Gator by the Bay 2022 star Sugaray Rayford promises to deliver: 'I don't do concerts; it's a party!'

Like many of the other 67 bands and solo artists performing at this weekend’s 19th annual Gator by the Bay festival, blues and soul vocal dynamo Sugaray Rayford got his start on the stage of a nightclub. But he is likely one of the very few who did so while working as a bouncer.

“One of my jobs was to bring the bands into the club on Wednesday nights,” recalled the hulking, 6-foot-5 singer, who will perform Saturday at the 2022 edition of Gator by the Bay festival at Spanish Landing Park. The festival’s 19th edition runs Thursday through Sunday. Then came a stint as the lead vocalist in another band, The Mannish Boys, and a move to Los Angeles. Before long, Rayford was heading the all-star weekly Monday pro-jam sessions at the Sherman Oaks nightclub Cozy’s. There, he shared the stage with Blood, Sweat & Tears founder Al Kooper, members of The Dramatics, Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, and — on one memorable night — comedy star and avocational vocalist Jim Carrey.

On the hard-hitting song “Miss Information,” Rayford laments the plethora of false news inundating social media. On “Invisible Soldier,” he sings movingly about his experiences with PTSD after he fought in Operation Desert Storm. Rayford has spent more than half of his 53 years living in and around San Diego. But his performances here with his band have grown increasingly rare over the past decade, and his most recent Gator by the Bay performance was in 2015. He was booked for the 2020 edition, but it was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic — along with the entire festival — until this weekend.

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