Robert Cray: Bluesman Branches Out : Pop music: The guitarist is emphasizing his band, his singing and a blend of styles.

Robert Cray doesn’t want to be the savior of the blues.

He doesn’t even want to be a guitar hero.

But he has been viewed as both ever since his 1986 major-label debut album, “Strong Persuader,” put him and his relatively pure R&B; in the Top 10, all over MTV and on the cover of Rolling Stone.

“The blues are doing all right,” Cray said from a Houston hotel, in the middle of a concert tour. His band was scheduled to appear at San Diego’s Symphony Hall Tuesday night and will play Universal Amphitheatre tonight. “It didn’t have a lot to do with me, though. I guess we got lucky with ‘Strong Persuader.’ But this has been going on a long time. People rediscover the blues every 10 years or so.”

But Cray said: “There’s still one thing missing: Black people don’t come to the shows, there’s not a lot of airplay on black radio stations for us or the blues and a lot of black people aren’t listening to blues records anymore.”

As a black man steeped in the traditions, Cray, 37, finds himself in an awkward position.

“I feel like I’m in a strange zone sometimes. I feel like an outsider somewhat. Then again, it depends on where we play. Like in Chicago or Houston or other places in the South, there’s more black people that come out, and more older people. . . . But the age group is mostly late 20s and early 30s.”

Another frustration is that among the people who come to his shows, many are guitar worshipers who are unmoved by Cray’s recent emphasis on his band, his singing and on blending Memphis soul styles with his blues.

“You can always tell the guitar players in the front row, standing and watching my hands,” he said. “I like to feature the guitar sometimes, but we’re a band. It’s the same with the music I listen to. I can listen to guitar players for a while, but then I gotta put something else on.”

Cray has not abandoned guitar soloing. He still plays with a stinging style influenced by the likes of B. B. King and Albert Collins. And in January he will be a featured player with Eric Clapton in six blues-oriented concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London--part of a unique, 24-day series by Clapton. But in his own music, Cray wants fans to hear the guitar as just one element.

To that end, Cray two years ago added to his band the famed Memphis Horns, who played on classic recordings by Otis Redding and Al Green, among many others. And the new album is more a showcase for his singing and songwriting than his guitar.

“I’ve been having a whole lot of fun singing,” Cray said. “I’ve been a fan of R&B; and gospel singers for a long time. I’m still discovering things I can do.”

All that is geared to give Cray more avenues to explore so that he can gracefully continue his career without having to rely on the youth-pleasing guitar chops.

“I don’t have to worry about trying to slip into Spandex,” he said. “You know what I look at? I look at my friend John Lee Hooker and the success he’s having now. He’s 73. He doesn’t have to act like he’s in his 20s.”