Many of you who know our history know that we’re a studio that facilitates an artist’s needs. Whether they are established artists signed to a major record label or just starting off as an independent artist, we’ll make your project become a reality. As I’m sure you’ve noticed we’ve been dipping our feet into some video content lately. This month’s artist performance is something we’ve been planning on doing for a couple of months and it just so happened to work out that our friend Joey Ray was in town at the same time we had all of our equipment in the studio. A lucky coincidence some might say! We invited him out for some drinks, pizza, and laughter. Today he shares with us brand new original song, “So Long”.

Joey Ray Biography

There exists a clear distinction between a musician and an artist. Joey Ray, a pianist who plays by ear has a gift for capturing melody, channeling ambiance, telling love stories, and putting his signature smooth croon on a tune. “As long as I feel the record, it doesn’t matter if it’s rock or country. I wouldn’t care, as long as the music has a feeling and melody,” Joey begins, sharing his creative process. “Then I can spin a story that is relatable to me.”

Not until a chance co-sign by a college classmate did Joey seriously consider a career in music. Joey was singing in his dorm room while sprinkling the piano and “this girl was like ‘Who is that?! Is that you?!” he recalls, laughing. “She thought it was a CD playing. But it was me,” he continues. “Anything I can hear, I can play. I play by ear. I always sang but never really thought about pursuing it as a career, but I didn’t know anyone in music. I Didn’t know how I was going to pursue it.”

Also a producer, Joey has written for a number of singers representing a variety of musical genres. He is comfortable switching from artist snap back to producer fedora – but knows the two hats fit very differently. “I like to get an idea of what they’ve been through, what they want to hear, and also to understand what they are capable of”, he shares explaining his method of engaging the artists for which he produces. “I need a sense of where they can take a song range-wise. It’s a whole different vibe when creating for someone else.”

In singer-mode, the natural soprano often draws from past relationships with loves lost and ladies longed for, inviting listeners into the real world of a young player. You cannot take make-believe to the people and make them believe, not with his bluesy brand of R&B. Joey Ray doesn’t try to. “The music I am attracted to are all of those minor chords, what you hear before the actual music,” he states. “I feel like you can’t enjoy the sun if you haven’t endured the rain, so I sing a Blues derived style of R&B. Those real love stories. That truth found in love.”

We thoroughly enjoyed having Joey Ray in our studios and sharing his songs with us. The final result sounds incredible and we recommend checking out some of his other stuff on Spotify or Apple music.

If you like this live performance video and want to see more, please let us know who we should invite next!