Mojo Blues

Will Ray | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 22, 2002)
• Original Release Date: October 30, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Pharaoh Records
• ASIN: B00005RS9A
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,442 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #96 in Music > Indie Music > Rock > Blues Rock

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

Few guitar pickers can out-slide, out-bend or out-torture a Telecaster the way Will Ray can. As a member of the pyrotechnical twang trio The Hellecasters, Will has created a place for himself among some of the world’s guitar greats.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Will began his musical journey at the tender age of ten when his older siblings would play records of Peter Paul & Mary, Leadbelly, Ian and Sylvia, Elvis and Korner, Ray & Glover. Later on in high school, Will discovered the Beatles, the Blues Project, Cream, the Grateful Dead and Paul Butterfield Blues Band. When he turned sixteen he bought his first guitar and immediately started woodshedding on the licks of Mike Bloomfield, Eric Clapton, Danny Kalb and Keith Richards.

After a two year stint in the Army, during which he did a tour of Viet Nam, Will took a hiatus from guitar and went to college under the GI bill. On Christmas vacation of his sophomore year, his younger brother Enos brought home a copy of Live Dead by the Grateful Dead. Will would never be the same again. He picked up the guitar again and suddenly found what he wanted to do; play guitar! With Jerry Garcia as his new source of inspiration, Will started a routine of practicing eight full hours a day while still going to school. When he graduated he started playing in a string of local rock bands like Sneaky Weeds, Dry Ice, Mace, Abby & the Milkmen, and Saffron. Then a band named King Cotton asked him to join and Will was introduced to country rock. He began studying the styles of Roy Buchanan, James Burton, Clarence White and Danny Gatton. After being in a slew of other local bands Will joined his first straight ahead redneck country band, The Pacers. He loved it! He could finally play pedal steel licks all night long and walk away with something he never had before while playing rock - money!

By now Will began the first of what would become three day jobs working in a foundry. It was hard, dirty work but he felt like he was a true “workin’ man” just like in the country songs he played and sang in the bars at night. It was during this time that he also hooked up with two men who owned a fledgling recording studio outside Richmond called Common Bond Studios. It was at Common Bond that Will first learned the art of recording. He was down there a lot playing on demos, jingles and records. He also learned about song construction, arranging and producing. On weekends Will would go in and record his own songs when the studio wasn’t too busy. At night he still continued to play in various country and blues bands including The Cold Harbor Band, Westwind and the Terry Brennon Band. After five years of working jobs by day and playing music at night, Will had had enough and in 1983 his new bride Gayle talked him into moving out west to Los Angeles where he could play music full time and she could pursue her art.

Making a living in Los Angeles was a challenge, but Will began finding work in nightclubs and eventually the studios. He was a member of several ground breaking 80’s cow punk bands including Tin Star, Vanishing Breed, Candye Kane & the Armadillo Stampede, and Will Ray & the Gila Monsters. Utilizing his experience in studios, he began producing country-oriented artists in the LA area including three compilation albums, Hollywood Roundup, Detour West and Far West. It was on Hollywood Roundup that Will first recorded with soon-to-be Hellecaster henchmen Jerry Donahue and John Jorgenson. Will and fellow co-producer Glen Mont wanted to write an instrumental on the album featuring some of the top country pickers in Los Angeles. The result was “Picker’s Brawl” and it featured John Jorgenson, Jerry Donahue, Jeff Ross, Billy Bremner and Will picking up a storm. It was the first time Jerry, John and Will ever recorded together, but it would not be the last.

Two years later at the legendary Palomino club, Will and Jerry Donahue were sipping on some brews durin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE HELLECASTER WITH A TELECASTER IS BACK!, February 11, 2002

By 

Patrick Earley (Edmond, Oklahoma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mojo Blues (Audio CD)

