Album Title: Carl Ray - I love Country Music
Producer: Carl Ray
Genre: Country
Label: Carl's Broken Arrow Publishing
Release Date: June 24 

I Love Country Music  (Sold Out)
Written and Produced By Carl Ray

By Christy Cowan Baker

The Showcase at Caffe Milano in Nashville, TN, featured the talents of numerous aspiring artists - but only one of them brought the crowd to its feet. His name was Carl Ray and I Love Country Music is the debut album from this talented newcomer.Carl's natural warmth and gregariousness are evident the moment you meet him, and though these qualities are often hard to capture on a studio recording, the sincerity and conviction with which he sings are not.The album opens with three mid up-tempo songs. The first cut is A Real Good Feeling About You an easy-going song that celebrates the joy that a long-lasting love has been found. What's On Your Mind? addresses the universal problem a lack of communication can bring to two people as the artist pleads for his woman to "give me a sign" of what is troubling her.The title cut of the CD, I Love Country Music is next as Carl celebrates country music itself, not only for the beauty of the sound but it's inherent power of "making things all right". His joy in hearing the mandolin, steel guitar, fiddle, tambourine and banjo "chasin' the melodies" comes through in every line.She Never Did That Before is the first ballad on the album and the sparse production of the number emphasizes and enhances that lonely feeling of a man whose woman is taking her love away from him.Family Man, another mid-tempo song, celebrates the ordinary husband and father as a new breed of modern hero. A little bit of country swing is injected into the album with the next number, You're So Heavy on My Mind. The fiddle music drives the song along as a treasured country theme, a man heading to the local honky-tonk to try and forget a lost love, plays itself out.The CD closes with two ballads. A Place Called Texas is Carl Ray's ode to his birthplace. Let it Be personalizes the sad consequences of a family fight. The singer asks "who's right, who's wrong", and admits it doesn't matter. He also gives voice to the children involved as they suffer the troubling effects of the aftermath of discord between the two parents they love.I Love Country Music was recorded at Drapp Studios in Tulsa, Oklahoma and produced by Carl's Broken Arrow Publishing. Co. All eight cuts were written solely by Carl Ray and thus reflect the values and traditions he holds to be important.Most country music albums bought today come out of Nashville and listeners can become accustomed to an over-produced sound burying a singer's vocals and natural talents. Though music produced at smaller independent studios may "sound" different because of the inherent limitations involved, it also has a naturalness and honesty to it. What you hear will be a true reflection of an artist's capabilities, and on this CD, Carl Ray' s vibrant tenor and self-penned, heartfelt, songs are effectively revealed.

If you're longing for that country sound of simpler times, here's a good place to start.