Michael Ray is speaking out, after various news outlets claimed his forthcoming new record would be about his 2020 divorce from Carly Pearce, something he says couldn’t be further from the truth. The Florida native shared his thoughts on social media,
“Wanna make it clear. My next record has NOTHING to do with my divorce,” Ray writes on social media. “That was bullsh– click bait. We have way bigger things going on in this world than to still be talking about a separation that happened almost 3 years ago now.
“Let’s start lifting up positive stories,” he continues. “We have so much negative in this world and that seems to be the only thing anyone wants to talk about. I’ve had A LOT of growth and done a lot of work and I’m damn proud of where I am and who I am now.”
Indeed, Ray does hint that a new project is in the works, and while he isn’t going to delve into personal matters of his past, he does say the new set of tunes will be very authentically him, and a mix of all of the kinds of music he enjoys.
“We just cut six songs,” Ray reveals to Everything Nash. “We started cutting with Michael Knox. This whole process has been exactly how I’ve always wanted to cut a record, being able to really dive into some stuff that I feel like people have been waiting for me to put out for a few years. And, touch on some subjects I touched on, but also have some influences of what I grew up with.
“You’re gonna hear a lot of Allman Brothers, a lot of Skynyrd, and a lot of traditional country music mixed with ’90s country music,” he continues. “We just took a lot of different eras that I was influenced by and put them together. It’s by far the most excited I’ve been about putting a record out.”
Ray previously revealed he had gone to therapy, while the world was shut down due to the pandemic, and he was forced to spend time off of the road.
“I’m gonna be very, very raw and real,” Ray shared with Everything Nash and other outlets at a recent media event..”The last two years have been hard for everybody, and knowing that this year is gonna be different — I felt like everybody knew that this year was gonna be the year that we all thought last year was gonna be, but turned out not to be, ’cause there were still mandates. It was just kind of hit or miss some places … but now we’re back.
“So I just wanted to get myself right, so I went to this place in Arizona,” he continued. “It’s like this therapy place for seven days, to just work on yourself, a leadership type of thing. I got to be with some incredible people that really helped me out a lot.”
Ray is back at radio with “Holy Water,” after his previous single, “Whiskey and Rain,” was a platinum-selling, multi-week No. 1 hit.
A title or release date for Ray’s next record has yet to be announced. Find music and tour dates at MichaelRayMusic.com.
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