I am sure there are lots of steel guitarists out there who were important mentors for some of us that never had a big name outside where they were from. Below is one of those guys for me and others of us who were in the Richmond VA area in the early to mid 70's. Ray managed a music store in a decaying part of south Richmond called Metro Music. Metro was a Sho-Bud dealer and carried some other steels also, when I met with Ray about a year ago to buy his Pro-III from him he recounted that Metro was one of Sho-Bud's biggest dealers in that era. It was the kind of place where both Ray and his brother Dave packed heat to protect the assets but still goofy long haired guys like myself, Bruce Bouton, Gary Gimble and other of our friends would feel comfortable to go on a regular basis to ask silly questions and hang out. Forum member Teddy Lloyd taught steel there and he and Ray were our connections to Buddy Charleton when he came off the road and started teaching.
Ray had a stroke about a year ago and never quite got back to full speed and passed away last weekend at the age of 78. He was a good guy and a good player, big Chalker fan and could play quite well and unless you knew him or looked real close you would never have known that he was missing both his thumb and index finger on his right hand!
Ray played a crossover when I knew him but not long after I left town he had Shot build him this custom Pro-III. He wanted a longer scale length than an Emmons (probably to bug Teddy??) so it has a 24 3/8" scale length, really hot pickups (24K, too hot IMHO) a special tone knob on only the C6 neck and the LDG green color. I am fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time to be able to help Ray out buy buying it from him last year and was even more fortunate to be able to reconnect with a fine gentleman, if only briefly, and catch up on 35 years of central Virginia Steel Guitar history.
All my best to Ray's friends and family.
Ray and Teddy were kind to us back in the seventies. I learned my first bit of steel from these two gentlemen. Ray brought Dave Musgrave in for a seminar. It was the first time I'd seen someone play like that. Teddy Lloyd took us to John Tate's house and introduced us to Buddy Charlton.Good memories!
