The Robert Cray Band will be performing at Solvang Festival theater for the first time at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 18. Cray, the legendary blues guitarist and vocalist, is a five-time Grammy Award winner and Blues Hall of Fame inductee. Cray lives in the Santa Ynez Valley.

His concert is being presented by Solvang Theaterfest as the spring benefit concert for Solvang Festival Theater. All proceeds from the event go into maintenance of the iconic 46-year-old outdoor theater.

Cray has been bridging the lines between blues, soul and R&B for four decades. In 2018, MusicRadar magazine named him one of the best blues guitarists in the world.

His sound is so impeccable, Fender carries a Robert Cray Stratocaster in its Signature Series of guitars. Bonnie Raitt lauds her fellow blues artist as putting on “one of the best shows you’ll ever see.”

Cray has more that 20 albums to his name. His newest, That’s What I Heard, is set for release on Feb. 28.

Cray describes the album as “funky, cool, and bad,” just what you’d expect from an artist who has earned the Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance.

For more information and tickets, visit www.solvangfestivaltheater.org. Gates open at 6:30 p.m.

Solvang Theaterfest is the 501 (C)(3) that owns and operates Solvang Festival Theater. For more information, contact Mary Ann Norbom, executive director, 805-686-1789.