Ray is a devoted
family man with a background in classical music. And though you will hear radio
friendly, accessible pop music on his first Destiny Music release, "What
It's All About," you will also catch the nuance of a skilled composer and
theorist.
"The beauty of moving
from writing serious music into pop or Rock 'n Roll is the freedom of letting
it go, letting an idea take hold and just seeing where it goes. Then you can
revisit your creation to tweak it, add color or harmony or countermelody. Or
sometimes, like with "Come and Gone," you just say, 'hey, two chords
and a wailing Les Paul are all I need," explains Ray.
Since high school Ray has been
a part of the music scene in New York and northern Pennsylvania. He has played
in bands that have run the gamut from 70's/Grateful Dead covers, to playing
the "Holiday Inn" circuit of lounges and bars, to min-tours and concerts
of his original music. His compositions were heard at the XIII Olympic Winter
Games in Lake Placid, at the Eastern Regional Saxophone Symposium, on more than
30 radio and television commercials, and on three albums released between 1989
and 1999.
Now Ray has come to Destiny
Music and he could not be happier.
"Destiny Music is
a place that welcomes my generation and our musical tastes. Somewhere between
the pure Christian market and the atheistic pop that dominates much of radio
and the record industry is where most of my contemporaries live. We want to
be entertained, but we want to be challenged, too. Challenged on an emotional
and spiritual level, and by coming face to face with what is really happening
to the average, everyday woman and man. They are working like crazy to pay the
bills, give their kids a good life and a lot of good love, make their marriage
or life-partnership work, and just trying to do the best they can. Sometimes
we can do it, and sometimes we can't. And that is what life is; that's what
it's all about."
With the world of recorded
music about to enter a revolution as remarkable as the introduction of the CD,
Ray ventured to mp3.com to see what he could do. "I've spent a great many
evenings - more accurately early mornings - cranking out e-mails, networking
with other artists, and trying to get my music heard."
The hard work has paid
off with two top 10 downloads ("Come and Gone" and "The Wonder
In The Story"), and three other top 20 in their genres ("I Will Be
With You," "He is The Word," and "I Will Be There").
Ray is averaging about 1,000 visitors a month to his mp3.com site.
Now he is home, musically
speaking, at Destiny Music. Listen to the clips, read about the songs, and experience
the fresh voice of a real guy and his family living on your street.