Many of his songs may be sad, but Robert Cray has every reason to be happy. For 32 years the guitarist has led his band around the globe committed to having as much fun as possible. “I just like playing on stage and trying to get as close as possible to the ultimate groove,” he muses. Tonight the vibrant acoustics of the Lobero Theater play host to the Robert Cray Band’s explosive, yet delicate outpourings. “Playing in an intimate setting you’re able to communicate with the audience. They can hear you better. They can see you sweat.” Lucky for the local crowd, L.A.-based Cray has a soft spot in his heart for Santa Barbara. “I love the community. If I could, I’d live there.”

The blues veteran has kept his music fresh by defying genre limitations and thriving on improvisation. “In this band anything is liable to happen because we know the songs inside and out and always try to make them a little bit different. What’s cool about it is you always have an opportunity to try to do better on a nightly basis.” Speaking of which, Cray recently released a double disc, Live Across the Pond, culled from seven dates at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall. “We were the opening act for Eric Clapton, so with that in mind we weren’t that comfortable. Fortunately we didn’t freeze up because the tape was rolling which has always happened to us in the past.”

Sharing the stage over the years with legends including B.B. King, Albert Collins, Muddy Waters and Stevie Ray Vaughn, Cray is a torchbearer for his generation’s blues identity. Blazing his own trails with a fusion of style, he tries to steer clear of the genre’s clichés. Nevertheless, he has clearly mastered the emotional nuances. “If you’ve written a sad song, you’ve written it. Therefore it’s out of your system so to speak. Performing it is a whole different thing. You have to be in the mood in order to give the song its best.”

The current lineup of the Robert Cray band has been together for almost 15 years yet they still find ways to surprise each other. Cray explains how drummer Kevin Hayes has been known to “throw just a little different beat on something and it might be the coolest thing in the world. Everybody’s always in a different frame of mind. Everybody has a little quirkiness, fun, sadness or whatever else they bring.”

A conversation with Cray wouldn’t be complete without inquiring about his time on the 1977 set of Animal House playing a role as the bassist for Otis Day & the Knights (“Otis, my man!”). He throws a bone with a quick revelation. “John Belushi would come to the club where we were working. He befriended Curtis Delgado [another band member] and that was the beginning of the Blues Brothers.” Whether speaking with his guitar or from a lifetime of experience, Robert Cray remains full of intrigue.