(ENGLEWOOD, NJ) -- Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) presents The Robert Cray Band on Friday, September 26, 2025 at 8:00pm. Robert, a five-time Grammy Award winner, with 16 nominations is one of the most distinctive blues guitar stylists of his generation. Martha Redbone will open the night.
Cray has released 20 acclaimed albums, with his most notable work being the 1986 album "Strong Persuader," which sold over one million copies and earned him a Grammy Award. He has written or performed with a wide range of artists, including Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and John Lee Hooker, and has been credited with helping forge the blues "renaissance" of the 1980s.
When it comes to live performance, The Robert Cray Band likes to get right down to business, they cut right through to the emotional core of every tune — whether they're playing the classics that put Cray on the map, like "Right Next Door" and "Smoking Gun," or killing it on covers of tunes by the likes of Bill Withers, Bobby "Blue" Bland, or The Mississippi Sheiks. Cray and his cohorts use their mighty musical prowess in the service of the song. Sure, you'll hear plenty of fluid guitar solos, but at a Robert Cray show you'll never hear a single unnecessary note — in other words, everything he and his band play on stage really matters.
Tickets range from $39-$79 and are available for purchase online or by calling the Box Office at (201) 816-8160. Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) is located at 30 North Van Brunt Street in Engelwood, New Jersey.
Robert Cray did more for the blues in the 1980s than anybody other than Stevie Ray Vaughan. He started out small with a string of early-'80s indie albums, but by the middle of the decade the singer/guitarist's blend of blues, soul, and rock 'n' roll influences made its way to the mainstream with a major-label deal that introduced the world to the game-changing Strong Persuader LP.
Between his supple grooves, soulful vocals, storytelling songs, and stinging guitar solos, Cray emerged as the blues hero the '80s didn't even know they were waiting for until he came along. Over time, Cray's sound has become simultaneously deeper and more expansive. His reputation has grown to the point that he's an esteemed elder statesman of modern blues, a winner of multiple Grammy awards, and an artist as venerated today as any of his heroes were when he was growing up and learning his licks.
Martha Redbone will be the opening support for The Robert Cray Band. Redbone is a vocalist /songwriter /composer /educator, known for her unique gumbo of folk, blues, and gospel from her childhood in Harlan County, Kentucky infused with the eclectic grit of pre-gentrified Brooklyn.
Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) is located at 30 North Van Brunt Street in Englewood, New Jersey. Founded in 2003, the 1,367-seat bergenPAC is the area’s cultural mecca. Housed in a historic Art Deco-style theater boasting one of the finest acoustic halls in the United States, bergenPAC attracts a stellar roster of world-class entertainment.
The jewel in their crown is The Performing Arts School at bergenPAC – the innovative, educational performing arts initiative that, through programs, classes, outreach, school shows, and main theater presented shows, reach more than 30,000 students and community youth annually. The Performing Arts School provides community youth, age 2 months to 21 years, with unique, “hands-on” training in music, dance and theater by industry professionals. It is through the ongoing generosity of sponsors, donors, members, and patrons that the not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) corporation bergenPAC and The Performing Arts School are able to thrive and enrich our community.
