Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ray Duncan . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ray, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I just released a record that is the result of ten years working in sound design for theater. The project is called “Under The Greenwood Tree” and it’s a collection of some of my favorite songs I’ve composed for Shakespeare’s plays in my career thus far. What makes this project all the more meaningful to me is that all this was done in collaboration with my sister, director Emma Rosa Went, and was recorded and mixed by my partner, Oliver Finch.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I grew up in a musical household. My mom, Jude Johnstone has written songs for Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, and Johnny Cash, to name a few, so needless to say, it was interesting being a kid and living in proximity to all of that. I spent a lot of time in my childhood up in the garage loft with my Dad, doodling on scratch paper while he mixed my Mom’s records in his home studio. Pretty soon, he was letting me move the faders. I had always played around with writing melodies on the piano from a young age, but when I turned twelve, my obsession with music really started to take hold, and I began recording my own demos on a two track Tascam, until I could finally upgrade to a real audio interface.

From that point on, pretty much everything I’ve done in my life has been in pursuit of my dream to become a professional musician full time. I’ve released two solo EPs, a single, and now an album, in addition to making appearances on several projects in collaboration with other artists, including a duo with my Dad, Charles Duncan, called Ranchers for Peace.

In addition to working as a composer and sound designer for live theater, I also work as a backing vocalist in Nashville, where I am currently based, and I co-host a podcast with my Mom, which tells the story of her amazing career in the music business. The podcast is called Book of Jude, and we’re about to start recording season two, which will feature interviews with some very exciting guests.

I feel like one of the things that sets me apart from some other artists is that I have a lot of experience playing live shows for someone my age. I played my first gig with my band “IXG” at thirteen years old (our bass player was eleven) and I never looked back. I started to teach myself guitar at about fourteen, and at sixteen I started singing with my Dad, and that’s when I gained a ton of experience performing and honing my skills as a singer.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

It’s hard to know where to start with this. The fact of the matter is that this is just who I am. Doing anything else with my life would be to live a lie. So in that sense, living as fully and authentically as possible is in itself not just the reward, but essential to my survival (really, I’m not exaggerating). Additionally, a lot of the work I do is collaborative, whether that’s as a member of the production team in a play, or in working with other musicians, and I’ve gotten to meet and be inspired by countless amazing artists over the course of my career because of that, and that will no doubt continue to happen.

Creative work is the alchemy of the human heart. It’s difficult to categorize this type of work by the standards of a productivity obsessed capitalist society. A lot of what I do involves just sitting alone in my room. Sometimes it’s thirty minutes of concentration and then I’ve got a finished composition or song. Other times, it’s the seeds of an idea that I will revisit again and again until it becomes crystal clear. Other times, nothing happens at all. It is a process of building a nest, and creating an environment where ideas will want to come home to roost. The meaning of it all lies in the very word: Creative. We are endowed with the power to make something new.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

This isn’t so much a lesson as a habit that I’ve been trying to break, so hopefully that counts as an answer to this. I’ve had to learn how to temper the voice of the inner critic. The critic in us is not separate from the artist, in fact, it’s a huge driving force and an important facet of the creative process. It’s quality control, it’s the voice inside you that tells you to push yourself a little further, that the song isn’t done yet, that you might need to re-work that second verse. My aim hasn’t been to banish this voice, because to do so would be detrimental, but if we’re not careful, it can get too loud.

I know I’m not alone in this when I say I’ve been through long periods where everything I start to write sounds boring and derivative, and I almost have allowed myself to believe the lie that I might be out of things to say. This is never so. I call this creative constipation, and for me the culprit is almost always the un-checked inner critic being allowed to take the reins and run wild. I learned that you have to be patient and follow each thread, instead of just immediately shooting every idea down before it can see the light of day.

I think what ultimately made the difference for me was realizing that this fear of producing anything mediocre is a total ego trip. When I was able to get my head around the idea that not everything I create has to be a masterpiece, that shift in perspective was incredibly liberating, and it breathed so much life back into my process, which is why I wanted to share that now, in case anyone out there might find it helpful in getting out of a rut. Whenever I start to think from that fearful, self-judging place, I just re-center and say, “well why don’t I just get over myself already?”     

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
Slide 1 & 5 Riley Johnson Slide 2 Alexis Elliot Slide 3 Caroline de Lone Slide 4 Vero Sanchez