Ray Herndon

Ray Herndon grew up in an Arizona musical family. His father, Brick Herndon, also from a musical family, was a musician, band leader and owner of a Scottsdale, Arizona, club, Handlebar J, that played country music. Herndon's older two brothers were also musicians.[2] By age three he appeared with them on local television, singing, dancing and playing instruments.[3] At age four he recorded two Christmas songs in Los Angeles for RCA and at seven was playing guitar in his father's band.[4] He studied jazz at Mesa Community College; one of the guitar workshops there was led by Joe Pass.[5] He continued playing at Handlebar J through his years at school. Shortly after finishing at Mesa Community College he left the family business against his mother's wishes,[4] joining a Phoenix houseband, J. David Sloan and the Rogues.[2] The Rogues were a cover band of country hits with swing and jazz influences.[6]

The Rogues were invited to play at the 1983 Schueberfouer funfair in Luxembourg.[7] He met Lyle Lovett there and invited him to sit in with the band; they learned a few of his songs and backed him up during their sets.[8] The swing and harmony that Lovett found with the Rogues opened his eyes to what his songs could sound like with proper backing.[6] Sloan offered Lovett a deal on studio time, first day free. In 1984 Lovett took him up on the offer. After several stays in Arizona over that summer he recorded 18 songs, backed up by the Rogue musicians. The demo tape of those songs led to his first record deal. Thus began Herndon's relationship with Lovett; he's played with him since 1983,[9] became lead guitarist in 1985,[10] played on many of his recordings, sang a duet with him on his first album[7] and toured with him, off and on,[11] from 1986.[12] Looking to "expand [his] horizons,"[4] in 1989, he became a founding member of the country group McBride & the Ride; they had early success[13] with four consecutive top-five singles. He has had three stints with McBride & the Ride, 1989–1994, 2000–2002[14] and when they reconstituted in 2021. The 1994 split was caused by their label, which was looking for mass appeal with a different style, and renamed the band after he left.[15] After the 2002 split, he released a solo album, Livin’ the Dream (with musical guests, including Lyle Lovett, Jessi Colter, Jon Randall Stewart, Sonya Isaacs and Clint Black). Herndon called the 2021 iteration "almost Zen-like." In February, 2022, the band had their first Nashville concert in 20 years.[16][10][17]

During his Nashville years, he was an active songwriter. His major successes included co-writing Kenny Chesney's breakout Me and You and his own My Dog Thinks I'm Elvis, which was used in a television commercial for Radio Shack.[14] Besides Chesney, he has written songs for Aaron Tippin, Lee Greenwood, Linda Davis, Sonya Isaacs and McBride & the Ride.[2]