Interview
Ray Johnston is a former Dallas Maverick, has battled and overcome leukemia several times, and is now a Texas country music star with influences of jam and blues. Ray is not only a talented individual and an inspiration, he is great person who cares about his fans and his music on a level that is difficult to describe. You will be hearing only more from Ray Johnston, he is currently climbing on Texas country radio charts with his track “Crush”, and recently has been receiving playtime on ESPN for his track “Gameday”. Ray spoke with LiveMusicDaily to discuss his progress as an artist, his studio work, and the future of the Ray Johnston Band.
Q: The musicians you have been playing with right now currently in the studio and the live setting are very dynamic. Could you tell me a little bit more about these guys you are currently working with?
Ray: So I take a lot of my approach to the Ray Johnston Band from a corporate angle, in that I’m the owner, CEO, and starter.
Since I’ve started I’ve always tried to have a point of difference with my band and always have the highest caliber of musicians on the stage, and also guys I’m great friends with off the stage. I have my four core guys for my live show that play probably 80 percent of the gigs with me. The other 20 percent of my gigs you’ll see some different heads.
My first album called Sweet Tooth I did in September of 2009, and I thought I had six months to live in life and so I basically wrote eight songs in two weeks…Looking back on the album I’d say it is great musicianship, not good song writing, and mediocre singing voice.
Since then, I’ve gotten confidence that I would live, my last album that I released in September 2012, Against the Grain, I think is branded more accurately. I think that I am best fitted and that my craft is best shown through melodic happy country music with influences of jam and blues.
When I go to the studio…I hired two producers for my two most recent projects, I went to them with my vision and they usually asked something along the lines of “How much do you want to pay for a musician?”, obviously the best guys cost more. On my Against the Grain album I had the best guys in country.
David Grissom- Guitar (John Mellencamp, the Dixie Chicks)
Haydn Vitera- Fiddle (Asleep at the Wheel)
Brannen Temple- Drums (Janet Jackson)
Bobby Sparks- B3 Organ
Tommy Detamore- Pedal Steel
Glenn Fukunaga- Bass (Robert Plant)
I kind of treat it as a player coach relationship, I am the player, the coach is my producer, and I trust in him the vision I’ve discussed with him.
Now on my next album I’ll have some of these guys that are playing these live shows with me. For this last album, it was not financially feasible to travel my guys down to Austin and record this, there was just too much cost.
The great thing about all the guys that play with me live on stage and the guys that play on my studio records, they are all friends and they have massive respect for each other. There was no tension at all that it happened. A lot people think it is weird, like “I don’t see Keith Anderson with you on sax anymore!”, so I’m like well Keith got a full-time offer with Prince. I don’t write music that is good with saxaphone right now, plus Keith needs to be more of an outfront type of player.
Q: I’d agree he is more of a lead brass instrument, rather than a backing brass player…
Ray: Exactly, and there will be a time where, much like Zac Brown, who probably has a horn section a quarter of the shows they play, there will be a time where my influence from three years ago will combine with my new country sound and that’ll be the time to bring out the saxaphone, just not right now.
Q: You’ve had several battles with leukemia, and you began your love with sports at Alabama and also made it on the Dallas Mavericks team. How did your love for sports influence you when you wrote “Gameday”? (What is soon to be an Anthem of college football) How did you transfer that passion for sports over to your other passion of music and songwriting?
A: Great question, and I love the answer because I try to be authentic in everything I do in life, be it music, friendships, being in a big city like Dallas, any big city, there is a lot more bullshit.
With Gameday… here I am I turned full-time musician two years ago, and you’ve gotta make a living doing it. If you can be good in an area where there is not much competition that is already two legs up, and so I knew I could bring value on the sports end, because I am a fan of college football.
I grew up going to Auburn games and then went to Alabama, I love the games, I got to meet the players cause I shared the locker room with them at Alabama. I’m still a fan, I love the tailgates when everybody is a winner before the game (laughs), it is kind of like a family reunion with the added bonus of a great game on top of it. I love the melodies of the fight songs of the band, I love the tradition, the colors, the chant, the hot cheerleaders, it feels like everything is right.
I get up every Saturday to watch gameday and I love that song Big & Rich does, “Comin’ To Your City” and I wondered as my song-writing chops got better if I can bring value to a collaborator. I have so much authentic experience going to these games and also knowing the guys during my tenure at Alabama. I thought if maybe I sought out a great songwriter, that knows very little about sports, but is great at writing a song maybe I can bring value… and I had like 4 pages on yellow notebook…
I got to play a couple benefits with a guy named Thom Shepard who is most well known for the song ‘Redneck Yacht Club” (Craig Morgan), which he co-wrote. He has had lots of other songs, he has been full-time writing in Nashville for about 12 years, just an awesome talent. He’s a great guy, just like me he is trying to make a living making music, he has his skill-set more on the writing end. I contacted him maybe 5 times before he said yes as his schedule is very busy…
I told him I have people in Dallas who respect my story and I’ve followed my dream and made it, I’ve got a little leg in with sports and that could follow my music a little bit. I think I’ve got something that ESPN would take and if they did not take it maybe some of the regional networks would.
We wrote up the song in June 2012 and got it done in a day, and got polished off about a week later, got the demo track down.
Lee Fitting, the producer of ESPN, told me he liked it, but that he didn’t have time to put it in so close to football season, so we got a no. So then when I was in Nashville about six weeks ago and I was making some routine calls. I spoke with Trey Wilson who is the manager of Blackberry Smoke, been managing them for about 4 or 5 years. When we were catching up he asked if I had any irons in the furnace so I told him I thought I had a chance with the “Gameday” song, but they are not taking it as of yet. He said you sent it to Kevin Wilson right ?, I told him I’d sent it to Lee Binning. He told me Kevin may be able to help me, to send Kevin an email later that night and CC him in it. So I sent it off…Kevin replied within an hour and gave me an offer on two of my songs…I love collaborations where I can over-deliver on my end, that is how I made the Mavericks, I made the Mavericks because I knew my niche, and knew I was at the right place at the right time in the sports world, and I knew I was what they were looking for. I’m persistent, annoying sometimes, but persistent, but I’ll get it done. Knew maybe I wouldn’t get the job, but I over-delivered and got the job… When you are two for two with a guy who is in the industry for 20 years that’s good odds of getting invited back to the party.
When I play venues, I just want to get invited back.
Q: What can we be on the lookout for in terms of new developments with the Ray Johnston Band in the near future?
A: We will be playing at the Granada Friday November 22nd, that is our next major Dallas show. We also have a single, ‘Crush’ that is featured on our new EPK, which went on the radio September 6th.