Donnie Ray was born in Texarkana, Texas on July 4, 1959 and began performing with his father's band, the Aldredge Brothers Band, when fifteen. He not only mastered lead and bass guitars, the keyboard, and drums, Donnie Ray branched out and began writing lyrics for recording studios. Inspired by the Motown Sound artists and such musical legends as Bobby "Blue" Bland, Tyrone Davis, and B. B. King, Donnie Ray has worked with such artists as Millie Jackson, Marvin Sease, and numerous others.

Donnie Ray's first CD, "Let's Go Dancing" on the Susie Q label, spawned a Chittlin' Circuit hit called "Letter To My Baby". After a less successful followup, "Are You Ready For Me", Ray signed with Ecko Records and has been releasing a steady stream of cds since.

Daddy B. Nice's Original Critique:

Steeped in the music of the Temptations, the Drifters, Smokey Robinson and Tyrone Davis, Donnie Ray combines a very smooth, soulful delivery with a once-in-a-lifetime melody in "A Letter To My Baby." The song has a rocking-the-cradle rhythm that perfectly suits Ray's mellow and mellifluous tenor.

"I wrote a letter to my sweet baby,
And this is how it began.
It says, "I'm sorry, baby,
If I done you wrong.
And I'm sorry, baby,
If I had to leave you all alone.'"

Mid-tempo masterpieces are Southern Soul's stock in trade, and "A Letter To My Baby" recalls some of the best: Tyrone Davis's poignant "Where Are You, Lady," Latimore's monolithic "Let's Straighten It Out" and Johnnie Taylor's ubiquitous "It Just Don't Pay To Get Up In The Morning."

And when Ray gets to the chorus of "Woman, take me in your arms/ And rock me, baby," the song achieves the eerie effect of being an "oldie."

"A Letter To My Baby" remains Donnie Ray's only song to break through to that rarified level (although that's nothing to be ashamed about). He's released two subsequent CD's. "I Never Dreamed" from the I'll Be Good To You CD garnered a good bit of chitlin' circuit air play in the summer of 2005, as did the James Brownian "Bang That Thang" from the same disc.

But Donnie Ray's recent signing with Ecko Records bodes well for his career. The John Ward-guided, Memphis-based label is rapidly becoming the vanguard of Southern Soul studios, and one that supports its artists.

Donnie Ray has the "pipes," and he has a knack for making songs distinctive, in the way soul standards from yesteryear often had a hook or gimmick to make them stand out from the competition. The competition is no different nowadays, and "Let's Go Dancing," with its great horn charts and school-age-sounding chorus, is an example of the little things that give a song an "identity." (And also evoke the gratitude of the audience.)

"Now put on your dancing shoes,
I want to see you move your body.
Please Mr. Deejay, play that song for me.
So me and my baby can do like we used to do.
Get out on the floor and let me see you move.
That's all I want to do, is dance with you."

Donnie Ray hasn't quite "broken out" in the way Sir Charles Jones or O. B. Buchana recently have, but he possesses all the tools and breakout appears imminent. Meanwhile, "A Letter To My Baby" is pretty doggone close--if not already there--to being a Southern Soul classic, racked up with the rest of the golden oldies.
--Daddy B. Nice

by southernsoulrnb.com/

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