On the Verge: Michael Ray
This week in On the Verge, Paste BN's spotlight on breakthrough artists, Brian Mansfield talks to country singer Michael Ray.
Lip-smacking good. Ray grew up playing with his father, his grandfather and several cousins in a family band. Now he has a hit of his own. Kiss You in the Morning, the Florida native's debut single, is No. 3 on Paste BN's Country airplay chart. The ardent single has sold 219,000 downloads, according to Nielsen Music, and will appear on Ray's self-titled album, out Aug. 7. "We have songs that are rocking, songs that are ballads, songs that lean toward the countrier side," Ray says.
Extended family. Ray, 27, grew up in Eustis, Fla., about an hour outside Orlando, living in a double-wide trailer and surrounded by relatives. "All my family grew up on two sides of this road, so I could ride my bike to my great-grandma's house, my grandparents," he says. "My cousins were at the other end of the pasture from us. I never knew how fortunate I was to grow up like that until I got older and it was already gone."
An early start. Ray doesn't even remember when started taking the stage with his family band, the Country Cousins. "As soon as I was able to stand and hold a guitar, they had me on there," he says. The tot used Clint Black's 1989 hit Killin' Time as his go-to show-stopper. "There's a video of me in my underwear, singing that in my grandpa's yard."
Constructive criticism. The first time Ray visited Nashville, at age 15, he recalls "being as excited as I was going to Disney World as a kid for the first time." A later trip, when an industry executive told the aspiring performer to go home and get good before he tried to break into the business, was less fun but more helpful. "If it wasn't for that meeting that day, I don't know how long it would have taken me to get where I am now."
The Next best thing. Ray won CW's little-watched entry into the singing-competition sweepstakes, The Next: Fame Is at Your Doorstep, in 2012. During the show, he befriended mentor John Rich of Big & Rich, who helped introduce him around Nashville. "It had a big impact on me getting my record deal," Ray says. Ray also co-wrote the country duo's current single, Run Away With You.
Keeping the tradition alive. When Ray made his debut on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry in April, he played a guitar belonging to his grandfather, Amos Roach, who had died the month before. "We always talked and dreamed that if I had a chance to play the Opry, he'd be there with me," Ray says. "Fate dealt a different hand, but the next best thing I could think was to play the guitar he had played for years behind my dad, behind me."