On May 9th the Blues Foundation will announce the winners of the 2013 Blues Music Awards. I have wanted to attend this award show for a few years now, but haven’t made it out to Memphis for the big weekend. But, because I’m a fan of the blues, I thought I’d surf the nominees and see if any of the bands playing at the Flagstaff Blues and Brews were nominated.
In 2011, Tommy Castro and the Painkillers won for Best Band and also for Album of the year. That same year, Tommy Castro won the BB King Entertainer of the Year and Songwriter of the year. As I was going down the list of nominees when The Mannish Boys caught my eye not once, not twice, But THREE TIMES! Mannish Boys are nominated for Album of the Year, Band of the Year and Traditional Album of the Year. I don’t want to mislead anyone into thinking the Mannish Boys are coming to Flagstaff, yet……. However, they just released their 6th CD and among all the praises I saw “Especially notable is new featured vocalist Sugaray Rayford, a soulful, gospel-inflected singer, originally from Texas, who has been little known outside of his current home base in Southern California until now.” Guess who’s coming to Flagstaff?????? Yep! Sugaray Rayford and his band from Southern California!
Sugaray Rayford Blues Band is opening up for Tommy Castro and the Painkillers! So boys and girls, lets recap. Last week I bragged about having 3 Arizona Hall of Fame inductees in our lineup as well as listing Tommy Castro’s accomplishments – which are MANY! And this week I get to introduce you to Sugaray Rayford!