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by R.J. Carter Published: May 29, 2006
Case in point: Alison Ray. Historically, an enigma -- a mystery woman. There's not a lot out there about her, even on her website. But if you really want to know about the soul of an artist, just look into her art. In this case, a debut album of guitar pop songs, Downside Up. "I really wanted my first album just to have a really strong name that really reflected who I was as an artist," says Ray. "I have many moods. I can go from being really down to feeling up, so it made sense to have this title. If you listen to the album, I have a thread of hope that goes through most of my songs, and I think the title reflects that." But things didn't always look so optimistic for this Memphis Belle. According to the artist's brief bio, a rough childhood and abusive father occupied her formative years. Occupied -- but didn't conquer. "I did have a rough childhood," Ray confirms. "My mom raised me, I didn't really have a dad around, and the dad I did have was rather abusive. I didn't have a lot of support, is what I'm saying; and we grew up very poor, so I didn't have a lot of options. As Jewel would say, 'I was kind of stuck on survival.' And that's a hard place to be. But obviously I got out and I just kept going and pursued it, and I just want people to know that -- that you can get out of it. You have to get out of it." Now Ray stands poised to blast off into the pop/rock scene, and the launching crew is the folks at Chime Entertainment, presided over by producer Marc Tanner. "(Marc) met me doing a showcase," says Ray, "and we talked, and in about six months we started going back and forth on the phone. And I came out to California, and we just started coming up with ideas. Of course I had a hundred ideas by then." "To me," Ray continues, "Chime is like a major label without all the red tape -- no two hundred artists, no two hundred acts, you know? And all the people at Chime: they're experienced; they're hit makers. Marc Tanner produced The Calling, Madonna -- he's done numerous soundtracks that have been hits. And also we have Mel Posner here, Bob Catania, and they were both at Geffen, Island and Dreamworks. So I love those guys -- they've broken a lot of artists: Nirvana, U2, Lifehouse, Nellie Furtado. Mainly for me, they really believed in me as an artist, my lyrics, my music, and me as a performer. They're also big on the Internet and multimedia. I have great people around me, and I'm very blessed." The first single to be released from Downside Up is "Does the DJ Know?", an ode to the men who spin the tunes over the airwaves. "It's about the power of radio," says Ray. "It's talking about how one song can take you back in time, when you're in the moment. We all have those songs that remind us of a past relationship or breakup, bad times or good times. Wherever you are when you're hearing that song, it puts you right back in it. I think that everybody can relate to it." Recently, another song of Ray's, "The Dance of Life", was selected by the International Museum of Women as the theme song for their "Imaging Ourselves Project. "It's all about hope, and adversity, and never giving up on life," explains Ray. "The Project is all about women -- whether from Africa or New York -- about how women are changing, and they're able to do more on their own." The star-spark crams a lifetime of hard experience tempered with optimism into her album, but every song, no matter how sad or bitter or angry at its beginning, always turns things -- as the album title implicates -- downside up, always aiming for the positive. "All of us go through the ups and downs of life, but we have to keep going," says Ray. "No matter how bad it gets -- and I can tell you this from experience, because it's been rough -- if you keep going and believing, you'll get there." |
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