Michael Ray‘s Dive Bars & Broken Hearts EP was just released, but there might soon be more music from the singer-songwriter. Ray included six songs on his latest project, but is already eager to get back in the studio to continue what he started with Dive Bars & Broken Hearts.
“We’re talking about going in soon to start the next side,” Ray hints to Everything Nash. “I’m writing, and listening to a lot of songs, getting set up to get in the studio as soon as we can, and not let much time slip by. We want to try to keep things close together. I’m excited.”
Dive Bars & Broken Hearts marked Ray’s first time working with producer Michael Knox, giving him a new energy and excitement about releasing new music.
“These first six just got me so excited,” Ray reveals. “Not that I was ever out of love with music, but it really put a new love in me for what I’ve always loved, and a new passion and excitement for writing and creating. So I’m excited to get back in, and get back in the studio soon.”
Ray has released plenty of music since his self-titled freshman album came out in 2015. But it wasn’t until Dive Bars & Broken Hearts that Ray fully discovered who he is, as a singer, songwriter and artist.
“I think it is the first album where it’s 100 percent me,” Ray tells Everything Nash. “I didn’t chase anything. I wasn’t trying to do anything but really be very focused on songs that I wrote, and songs that I got sent that I loved. I knew what I wanted to say. I knew how I wanted the record to be; everything I already had in my mind. And so, because of that, I think that’s why people are gonna hear a difference sonically. They’re hearing a difference vocally. They’re hearing a difference in a lot of ways.”
The 35-year-old spent a lot of years hiding who he really was, both in life and in his music. But after going through a lot of highs and lows in the last few years, Ray was ready to share more of himself with the rest of the world.
“I have never been good at showing vulnerability,” Ray acknowledges. “I was that way as a kid, and I brought that into my adult life. It was very easy to build walls around me and keep things at a distance. I think growing up in a broken home, which was a lot of chaos at some moments in my life, I built that without knowing it, which is why ‘Workin’ On It’ is the last song on the EP, ’cause working on it for me is when I went through all of that.
“I stood there, and I said this as a joke,” he adds, “but it’s kind of true: when you’re standing there, it’s like Rocky …You realize like, ‘Oh, we survived it. That wasn’t too bad. Don’t do it again. What can I do better?’”
Dive Bars & Broken Hearts and all of Ray’s upcoming shows can be found at MichaelRayMusic.com.
