Indie Artist Music Hustle

Ray Barnard's Music Evolution Through Three Decades

• Host and Creator: Blonde Intelligence (Ms. Roni) • Season 4 • Episode 53

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Welcome to this episode of Indie Artist Music Hustle with Blonde Intelligence. I am your host Ms. Roni, and I lays seek to give you exquisite cranial repertoire. Ray Barnard joins Blonde Intelligence to unpack his remarkable 30-year musical journey and the evolution of his distinctive sound—a personal fusion of roots, soul, and reggae that defies traditional genre boundaries. With candid reflection, Ray reveals how his approach mirrors a growing trend among independent artists who create their own musical categories and cultivate dedicated audiences outside mainstream expectations.

The conversation explores how musicians adapt and grow with age—developing improved skills while facing new challenges in capturing audience attention. Ray's pragmatic embrace of technology stands out as he shares how he incorporated AI vocal processing in his latest self-produced album "And the Horse You Rode In On" when collaborators weren't available, demonstrating how established artists can leverage new tools to overcome creative obstacles.

We delve into the pandemic's silver linings for introverted creators, the democratization of music production through affordable technology, and the persistent value of professional studio environments. Ray offers heartfelt advice to emerging musicians about early business education, marketing experimentation, and the critical importance of persistence through discouragement. His story illuminates the evolving indie music landscape where authenticity, adaptation, and community knowledge-sharing create pathways to sustainable artistic careers. Whether you're a musician seeking guidance or a music lover curious about the behind-the-scenes reality of independent artistry, Ray's insights offer valuable perspective on crafting a meaningful musical journey beyond mainstream constraints.

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Speaker 2:

Hello everyone, welcome to this week's Indie Artist Music Hustle with Blind Intelligence. I'm your host, ms Ronnie, where I always seek to give you exquisite cranial repertoire. This week we have a special guest named Ray and he's going to tell us a little bit about himself. Hello Ray.

Speaker 3:

Hi, ms Ronnie, Tell us a little bit about himself. Hello Ray, hi Ms Ronnie, tell us a little bit about yourself. I'm a musician. I've been doing it for over 30 years. Where I'm at now is I do something as a fusion of what I'd call roots and soul music. Roots could mean something from country inflected to reggae inflected.

Speaker 2:

Is that your major genre? That you tell me why.

Speaker 3:

One of the only things I'm good at.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay, the reason why I asked that question is because the trend lately in music is that independent artists are creating their own genres, creating their own audiences, so they might do several different types of music together and then they'll rename the genre and then they'll rename the genre. So when you said that you have roots and mixed with, I can't remember what you said, but when you have that, what made you?

Speaker 3:

choose that genre, the stuff I grew up listening to. Most of the things the people I was interested in always did mix it, and I go back further than most people. So when I mentioned Ray Charles or Elvis Presley to me, I mean, they didn't stick to one thing, never, right. So, uh, I've never wanted to, for for better and for worse.

Speaker 2:

So that's so tell me about your journey in being a musician. Being a musician is different. You said you've been in the game for 30 years. The advancement in technology, the onset of social media, the ability to collaborate with people around the world, the introduction of more AI in music yes, so tell me about your journey in music.

Speaker 3:

Well, I started out thought I was just going to be a singer, and then you realize, well, everyone's a singer, so good luck. And then started gradually adding other things to my game. I play several instruments and I make my own records. Yeah, this day and age, there's nothing you can't do yourself. And of course too, when you're younger, you come to find out that even as I think a lot of us who keep doing it, as you say, stay in the game you get better. You just inevitably, you know, unless you got other health problems or whatever, you get better at it. But you realize it's harder to get people's attention as you get older too, because you don't look like you used to, or whatever. Or your friends still go out on the weekends or whatever. But you know, that's where the internet comes in, and so everyone has access to hustling their music if they want to. Okay, but it's funny, you brought up AI, okay, and on my newest record I used some of it.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 3:

The song I liked a lot, but it was a little low for me and I asked three friends of mine at least three to sing on it and none of them could, for one reason or another. So I took my voice and put it, ran it through a AI filter and I liked the results, so I went yes. So there's going to be a lot of that they're already.

