Got Country: Growing up in the Carolinas, what inspired you to get into country music?
Boo Ray: The rhododendron, the summer nights, a little honky tonk just across the state line that had live bands on Tuesday nights, the autumn leaves setting the hills on fire, red, orange and yellow, that’s the stuff that makes me play country music. Classic country radio was the sound track of my childhood.
GC: What was it that drew you to moving to Nashville?
BR: I’d been coming to Nashville on songwriting appointments since 2005 but I moved here in 2012 with a girl so she could join the roller derby team. I wound up with a good publishing deal and am digging Nashville a bunch.
GC: You have such a unique unforgettable name! Is it a nickname? Where did you get it from?
BR: All the women in my family are from Louisiana and have interesting names: Maybo, Ninni, Bonnycastle… so I got an odd handle too. It was kind of like “A Boy Named Sue” type of situation in grade school. I called a family meeting and tried to change it at one point. That didn’t work.
GC: There’s so much controversy over what country music sound is real. Your sound is like old school country .. how do you feel about these breakthrough “pop” country artists?
BR: That’s a loaded damned question right there… Since you mention the “sound”, let’s take that angle. “Pop” country production seems to be part of the problem. The way the tracks are so crunched up to make them absolutely as loud as possible might be a culprit. Versus, some of the classic 60’s & 70’s recordings that are far more dynamic, like Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”, “The Lineman” by Glen Campbell, Jerry Reed’s “Eastbound & Down”, and Vicki Lawrence’s “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia.” I think maybe there’re some real basic fundamentals that producers like George Martin, Tom Dowd & Snuff Garrett have in common.
GC: We have been waiting on some new music from you … when should we expect some??
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