Michael Ray.Photo: Stephen J. Cohen/Getty
Four years ago, country music hitmakerMichael Raywalked into a hospital room in Las Vegas mere days after the Route 91 tragedy and met a man that he will never forget.
“I started to play ‘Think a Little Less,’ and I remember him immediately grabbing his girlfriend’s hand,” Ray, 33, tells PEOPLE in a recent interview about the six-foot-something guy whose name he can’t quite recall. “After I was done, he told me that he never thought he wouldeverhear that song again.”
“He told me he had heard me play that song on that Friday night, and that he just loved that song,” Ray says quietly. “And then, he smiled. I still can’t get that moment out of my head.”
And from that point on, Ray has dedicated himself toMusicians on Call.
In fact, over the years and over multiple times, Ray has lent his presence and his music to the nonprofit organization that brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. MOC is also committed to bringing this idea of healing through music to our country’s veterans.
“I’m grateful that we live in a time that we have technology to do those things, but I wanted to be there with them,” Ray says of the mini-concert he did for the small group of veterans, one of whose service dated all the way back to World War II. “I want to sit right next to them and hear their stories. There’s nothing like human connection.”
Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 restrictions, many of these treasured people have not had as many visitors as they would like. So, as Ray tore into his current hit single “Whiskey & Rain,” he couldn’t help but watch the reactions he received from the vets he had been introduced to simply as Jeanie, Leroy, George, and Bob.
“It’s these sorts of moments that truly just take your mind away from any other BS that’s going on,” Ray explains. “It doesn’t matter if you’re four years old or 104 years old, music can still move you. In this moment, they were having fun. I don’t know what they were doing before this and I don’t know what they were going to do after, but at that moment, we were experiencing this together. It’s cool to see and be a part of something that’s bigger than us.”
It’s a feeling Ray has known for a long time, as he began volunteering when he was just in high school.
“I would volunteer at the local assisted living center in town,” he says. “I would play on Thursday nights acoustically.”
He’s also long worked with the military, volunteering in any way he can in a tribute to his late grandfather, who served in the Army.
Mini Concert Performance Audience.Darlene Seltmann
And if you ask Ray, the world needs more people like them.
“We take for granted what we have here,” explains Ray, who recently premiered his music video for “Higher Education” featuringLee Brice, Billy F. Gibbons, Tim Montana, andKid Rock. “We take for granted our rights and we take for granted our freedoms. We take for granted the pursuit of happiness that we have in this country. But most of all, we forget the reason we have those rights…are those veterans.”
source: people.com
