Interview: Working with Paul McCartney just another accomplishment for guitar whiz Brian Ray (Pt. 2)

  Paul McCartney and Brian Ray (Photo by Bob Gannon. More photos
      by Bob Gannon can be seen in the slideshow at the bottom of the page.)

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• Interview: Working with Paul McCartney just another accomplishment for guitar whiz Brian Ray (Part. 1)

• Interview: Working with Paul McCartney just another accomplishment for guitar whiz Brian Ray (Part 3)

(Continued from Part 1)

Brian Ray's first professional gig with Bobby "Boris" Pickett opened another doorway for him.  "That led to a job with a guy from Cleveland named Gary Dixon, who paid me my first salary the summer I got out of high school. And that’s where I met Phil Kaufman, who later introduced me to Etta James," he says.

Kaufman, a road manager who worked with many acts, including the Rolling Stones, was grieving the loss of his best friend, Gram Parsons of the Flying Burrito Brothers, when Kaufman gave him the opportunity to play with some of his contemporaries in the Valley.

"And one morning he said, 'I’m going to be going over to Etta James’ rehearsal today. Would you like to come with me? And I said, “Hell, yeah, are you kidding me?,'" Ray recalls. "And we went and I got to meet and rehearse with Etta James." At the end of that rehearsal, he says, "she invited me to come and play with her that night in Long Beach. And that began a 14-year relationship as her musical director and guitar player."  

Other artists Brian Ray worked with in those years were Smokey Robinson, Willy DeVille, Rita Coolidge and Brenda Russell.

Ray says many guitarists influenced his style, but his biggest influence was Jeff Beck. "His first solo album, “Truth” ... That’s my sort of , that’s my guitar bible right there. I was also influenced by early Clapton with John Mayall and the first Cream record, 'Fresh Cream.' I was influenced by Mick Taylor, also with John Mayall and his early work with the Stones.

"Peter Green (from Fleetwood Mac) is probably right after Jeff Beck in my favorite guitar players," he says. "I used to play the song, 'Oh, Well' in my high school band.

"But I was (also) influenced by the black guys who inspired them. I was inspired by the spirit of Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf and all these great, great players. Freddie King, Albert King was huge for me. Early B.B. King. All the early guys who influenced those guys. I was lucky enough to be surrounded to be surrounded by real blues and country music connoisseurs and fans at an early age who played me the real stuff, you know, that all that made guitar heroes what they are."

All of this happened, of course, before he ever met up with Paul McCartney. It was a job with Johnny Hallyday, the French Elvis Presley, that led to that.

"I was playing a solo show with my own band here in town and in the audience was this French guy who serves as a liason between American musicians and French artists. And he just asked me if I was interested in an audition for Mylene Farmer. And she’s a female sort-of Madonna or Lady Gaga. She’s a real big deal over there. And I got the audition. That led to later on having an inside track to audition for Johnny Hallyday, who’s the Elvis of France and has been famous as long as Elvis has been famous here. So I was just lucky enough to get both of those jobs."

The drummer on both of those jobs happened to be none other than Abe Laboriel Jr., now the drummer for Paul McCartney. "And so we toured France and became best friends, Abe and I, and spent all our free time together. And really got to know each other. And it was a fantastic time. Later on, that’s what led to me getting the job with Paul McCartney."

But Paul McCartney wasn't the first Beatle he'd been involved with. Ray can be heard on Ringo Starr's "Old Wave" album playing in a group called the Rock 'n' Roll Revue on the track "She's About a Mover." "Yes, I played on 'She's About A Mover' with Ringo," he recalls. "It was fun and it sounds cool too. That was a band I played in during 1980-1983. We did a number of anti-nuke benefits with Crosby Stills and Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh and many others. I first met Nicolette Larson, with whom I played and whose band I formed and led, as musical director for 2 1/2 years."

Ray's audition for the McCartney job wasn't just your normal every day audition. It was on live TV in front of over 70,000 people at Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2002.

"It was insane," he recalls. "First of all, I was in New Orleans and I knew I would be meeting Paul McCartney in about four hours. And I decided what I needed to do was walk around the town of New Orleans to burn off some of this excess energy so that I could be centered when I met Paul. Of course, I did walk around for hours and it didn’t help a bit. When he finally walked up to me at dinner that night … we had a nice private dinner, and he was just so nice. He put out his hand and said, 'You must be Brian. I’m Paul.' He just proceeded to be a really accessible, nice guy. Very welcoming, very disarming. Very kind and very funny.

"And he toasted me at dinner and said, 'Welcome aboard.' We did that one song for that Super Bowl in front of 77,000 people and millions watching at home. And I thought that would probably be the last time I ever saw him. But he invited us back to the hotel for another drink after the game. I came back to the hotel. He told us some stories and I was just feeling great. I’d already said goodbye and thanked him very much for the privilege. And he gets up from his stories from the bar and he saying goodbye to everybody. And he gives Abe and Rusty a hug. And he gives me a hug and he says, 'OK, Brian, welcome back. Stick with Abe and Rusty. They’ll show you the ropes.'

"And then he walked away," Ray recalls. "That was the last thing he said. And I turned to Abe and I said, 'Abe, did he just say what I think he said?' He goes, 'Yeah, dude.' I couldn’t believe it. I ran home and started just woodshedding. I got a big stack of Beatles and Paul McCartney and Wings CDs and a CD player.  ...  I just proceeded to woodshed everything I could put my hands on over a five week period.

"That’s all I did. I lived, breathed and ate Beatles, Paul McCartney and Wings songs. And I must have learned 60 songs on three different instruments and singing multiple parts so that I’d be prepared when real rehearsal started five weeks later. And by the time the fifth week came up, I felt like I was pretty ready and maybe I could go and get that gig.

"I didn’t really let myself have it that I’m in Paul McCartney’s band," he says now. "Of course, he’d invited me to come to rehearsals. But I thought, 'What if it doesn’t go well?' He could easily call someone else. So I didn’t talk about it much. I didn’t tell my friends that much. But after the first day of rehearsal with him, he looked around and said, 'OK, guys. Sounds great. See you tomorrow.' And that was the first day I let myself have this idea that I was going to be going on tour with Paul McCartney. "

(In the conclusion, Ray talks about what it's like to play guitar in Paul McCartney's band, his upcoming solo album and what might be in store for the future.)