<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No, that is not a typo.\u00a0 When I cracked open the July 2025 issue of <\/span>Guitar World<\/span><\/i> (Vol. 46, Issue No. 7), I initially read the headline as \u2018Brian May\u2019 and thought, \u201cWow, he has been getting a lot of press lately.\u201d\u00a0 Upon closer inspection, I realized it actually said \u2018McCartney\u2019s Brian Ray\u2019. It only took me a moment to realize my mistake but not before my mind began wondering what the Queen guitarist was doing playing with Paul McCartney.\u00a0 One of the things that always fascinates me about a musician is their back story:\u00a0 when did they get interested in music and how did they get to where they are today?\u00a0 Whether they are weekend warriors or professionals, their stories are always of interest to me.\u00a0 Obviously, seeing \u2018McCartney\u2019s Brian Ray\u2019 on the cover of <\/span>GW<\/span><\/i> tells you he isn\u2019t \u2018a weekend warrior\u2019, so let us dig a little deeper into his story.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you have seen any videos (or perhaps even a live show) of Paul McCartney\u2019s touring band over the last twenty years, you have seen Brian Ray.\u00a0 He has been the second guitar player in Sir Paul\u2019s band since 2002.\u00a0 When McCartney wants to play guitar, it is Ray who slides over to bass.\u00a0 Ray came to be in Paul\u2019s band after blowing an opportunity to tour with Shakira.\u00a0 Brian had worked on an album with Shakira and was asked to tour with her.\u00a0 He was satisfied with the salary they offered but with the extensive travel ahead, he requested flying in business class.\u00a0 When her management turned down his request and found someone else, he thought he had lost a long term gig of no small proportions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When his old friend Abe Laboriel Jr. attended Ray\u2019s birthday party, he mentioned McCartney was thinking of doing a song before the National Anthem at the upcoming Super Bowl in New Orleans.\u00a0 Brian asked Abe (who was already drumming in the band), \u201cWho\u2019s going to play guitar when Paul plays bass, and who\u2019s going to play bass when Paul plays guitar?\u201d\u00a0 Laboriel replied, \u201cActually, we\u2019re looking for a guitar player who plays a little bass.\u201d\u00a0 When Ray said, \u201cI would love a shot at that,\u201d his friend said he would put his name forward.\u00a0 Not long after, Paul\u2019s long time producer, David Kahne, made contact.\u00a0 After he played some guitar and bass for him, Kahne said, \u201cI\u2019ve got a good feeling about this.\u00a0 I\u2019ll put your name forward\u2026but, I have to be honest:\u00a0 there are four other guys that are in the running.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really have control over it, but I wish you good luck.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ray departed the meeting thinking he had been given a good shot at it and at least had an interesting story to tell.\u00a0 The next day, his phone rang:\u00a0 “Can you be on a plane tomorrow to go to New Orleans to play one song with Paul McCartney?\u201d His audition, if you can call it that, was playing the song <\/span>Freedom<\/span><\/i> with Paul\u2019s band before Super Bowl XXXVI.\u00a0 Over drinks after the game, Paul shared a lot of stories before announcing it was time to retire.\u00a0 Before he headed to bed, he told Ray, \u201cGoodnight, Brian.\u00a0 Welcome aboard.\u00a0 Stick with Rusty (the other guitar player) – he\u2019ll show you the ropes.\u201d\u00a0 When <\/span>Guitar World\u2019s <\/span><\/i>Joe Bosso said, \u201cNo pressure at all,\u201d Brian laughed:\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 None!\u201d (Incidentally, U2 did the halftime show at SB XXXVI).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As it turns out, Ray\u2019s \u2018no audition\u2019 audition with McCartney isn\u2019t the strangest route to a gig he has had in his career.\u00a0 He began playing guitar at the age of nine and, with his older sister Jean\u2019s permission, began mining her collection of rock albums.\u00a0 Jean was in a folk duo called Jim and Jean and invited the 15 year-old Brian to play at the Troubadour with them.\u00a0 He points out that, \u201cShe was probably the most influential person in my early life.\u201d Growing up in Glendale, California, he was in a high school band with a drummer named Bryan Englund whose mother was actor Cloris Leachman.\u00a0 Leachman was dating Bobby Pickett who happened to stop by when the band was rehearsing.\u00a0 Pickett liked what he heard and asked the band if they would like to do some gigs with him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pickett, best known for his novelty hit <\/span>Monster Mash, <\/span><\/i>took the Crypt-Kicker 5 to places like Six Flags in Texas, a gig in Missouri, and other assorted places.\u00a0 Brian told Bosso, \u201cWe did our own sort of zombie makeup, and my late sister came out with us and sang.\u00a0 It was a seasonal novelty 40-minute set based on <\/span>The Twist, Monster Mash, <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Me and My Mummy.