Ray Burnett Biography
I was born in Snow Camp, but grew up in Siler City. I started playing the guitar when I was five. My mother showed me how to make my first three chords, and I just took it from there.
There’s not much to say except that I started studying trumpet in grade-school with every intention of making that instrument my career choice. After being presented the “John Phillip Sousa“ award in my junior year of high school, I decided to study at The North Carolina A&T University. After only one year I decided to go back to my first love, the guitar.
After playing gospel music with various groups as a teenager, I moved on to playing “juke-joints” in the local area (you know-- the kind where the moon-shine runs freely and the first fight starts at 10:30…). Thinking back to those early days-- thank God those days are over-- now I can worry about the music instead of the guns.
Around that time, I also worked in a factory for two years, then landed a job with a band named “Black & Blue.” That was the start of a thirty-five year relationship that continues to this day.
My career as a guitarist has taken me all over the East Coast, the Mid-West, Canada, Puerto Rico, The Virgin Islands and most recently, Jamaica.
About seven years ago Paul Phillips suggested that I start a blues band. Having just disbanded “The Ray Burnett Trio,” I was a little hesitant to start all over. Talking with Paul, Rodney Randolph and Rob Massengale convinced me that it would be a fun project with no pressures. That was the birth of “Sophisticated Blues”.
When Paul decided to pursue other interests he was replaced by Ian Hadgraft. The band still plays at Fisher's Grill the fourth Tuesday of every month. For about eight years Sophisticated Blues has been playing at nursing homes, over in Winston-Salem, and at Evergreens in Greensboro.
In March of 2003 while on stage I suffered a heart attack that turned out to be a double whammy. In addition to the heart attack, I experienced total kidney failure. A quadruple by-pass fixed the heart but the kidney failure led to three years of dialysis.
I recently received a kidney transplant which required a month of quarantine, two trips a week to Baptist hospital and about forty pills a day. The pills range from aspirin to Valcite at $38.00 a pill. Some of the more costly pills will no longer be necessary after a few months. Of course, I'll have to take some of these medications for life. However, it beats the alternative!!!
Thanks to all of the musicians in the area for trying to keep the music alive.
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