HANK RAY - "BAR-B-Q OF SOULS" NEW ALBUM 2006 Gothic / Death Country -'solo' recordings and appearances have always played a prominent part in the canon of HANK RAY - the man / the mind behind THE RAYMEN / THE HOLY ROLLER TRASH INC - ever since the early days of 1987, when the third RAYMEN album "From The Trashcan To The Ballroom" saw the light of day in the shape of the now sought-after double e.p. ! The first RAY solo shows were arranged around that time also, concentrating mainly on slow-motion Country treatments and ballads such as "Tonight", done by Iggy Pop on his "Lust For Life" album, thus serving as a kind of artistic counterpoint to the Electro-Trash-Rock Mayhem produced by THE RAYMEN. Well, how can we describe this multi-colored, distinguished style, this Euro-Americana cosmo-vision that has been developed and perfected by HANK RAY over recent years? To cut a long story short...we may simply call it a hybrid! It's the combination of a dark, luring 'Country' And 'Western' romanticism ( Bob Nolan with The Sons Of The Pioneers, Tex Ritter, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, ...) with some distinct elements of 'strangeness' / 'weirdness' ( The Velvet Underground, Cpt. Beefheart, John Cale, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, David Bowie ....) injected. ...show more

HANK RAY - "BAR-B-Q OF SOULS" NEW ALBUM 2006 Gothic / Death Country -'solo' recordings and appearances have always played a prominent part in the canon of HANK RAY - the man / the mind behind THE RAYMEN / THE HOLY ROLLER TRASH INC - ever since the early days of 1987, when the third RAYMEN album "From The Trashcan To The Ballroom" saw the light of day in the shape of the now sought-after double e.p. ! The first RAY solo shows were arranged around that time also, concentrating mainly on slow-motion Country treatments and ballads such as "Tonight", done by Iggy Pop on his "Lust For Life" album, thus serving as a kind of artistic counterpoint to the Electro-Trash-Rock Mayhem produced by THE RAYMEN. Well, how can we describe this multi-colored, distinguished style, this Euro-Americana cosmo-vision that has been developed and perfected by HANK RAY over recent years? To cut a long story short...we may simply call it a hybrid! It's the combination of a dark, luring 'Country' And 'Western' romanticism ( Bob Nolan with The Sons Of The Pioneers, Tex Ritter, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, ...) with some distinct elements of 'strangeness' / 'weirdness' ( The Velvet Underground, Cpt. Beefheart, John Cale, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, David Bowie ....) injected.

These 'roots' have laid the foundation for his unique musical patterns over the past years of 'balladeering'. Just to furthermore brighten the picture...take the aforementioned and add some respectful, humble nods to Blues / Gospel legends: Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Howlin' Wolf, Mahalia Jackson as well as a good deal of Ray's likings for 'Opera bigshots', e.g. Enrico Caruso, Benjamino Gigli, Tito Schipa - just to mention but a few of his favorites - and you'll get a pretty decent inside-description of the Ray-pool of inspirations. The first HANK RAY solo studio-recordings were made around the summer of 1990...during the sessions for THE RAYMEN / "BILLION SELLERS" album (no.

4), which was released in spring 1991. Of course, solo recordings were reportedly made before that particular session - some dating back as far as early 1983 - but most of these recordings were simple home-recorded demos and - like e.g., the acoustic blueprints of songs later to appear on the "GOING DOWN TO DEATH VALLEY" album - never destined for commercial release. The 1990 sessions produced two haunting Ray originals "Heaven Sent Or Born In Hell" and "Death Letter" ( not the Son House tune!! ) plus an extraordinary treatment of Porter Wagoner's 'Ode to the padded cell' , "The Rubber Room". "Heaven Sent..." and "Death Letter" were released as one side of the, long-out-of-print, "DEATH LETTER REQUIEM" 7"- color vinyl e.p. ...show less