Robert Cray is ageless, looking at 71 much as he did in his 30s. More importantly, the Cray of the mid-2020s still plays and sings like the Cray of the mid-1980s with his vibrato and falsetto cries as effectual and powerful now as then.

This much was obvious as Cray and the Robert Cray Band – “that’s Robert Cray on bass, Robert Cray on drums and Robert Cray on keyboards,” the guitarist joked in introducing Richard Cousins, George Sluppick and Dover Weinberg early on and respectively – filled the intimate space inside Columbus, Ohio’s, Lincoln Theatre with their taut, smooth version of the blues as the bandleader played lead, rhythm and proved slick is not a bad thing and Weinberg smiled at his boss’ skills like a fan thrilling in the audience.

And that audience benefited from sublime acoustics that allowed them to hear Cray’s off-mic groans and yelps as he lost himself in eyes-closed, head-back solos, mouthing the notes that came through his amps.

Receiving a freshly tuned axe after every song or two, always wiping down the strings and saying little beyond, “Thank you so,” after numbers and “Let’s go like this,” before them, Cray and company spent 85 workmanlike-but-always-playful minutes plowing through selections such as their mellow-yet-stinging arrangement of “Sitting on Top of the World;” and the I’ll-no-longer-cook-for-you-woman declaration of “Chicken in the Kitchen” and its instrumental companion and Booker T. and the M.G.’s homage, “Hip Tight Onions.”

Throughout the evening, Cousins laid down a consistently solid groove. Sluppick – whom his bandmates called Sputnik while moving their hands over their heads like a satellite – employed sticks, mallets and a tambourine to color his timekeeping. Weinberg was Cray’s co-soloist on organ and piano. And Cray made his guitar(s) cry and moan, coaxing a range of tones, taking the music high and low and leading the well-connected band with hand signals that led to thrilling false endings and dime-stop closings.

As the homestretch began (too soon!), Cray used his best-known track, “Right Next Store (Because of Me),” to demonstrate his unique hold on an audience. Stretching the song to eight minutes with near-silent riffing, he got the audience clapping to Cousins’ supple beat as he slowly brought the song down, down, down before ending it by closing his raised hand and lowering his fist.

A magical moment in an evening full of such moments.