By Matt De Marco

Here are excerpts from an interview with blues musician Robert Clay. For the full interview, log on to:

www.hofstrachronicle.com

The Chronicle: How did you get your start?

Robert Cray: Richard Cousins, the band’s bass player, and I started the band in 1974. We both grew up in Tacoma, Wash. and went to rival high schools. We met and moved to Eugene, Or. in 1974. We met our drummer there, and started the band. We were 19-20 years old and had intentions of playing blues and R&B, but for the longest while we didn’t have any gigs-we didn’t know anybody. Then we met Curtis Delgado. He was leading the band The Nighthawks, and he let us play some gigs with his band, and we just took it from there.

TC: When did you start playing guitar? Who were your influences?

RC: I started playing guitar when I was 12. As far as influences, I looked into everything on the radio. Everything was on the radio, the Beatles, the Supremes…whenever something cool came on, you looked into it because that was all you had back then.

TC: I read in an interview you gave that you played a few shows with Muddy Waters. Can you tell me about the first show you played with him?

RC: We did a string of about six shows with Muddy. Before the first one, I knocked on his dressing room door. He told me to just come in, and I acted like the interviewer with Muddy. I asked him about how it was to play with Walter Jacobs, Otis Spann and all the legends in his band. It was funny because he talked in the third person, you know? Like, “…young Muddy Waters…” [laughs]. But he called me up to play the encore every night, and on the last night, he called me up to play in the band with him. He was a really cool guy.

TC: This year, Dr. John and B.B. King both won Grammy Awards you’ve won in the past. How does it feel to be in that kind of company?

RC: It’s fantastic, you know. I’ve played shows with Dr. John; I don’t know him that well, but we’ve talked and he’s a great guy. And B.B. is just one of the nicest guys on the planet, you know? So to have that kind of camaraderie is truly fantastic.