Live: HANK RAY & The DIRTY BlUE GENES (Goth/Americana - US)

Live: HANK RAY (Goth/Americana - US)

HANK RAY – The Land of the Barbed – Wire Tumbleweeds

Goth-Americana / Death Country – acoustic recordings and appearances have played a prominent part in the canon of HANK RAY – the man / the mind behind THE RAYMEN / THE HOLY ROLLER TRASH INC - ever since the early days of  1987, when the third RAYMEN album  “From The Trashcan To The Ballroom”  saw the light of day in the shape of the now sought-after double e.p. !

The first RAY solo shows were arranged around that time also, concentrating mainly on slow-motion Country treatments and ballads such as “Tonight”, done by Iggy Pop on his “Lust For Life” album, thus serving as a kind of artistic counterpoint to the Electro-Trash-Rock Mayhem produced by THE RAYMEN.

Well, how can we describe this multi–colored, distinguished style, this Euro-Americana cosmo-vision that has been developed and perfected by HANK RAY over recent years?

To cut a long story short…we may simply call it a hybrid!

It’s the combination of a dark, luring ‘Country’ And ‘Western’ romanticism ( Bob Nolan with The Sons Of The Pioneers, Tex Ritter, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, …) with some distinct elements of ‘strangeness’ / ‘weirdness’ ( The Velvet Underground, Cpt. Beefheart, John Cale, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, David Bowie ….)  injected.

These ‘roots’ have laid the foundation for his unique musical patterns over the past years of ‘balladeering’.

Just to furthermore brighten the picture…take the aforementioned and add some respectful, humble nods to Blues / Gospel legends: Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Howlin’ Wolf, Mahalia Jackson as well as a good deal of Ray’s likings for ‘Opera bigshots’, e.g. Enrico Caruso, Benjamino Gigli, Tito Schipa - just to mention but a few of his favorites - and you’ll get a pretty decent inside-description of the Ray–pool of inspirations.

So gather ‘round for some tales from the land of the barbed wire-tumble weeds…!!!