The Robert Cray Band

Robert Cray grew up right here in the Northwest, so it makes sense that he came to his brand of the blues through melding the sounds he grew up listening to, from Bobby Bland’s soul to Jimi Hendrix’s rock. Add in a love of the Beatles’ songcraft, and it starts to come clear how Cray went on to create decades’ worth of blues-based songs full of insistent hooks. Back in the ’80s, that knack for finding a poppy approach to the blues led to mainstream stardom, but he’s always stayed rooted in sounds forged by blues legends like Buddy Guy and Albert King. Given his slew of Grammys and W.C. Handy blues awards, Cray will be a guy future blues kids namecheck as a huge influence. But he has plenty of years left to headline shows like his gig at the Bing this weekend.