We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ray Duncan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ray below.
Alright, Ray thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
Both my parents are prolific songwriters, so needless to say, music played a central role in our lives both in and out of the home. Long before I had any inkling that I myself might want to write songs for a living, I would be playing on the living room floor listening to my mom working out a bridge, or recording one of her ideas on a little handheld device. As a child I would often make up little songs and melodies on the piano, and later my parents would tell me that they had always figured I’d end up doing music in some capacity when I got older. It wasn’t until I was about eleven that I started showing a real inclination towards songwriting. I remember when my parents surprised me on my birthday one year with a Yamaha keyboard, and then things really started to take off from there. Inclination became obsession. I would get home from school and immediately retreat to my room where I could plug in the headphones and play to my heart’s content. This little keyboard had all those great, cheesy drum loops on it to play with, and later on I even started using all those sounds to create wacky DIY productions on a two track Tascam.
With all this going on, it’s easy to see how the stage parent syndrome might have easily festered, but luckily for me, my parents chose a different route. Early on I think they agreed to let me find my own way, giving feedback that was sometimes brutally honest, but never when I didn’t ask for it. My parents knew that if I truly wanted it, I would go after it, and they did nothing but give me the support and the foundation I needed to pursue my dream, and for that I am very grateful.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a musician and composer based out of Nashville Tennessee. I grew up in a musical household and eventually started writing songs of my own. I played my first gig at age thirteen (my band was called IXG, we totally rocked). Later on I started performing in a duo with my Dad Charles Duncan called Ranchers for Peace (that is still releasing music). I spent my teens and early twenties gigging and trying to find my writers voice, all the way up until I moved to Nashville in 2019 to pursue my career as an independent artist. I’ve released two solo EPs and one single, which is my most recent release “Don’t let it get to you,” co-written with my Mom Jude Johnstone. Up until now, you could definitely categorize my music as being in the “sadgirl” vein, but I’m hoping that the more pop/rock production on DLIGTY can help serve as a catalyst for transitioning into indie-rock, which has always been more in alignment with my truest vision. I’m a better musician now, I’ve got a band together, and I can finally see that what I’ve wanted all along artistically might actually be within reach. Most people only know about my work as a songwriter, however I have years of experience as a sound designer and composer for Theater. I’ve always had a dream of getting deeper into composition, so it has been really good having one foot in that world.
In addition to songwriting and composing, I work as a backing vocalist both live and in the studio. I love background singing and I feel like I’m pretty good at it. When people hire a backing vocalist, they need someone who knows how to whip it out when needed, but more importantly, someone who knows when to lay back, and stay out of the way. You just want to elevate the song without being distracting. It’s a fine line, but I figure as long as people keep calling me back I must be doing something right.
As every freelancer knows, especially in the music business, having multiple side hustles is essential to your success. I started booking a weekly songwriter showcase (Voices from the Vault) at an amazing venue in East Nashville called The Bowery Vault. Hosting a writer’s round has been one of the best things I’ve done for my career, as this business, at least for those of us down on the bottom who haven’t yet caught our big break, revolves around comradery and community building.
These are just some of the hats that I’m wearing, and that could change at any given moment. The important thing is that I’m doing what I love, and that I think if I just stay true to myself, I might go on to create work that could really speak to people and maybe make a positive impact on the world.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Buy our music from Bandcamp. Read that again.
Buy our music from Bandcamp. It is startling to find out how few people are actually aware of the ways in which we are being exploited as artists in the digital age. My Mother who has gotten some very notable cuts over the course of her amazing career (so amazing, we actually made a whole podcast about it called Book of Jude) that people assume she must be receiving an ample amount of “mailbox money,” in the form of royalties, but that is just not the case. People like my Mom saw the fall of the Compact Disc. People used to be able to make money off of “units sold,” but now, the are no units sold.
I know I should include that vinyl records are of course the exception, but it costs an exorbitant amount of money to get your work mastered for and cut to vinyl, which is oftentimes not a super accessible avenue for us independent artists.
Sure, I pay for Spotify Premium. As a consumer, it’s amazing to have a seemingly infinite selection of music at your fingertips. I’m not here to shame people for streaming their music, because on one hand I do like that more people can have access to more music. I just also would like to see consumers becoming more aware that there are alternatives, like Bandcamp. There are other ways to get your music, where smaller artists like me are actually going to get paid more than a fraction of a cent per stream, and I would just like to raise awareness of that. I know Bandcamp is pretty big now and they certainly don’t need my help, I just wanted to encourage people to take the extra step and not just accept things at face value, but to maybe look a little deeper and realize that we have more choices. There might be some small tweaks that you can make in your decisions as a consumer of music, that won’t break the bank, but that could make a huge impact down the road for artists like myself.
I want to be clear that I am not trying to be negative or bemoan the current state of affairs, because it is certainly easy to become trapped in that victim mindset, and I’ve found it’s just not useful to think that way. I don’t want to be at odds with the way things are, but I do think it will be interesting to see how things develop over time in this industry, and what that will mean for us artists, and for the world overall. Music is such an integral part of our daily lives that it’s easy to forget where it comes from when we are at times quite dethatched from that process.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think people are often confused as to why creatives choose a path that is lined with uncertainty. People who commit fully to this lifestyle realize that oftentimes there is no safety net, and that can seem pretty crazy to people who are already saving up for their retirement. I do admit that after spending the most precious years of my youth working in customer service, that I have at times asked myself, why are we doing this again? Everyone in society is playing an important role, and by no means do I think I’m “gifted” or “special,” just because I feel a need to sing and write songs. The truth is that from an early age I figured out what it was that I wanted in life, and I have never looked back. It’s not for everyone, and I have a lot of dear friends who are perfectly content to hold down a straight job and play gigs on the weekends. There is something incredibly appealing about the thought of having that level of security whilst still having some time set aside to do what you love, I just don’t think that’s in the cards for me personally. I think that the way this society is structured forces a lot of people to spend their whole lives doing something that actually has nothing to do with who they really are, and that the negative effects of that on a large scale, are incalculable. I’m still young, and not too jaded, and I’m sure some folks might read this and think to themselves, “let’s see how she’s doing in ten years,” and I do not hold that against them. There were plenty of well meaning people in my life who were alarmed when I didn’t go to college. People want what’s best for you, they don’t want you to struggle, or to fail. A lot of people’s experience comes having to compromise, and they just want to protect you from the pain of that, really. But I think that life is full of pain, and joy, and success, and failure, no matter what path you choose. Security is actually an illusion. I’m aware of the privilege that I have societally, and I think I’d be a fool not to use this time in my life to pursue my absolute highest good, and to try to help others in the process.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rayduncanmusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rayduncanmusic/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rayduncanmusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC02OqrUYkcLV0SxL_7AtsCw
- Other: https://www.patreon.com/rayduncanmusic
Image Credits
Molly Trunnell, Riley Johnson