Will Ray's band the Hellecasters were/are the most talented instrumental rock trio in America, hands down. Everybody else is a distant second to me. They put out 3 of the best albums you'll ever hear in the 90's, most of which are criminally out of print now. All 3 of these guys have done some great solo albums over the years. But none of them can top this latest effort by Will Ray. This cd is amazing! It said in the forward how players like Duane Allman, Mike Bloomfield, and Eric Clapton have been an influence on Ray. But to me, the guitar player that he comes closest to sounding like is the late great Danny Gatton, who had the label of worlds greatest unknown guitar player hung over his head for many years. I don't put many players in the category of Danny Gatton, but Will Ray proves to me here that he belongs. He not only shows that he can lay some string and mind bending guitar solos down, like on the wonderful "219 Orange Avenue", or "Bad Bad Day". But he also proves he can flat out write good music, as in the opener "Wait A Minute" that also features the great harp player John Juke Logan. And the equally wonderful, and my personal favorite "Oh Me Oh My" which is a Jamaican type Reggae/Blues song about being homeless, and features fellow Hellecaster Jerry Donahue chasing him on second guitar. And the other Hellecaster Jon Jorgenson on backing vocals. What makes this album so Gatton-like is it's many different styles of music. Gatton was never satisfied playing just one style of music. And it appears Will Ray isn't either. His first solo album was mainly a countryfied effort. But this one has a more rock oriented sound that mixes elements of blues, jazz, latin rhythms, and only a little country this time. All of the songs here were written by Ray except his version of the traditional "Shenendoah" which is so good it almost made me cry like the movie did. There is even a live hidden track at the end called "Chicken Song", which was a live country pickin' tune Ray did back in 1979 at Bubba's House Of Hamhocks. Like I said this cd has everything. I can't say enough about how memorable these songs are. Ray has really being saving up the last 5 years between his last solo album. He's set the bar very high for the best album of 2002. I don't think I'll hear a better cd this year though. Wonderful!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tasty Licks and Catchy Hooks!, April 12, 2002

By 

deepbluereview "deepbluereview" (SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mojo Blues (Audio CD)

Will Ray returns to his roots to pays tribute to the likes of BB King, Eric Clapton, Danny Kalb, Mike Bloomfield, Dickie Betts, Duane Allman and many others that Ray attributes his early influences. The CD features 11 Ray originals that range from the slow blues number "Bad, Bad Day", to the uniquely arranged Reggae/Blues number "Oh Me, Oh My" to the Jazz/Swing "Holy Smokes" and ends with the hidden country flavored "Chicken Song" which was recorded in the 1980's. There are also guests a plenty on the recording from John "Luke" Logan to fellow Hellecasters Jerry Donahue and John Jorgenson. There is some great stuff on this recording and the guitar work is superb. Let's hope Ray has a sequel to this disc planned for the near future.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Quirky, Very Blues, Very Cool, December 9, 2004

By 

Big Bad Bob "BBB" (Elyria, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mojo Blues (Audio CD)

This is an interesting album. Either you get it or you don't. Some of the other people reviewing this CD obviously don't get what Will Ray is all about. They think his solo stuff should be more "Hellecaster-ish". I disagree. When I buy someone's solo album, I want to see another side of that person, not the same old stuff.

I've had the pleasure of seeing Will Ray perform live with the Hellecasters as well as at a G&L guitar clinic last year. His playing is downright scarey. You cannot figure out how he does some of the things he does, you just know that it sounds good.

You know what I like best about Will Ray playing the blues? It's not about sounding like all the other blues clones out there. And you know who I mean. He cannot sound like anyone else. It's impossible. The guy plays with left hand slides, he plays with right hand slides, he uses B-Benders, toys, kitchen appliances etc. He's one of the most creative dudes out there in guitarland. And he's "out there". But it all makes perfect musical sense.

Mojo Blues is cool because Ray takes a simple idiom like the blues and expounds on it, stretching it, bending it until it's played on his own terms. That's what BB King, Mike Bloomfield and Eric Clapton all did. It's a more personalized blues if you will. If you want to hear the same old SRV clones, this ain't the guy for you.

His version of Shennendoah will slay you. Roy Buchanan would have a hard time topping it. What's intriguing about this CD is that I always pictured Ray as simply a country player. After I bought this CD, he went up a couple of notches in my book. I also bought the backing tracks of this CD off their website and have to tell you that it's the best backing tracks CD I ever played along with, period. Shear fun.

This CD has changed the way I categorize music. Danny Gatton did the same thing for me. I only hope Mr. Ray gets together with the other Hellecasters soon and they can give us another CD soon. We need more "real" music out here.