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 He had an assistant who played Renfield (<\/span>Count Dracula\u2019s<\/span><\/i> fanatically devoted servant).\u00a0 He\u2019d come out and throw chicken wings at the kids.\u00a0 It was a lot of fun.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A benefit gig with Pickett brought Brian his second opportunity when he met manager \/ producer Phil Kaufman.\u00a0 Kaufman informed Ray he was working with the legendary Etta James and invited the young guitarist to attend a rehearsal as their guitar player was unavailable.\u00a0 If rehearsing with James wasn\u2019t enough to jangle his nerves, the location (the famous Troubadour club) may have been.\u00a0 Ray told <\/span>GW<\/span><\/i>, \u201cIt was wild – there was Etta James and all these killer players.\u00a0 I was shy and kind of sat there, but Etta said to Phil, \u2018I like that little white kid.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cShe asked me if I\u2019d like to play the next night in Long Beach.\u00a0 I was so young.\u00a0 I had just turned 18.\u201d\u00a0 Young or not, Ray ended up spending the next 14 years working in James\u2019 band.\u00a0 Ray continued, \u201cEtta loved guitar, and in concert she did a lot of bumping rhythm and blues.\u00a0 It was very blues rock.\u00a0 She wanted me to rip.\u00a0 When I would play a solo, she\u2019d keep yelling at me, \u2018Play! Play!\u2019\u00a0 I had a great experience with her, and eventually, I became her musical director.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is interesting that Ray felt so at home in a blues based act.\u00a0 Growing up in California, his influences were mostly power pop bands.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m a West Coast guy, so that stuff is in my roots,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cThe Plimsouls, Dwight Twilley, the Knack – they were awesome.\u00a0 Of course, power pop can be traced earlier to the Raspberries and the Sweet, and then that got adopted by Cheap Trick.\u00a0 Even Tom Petty was power pop at times.\u00a0 I have my rootsy side, but I also have my pop side.\u00a0 In my music, they sort of dance together.\u201d\u00a0 The \u2018my music\u2019 part of the equation includes working with his side project garage band, The Bayonets.\u00a0 Together they have released, as Bosso explains it, \u201cA series of punch power pop albums and singles that recall the ebullient, hard-driving, and hook-laden sounds that dominated the Southern California scene in the late Seventies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The <\/span>Guitar World<\/span><\/i> article was spawned by the release of Ray\u2019s most recent album, <\/span>My Town<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n It is a kind of greatest hits collection but also includes four new tracks recorded with his old friend (and McCartney band drummer) Abe Laboriel Jr, bassists Scott Shriner (from Weezer) and Davey Farragner (from Elvis Costello\u2019s the Imposters).\u00a0 The lead single, <\/span>Bad 4 U<\/span><\/i> was co-written with the head of his label (and another music legend), Steven Van Zandt.\u00a0 Van Zandt is perhaps more widely known as \u2018Little Steven\u2019 from Bruce Springsteen\u2019s band but that is only one the musical\u00a0 things that keeps him busy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0From his days as a founding member of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes to his latest solo band project (The Disciples of Soul), Little Steven has been deeply involved producing records with younger musicians.\u00a0 Many of the artists he signs to his Wicked Cool record label also get airplay on Steven\u2019s Sirius radio show, Underground Garage.\u00a0 The Wicked Cool label is geared toward garage rock, so this makes sense.\u00a0 Ray says his label boss\u00a0 , \u201c…will pick a track and put it on his \u2018Coolest Songs in the World\u2019 channel.\u00a0 He\u2019s a big believer in what he plays and gets involved in, and I\u2019m very happy to work with him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ray likens Van Zant to the old style A&R guys who groomed bands for their labels.\u00a0 They spend a lot of time talking about music and Little Steven\u2019s contributions are taken seriously.\u00a0 Brian described how he thought he had finished his song <\/span>Bad 4 U <\/span><\/i>but Van Zant had other ideas:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI had the music all done, but Steven said, \u2018This lyric, you\u2019ve got to move it into the chorus.\u00a0 We have to hear the chorus in a big way, because it\u2019s everything.\u2019\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to do it at first because I thought it was finished, but then, I was like, \u2018(Expletive deleted), he\u2019s right.\u00a0 That is a better idea.\u2019\u00a0 He was great about hooks moving into hooks.\u00a0 He understands that so well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Brian had a lot of help getting adjusted to McCartney\u2019s music with Rusty Anderson guiding him.\u00a0 First, Ray had to go home and brush up on his bass playing.\u00a0 He had always played the bass parts on his solo recordings, but playing Paul McCartney\u2019s iconic lines was a bit different.