Finding Sugar Man: The Day Dave Matthews Met Rodriguez

Highly influential Detroit singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez sadly died on Tuesday, August 8 at the age of 81. While Rodriguez found little commercial success in the U.S., his records caught fire in South Africa — as relayed in the Oscar-winning 2012 documentary, Searching For Sugar Man. “Sugar Man” is the opening track on Rodriguez’s 1970 debut album, Cold Fact, a tune and LP that had an impact on a young Dave Matthews and many other people growing up in South Africa in the latter quarter of the 20th century.

“Rodriguez sang about the beauty and power of the overlooked people that were all around him,” Matthews wrote today shortly after news of Rodriguez’s passing. “They were the heroes of his songs. He sang about the city, the poor, the hustler and the hustled, the dealer and the addict. He also made you want to fight for a better world. He sang up from the bottom. I love him.”

Dave Matthews Band came to Pine Knob Music Theatre near Detroit in 2022 where he met Rodriguez before the show, an experience he called “a highlight of my life.” Matthews wrote about the experience of meeting Rodriguez, sharing:

“This man is a legend. I remember being 13 when I first heard him. I had moved to South Africa with my family after my father’s death. It found a deep purchase in me in those days of openness. He was from Detroit and me and all my friends believed the rumors that he was dead. It made sense because he had completely vanished after recording two albums in the 1970s. When I returned to the U.S. after high school, I soon discovered that nobody knew him at all. Kinda like the movie Yesterday about The Beatles music. Check out the documentary about [him], Searching For Sugar Man. I remember the day a friend called and said ‘Rodriguez is alive.’”

Just before DMB performed “Sugar Man” at the Detroit-area concert, Matthews addressed the audience:

“When you’re in high school there’s music that means the world to you sometimes. There’s a few different artists that I grew up on and one of those artists was this person from Detroit. But what I discovered — I may have told you this before, maybe you saw a movie about it — but what I discovered when I came back here (from South Africa) was that nobody ever heard of this guy or not many people.

“It was kind of insane. I remember a friend of mine was playing me some music, I think it was Tracy Chapman, and he played it and I said, ‘You know, that reminds me of Rodriguez.’ And they said ‘Who?’ I said Rodriguez. They said I never heard of him. So I went around the restaurant and I asked everyone, ‘Hey, you’ve heard of Rodriguez, tell him about Rodriguez.’ And they said ‘Who, the baseball player?’ And I said ‘No, the songwriter.’ I mean he was as important to me as Bob Dylan, as Cat Stevens, as Marvin Gaye, you know. And all these people never heard of him? I was like ‘What is happening?’ I’m losing my mind!

“Anyway, I got to meet him today and it was a highlight of my life and I want to sing this song for him.”

The subsequent “Sugar Man” performance marked the first time DMB had played the song since September 6, 2014. Dave Matthews Band debuted “Sugar Man” during their first ever concert in South Africa at Cape Town’s GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World on November 30, 2013.

Watch both DMB’s Detroit-area and Cape Town performances of “Sugar Man” below: