The Robert Cray Band brings signature blues to the Colonial on Saturday

LACONIA — Robert Cray, a blues legend who has lasted through multiple revolutions in music, sums up five decades of writing and singing in his soulful style, which draws loyal fans who thirst for his earthy and intimate sound in a tumultuous world.

“It just feels like it’s just right. It’s part of life. It’s what I love doing and love listening to,” said Cray, who has been singing and playing guitar since age 15. His focus, for the most part, hasn’t changed. Cray’s lyrics are inspired by personal experiences and observations of other’s lives, and sometimes by politics, he said. “Sometimes it’s about what I see friends going through, or goofy, silly things we all have in our lives because we’re human.”

The Robert Cray Band, based in California, Cray’s current home state, returns to New England Saturday, Sept. 25, at 8 p.m., performing at the Colonial Theatre, as part of the band’s summer-fall tour — after 16 months without appearing on stage because of COVID.

“You never think you’ll be taken out of what you’ve been doing for most of your life,” said Cray, who started the Robert Cray Band in 1974, and has been touring since, sometimes with 120 performances a year. During high school in Newport News, Virginia, Cray played in his first band, The One-Way Street.

In nearly 50 years, Cray has won five Emmys. He supported Eric Clapton on his 2006-2007 world tour, and has played with other big names including Stevie Ray Vaughan.

“He likes to play with his band and do shows. It’s all he’s ever done,” said his manager, Tim Aller. “He’s been doing this since he was a kid. Often you don’t know how much you’ll miss something until it’s gone.”

That’s primarily a comment on COVID’s shut down of live performances. But it also describes threads in Cray’s current playlist. Music, inevitably, reflects the musician, what they are experiencing or witnessing in life, how they feel about it, what they believe is important or enduring. When you hear a musician like Cray, you enter his world.

The band’s latest album, That’s What I Heard, released in Feb. 2020, includes two love songs, “To Be With You” and “You’re The One” originally by the Bobby Blues Band. “My wife and I have been married for 31 years,” Cray said.

His voice is haunting, heart-felt, resonant, a sound that echoes inside when you hear it. Always, it feels as if he’s speaking to you.

“If you see the show, you’ll see he’s having a great time,” said Aller. His emotional experience rises in the audience.

For tickets, visit coloniallaconia.com, or call 800- 657-8774. The box office is open two hours before the performance for ticket purchases or will-call pickup. The Colonial Theatre is located at 609 Main St.