When that voice rumbles out of the speakers like rolling thunder, it's obvious there's a different kind of cowboy on the scene, one who writes songs with the plainspoken poetry and emotional directness that turned the songs of Kristofferson, Jennings, and Nelson into a movement. And if you want to call Ray Scott an outlaw, well, he's alright with that.....
It's his attitude. He does it his way. He says it his way. His way takes aim at the heart, scoring a direct hit by chronicling the beauty and the tragedy of everyday life. He knows where country music's been and he knows that he's taking it someplace new. His way is the way of the steel guitar. It's recitation and gospel, with a little blues and rock thrown in for seasoning. But when it simmers to a boil and he serves it up in that deep Carolina drawl, you can't call it anything but country music.
That's because Scott comes by his country roots honestly. Raised in the rural farming community of Semora, North Carolina he grew up among the blue collar folks who populate his songs. He also grew up the son of a country singer. In fact, it's his dad, Ray Sr., he credits as his biggest musical influence.
"A lot of people name off artists as influences and I have those too, but the biggest impression on me was my dad," says the Warner Bros. Nashville newcomer. "He was a singer and I heard his interpretations of all those great country songs growing up. I realize more all the time that listening to his versions and comparing them to the originals I heard on the radio taught me a lot about how to make a song your own."
The father's dream of musical success was soon officially passed down to the son, and after a youth spent soaking up his Daddy's music, Ray began to find himself drawn to the authority and gritty realism of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Merle Haggard. "Those guys defined an era of country music," he says. "They left a permanent impression on me that I wear like a badge of honor. I loved the realness of their music. That stuff will always be great, always stand up to time. Those old boys meant what they were saying. They lived it."
Ray loved great vocalists, but found himself drawn even more intently to artists who write their own songs. "You listen to their music and you get who they are," he says of his affinity for songwriters, especially those who weren't afraid to buck the system. "You feel like you know them. I respect the guys like Kris Kristofferson who said what they had to say and didn't compromise because of what was going on in the industry at the time."
With so much surrounding him, a music career was almost inevitable. By the time he was 19, he'd formed his first band in Raleigh, North Carolina. That band promptly fell apart because, among other reasons, none of the members had much music business savvy. Realizing he needed to learn a few things if he wanted a career instead of a hobby, Scott moved to Atlanta and got an Associate's degree from the Music Business Institute.
