Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (January 27, 2015) — The Ponte Vedra Concert Hall proudly presents iconic blues guitarist and five-time GRAMMY award-winning act The Robert Cray Band with guest Shemekia Copeland on Monday, April 27, 2015. Tickets for The Robert Cray Band with Shemekia Copeland will go on sale to the general public this Friday, January 30, 2015 at 10am.
With 5 GRAMMY Awards, 15 nominations, millions of record sales worldwide, and thousands of sold out performances, rock blues icon Robert Cray is considered one of the greatest guitarists of his generation. Rolling Stone Magazine in their April 2011 issue credits Cray with reinventing the blues with his “distinct razor sharp guitar playing” that “introduced a new generation of mainstream rock fans to the language and form of the blues” with the release of his Strong Persuader album in 1986.
Since then, Cray has gone on to record sixteen Billboard charting studio albums and has written or performed with everyone from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan, from Bonnie Raitt to John Lee Hooker. Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011 at the age of 57, he is one of the youngest living legends to receive the prestigious honor. And while he can look back over an astonishing four-decade career punctuated by his trademark sound and distinct playing style, Robert Cray is too busy moving forward on an amazing journey that had him release his seventeenth studio album In My Soul on April 1, 2014 and embarking on yet another world tour with The Robert Cray Band. In My Soul reasserts Cray’s position as one of his generation’s great musical storytellers – this time steeped in the down-home sound and rich emotion of Southern Soul, yet never straying far from his incomparable guitar mastery. The album blends funky originals with surprising covers and captures a new configuration of The Robert Cray Band: long-time bass player Richard Cousins, keyboardist Dover Weinberg and drummer Les Falconer.
While only in her early 30’s, Shemekia Copeland is already a force to be reckoned with in the blues music industry. She has opened for the Rolling Stones, headlined at the Chicago Blues Festival, scored critics choice awards on both sides of the Atlantic (The New York Times and The Times of London), shared the stage with such luminaries as Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Mick Jagger, and Eric Clapton, and has even performed at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama.
At 19, Shemekia stepped out of her father’s shadow with her 1998 debut recording, Turn the Heat Up!. Her second album, Wicked, released in 2000, scored three Handy Awards (Song of the Year, Blues Album of the Year, Contemporary Female Artist of the Year) and a GRAMMY nomination. Copeland’s latest album, 33 1/3, received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Blues Album. Copeland is currently recording new material for a fall 2015 release with musician Oliver Wood (of The Wood Brothers) producing.
Tickets for this seated show go on sale this Friday, January 30 at 10 a.m. Tickets will be available for purchase at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall and St. Augustine Amphitheatre Box Offices, ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster outlets and by phone at (800) 745-3000.