Speaker 2:

I actually interviewed an artist and I asked him that same exact question and he did not. Because I was like, whatever the scenario was that you wrote a song and you knew the particular sound that you were looking for, but you could not find it Would it be OK to create it? He was like no. So you know, I feel like, because music is art to each his own and you create it the way you want to, yeah, but I want to ask you this question. Yeah, but I want to ask you this question. And what made me ask this question?

Speaker 2:

I was going to do a show with a guy who owned a pharmaceutical medicinal. I'm not going to say the word, but because you know, but when doing research, I found that musicians have the same elements as professional sports players and they put a lot of, I would say, research into sports medicine, sports therapy, but they don't put that same research into musicians who have the same problems with their hands or know from repetition, have the same problems with their hands or know from repetition. So what do you think about? Or do you think there needs to be more research, or do you think that people should go on? What do you think about researching physical therapy for musicians musicians.

Speaker 3:

I think it's fine. I think we all figure it out on our own. I know a handful of friends who are guitar players, where that affects them, and you know, unless you want to stop playing, yeah, you go to a chiropractor and learn some techniques, or you go to a physical therapist, or I guess you can always try new drugs, steroids, whatever, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

but Do you think that should be something that should be included and I don't even know if they have these, but I know that you have to get certain policies when you're in the entertainment industry. Do you think that physical therapy for the musicians should be added to policies for musicians?

Speaker 3:

Hmm, Sure, yeah, I mean bluntly yeah.

Speaker 2:

Why not? Okay, I just wonder what you thought about it. Okay, tell me about your latest project.

Speaker 3:

I got a new record. It's uh, let's see, it's this thing here. Okay, um, um. And the horse you rode in on Self-produced, self-arranged, I got the best band. I mean, that's the other thing about getting older I get the best band I've ever had too. So a lot of it was cut live and then I fill in the blanks as necessary.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 3:

And yeah, it's a perfect example of what I'm talking about. It's a fusion of roots music or roots rock, and some fair amount of reggae-ish material and some soul music as well, or my version of it, so I know enough people go, hmm would I call that soul music? Well, I do. Where are you from? I'm from St Paul, Minnesota.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so what's the fascination with reggae? Tell me about it.

Speaker 3:

It's a practical one. I've liked it. My interest in it has grown over the last couple decades. But the kind of songs I write a lot of mid-tempo, some slow put in a reggae groove to it just gives it more energy than if I were to put a country groove. And I mean, you know, somewhat frankly I'm kind of tired of country grooves and the reggae is a lot more enjoyable to me right now. But as a singer it sets up great for me and I don't. I can't sing like a traditional gospel soul singer who can wreck the house. So being more low-key, being able to sing that way, helps me as well. So those are the reasons why reggae and I've heard enough in old school reggae you hear plenty of country and you hear a lot of soul and you go, oh okay, well, they're using everything too.

Speaker 2:

So Okay, so tell me, since it's been a little minute, how has or has things gotten back to normal after COVID, or has things?

Speaker 3:

gotten back to normal after COVID. It's getting there and it depends. I think there's more competition than ever for live venues now, but I think people are finding more. They still like the live connection and they're getting back to it. Some don't, but that's an age-related thing too.

Speaker 2:

So how did it affect you during that time where you wasn't able to perform live and work with your band the way you wanted to? How easy or hard was it for you to still complete a project?

Speaker 3:

On one hand, making my own records, it was great, and being a raging introvert, it was kind of wow, this is great. On the other hand, I had what they call a little bit of momentum beforehand and that, just like for everybody else, came to a dead stop. So I was both Well. In hindsight at the time it was like great, I'm just going to write songs and work on my recordings and I don't have to worry about finding gigs. But in hindsight it's like, oh, now it's tougher than ever for the time being.

