Introducing Kayla Ray

Kayla Ray’s music is infused with the classic country and Texan honky tonk sounds she grew up listening to in Waco, Texas . Writing songs about heartbreak, cheating and more often than not a fair bit of drinking, her lyrics have the ability to transport the listener and her raw emotional vocals cut through the steel and fiddle accompaniments she favours.

After a spell of touring as much a possible locally (including with the legendary fiddle player Johnny Gimbleand his family band) Kayla turned her hand to working as tour manager for Texan honky tonk artist Jason Eady and his band in 2012, when she was still in her early twenties. This professional relationship would result in Eady producing both of Kayla’s self released and crowdfunded albums. Her 2014 debut “Love and Liquor” made it onto many top ten lists that year and she began touring further afield nationally as both headliner and opener. Her sophomore album “Yesterday and Me” was released last year to critical acclaim in both the US and UK, with Kayla describing it as “an album of country songs derived from real life, and the things that only years can teach a woman”. Here’s one of her more uptempo, fun writes from the album albeit about a pretty serious subject

More information can be found at kaylaraymusic.com and you can catch Kayla Ray on her first UK tour in the next few weeks, together with the fantastic Nashville based Erin Enderlin who we have featured on Belles and Gals several times. A great gal power line up for all you fans of trad country for sure!