Larry McCray

“I think I am coming closer in terms of narrowing it down and figuring out who I am as an artist. In terms of if I’ve reached the height of what I have to offer, I don’t think I have.” —Larry McCray, guitarist/vocalist/songwriter.

Born to play the blues isn’t just an album title or an industry cliché for Larry McCray. It’s the simple truth. Over 15 professional years of music have seasoned him a blues veteran, on par with household names like King, Buddy, Albert, Wolf, Son, or Muddy. But truth be told, McCray is happy just keeping the flame alive, if not raising the bar a bit more for the sound and style that has come with a heritage as golden as it is mythical.

“I think at one point that I had my contribution and I think now instead of so much being the new kid, I’m becoming the more mature kid and people are waiting for my masterpiece.” —Larry McCray, 11-29-05.

In a little town called Stevens, Arkansas, Larry McCray was born April 5, 1960. Following on the heels of musical big sister, Clara, Larry tasted the blues for the first time, if not having lived through it. With nine McCray siblings, totaling over a 30 year span, only a few had heard the music calling. “My big sis was my inspiration. She played sitting around at home. She had a group and she did a lot of practicing at home and when I saw that at an early age, I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

After leaving with Clara for Saginaw, Michigan, in 1972, Clara soon put a guitar in the hands of her younger brother, then at the age of 12. “Music was something that was not forecast in our family, in terms of the involvement and really trying to make a career or anything out of it. I just loved music and I picked up guitar on my own through my sis. Even at that I never had a vision of being in a band. It was for me, for my own personal satisfaction. As I got older and started picking up a few things, we decided we would play music together. Still we did it for the love of music, we didn’t set out to try and make a career out of music. We just said hey, let’s just get together and play some tunes for ourselves and if we get a gig or find someplace to go play (shrugs), that was our whole thing. Let’s have some fun. And that is how we got started; Just trying to enjoy ourselves and go out and play our music for the hell of it.”

Weekends with Clara’s friends sparked Larry’s desire to pursue the instrument.

“I was raised up with her three children—Clara had three kids and I was their uncle, but I was only three years older than her oldest daughter. I was kind of like a big brother to them. She had these friends and acquaintances, these musician people that would come over to her house every weekend to jam and get the music going. So when they would come over and hook up, I would sit around and gaze all day. The other kids would be out playing doing whatever, they didn’t have any interest for what was going on in there. But I was checking it all out. Clara put the guitar in my hand that summer. I was singing already. At that time I had a really, really high voice—a little girl voice.

“They used to come over all the time and play and I’d sit and listen. I’d go and grab her guitar. She had a couple guitars. She had a hollow body—a True Tone, which was a Sears guitar back in the day, it looked like a Sunburst 335 and whatnot. I used to go get her Gibson SG and that was like forbidden territory. She let me play the other one. When she saw I was sincere about trying to learn and play and I knew how to handle an instrument, after that she let me play her SG.”

Two early Saginaw guitar influences on McCray were Johnny Red (Bias) and Howard Pitman. “Later on after I got up into my teens, I met Aaron Stampley. He was from Louisiana. New Orleans bred and everything. He’s the one who showed me any kind of chords other than a ninth chord. Whatever I would learn, I would always try to take it and twist it around. I met Aaron when I was 16 years old (and) he’s about 9-10 years older.”
Soon Larry had his younger brothers Carl (bassist) and Steve (drummer) join him in Saginaw to make their own family sound. “My first band was with my brothers, long time family friend Manuel Sheares, (and) another guy by the name of Rick Thorton. Then we had Tony and Judy, Clara’s two kids, the nephew and the niece. That was one of the first working bands we used to gig a little bit here and there.”

Performing on and off as The McCray Brothers for 10-12 years, Larry, Carl, and Steve, pushed the envelope around the state of Michigan, eventually catching the attention of a record producer out of Detroit. Ambition marked Larry McCray’s first national release in 1990, recorded between ’87 and ’88. “It was a horrifying experience,” stated McCray.

