{"id":18741,"date":"2019-09-24T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1812283"},"modified":"2019-09-24T06:00:30","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T12:00:30","slug":"micheal-ray-took-chris-youngs-advice-to-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/music-news\/micheal-ray-took-chris-youngs-advice-to-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Micheal Ray Took Chris Young\u2019s Advice to Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:ao:image:cmt.com:682238?width=1200&amp;height=675&amp;.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/shelburnec\/\" title=\"Posts by Craig Shelburne\" rel=\"author\">Craig Shelburne<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">24m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>As a new artist, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/artists\/michael-ray\">Michael Ray<\/a> asked Chris Young for advice \u2014 and those words of wisdom carried the newcomer through his first radio tour, promoting his breakout single, \u201cKiss You in the Morning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fueled by that initial burst of popularity Ray\u2019s career is still going strong with hits like \u201cThink a Little Less,\u201d \u201cGet to You,\u201d and \u201cOne That Got Way.\u201d Prior to kicking off <a href=\"http:\/\/cmtontour.cmt.com\">CMT on Tour<\/a> in October, Ray dropped by the CMT office to talk about his earliest experiences on the road.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CMT: \u201cKiss Me in the Morning\u201d was a No. 1 hit right off the bat. What do you remember about that time in your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>MR: That was the weirdest time of my life, I think. We were on radio tour, we had the single picked. My grandfather \u2014 who, as everybody knows, I was very, very close with, he got me into music, the whole thing \u2014 passed away two weeks before the song went to radio. And so, emotionally \u2026 for me it was like, \u201cHere I am, living the dream, getting my shot.\u201d I\u2019m up at bat, I\u2019m getting my chance to hit the ball on this date. You know, everything else is going great, and then your whole world crumbles.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/56m-t2PeKg8?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/56m-t2PeKg8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>But what was kind of cool was he instilled such a strong work ethic. Everybody in our family just knew how he felt about them. When he passed away, I had a show the next day in Orlando, at the House of Blues. All these radio guys were coming, it was my big show. It was literally the worst thing that could\u2019ve happened at this moment in time. But everything that he\u2019d instilled in me and my family, we carried that on. And I got a chance to honor him during that show.<\/p>\n<p>And I didn\u2019t stop radio tour. It kind of changed for me. It was like, now I\u2019m going to be able to talk about him and spread his legacy. It gave me motivation. And to debut on the Opry a couple of months later was a dream of mine. To then be on the verge, to see \u201cKiss You in the Morning\u201d break records as far as adds go, and for it to hit No. 1. \u2026 All these things that happened during that time, I know how fortunate I was, and how blessed I was to have that.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JOIvhO2fDTI?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JOIvhO2fDTI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p><strong>You mentioned work ethic. As a new artist, you have to have it, or you just don\u2019t get anywhere. Did you get that from your grandfather? Or where did you acquire that work ethic?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My whole family. I grew up with strong men and women, both sides. My grandmother owned her own businesses. My grandmother was a firefighter. My grandfather was a firefighter. My dad was a paramedic-firefighter. My mom always worked. My sisters, all three of them, always worked their asses off. Nothing was ever handed to anybody. What they got, they\u2019d worked their butts off for.<\/p>\n<p>Two things for me, now, that I reflect on as far as my work ethic goes, is what they instilled in me and what I saw them do in their times when they probably didn\u2019t feel like going in or giving it their all, but they always did. But also that I\u2019m living my dream. \u2026 My family had a band, and so it was something that they all wanted to do. I feel like now I\u2019ve got this opportunity to tell my story, and to tell their story with me, and that gives me motivation on the days where you just have to dig deep to find it.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3A85JE2ugiI?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3A85JE2ugiI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p><strong>At that point in your career, everyone you meet is getting their first impression of you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I got told probably some of the best advice \u2014 and it was so simple. I was with Chris Young and we were hanging out. He asked when I was going on radio tour. I told him, \u201cMan, we\u2019re leaving in January. So have you got any words of advice?\u201d And he goes, \u201cMan, just go onto radio tour with the feeling that you get to be on radio tour.\u201d And know that you\u2019ve worked your whole life for this moment. This is your moment. So everything\u2019s a first impression.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re meeting all these new people, and you\u2019re doing what everybody\u2019s done. There\u2019s not a country artist that hasn\u2019t gone that route, no matter how big or how small their career was. Man, just that little saying, \u201cYou get to be on radio tour.\u201d I kept that with me the whole time. And he said, \u201cIf you do it right, if you make the right connection with the right song, then you won\u2019t have to do it like that again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I had a blast on radio tour. It\u2019s tiring and it\u2019s a lot of work but I loved meeting new people. I loved that whole aspect of it, so that was something that was fun for me. And I don\u2019t know if Chris remembers even telling me that, but that little saying kept me motivated and kept me, every day, going, \u201cDon\u2019t show if you\u2019re tired, because this is a first impression, meeting this person.\u201d It meant a lot.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lyyfWV27X8w?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lyyfWV27X8w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p><strong>CMT: You\u2019re an artist who really loves to meet your fans. Why is it so important, do you think, as a country artist to be accessible?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important because country music fans dive in early. When they dive in, they dive in one hundred percent. If they like, you know, \u201cKiss You in the Morning,\u201d they\u2019re going to dive into the whole album. They grow with you. I think country music is a lifestyle. It\u2019s honest. It\u2019s cut from the same cloth here, and we just want to sing about the parties, sing about the heartbreak. And let us all just come together and be together.<\/p>\n<p>I think in country music, there\u2019s such a cool connection with the fans, and the artists, and a real one-on-one thing. I can\u2019t speak for other genres, but I just don\u2019t see it in other genres like this, and I think them getting to meet you and getting to know you \u2014 even if it\u2019s just for a little bit of time \u2014 you take away something special. They take away something special. And they have a big hand in your career, so I think it\u2019s cool when you can, and you have the time, to make a little bit of time to say thank you, and get to know them, and let them get to know you a little more.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1812283\/micheal-ray-heeded-the-advice-of-chris-young\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Craig Shelburne 24m ago As a new artist, Michael Ray asked Chris Young for advice \u2014 and those words of wisdom carried the newcomer through his first radio tour, promoting his breakout single, \u201cKiss You in the Morning.\u201d Fueled by that initial burst of popularity Ray\u2019s career is still going strong with hits like [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 17:41:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}