RayGee Music

Since my ‘Memphis’ album, I have been writing a great variety of new songs, and I am happy to say my new album ‘Drifter’ is finally here.

This takes us through stories of the tough life in New York, the life of a drifter and a lovely sunny day! 'Just Goes to Show How Wrong a Man Can Be' sounds uncannily a song Leonard Cohen could have written and 'Why Do I Have to be so Short?' is a tongue in cheek nod to Randy Newman. 

We end the album with a haunting tribute to the late great trumpeter Chet Baker. 

Having been a church choir boy from the age of 10-17, I have always had a love of church and gospel music. 

I grew up listening to Ray Charles and Mahalia Jackson and always thought that one day I might be able to record my own Gospel album.

During the making of ‘A Dose of the Blues’ and ‘Think I Might Go to Memphis’ I was also writing and recording some gospel songs. These were put on the back burner and then sometime in 2023 it was looking like I had enough for an album.

I wanted this album to fit in with the styles of music I love, so there is still a wealth of variety contained in this collection of songs.

Some of the songs were more suited to the female voice, so in discussion with my Producer Al Steele, we set about finding the most suitable singers for each song. Danielle Nicholls added her silky smooth voice to ‘’Talk to Your Saviour' and ‘Down Below’ also helping out with the choir parts and Hayley Byfield also added her unique soulful tones. Some years earlier I released a Christmas single featuring Samantha Link and for this album we have created a special duet version of ‘Bethlehem’.

As we were recording ‘My Dad’s Old Bible' it began to take on some jazz overtones and we figured a Stan Getz type saxophone would be the perfect accompaniment. Julian Tucker captured the style and sound perfectly.

This album is a departure from my usual blues-based material and the writing and recording of these songs has given me immense pleasure.

This album was mainly written during lockdown, when we all had a lot of time on our hands!

First off, I had the title and I knew a great title needed a great song to accompany it.

When I was a young man all I listened to was the blues, and the artists who originated in Memphis and Chicago were my biggest influence. T-Bone Walker, BB King, Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and of course the early Elvis were the catalyst to my becoming a songwriter.

However, I didn't want this album to be solely blues, as we had covered that well in the last album. So I drew from a wide selection of songs that I had written over a considerable period of time, while being careful to make sure they all felt like they belonged together.

As on 'A Dose of the Blues' I worked with Al Steele from Shabbey Road Studios. Songs were often recorded in one session with tweaks happening along the way. There were some that we felt needed a larger canvas so we enlisted Ceri Rees to play a pair of clarinets for the anti-love song 'I Don't Think I Love You Anymore', and also some smokey saxophone on 'Dreaming The Day Away'.

When it came to designing the album cover, I had a specific front cover in mind, and I went to my regular designer Ceri Darknell and we worked through a few options until it matched my vision. I also found a photo that was taken of me - not too long ago(!) - that I thought would fit on the inside sleeve.

Lyrics are important to me, sometimes even more so than the music, so I always like to include them on the liner notes. We tried to find some images to lay in the background that would support the lyrical content.

I am going to leave you with a taster of where I am going with this album. Hope you enjoy it!

One winter evening myself, my producer Al Steele and a group of friends headed down to The Hollybush pub in Draethen with the aim of making a classic pub video! Ceri Darknell would be the director, so for once we all had to do as she said!

Al had recently reformed the 80s group The Korgis and by coincidence the backing vocalists lived just up the road. So they all headed down to join the crowd.

We didn't know what to expect as we were not regulars. As it turned out it was an Open Mic night, but what we didn't realise is that earlier on it was a nice quiet dining pub! As it turned out, the diners didn't seem to mind that we had taken over the pub and soon all joined in with this raucous sing-a-long. We reckon the bar takings probably went up by 50% that night!

To fit the mood of the song, my brief for the night was to look as miserable as possible, while all around me were having a whale of a time.

Behind me are Dave, Al, Ava Emmy and Jay, who look like they are taking the brief very seriously, and are already well on the way to being 'Drunk as a Skunk'!

In the end a great night was had by all and here is the video to prove it!

The 2018 debut album from Ray Glastonbury.  
Aka bluesman Ray Gee, born in a mining town long, long time ago - as in the opening lines of his much acclaimed mining classic, 'You Won't Be Going Down That Mine, My Son' which is featured on 'A Dose Of The Blues', a solo album of twelve of his songs recorded over the past year at Shabbey Road Studios.

Ray has been involved with the music business all his life, either as a performer, sometimes behind the scenes as a Manager and a Publisher.

It took him till 2018 to finally take the spotlight, with this collection of highly personal songs.

In an interview in 2017 Ray remarked 'I have written many songs for other artists, but these ones I kept for myself. I couldn't imagine anyone else singing them.

We have been busy filming some videos to promote the album and the opening track 'You Won't Be Going Down That Mine My Son' seemed like an obvious choice, being largely autobiographical.

This latest album is a great mix of blues and country blues, sung in his own unique style. Ray takes us from his B.B.King inspired 'Without My Woman', to the ever popular 'Drunk As A Skunk' via a train bound for Mobile, Alabama with 'I'll Never Hit The Bottle Again'. Add to that San Quentin's death row 'Hey Little Bird', a close encounter with the 'Grim Reaper' and the title track 'A Dose Of The Blues' along the way.