Brian Ray is used to playing the role of the sideman, having shared stages and traded licks with Etta James, Keith Richards, Santana, John Lee Hooker, and many more besides.
But when it came to playing bass for Paul McCartney, he admits to being so scared that he didn’t look away from his fretboard for the first six months of their shows together.
In 2002, Paul McCartney was looking for a musician comfortable with jumping between electric guitar and bass, depending on what instrument he was playing.
Ray got the gig off a recommendation from McCartney's drummer and one-time bandmate, Abe Laboriel Jr. – with the Superbowl XXXVI pre-show set to be his baptism of fire. That meant standing alongside who he calls “rock and roll’s finest singer, bass player, producer, and arranger,” and holding his own.
“Learning to play bass and having the guts to stand next to Paul while doing so was a challenge and honor,” he reflects. “I didn’t even look up for the first six months for fear of losing my place, because he’s Paul freakin’ McCartney.”
He says “there is no way a musician can spend as much time around Paul as I have and not get some of that on you,” meaning he’s become far richer for the experience, 12 years on. But, he believes that if it weren’t for his time as musical director for the great Etta James, he never would have been able to pull off the gig.
“When I first got with Etta James, I had just turned 18 and was a little blond greenhorn from Glendale, California,” he explains. “Yet she took me in and kept me by her side for 15 years. We went from playing a cinderblock chitlin circuit blues gig in Colorado Springs to suddenly opening arenas and stadiums for the Rolling Stones.
“She offered me the experience of a lifetime,” he continues, “without which I may not have been the right guy for Paul McCartney those many years later.”
So, while battling through those early nerves, he recalled some of Etta’s wisdom:
“She said, ‘Brian, you’ve got to call on the warriors within!’ I believe she meant access that primal fire in your belly and play from there.”
Away from his work with Etta James, Ray has recorded with Smokey Robinson, Rita Coolidge, and Shakira, and gigged with many more still.
All those experiences helped ready him for the challenge of being part of McCartney's demanding band, which proved an education in itself.
“Paul told me one day, ‘We are visited by songs,’” he remembers. “Isn’t that a cool way to look at it? Inspiration through music, rhythm, lyrics, and harmony is being sent to us like little aliens in UFOs. It’s up to us as artists to be available and document it.”
Ray released his latest solo album, If The Earth Was Round, earlier this month. It’s a record that would not have been possible if it weren’t for the storied career that has got him this far.
“If wealth were measured by talented friendships,” Ray says, “I’d be the richest man on Earth.”
To read Brian Ray’s Guitar Player interview in full, head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy of the magazine. Dave Navarro is this month’s cover story, discussing why he turned down the chance to join Guns N’ Roses, and getting back on the road with Jane’s Addiction having suffered from Long Covid.
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