Sugaray Rayford @ the Fire Station, Sunderland - May 26

My first time at the Sunderland Fire Station, a nice spacious venue. I was expecting a blues artist – generally a safer bet for this type of gig – but what we got was more soul. Neither neo nor retro but the type of thing that’s just kept going quietly in the hinterland ever since soul music’s heyday.

And he could sing too, the best comparison I could come up with was Eddie Levert of the O’Jays, one of the very best, though playing an album by bluesman Lucky Peterson on the way home also showed similarities, which was a happy coincidence.

And he was funny, though his preoccupation with big-legged women with big booties may have proved troublesome in another town with a different generation in amongst the 120 strong audience.

 

Bill Withers Who is he and What is he to You? opened the set but was followed by mostly original stuff, him doing much booty shaking to songs about big-legged ladies. A couple of blues excursions proved they could do that too, lots of rock star posturing by the appropriately attired guitarist.

 

Just to demonstrate how good his band were – and he also had trumpet, sax, keyboards, bass and drums (though the guitarists resonator sadly remained on the stand, perhaps an indication that getting more bluesy could have been an option) – they gave us short bursts of reggae, country and western and bebop, asking the audience if the latter was over our heads. Perhaps, but maybe also above the heads of the band who were very good but not quite great.

 The low-point came when the keyboardist – playing mostly a Hammond sounding organ clone – sang what Sugar described as a negro spiritual but sounded to me more like Meatloaf, the guitarists posturing reaching its apogee.

 

Two albums at the merch stand: one more soul and the other more blues according to the salesperson. Mrs T streamed the soul one and I bought a CD of the blues one but he’d got them the wrong way round.  Will we see Mrs T coming round to blues?! Steve T