Mostly me, plus Linda Washington on harmony vocals, and whatever friends I can hijack! Frequent suspects include drummer Roger Gillespie, pedal steel ace Ron Epperson and keyboard player Jeff Little.
Live Dirt! Linda and I perform regularly as an acoustic duet act at coffee houses and events all around the Victor Valley. Here are two live recordings from our shows:
Elvis' "Can't Help Falling In Love".
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and Gram Parson's "She"
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Linda Washington and me
Influences
Gram Parsons, the Beatles, early Steve Earle (too political these days, Steve), Dwight Yoakam, Eddie Cochran (with his bright orange Gretsch!), Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, early Elvis and way too many other dead rockers.
Gram Parsons, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam
Sounds Like
Someone Beating A Mule With An Electric Guitar. . . . but I'm working on it.
NEW CD COMING SOON!"PLAIN AS DIRT" is on the way! It features the very best of the songs I wrote in 2008. If you've seen us live, you've heard them, including "99 Years Of Tears", "Loud Music, Stupid People And Beer", "This Old Guitar", plus a few of our very best cover songs. Watch for it soon!
Meantime, our last CD "Suburban Legend" is available as a internet download or as a physical CD from CD Baby. Here's the link:
It's also available on Amazon and iTunes! You can get the entire album or individual tracks by clicking the logos!
Charlie Ray is a songwriter, guitarist and singer -- raised on Rock & Roll, but knocked sideways by the music of Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam and kicked over the alt-country cliff for good by hearing Gram Parsons. If you're a big fan of Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift or Kenny Chesney, you have definitely stumbled onto the wrong page. But if you prefer your country a lot less slick, and a little less good-looking, read on.
Charlie is a long-time radio veteran, currently on-air at K-FROG Country, 95.1 in San Bernardino, California. First and foremost a songwriter, he's a storyteller who's been around long enough to know a good tale when he hears one. He currently has more than 100 songs to his credit . . . and a few that aren't a credit to anyone.
Linda Washington is a schoolteacher, a gifted singer and a willing partner in crime. She has a crystal-clear alto voice, Emmylou's gift for harmony, Patsy's way with a lyric and -- fortunately for Charlie -- Tonto's sense of loyalty.
Together they perform regularly in Southern California, especially in the High Desert area that they both call home. On any given night you can find them singing sad country songs in sweet harmony, with voices that seem to say . . . "Buy something, willya?".
My wife, Holly, is a romance writer with two novels published -- "Love On The Air", and "Meg's Confession". They're both available at Amazon.com, other on-line stores, and larger bookstores. (And they're both great!) Holly writes as Sierra Donovan -- using our kid's names as her pen name. Awww! Check out her sites: sierradonovan.com and her MySpace page
Hey Charlie, Just a quick shout out to say Hello and to let ya know that we just added a brand new original Rocker called " Shelia" to our page! We would definitely like you to give it a listen and hear your feedback on the song. Hope you like it! Your friends from Wenzday Falls!
MY NEW SINGLE!...'MY COWBOY!' A SNEAK PREVIEW ONLY UP FOR 1 WEEK. PLEEEEASE GO TAKE A LISTEN AND LEAVE ME A COMMENT! :D :D :D God Bless, Mishavonna Phil 4:13
Hey Charlie, just dropping in to let you know about a new Rockin song that we just added to our page called "Only Yesterday". We would really love if you gave it a listen and comment back on what you think of the song. Until then, Have a GREAT week and let's talk soon. Wenzday Falls
With Dwight, Steve, Gram,you're a real twang master! Love the tunes, especially "Let it be Me and Let it Burn." Great guitar tone as well! Thanks very much for listening to WWW! Brenda and I are your fans.
Hey Charlie, Thanks for checking out our page and staying in touch! How's the life of music treating you these days. Glad you liked Make Me Free and hope all is well with you in sunny CA, nothin but rain here. Keep checking back, we have nine songs we are laying tracks down for now and we will be putting them on the site as they are done. Thanks for the input on our new name, the Soinc State had to go and we figured our band practices fall on Wed. nights so the perfect name would be Wenzday Falls ...Talk soon and be well!
You need to write a new song about dancing and call it "The Twango" Let me know when you ready to record it and I'll come over and play and sing on it with you!!!
Hey! It is so nice to meet you!!! Thanks for the friendship. Are you going to make it out for Wagon Wheel Fest in Sept at Lake Elsinore CA? Hope so! It is going to be a blast! You can click the poster on my page to get more info on it. Your new friend Karista