Kenny 'Blue' Ray

Kenny 'Blue' Ray

Person from United States

Genres: blues rock, guitar, rhythm and blues, blues

Similar artists via Last.fm

Kenny "Blue" Ray Larry Garner Rob Tognoni Roy Gaines Blues 'N' Trouble

About Kenny 'Blue' Ray

Kenny Ray was born in Lodi, California on January 11, 1950. His interest in music was forged by his father, who plated guitar, harmonica, accordion, piano and fiddle. Seeing Elvis perform on the Ed Sullivan show in 1956 sealed Kenny's passion to play guitar. His father bought Kenny his first guitar in 1958 for $7.00, a Danelectro, who Kenny named "Stella." After paying his dues, his dad later bought Kenny his first real guitar, a 1959 black Danelectro for $38.50. This sowed the seed that was to grow and blossom into one of today's great blues virtuoso's, "Mr. Tone," Mr. Cool," aka Kenny Blue Ray. Kenny's obsession with the blues was triggered by the infamous Wolfman Jack, when as an eleven year old, Kenny would lie in bed listening as his older sister played the radio to the sounds of Jimmy Reed and Howlin' Wolf on XERB-FM, from Chula Vista, California, and was inspired by music that Kenny claims "just totally blew my mind." The hypnotic sounds that came out of the tiny speaker hooked Kenny on the Blues forever! He was mesmerized. Ever since that time, Kenny has practiced, honed and perfected his Blues and guitar skills. Kenny and his friends would skip school to learn Albert King's album, "Born Under A Bas Sign" and B.B. King's live album, "Blues Is King." They eventually became good enough to make their professional debut in 1965 at a high school dance. Serving in the Air Force from 1969-72, Kenny was based in London, England, where he hooked up with ex-JR Walker band member, Ferdnand Jones, in a nine piece soul review called, Ell Jade, where they covered Al Green, Aretha Franklin and "lots of blues." On his return to the States, Kenny spent two years touring California with the Paul Herman Band. In 1975 he took over the guitar spot in Little Charlie and the Nightcats, which at the time was fronted by Charlie Baty on guitar, harp and vocals. Rick Estrin joined the band in 1976, and not long after Kenny left and moved to Los Angeles where he became a member of the houseband at Smokey Wilson's Pioneer club, backing artists like Big Joe Turner, Pee Wee Crayton, Lowell Fulson and Big Mama Thornton. The late 70's were a productive time for the blues in L.A., and Kenny became immersed in the Watts scene and made his recording debut with William Clarke and Hollywood Fats ("Diggin' My Potatoes") and Finis Tasby (a set which remains unreleased) in 1978. In 1980, Kenny moved to Austin, Texas, where he joined the Marcia Ball Band, touring with her for four years on the Crawfish Circuit and appearing on her 1985 Rounder release "Soulful Dress." During this time Kenny met and became good friends with Stevie Ray Vaughan. Further recording sessions followed with Greg "Fingers" Taylor ("Harpoon Man"), Marcia Ball on Varrick, Mitch Woods, Charlie Musselwhite, Ronnie Earl and the Roomful of Blue Horns on Blind Pig ("Solid Gold Cadillac"), and sessions with Dave Welhaussen, Tommy Castro, Ron Thompson, Gary Smith, Wendy DeWitt and others. In 1990, Kenny with his big, fat toned, Texas guitar sound, liberally laced with Albert King and Magic Sam, honed to perfection, took center stage and formed his own band. In 1994, Kenny released the first of nine CD's on his own Blue Ray•Tone King label. Each CD garnered critical acclaim from all corners of the blues world, and amazingly, each surpassing the previous in sheer quality. Few artists could release so many CD's in such a short period of time without staleness and a sense of repetition setting in. The fact that Kenny has not only achieved that, but imbued each successive release with a freshness and vitality that is impossible to ignore and only demonstrates the depth of his talent. Kenny plays his guitar through the organ speaker, ripping out wicked chords the way a B-3 player would. Don't be misled into thinking Kenny is merely a copy cat. His talent is such that he can pay tribute to artists he admires and although, you'll easily recognize the influences, everything comes out of the amps sounding like pure Kenny Blue Ray and smoldering instrumentals allow him to stretch, demonstrating his virtuosity in a variety of blues styles. Kenny, like Otis Grand, has no pretensions about his vocal prowess, preferring to let others step out front while he lets his guitar do his singing. Like all great musicians, he is a supreme accompanist, confident in his own ability to utilize singers whose talent won't be overshadowed by his own virtuosity. Since 1994, Kenny has put out two to three CD's a year, as well as, producing and playing on others recording artists projects. Kenny is a big fan of Jazz, as well. Especially the bluesy side of Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, and Jimmy McGriff. Kenny has appeared on thirty three CD's and albums since he began his music career. He's also done seven Blues Guitar Instructional videos. Kenny had the great honor of working with Little Charlie & The Night Cats, William Clarke (Kenny's favorite) and James Harman, Shakey Jake Harris, Rod Piazza and Gary Smith. Harp is another favorite of Kenny's!

Taken from Last.fm

318 listeners  ·  3,038 plays via Last.fm