By Marc Loison 
At the Open Air Blues Festival Brezoi, Sugaray Rayford catches up with Marc Loison, almost twenty years after their first meetings in France. The singer reflects on his grandmother’s decisive role and the gospel training that still shapes his stage presence. Through his memories, he shares his vision of soul-blues: music in which being yourself matters just as much as putting on a show.
Sugaray Rayford (born Caron Nimoy Rayford) is an American soul-blues singer-songwriter, born in 1969 in Tyler, Texas. Growing up in poverty, he discovered music at an early age, singing and playing drums in church, where he developed the gospel roots that remain a strong influence on his style. After ten years in the Marine Corps, he pursued a professional music career, first joining Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz, then the changing lineup of The Mannish Boys, before successfully launching his own international career. With his powerful voice and commanding stage presence, he naturally blends blues, soul, funk and rhythm and blues. His name is now widely recognised on the blues scene around the world. Here is an interview with Sugaray Rayford, recorded this summer in Brezoi!
Sugaray Rayford in conversation with Marc Loison
We’ve known each other for almost twenty years, since your first visit to Le Soubock with Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz…
At least twenty years! I’d say 2006–2007, with Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz: my buddy Jim King, Dwayne Hathorn, Big Joe Schiavone, Moe and Pam… I’ll never forget those guys. I think we came twice.
The second time was with the Flying Saucers, around 2011.
Fabio… I love those guys! Great guys, the Flying Saucers, Gumbo Special! (laughs)
You played with Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz and then The Mannish Boys before pursuing your career under your own name. What approach did you want to develop?
You summed it up well! My approach has always been this: after Pam pushed me to get involved in the music scene, as I toured and discovered all these different bands, I noticed that nobody was doing soul-blues. Nobody. Everybody was doing blues-rock, which is fine, but I love artists like Little Milton, Bobby Womack and Bobby “Blue” Bland.
Over time, after my experiences with Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz and The Mannish Boys, my goal became to bring that style back and put on a real show. These days, very few artists still try to entertain the audience, and that’s something I love doing. I don’t just play music.
“The biggest influence on my songwriting and everything I do is my grandmother, who raised me.”
You grew up with gospel, military discipline and blues. Which of those three experiences still has the greatest influence on your songwriting and stage performances?
None of those three. The biggest influence on my songwriting and everything I do is my grandmother, who raised me. She made all of this possible. Without her, I would never have had the chance to discover gospel. She’s also the reason I joined the military, to become a man. It all started with her.
You have one of the most powerful voices on today’s blues scene. How did you learn to control that power without sacrificing emotion or nuance?
I grew up in a Black church in the South, where we didn’t always have the best equipment, but we had very large choirs.
I remember leading a choir at sixteen called IYC, the Interdenominational Youth Choir. It had 350 members, and I was the choir director. Imagine 350 people singing! You had to learn to project your voice so everyone could hear you: the audience, the musicians, everybody. That’s how we learned to sing. It’s not like today, when a lot of people sing “from here” [putting too much strain on their throat], which is why they get hoarse after just one or two songs.
I grew up listening to Aretha Franklin, Al Green and so on. In church, you learn to sing “from here” [using your whole body]. And when you sing that way, just as when I speak with that same projection, the sound carries.
Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz was a wonderful band. If you could reunite all the original members, what musical direction would you take today?
I think it would be the same. Kizzy’z Boyz was my first venture into blues. I loved what we did: a mixture of blues-rock and soul, with a huge amount of energy and fun. That’s what made the band so great. It was incredible: just a local band, but one that did really well.
All the members are still alive. Jim King lives in Texas, Dwayne Hathorn lives in Palm Springs, and Big Joe Schiavone is still in Fallbrook. Moe is in Murrieta. We’re all still here. We try to get together to talk. We don’t play together anymore, but we see each other and catch up.
That band was something unique, something that happened naturally. I met those guys at a blues jam because Pam pushed me to go. At the time, I was playing in a cover band, a funk band. Pam said, “You should play blues.” Blues is closer to gospel. I met those musicians in Temecula, California. They already had a band and another singer. Three weeks after we met, they invited me to sing with them at a festival. I said, “OK, sure, I’ll come.” And then it was time for Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz!
If today’s Sugaray Rayford could borrow Marty McFly’s time machine, what would you say to your 2007 self?
I’d tell him, “Don’t change a thing. Keep going.” (laughs) Everything will be fine.
You were named Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year in 2019 and 2020, won B.B. King Entertainer of the Year in 2020 and received a Grammy nomination for Somebody Save Me. How much do those honours mean to you?
It means a lot that your peers, the people you play for and the people around you, respect you enough to give you those honours. One that really means a lot to me is being inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame. When I moved to Arizona, I never expected to be honoured like that. It’s always nice to receive an award; everybody likes that. But there are some I never imagined I’d win. I never thought I would get B.B. King Entertainer of the Year. The competition in that category is incredible. I never thought I’d win Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year twice!
And there’s a funny story about the Grammys. I was in France, in Metz, for the Terre de Blues festival. I was getting ready to go onstage when my friend Willie J. Campbell, from the Thunderbirds and The Mannish Boys, called me.
I remember being in my hotel room, and he said, “Hey, Ray, congratulations!” I said, “What are you talking about?” He said, “You’ve been nominated for a Grammy!” I said, “Hey, Willie, you know you’re talking to Sugaray, right?” I really thought he was pulling my leg. Was this a joke?
