We were lucky to catch up with Ray Sheehan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ray, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

As a performer, every live show you play contains risk. Some have more than others, though that is where it all happens… in the risk. You are risking showing your truest form to the world and to the room itself. It is not always glamorous; there is a reason people hide things within themselves. Let me make this clear: I’m not talking about the live-performance risks posed by technical issues, such as lighting, sound, or the group on stage being tight. I am pointing out the biggest risk of all, being your true self. In the beggining most will not understand it, and some will hate it. But time and time again, show after show, we take that risk. It’s the only way that feels right. Every show I play, whether it be at the Stone Pony or just a solo acoustic show at a Brewery, I risk being my true self. After each time, it gets easier and easier.

Ray, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a nineteen-year-old musician from New Jersey. I started performing at a local flea market when I was fifteen, and worked myself up with my band up to famous venues such as “The Stone Pony” and “The House of Independents.” During my high school years, I focused on my craft and released my debut album “The Turning Point.” After graduation, I focused on performing with my band “Ray Sheehan & the Midnight Players.” It was around this time that I truly started to discover who I was as an artist. What it all meant… that one thing that is bigger than the music. To truly be yourself, to refuse the ordinary.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

After performing around New Jersey for the last four years, and getting a taste of what matters. I’m not going to lie to you and say that the only thing that matters is the music. It’s what lies underneath it, what’s bigger than it. And that is the most rewarding aspect of being an artist. The best way I could describe it is what you feel when you bleed onto a record. When you write something so true, it makes your stomach turn, and you almost throw up. The feeling after that, after you’ve decoded yourself, and bled onto a page, and said what you once thought you never could. That is the most rewarding part of being an artist.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The greatest resource in the creative journey is an artist’s mind. It took me a long time to figure this out. I spent so much of my formative years pouring my soul into others. People who I thought were gods in human clothing. All for it to crash down and to be left with myself. There, I learned that all I ever needed was here all along.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.raysheehanmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ray_sheehan_music/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ray.sheehan.957991
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Ray_Sheehan_Music
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vuJFtGMKctfrwG1B1Wvle

Image Credits

Jeff Crespi Rocks