Buddy Guy/Robert Cray

blues

Here's a double-bill sure to shake off those end-of-summer blues: Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy (pictured) and the musically muscular Robert Cray burnin' it up at the Keswick. Guy's been performing for nearly as long as Cray's been on the planet — and the difference in their styles should make for a terrific one-two punch.

It was 1958 when the 22-year-old Guy won a Battle of the Blues competition at a Chicago club, leading to a record contract for the Baton Rouge native. Nineteen W.C. Handy Awards later, the 68-year-old Guy is still at it, known as an amazingly innovative guitarist and peerless, sometimes over-the-top showman. This year's Grammy-winning Blues Singer CD (Silvertone) may be the bravest of Guy's career: a stunning 12-song low-key and low-down acoustic set that has him interpreting songs by everyone from John Lee Hooker to Son House, with help from buddies Eric Clapton and B.B. King.

The 51-year-old Cray, meanwhile, has continued to throw off the shackles of the traditional blues format by mixing it up with slinky Memphis grooves, soul and some swampy gospel. His latest, Time Will Tell (Sanctuary Records), is his loosest and funkiest ever, with everything from a jarring antiwar number, "Survivor," to the Caribbean-inspired "Distant Shore."

Tue., Aug. 31, 8 p.m., $39.50-$46.50, Keswick Theatre, Easton Rd. and Keswick Ave., Glenside, 215-572-7650.

—Nicole Pensiero

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