Desire to Inspire

C.J. Ray is a man on a mission, to uplift and inspires with music that reaches from a place deep inside. Spiritual without being preachy. Life experience informs his music and resonates with his listeners. Being a father and grandfather has changed his life dramatically and forged a deeper appreciation for life. Like many artists, he recorded during the pandemic, which offered a different perspective than it would have in the ‘before times’.

I notice on your website that you started out by performing in church. How did you make the leap into Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, and Van Halen?

While performing in the church was a jumping-off point for me, I loved all kinds of music from an early age. Music has the ability to speak to the soul and hard rock always resonated with me. I love guitar-driven songs, so I was naturally drawn to the bands mentioned above.

Was music always a passion?

Absolutely! I remember singing at my 4th-grade music concert and loving being on stage and singing my heart out.

What is your songwriting process?

I usually am working on multiple song snippets at a time. I record my song ideas on my iPhone and as I play around with the snippets a feeling of the song usually inspires the lyrics. I spend a lot of time making sure the lyrics sit well with the tone of the music. I also try hard to write lyrics that reflect what I am feeling and hopefully that will inspire the listener.

What is your intention when you create and perform?

I just want to connect with real people and create a positive experience for all involved. I love meeting people and hearing about their lives. That is the best part of performing live.

Please talk about For Each Other and its upcoming release.

The EP features songs that I have written and recorded over the last year. The title track “For Each Other” is about being a supportive and positive influence for those around us. The world has gone through such a tough time and there are so many people who have been hurt by the pandemic. I would hope that if I was in need, that a kind person would lend me a hand — that is what I try to do in my life. Bring a message of positivity and hope for all.

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What led you to choose Sarah McLachlan’s Sweet Surrender to cover?

It was a song I’ve always loved -in fact, it was one of my favorite songs to sing along with in my car. When I was planning on releasing new music, my A&R at Juel Concepts asked me to make a playlist of top 10 songs that I loved, and what I liked about each. Among the more expected rock songs was the gem Sweet Surrender, which was super different for me, less expected. Naturally, when we started looking for songs to cover, we revisited the playlist and felt the drive and message in “Sweet Surrender” fit the message for my EP. When we were in the studio together, we ran it and immediately thought it’s a standout track. My producer, Paul Fig, worked often with Vincent Jones who is Sarah McLachlan’s Musical Director and he came in to lay down the key lines and R&B artist, Jessica Childress, sang background vocals on it, too. I am so happy with the way it came out and I hope others will love the remake of this amazing song.

Knowing that it was recorded in unusual circumstances; during the pandemic, did it influence some of your own songwriting?

Yes, many of the songs were directly influenced by the pandemic. “Fear Be Gone” is one of those songs. It is about the desire to go back to better times, times of freedom, and times where people could all be together celebrating life! The chorus is a proclamation and I love the strength of the words in this song!

I understand that you are a dad and a “Grand Dude.” Please talk about how that impacts your work and what it means to you to be a parent and a grandparent.

Having kids is an amazing learning experience – and I have had a lot of them (kids and learning experiences)! You realize quickly that parenting is brutally hard. Trying to impart wisdom and share values with little people who don’t always appreciate hearing what you have to say is frustrating. The frustration makes everything more stressful but at the end of the day, parenting is a lesson in sacrifice, unconditional love, and letting go. Now that my kids are having children I get to sit back and smile as my kids say things like, “Dad – how did you deal with all four of us and how did you afford to take us all to Disney World and …”

While I am shocked at how fast my kids grew up – I’m so thrilled that I now have grandkids. Truthfully, I feel too young to be in this role (I am 29 in my mind), so I love getting to do all the fun stuff I did with my kids again with my grandkids, Lana and Finn. My granddaughter, Lana, is the one who started calling me grand dude. There is nothing better than hearing, “hey grand dude”, from little Lana. My interpretation of grand dude is someone who is still out there shaking things up and going for it. I’m not a traditional grandparent in that I fly a powered paraglider, ride a KTM 300 two-stroke in the desert mountains and dive off cliffs into Lake Mead. The day when I can’t do these things I will probably become “grandpa,” but that is miles away in my mind.

You drove across America recently to see your family, how was the road trip?

Crazy fun! Morgan, our youngest daughter, made the playoffs in the D1 NCAA volleyball championship this year and since it was her senior year, my wife Heather and I decided to head out to support her and her team (U of Texas) We drove our RV from Las Vegas across the country following her to the final playoffs in Omaha, Nebraska. From there we went to Chicago to see our oldest daughter McKenzie, her husband Sean, and our two grandkids. It was a wonderful, family-oriented trip.

Does your music heal you as well as the listeners?

Music for me is the best therapy ever! I believe music has a way of healing hearts and minds. It has helped me work through some very painful times in my life and I hope it does so for those that listen to my music.

Does your music reflect your own evolution?

Yes absolutely! My music is always about something that I am feeling or seeing in my life, in our culture and as I grow mentally and spiritually my songs reflect what I am feeling and experiencing as a human on planet Earth.

To learn more about CJ, visit his website.

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