After the painful experience surrounding his first album, McCray met current manager Paul Koch around 1991 on the heels of a European tour with B.B. King and Gary Moore. “After I had got out of the contract and away from that management, it was probably another year and a half of dispute before I ever got clear and could do it again.”

He went right in to cut Delta Hurricane (released in 1993) and Koch introduced McCray to the sound of The Allman Brothers Band and particularly guitarist/friend Warren Haynes whose song ‘Soulshine’ was first cut by McCray on Delta Hurricane, before the Allmans or even Haynes himself. The song has gone on to incredible heights for all the performers, becoming a musical staple in the blues/rock world. “Paul met them first and he had been telling me about this guy that played the Les Paul and at this time I wasn’t even hip on The Allman Brothers. I just figured they were another southern rock band that played rebel music. I never really listened too them. So I started listening and I liked the music.”

Following Delta Hurricane, McCray continued to consistently tour and only dropped one more gem throughout the decade, 1998’s Born To Play The Blues. Yet the decade helped him find himself amongst high peaks and low valleys.

“I have had a lot of ultimate experiences. I caught the tail end of the premier electric blues era, the music I love. All my mentors I got to meet except for Freddie King. I met B.B., Albert King and Albert Collins and as far as I was concerned there wasn’t no more guitar out there after that. They were the four baddest motherfuckers on the planet. They were the ones that set the standard for what electric blues has evolved to today. They took it to a certain level, in terms of technique and prowess in terms of their player capabilities.

“I think my generation took it a little bit farther. You can’t forget about people like Luther Allison, he was a great player and great singer. Luther would be closer to my generation. He would be in a generation along with Buddy Guy. When it came down to Albert and them back in the heyday, Buddy wasn’t up there with them. Now because of life taking its course and them guys are all gone, Buddy’s the top dog now. He’s the old master. But who else do you got to go with him? Everybody else is gone. Son Seals is gone, Luther Allison’s gone, Junior Wells is gone, Little Milton is gone. You take another 15 years (and) it might be our turn if we’re ever going to do anything. Now I ain’t the young buck no more, you got kids out here playing now like Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales, Derek Trucks, they are some of the superkids that have taken the music to a whole other level.”

As the blues torch gets passed generation to generation, McCray hopes his body of work and musical legacy will lend itself to that of legend, rather than just because he is one of a dying breed.

“I hope to not just inherit something because there ain’t nobody else out there playing. I hope to inherit it because we deserve (it)--because of our contribution and our work.

“And not to say that we’re the only ones--there’s a lot of other groups out there that deserved to be recognized the same as ourselves. I really like what Chris Cain does. I bring up his name all the time, he’s just a monster. I really like Lucky Peterson; He deserves to be recognized for his contribution to the music. I still think we (all) incorporate a lot of blues in our music. It’s very present in our approach and delivery.”

2000 found the guitarist co-establishing his own independent record company together with Koch, forming Magnolia Records. The release Believe It kicked it off, putting McCray on chart to continue to release albums on his own dime and time, without the business or rules of a pressing-type of label.

“I think we’re on the right track, but my goal is just to be successful at what I’m trying to do already and that’s to be successful and stay putting my own music out. I’m trying to make things happen for myself the best way I know how and that’s what it’s coming to. The music business is not the same anymore with the Internet and the computer and everything and how easy it is to access music and not have to pay for it. Nobody sells records the way they used to.”

McCray also sights a career highlight as being honored as the Orville Gibson 2000 Male Blues Guitarist of the Year. “Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, like seven or eight other people were nominated (as well). I met another guy there that has always been an inspiration to me and that’s Paul Jackson, Jr.”

With Magnolia Records his new home and a young son to raise, McCray was able to pull back into his personal life for a while, which he finds incredibly difficult to juggle to this day. Pitfalls have included trying to find time to write while staying busy on the road.

“You have to work, but you have to put a little time aside to try to create too and that’s not easy. And having any kind of personal life, family life, home life, it’s a constant roller coaster spinnin’.”
Magnolia Records released the McCray’s first live album, Live On 75, on December 6, 2005. A new studio album and tour is to follow in late 2006.

©sdb for Magnolia Records, 01-06