excitement of having a new outfit is really good.”

Cray produced the album, but Braunagel and Pugh also are accomplished producers.

Pugh, who has been in Cray’s band since 1989, also has recorded and written with John Lee Hooker, Etta James, B.B. King, Charlie Musselwhite and Todd Rundgren.

Braunagel’s Phantom Blues Band has performed for years with Taj Mahal. He, too, has played with King and James, along with blues legends Otis Rush, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Buddy Guy and Jimmy Reed. Last year he produced Taj Mahal’s “Maestro” and Salgado’s “Clean Getaway.”

Cray’s bright, clean guitar tone is instantly recognizable. He can play as many notes as any of the great gunslingers, but he often likes to soften up his sound.

“You don’t have to shout at people all the time, and a lot of that (influence) comes from B.B. King,” he said. “I like certain guitar players for the way they converse when they play. Then there’s times for the other stuff for the ones who really brag. There’s a lot of personality that comes out in people’s guitar playing. When you show off all the time, what do you have after that?”