Then, about ten minutes later, my wife Pam called and said, “Congratulations, honey.” That’s when I thought, “Wow, incredible!”
“The guy I am onstage is exactly the same guy you meet on the street.”
Let’s talk about Human Decency, released in 2024. What do you think touches people most when they discover your music?
Honesty. I don’t sing anything I haven’t experienced myself. Whether I’m joking, being serious or having fun, I think people can tell it’s really me. It’s not a front. The guy I am onstage is exactly the same guy you meet on the street.
I hope that honesty is what the audience hears and takes away.
How did you learn to understand what an audience wants while enjoying singing so much yourself?
Gospel. Growing up in gospel, in a Black church to be precise, gave me a very valuable education, but it could also be intimidating. Back then, people in the congregation didn’t hold back. If the performance wasn’t good, they didn’t just say, “It’ll be all right.” They came straight up to you: “Hey, that was a bad performance. Don’t ever do that again!” You learn quickly.
I’ve always said that when you leave gospel to enter the wider music scene, you’re already a seasoned professional, because you’ve had some of the toughest training there is. It’s a workout! (laughs)
Could you tell us a little about Randy Chortkoff, the man behind Delta Groove, who passed away eleven years ago? You worked with him and recorded two albums in 2012 and 2014 with The Mannish Boys, alongside some great blues musicians…
Randy Chortkoff was a very enterprising man. He really helped my career. I met him while I was playing a show in Los Angeles with Kal David, Jimmy Vivino and John Mayall. Randy Chortkoff was in the audience. Bobby Jones had left the band, and Randy Chortkoff was looking for a new singer to take over. Our first show together was in Hondarribia, Spain. I have very fond memories of it.
Thanks to Randy Chortkoff, I was able to reach where I am today much faster. Without him, it might have taken me another ten years. Because I was in The Mannish Boys, a lot of people in the blues world who didn’t know me before started asking, “Who’s this guy?” So he introduced me to a huge number of people.
Altogether, I recorded four albums with Randy Chortkoff, including Double Dynamite, which won Traditional Blues Album of the Year at the Blues Music Awards. Randy Chortkoff was exceptional. He had a tremendous influence on West Coast blues; he was producing eight to ten albums a year! That’s what I was saying to Mike Zito, Ana Popovic and many others. My first album for Delta Groove was made with Randy Chortkoff, so that was a really important step for me.
Let’s talk about Bob Corritore. A harmonica player, producer, club owner in Phoenix and patron of France’s Collectif des Radios Blues, he’s someone you’ve worked with a great deal. What does he mean to you?
I like to say that my friend Bob Corritore is love personified. He’s one of the most beautiful and wonderful people I’ve ever met on this planet. I do everything I can to help Bob Corritore because he’s a genuinely good person. He really loves blues. He loves music. That’s why I’ve recorded so many albums with him. Whenever he calls, I’m there. If you need anything, Bob Corritore is there. He’s very easy to get along with.
He’s been hosting a radio show for nearly thirty years, which a lot of people don’t know. Bob Corritore is exceptional. He’s a remarkable musician and a fundamentally good person. There aren’t that many truly good people in this world, but Bob Corritore is one of them. I love that guy! (laughs)
“Blues is a music with many different sides.”
As blues increasingly embraces soul, funk and rhythm and blues, what would you like to pass on to the next generation of artists to keep the music alive and true to its identity?
It’s important to remember that blues is a music with many different sides. There’s no “wrong” way to do it. Choose your own path and believe in it. The people who like your music will eventually find you. Nothing beats authenticity. Don’t try to sound like everybody else. Be yourselves.
Today, record companies and the media want everybody to be the same, to fit into the same box. Everybody sounds the same, dresses the same and does the same thing. I’ve never worked that way! Even back with Kizzy’z Boyz, we played blues, but we even had a conga player in the band! (laughs) We never worried about the rest. You have to be yourself, otherwise you just blend into the background, like part of a wall. But if you’re that little spot on the wall, you stand out. So be yourself…
The Brezoi Blues Festival has become an essential destination for European blues fans. What makes it so special to you?
For me, unlike many others, this festival feels like family. There might be two festivals I could name, but this one is like a family. It’s a bit like being at Woodstock, or rather, what I imagine Woodstock must have been like. And not just because it takes place in a park. It’s the people. Everyone is welcoming, and the crew is really friendly.
That’s why I was surprised to be invited back so soon. The last time we came, we hadn’t slept at all. We’d been on tour for three months. We arrived, slept for two hours and played. So when they told me, “They’re crazy about you, they love you!”, it felt strange! I thought, “Really? That’s incredible!”
But what stands out most about this festival is that feeling of being part of a family. You never feel like a stranger. Even if you don’t speak Romanian, people come up to you and try to help.
What final message would you like to send to French listeners who already enjoy your music, or who may be discovering you through this interview?
I love France. It was the first country outside the United States where I really played. It’s always been France. As you know, I spent a lot of time there with the Saucers and all kinds of other people. To the French, I’d say Sugaray hasn’t changed. I’m still the same. I still love moving around. I still love singing. I still love meeting great people. So come along and have fun! Don’t forget me! Invite me back! It’s been a while since I’ve been to France. It’s time to come back!
We’re ready for you!
So am I! (laughs) Thank you very much! See you soon!
Discography
With his bands
Photos: Denis Carpentier