\u00a0 After woodshedding the vast catalog of songs Sir Paul is likely to play, he found himself getting comfortable with the situation.\u00a0 He describes McCartney\u2019s playing as \u2018iconic and memorable and musical\u2019:\u00a0 \u201cThankfully, Paul\u2019s bass lines are not really technically challenging.\u00a0 Because they are so listenable, they\u2019re easy to understand.\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it – they\u2019re in our bloodstreams.\u00a0 Even if you\u2019re not a bass player, you know those parts.\u00a0 They\u2019re in your head.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Anderson was the first guitar player in the band so Ray followed his lead.\u00a0 Rusty plays the lion\u2019s share of the solos, but over time Paul has asked Brian to play more and more of them.\u00a0 Brian says, \u201cWe just naturally fall into who plays what, though sometimes we talk about it.\u00a0 \u2018Why don\u2019t you play the lower part here,\u2019 or \u2018You want to play the higher part?\u2019\u00a0 At the end of the show, we do the guitar shoot-out on <\/span>The End <\/span><\/i>with Paul, Rusty, and me doing solos.\u00a0 I come in last, so I do the John Lennon parts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As for his song writing style, Bosso asked if he was a fast writer or one who labors over songs:\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m pretty fast.\u00a0 Sometimes it starts with a guitar lick, but it could be a vocal melody or lyric idea.\u00a0 I try to figure out what the song is about, then I\u2019m good.\u00a0 In the case of <\/span>Bad 4 U<\/span><\/i>, it\u2019s basically autobiographical.\u00a0 I was a blond, smiley kid from Glendale, California, but I wanted to be Robert De Niro because I thought that\u2019s what the girls liked.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When asked about the guitars he used on <\/span>My Town, <\/span><\/i>Ray counted down his 1965 Epiphone Casino, Les Pauls, and SGs:\u00a0 \u201cI like vintage stuff, it just sounds better.\u00a0 On some things I played a Hofner bass – don\u2019t tell Paul [laughs] – sometimes I used Fender basses and a Vox Phantom IV bass.\u201d\u00a0 I watched a clip of his first gig with McCartney (at the Super Bowl) and he was playing bass (McCartney was on acoustic guitar).\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a Hofner bass, but it sounded good.\u00a0 You would never have known it was his first gig with the band.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0During his days with Etta James, Ray shared the stage with a lot of famous musicians including Keith Richards, Santana, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt, John Lee Hooker, and Bo Diddley.\u00a0 When he moved into more songwriting, he found himself collaborating with the likes of Peter Frampton, Rita Coolidge, Nicolette Larson, Michael Steele (of the Bangles), and Steve LeGassick with whom he spent 13 years as a songwriting partner. \u00a0 When he asked James to sing on one of his solo albums, she simply said, \u201cI would do anything for Brian,\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No doubt the downtime he is experiencing in 2025 will be filled with session work, playing out with his side projects, and writing more new music for his next solo album.\u00a0 McCartney has not scheduled any tour dates this year and hints there may be a new album in the works.\u00a0 With that said, people are already looking forward to seeing Sir Paul on the road again in 2026.\u00a0 Even as he approaches the age of 83, McCartney does like to keep himself busy.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bosso reminded Ray of his \u2018outrageous demand\u2019 to fly business class, the lynch pin that scuttled his spot touring with Shakira.\u00a0 He asked if his travels with Paul via private jet was a step up:\u00a0 \u201cPaul is very generous and he takes really good care of us.\u00a0 He takes us on little excursions between dates when we\u2019re out in the middle of nowhere.\u00a0 He\u2019ll find some cool resort to take us to, which is lovely.\u00a0 It\u2019s a combination of every kind of travel you can imagine.\u201d\u00a0 Bosso asks, \u201cNo complaints there, huh?\u201d\u00a0 Ray\u2019s final words on the subject clearly show he has landed in the right spot:\u00a0 \u201cOh, no.\u00a0 None at all!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Brian Ray’s Super Bowl audition for Paul McCartney’s band.\u00a0 \u00a0That would be him on Sir Paul’s left playing bass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No, that is not a typo.\u00a0 When I cracked open the July 2025 issue of Guitar World (Vol. 46, Issue No. 7), I initially read the headline as \u2018Brian May\u2019 and thought, \u201cWow, he has been getting a lot of press lately.\u201d\u00a0 Upon closer inspection, I realized it actually said \u2018McCartney\u2019s Brian Ray\u2019. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-from-the-vaults","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3588"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3592,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3588\/revisions\/3592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}