Thursday, February 18th at 7:00PM
Tickets: $45/$39

Robert Cray’s This Time – the first studio album on singer-songwriter-guitarist Cray’s own imprint Nozzle Records, distributed by Vanguard Records – arrives at a vital juncture in the musician’s career, marked by creative renewal and a key reunion with an old performing partner.

The five-time Grammy Award winner summarized 35 years of mastery on the debut Nozzle release Live From Across the Pond (2006), an electrifying two-CD concert set drawn from a series of shows (opening for Eric Clapton) at London’s Royal Albert Hall. When the time came to follow up that widely praised collection with a studio recording, Cray viewed it as an opportunity to move his sound in other directions.

He found exactly what he was looking for by turning to one of his oldest friends and colleagues: bassist Richard Cousins, whose tenure with the Robert Cray Band began with its barnstorming regional origins in Eugene, Oregon, in 1974 and extended through 1991, encompassing such early high-water marks as Strong Persuader (1986) and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1988), both winners of the best contemporary blues performance Grammy.

Ana Popovic

The most impressive aspect of Ana’s music is her diversity of techniques and styles. Her blend of smoking electric funk slide guitar, jazzy instrumentals, tight blues groove, soulful feminine vocals and her incredible stage presence makes her an irresistible force in the music world. Her career has been meteoric, and shows no signs of slowing down. Ana is the first European ever nominated for ‘Best New Blues Artist’ at the W.C. Handy Award Show in Memphis, Tennessee (2003).

She was also nominated for 'Best Blues Album' at the Jammie Awards in New York City, a three way nominee for 'Best Vocalist', 'Best Guitarist' and 'Best Album' at the French Blues Awards (2002) and she won the prestigious jazz award 'Jazz A Juan revelation In Juan Le Pins' (France 2004).