In My Own Words
In short, I’m just a regular hard working guy that likes to make music with his guitar.
A Little More About Me
I was born and raised in the greater Chicago area.
Like most people, I try to maintain a healthy balance in life, but I don’t always succeed in that area. I like Jeeps, biking, skiing, snowshoeing, pools, BBQs, burritos, reading a good book, and having a nice cold beer with some friends after a hard day’s work.
I love music, and my primary passion in life is writing and recording songs. As a musician, I have been known to mess around with a number of instruments, but I generally consider myself to be a guitarist. I also dabble in vocals, bass, drums, keys, harmonica, banjo, and mandolin.
My original music catalog is pretty large, and most of it is unreleased. Over the next few years, I plan to release quite a few albums and singles from my music archive. Mostly, I plan to release tracks from the Kirk Ray solo catalog and from my Alt Rock project, Downvent. I also plan to start a YouTube channel dedicated to music production and gear reviews.
I work a normal job and consider myself lucky to have a good one. Music is my hobby, so I tend to work on it in the evenings and on the weekends.
In addition to my solo music and Downvent, I am member of the music duo Superjag. The project has three albums out that are very different from my other projects. As a member of Superjag, I tend to focus on the music and production. My friend Greg handles most of the lyrical and vocal duties for Superjag. However, the project is a bit of a democracy, so despite our specialization areas, we tend to influence each other when working on songs despite our specialization areas.
Some Thanks Needed
First and foremost I would like to thank my family and friends for their continued positive influence on my life. Secondly, I would like to thank my employers’ past and present for giving me a means to make a living and support myself. Third, I would like to thank the various muses that have inspired me along the way.
I’d like to thank all the people that work to make gear and software for musicians. This would include guitar makers, computer manufacturers, software engineers, and anyone else who helped build the tools that I use in my recording process.
I would also like to thank the numerous YouTube members that took the time to make music production instructional content and/ or product review. Over the years, I have found a lot of this content to be helpful in my quest to produce music independently.
A Very Special Thanks to My Musical Influences
Like most musicians, I listened to and learned what I could from the people who came before me. This list is only a sampling of the people whose music I have enjoyed and whom I would like to thank for their contribution to music. Please note, this list is in no particular order of importance.
Bands
The Beatles
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Stone Temple Pilots
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
Soundgarden
Alice in Chains
Mad Season
Metallica
Bush
Velvet Revolver
U2
Guns & Roses
ZZ Top
Singer/Songwriters
Bruce Springsteen
John Fogerty
John Mellencamp
Tom Petty
John Denver
Bryan Adams
Waylon Jennings
Johnny Cash
Luther Allison
Gordon Lightfoot
Bob Dylan
John Cafferty
Dwight Yoakam
Guitarists
Eric Clapton
Robin Trower
Jimi Hendrix
Albert King
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Buddy Guy
Kurt Cobain
Slash