Michael Ray is back at the W and he’s bringing his full band and his number 1 song with him! Grab all your friends and get your tickets NOW! CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

Michael Ray “Music can make things make sense, and it can also take you away from reality,” says Michael Ray. “It saved me.” Music did more than save Michael Ray. Music made him. To Ray, music is his grandfather singing and sweating on a rural Florida stage. It’s the childhood refuge he found during the pain of his parents’ divorce. It’s family and stories, history and hope. Now, two hit albums into that all-too-rare blend of critically acclaimed and commercially successful career, Ray is readying his third––and most ambitious––project to date. Higher Education is the collection admirers have all sensed Ray was capable of making: a breakthrough that infuses his clever modern country with gritty swamp rock and stacked lyrical storytelling. “I wanted an old Florida swamp feel with Jerry Reed guitar,” Ray says. “We’ve never had it, and I want it. This is the music I originally came to Nashville to make.” Ray is building upon an impressive foundation. Three No. 1 songs “Kiss You in the Morning,” “Think a Little Less” and “One That Got Away,” plus “Get to You” and “Her World or Mine,” brings his tally to five Gold-certified singles. The poignant “Her World or Mine”––the third song off of his sophomore album Amos––also produced a video that has captured more than 26 million YouTube views since its debut less than a year ago. “My family pretty much had a guitar in my hand as soon as I could hold a toy one,” Ray says with a laugh. He imitated the men in his family, many of whom he watched perform in his grandfather’s band, The Country Cousins. The large, close-knit tribe all lived in Eustis, Florida, where Ray grew up fishing and hunting in woods that were also just an hour from the beach. Today, Ray lives in Nashville, but Florida is never far away. “If I start feeling real down, I just need to go down there for a few days to see everybody,” Ray says. “I’ll get rejuvenated with my family. Something about being on that dirt just does a lot for me.” At age 8, Ray’s grandfather taught him his first guitar chords. Ray listened nonstop to Merle Haggard and George Jones, then learned how to play “Green, Green Grass of Home.” He fell in love with intricate stories sung by legends. “I miss story songs that you have to listen to all the way through to understand,” Ray says. Today, Ray is an authentic bridge between country’s past and present: an artist who worships Earl Thomas Conley and Porter Wagoner, recognizes the genius of Gary Allan, and is determined to make his own distinct contributions. Produced by GRAMMY-nominated and award-winning producer Ross Copperman, Higher Education puts Ray’s deep appreciation for musical context and progress on confident display. Signed by Warner Music Nashville in early 2014 after hearing about the kid from Florida booking his own shows (200+ a year), packing them out and doing so with original material playing on Country radio without a major promo team fueling its momentum, Ray has long been a student of country music. Now having essentially earned his doctorate, he shares what he has learned those many years on the road in this seven-song collection.