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Steve McRay Music - Musician/Singer/Songwriter/Production/Session Work - Currently living in Atlanta, Ga. Play with the band "JAVA MONKEY" and work with Atlanta Diva "FRANCINE REED".
I was raised in Gainesville Ga. (located about 50 miles north-east of Atlanta and surrounded by Lake Lanier) and brought up on music right out of the Baptist Hymnal, which I appreciated very much. My father was a Baptist minister and founded Lakewood Baptist Church in Gainesville - my Mother was a Genealogist and founded the Historical Society in north Georgia - well, I discovered I liked 60's Soul music (for the rhythms and the blues), some Folk music (for the vocal harmonies) and some Country (for the honesty, harmonies, and pickin'), and then Blues (for the close your eyes and just play) - and of course the Beatles, and eventually the Stones. As a learning keyboard player, I emulated Ray Charles and Jimmy Smith best that I could, and later worked on creating my own style from all my influences of Soul, Rock, Jazz, Blues, Country - Vocal styles that I liked were Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, and all the Motown stuff - I liked it all............
Started getting into music with my best friend Artie Christopher, we listened to his brother Johnny Christopher (co-wrote "Always on my Mind" that Elvis and Willie covered) and the guy Johnny played with, Ronnie Milsap - they were based out of Gainesville. Great music! - I started playing in bars and clubs and playing for parties when I was 14...Later on while still in high school, I played with our hometown 7 - piece horn band the "Rhodes Scholars" (we backed up artists like: Drifters, Jimmy Ruffin, Billy Joe Royal, Ian Whitcomb, Rufus Thomas, Clifford Curry, Peaches and Herb...and more). We would take off on the weekends and travel all over the south in a over-sized Ford van (7 of us with all our equipment) playing most of the major Universities, then make it back home on Sunday ready for school on Monday. We recorded a few singles, moved up to Charlotte N.C. for a while, then the band started to lose it's original members to the Vietnam conflict and the draft, so we eventually broke up...
I took music composition courses and played in the Jazz band in college - but after a couple of years of continuing to play live music on the road, my college studies started to suffer, so....my UNCLE (SAM) called and I went into the Army for about 2 years, and I have to say I made the best of my tour to southeast Asia. Upon returning home I joined my friends - MCA/Sounds of the South band "Mose Jones" produced by Al Kooper (band formed from members of Fla band "Stonehenge"). Randy Lewis, Jimmy O'Neal, Bryan Cole, and myself. We played many gigs with our label mates Lynyrd Skynyrd. We shared the stages with many: Boz Scaggs, ARS, Wet Willie, Doobie Brothers, Mother's Finest, Charlie Daniels, Sea Level, Little Feat, IF, Deon Warwick, Santana, Aerosmith...and more. Mose broke up and I joined the English band "IF" and toured England and America. About a year later that band broke up, so we reformed Mose Jones with 2 new members - Randy Lewis, Marvin Taylor, Chris Seymore, and myself. I also kept busy doing session work on many albums including: Ted Nugent, 38 Special, Johnny Van Zant, Cruzados, Alicia Bridges, Atlanta Rhythm Section (co-wrote the song "Alien")...and more. I later joined my friends 38 Special for '86-'87 tour (on the shows with us were Bad Company, Nugent, Bon Jovi...). Later on, I joined and played with Joan Baez for her '89-90 tour of the States and later a European tour...we also recorded a few live "specials" (PBS, VH1) - it was very interesting and a lot of fun to be on tour with Joan. With Joan's band, I played with Bob Babbitt on bass (Motown, Funk Brothers), Rick Shlosser on drums (Van Morrison, South Side Johnny, Edgar Winter), and Jamie Fox on guitar (San Francisco sessionist).
I played on many sessions for the now defunct "Ichiban" Record Label - including our great friend FRANCINE REED, whom we've played and toured with all over the world (Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Australia). Other Ichiban blues artists have included: Trudy Lynn, Chick Willis, Ben E. King, Blues Boy Willie, the Shadows, Jimmy Dawkins, Theodis Ealey, Kip Anderson, Luther "Houserocker" Johnson, Jerry McCain, Travis Haddix, Vernon Garrett...and more....I moved to LA for a brief time (actually Redondo Beach) in the 90's, set up a studio and recorded and played live gigs out there - worked on many projects and met some great musicians but moved back to Georgia. In the back of my mind, I always wanted to open a Restaurant/Nightclub, so...I did! I won't go into the reasons, but it lasted about 2 years and now I don't have that urge any more. If, and it's a "BIG IF" (H U G E I F !!) the situation ever presented itself again, well all I know is that the location would be very different - on a coast down by the ocean, with the best jukebox for miles around, great food, and mostly SOUL music playing every night! That's all I'll say....
I've labored in many different types of work in my life - the Army, musical instrument sales, store management, Restaurant/Nightclub ownership, and sordid small jobs, but one thing I'm most proud of is that I've held MUSIC up in the forefront consistently - whether it is live, session work, songwriting, production, composing - I'll continue to be involved with this gift that God has given me - I'm sure I always will.
Right now I'm continuing to work on releasing a CD of my own music - part instrumental and part vocal based around smooth Jazz style. As soon as it's ready, it will be previewed here and offered for sale. As well, I'm continuing my songwriting, production and session playing. As a live musician, I continue to play every venue and every event that wants me - Solo (Keyboards, Key-Bass, Vocals, with programmed drum machine) - Duo (with Michael Bastedo on Sax, Vocals, and Zendrum) - with our band Java Monkey - with our good friend Francine Reed, and with any and all my friends. Thank you God!
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