Ray’s ongoing 7inch duet series called “Boocoo Amigos” is a partnership with Kindercore Vinyl that sees Boo teaming up with some of his favorite artists for a series of releases. The last duet in the series was with Lilly Winwood (Steve Winwood’s daughter) which featured both an A and B side that premiered with Cowboys & Indians. The holiday duet he did with Elizabeth Cook called “All Strung Out Like Christmas Lights” also received praise from the likes of No Depression, Wide Open Country and more. Additional praise for the series has come from Battered and Brewed, Glide Magazine, Nashville Music Guide, The Alternate Root and more.
Sea of Lights, his previous album, was produced by Noah Shain (Dead Sara, Escondido, Nikki Lane) in Los Angeles at White Buffalo Studios. The album was recorded on the same 2inch tape machine that Dylan recorded “Nashville Skyline” and that Johnny Cash recorded a number of his Nashville albums on. Ray channeled the pressure that came with recording on the same gear as these two legends into a deep focus that transpired into some of the best songwriting of his career.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Boo Ray about his latest releases, motivations, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with music and links below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from Western North Carolina and as Jason Isbell coined it, I’d reckon I’m an “Alt-Country Troubadour”. So not necessarily in marketing/popular genre terms… Then “Truck Stop R&B” is a handle I like as a descriptive title for that Eddie Rabbit/Atlanta Rhythm Section/cross over type stuff we do like “One More Round” and “Sea Of Lights”. “Redneck Rock & Roll” is a title that conjures the right sound with words. To me it’s the little bit cleaner guitar tones of Jerry Reed, Dickey Betts, Pete Anderson, Dwight Yoakam and Skynyrd from “Street Survivors” going back.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
I was compelled to write songs since 12 years old. Turned down guitar that year after being introduced to an old Martin dreadnought with sky high action and medium/heavy gage strings. A couple of years later I’d grown a little bit, my dexterity improved and I ran across a tobacco burst Mexican Fender Strat. I spent 3 months locked in my room with that strat and came out and started a band… The way the songs and the music connect to other people is the inspiration for, the barometer of, and the guiding force of the music, the songs, the style and sound of it. Connecting with people rhythmically, melodically and emotionally, with humor, playfulness, orneriness and vulnerability, it’s like an oscillation or a frequency that makes me/you feel a kinship with our fellow man. That’s what keeps me in it.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
The songs with Sean Brock definitely have direction and purpose. We wrote “St Misbehavin” as an ode to our Athens Georgia tattooist friend Mitchell Atkinson. Along the way of writing that first song we spent some hours pickin’, hangin’, talking about Jerry Reed and running around in Sean’s old hot rod Roadrunner. Sean turned me on the Junior Kimbro and some deep cuts from the Mississippi Hill Country Blues scene, which is a lot of straight 8ths grooves and R&B shuffles. By the time we got done writing “St Misbehavin” we were both like, “well that’s a damned blast, let’s do another one!” So it was just natural as a hiccup for that head nodding guitar lick and big back beat groove to become the obligatory food song, “Soul Food Cookin”. We both want to be Jerry Reed so bad we can’t stand it. Bawhahah!
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
Technology’s helped me for certain. I was able to release my 1st Americana record “Bad News Travels Fast” in 2010, with danged near zero budget because it was done digitally. At the same time I discovered Americana Radio and The Americana Music Association, which was a non-mainstream/left of center radio network and chart of songwriters and a handful of emerging artists like Mumford & Sons and Grace Potter. I looked into it a little and figured “that’s close enough for rock & roll” and did the radio promo myself out of a halfway house that was half a block behind New West Records in Athens Georgia. That landed my music on SiriusXM Outlaw Country and I couldn’t be more proud that they’ve been playing my records ever-since. Long Live SiriusXM Outlaw Country!!!
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
I’m easy to find on Instagram and the usual outlets. Stop by BooRayMusic.com
Anything else before we sign off?
Thanks for your time and attention in this interview. And to anyone who’s struggling with anything right now, hang in there reach for the light. The world’s real complex right now. Maybe we can be particularly kind and understanding of each other as a response to these difficult times.