Speaker 2:

So do you think that you produced some of your greatest work during that time, or do you think that you refined things that you already felt a passion?

Speaker 3:

for I was more experimental and even use some kind of what some friend called oh, that sounds like an edm song ray and I'm oh, okay, great, it doesn't matter to me. I like chasing down ideas. I don't care about genres.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so tell me how has the music business changed for the better to you? Because you have 30 years experience. You have seen all the trends, all the changes, the different registrations and everything. So how has music business changed for the better to you?

Speaker 3:

It's a lot easier to buy your own recording equipment that is pretty much the equal of what they used to have in big studios. That's the best part. On the other hand, um, to make sounds that are striking to people, if you're not doing it all on the computer, which you know anyone can do that you still need really good sounding rooms, which studios still have. Let's see for the better. It's just, everyone has access these days.

Speaker 2:

But that could also be a double-edged sword. Absolutely, tell me about your social media presence tell me about your social media presence.

Speaker 3:

Um, fair to middling, um, I'm trying to get better at it. You know, yeah, I, I, I, I throw up stuff on facebook, instagram threads, uh, uh, I'm trying to figure out videos now, um, because I know it's pretty easy to do a 30 second video and throw it up on tiktok or instagram or whatever. But I, I still like the long form videos as a whatever another form of art, but it's really hard to make good long form videos harder or expensive.

Speaker 2:

So if I ever crack that code, With the way everything is going, and I was looking at Angie Stone and she was talking about that. She hired managers to do different things for her. Yeah, as a independent artist. What advice would you give to a new artist entering the music business? About music business.

Speaker 3:

Learn it earlier than I did. So everything you're talking about I'm starting to do Although, yeah, I mean I've registered stuff with Harry Fox covers and that and I've published stuff up on get my name in the songs up on ASCAP. Yeah, the sooner you do that the better. I think it's like anything else. If you start seeing results, it's fun. Yeah, the sooner the better. I think younger people are more savvy to it than people my age too. Oh, you don't think so. Just the ones who are savvy. Um, advice, no, I'll look into it, or, if you, if you can, I'm going through that now and it's just basically, um, I'll try and hire this person for that and see what happens to it. A hardest thing, the best advice is to not get demoralized quickly, to my mind, and then just try whatever comes across your your bow pertaining to marketing, just try throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks and ask your friends what worked for them. Yeah, I guess that's all I got for now I'm in the process.

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, I thank you for coming. I want you to tell everybody your name, where they can find the name of your latest project, where they can find it, your social media handles and anything that you want to leave us with.

Speaker 3:

Okay, my name is Ray Bernard. My latest record is called and the Horse you Rode In On my website is ray-barnardcom. You can find me up on Facebook and Instagram, and I don't know if I know my specific handles, but ray-barnard will get you up there, although there is a preacher with my name too, who has a fair amount of content. R-a-y-b-a-r-n-a-r-d will get you up there, although there is a preacher with my name too, who has a fair amount of content, but I think you'll spot the difference between us RM Bernard, 67, but I don't remember off the top of my head.

Speaker 2:

I got you. Well, remember, you can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms. You can find us streaming on social media. If you have any questions or want to copy your merch, you can get it at wwwblonde-intelligencecom. I was about to get that wrong and I'll see you next week. Bye.

Speaker 1:

Hey girl, let me tell you about this podcast. Girl, everybody has a podcast these days, but this one interviews new and interesting indie artists. It's called Indie Artist Music Hostel with Blonde Intelligence. Really, when can I find it? It's on all podcasting platforms streams live on social media and on RPENTradiocom. What'd you say it was called? Again, it's called Indie Artist Music Hostel with Blonde Intelligence. Girl, I'm going to have to check her out.