The San Luis Obispo Blues Society presents the Sugaray Rayford on Saturday, March 30 at 7:00 pm at the SLO County Vets Hall (801 Grand Avenue, SLO). Blues Asylum will be opening the show. Advance online tickets are $32 at My805Tix (plus 805Tix fees). Tickets sold at the door on the night of the show are $40. Doors open at 6:30 pm, music starts at 7:00. 21 and over please. For more information, check out our website at www.sloblues.org.
Texas born Caron “Sugaray” Rayford began his musical career at the age of seven singing and playing drums in church; and this gospel influence can be heard and felt in his music. His Texas childhood was marked by poverty and loss, and the soulful gravel in his voice provides hints of these experiences. When Sugaray belts out a song, you not only hear it, you feel it. The excitement in the room is palpable when he takes the stage. He is a superb vocalist and entertainer, with a dynamic voice that is large, just like the man. His music is an old school blues and soul vocal style, with echoes of Muddy Waters or Otis Redding.
In the late 1990s, Sugaray left Texas, moved to San Diego, and realized the blues was where his heart and soul belonged. He became the lead vocalist for R&B band Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz, which earned second place in the 2006 at the International Blues Challenge (IBC). He moved to Los Angeles and released his first solo CD Blind Alley in 2010. By the next year, he was the lead vocalist for the Mannish Boys. His performance on their Double Dynamite CD won Best Traditional Blues Album in 2013 at the Blues Music Awards. His second solo CD Dangerous (2013) reached #2 on the Living Blues chart. This was followed by Southside (2015) which led to four separate Blues Music Awards nominations. In 2012 he made his stage debut starring in the Tony award winning play “ Nuthin But The Blues” at the Portland Center Stage. He also starred in the play “Low Down Dirty Blues” that ran in Milwaukee and Cincinnati in 2015. Rayford’s album Somebody Save Me (2019) was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Contemporary Blues Album category. In 2020, Rayford was presented with two Blues Music Awards for B.B King Entertainer of the Year and Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year. His latest release, In Too Deep (2022), won the Blues Music Awards Best Soul Blues Album of the Year.
Sugaray Rayford fronts a big blues band with seven members, including saxophone and trumpet musicians. It takes a big band with plenty of horns providing the power to match Sugar’s voice. At his core, Sugaray Rayford is a galvanizing uniter. His live shows are a party that people leave feeling a sense of joy and togetherness.
Local Rocking Blues Band, BLUES ASYLUM, opens the show.
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