Marty McCray profile picture

Marty McCray

About Me

I was lucky enough to grow up with parents that loved music. They weren't musicians but my Grandmother and my Mom and her sisters had an uncanny ability to harmonize like the Andrew Sisters or the McGuire Sisters. My Dad was an electronics wiz who liked to stay up with the latest gadgets so in 1959 we had a Revere Reel to Reel tape recorder. When I was old enough I commandeered the recorder and started experimenting. Christmas of 1964 my older Brother Mike got an Old Kraftsman acoustic guitar as a gift but never really did anything with it. It "somehow" wound up in my closet for a couple of years. Eventually I got hit with the bug to play music. I was already a die hard Beatles and Monkees fanatic thanks to my older Sister Debbie. So I taught myself how to play. Took a few lessons. Enough to learn c-f and g and I was on my way. In early 1970 my Mom answered an add in a local paper for a guitarist . I could just barely make my way through songs at that time but the band were pretty much my age and managed by an established professional Accordion teacher. It was here that I would meet my lifelong friend Andy Campbell who was playing drums. We were all in 7th grade. Only played one gig with them in February of 1970. We were called the Dynamics. I lost touch with Andy for about a year but during that time I enlisted my older cousin Jeff Munkers and taught him everything I knew on guitar. My younger cousin Dean had started playing drums and our other cousin Randy wanted to sing so we formed a band...VINTAGE 57. Don't ask where the name came from. It's lost in the mist of time. We played one or two gigs with Randy and then he quit and we played a couple more without him. Unfortunately Dean was just a bit too young at the time (Ten). Jeff was 16. So we decided to look for another drummer and that's when I took a chance and tracked down Andy again. He agreed to meet with us and it was magic right from the very beginning. This was September of 1971. The day before we both started High School. Jeff and Andy and I have been best friends for 36 years!!! END OF PART ONE


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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 02/06/2007
Band Website: http://mccraym.tripod.com
Band Members: I have had a recording studio since 1982 called RANDOM PRESSURE SOUND STUDIOS. For my original material I tend to play all the instruments unless the song calls for a part that I don't feel I can do well enough. For drum parts I'll call on Andy Campbell and Norm Whitehurst. For keyboards it's Dan Pettis. For Harp It's Cliff Ashmon. For Bass it's Jeff Munkers.The Kooltones are Jeff Munkers -Bass and vocals Andy Campbell-Drums and vocals Jon Lindahl-Midi Guitar and vocalsMac's Blue 5 are Jeff Munkers -bass and vocals Andy Campbell -Drums Cliff Ashmon-Harp and vocals Dan Pettis- Hammond organ and vocalsThe Dung Beatles are Jeff Munkers -bass and vocals Andy Campbell-percussion, Keyboards, guitar and vocals Dean Gleason-guitar and vocals Norm Whitehurst-drums, percussion and vocalsI also have an ongoing recording project where I do other originals and cover tunes just for fun with Dean Gleason and Oscar Olson.I am proud to be a member of ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. I have had many of my original songs placed in Movies and Television shows over the years.
Influences: Chet Atkins, Les Paul,The Beatles, The Monkees, John Fogerty, Mark Farner, Neil Schon, Carlos Santana, Billy Gibbons,David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Toni Iommi, Hendrix, Clapton, Peter Green, Little Walter, Alice Cooper, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Ken Hensley, Greg Rolie, Ronnie Montrose, Robin Trower,Doyle Bramhall, Neil Finn, Neil Young, Phil Collins (Genesis years), Peter Gabriel, Yes, Gentle Giant, Aimee Mann, The Grays,Spocks Beard, Porcupine Tree, and more.
Sounds Like: All my influences rolled up in a ball and into my recording studsio.
Record Label: Unsigned

My Blog

New songs on my page

For those interested, I've posted 3 songs from my past on here just to update things a bit. The first is an original called "Dreams Are Only Dreams".  The next is an oldie that I cut in the studio for...
Posted by on Thu, 07 May 2009 18:43:00 GMT

2008

2008 has been the most fulfilling year for music in my whole career.  It was challenging and alot of hard work but the payoff has been extremely satisfying. I played with the Kooltones of course...
Posted by on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:45:00 GMT

Happy

I didn't write this but I thought it poignant........" When I was 5 years old, my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I...
Posted by on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:09:00 GMT

Lloyd Thaxton

Most of you probably won't have heard of Lloyd Thaxton. I only have vague memories of him through my older sister. She was more in the age range (5 years older than me) to have watched him back in the...
Posted by on Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:49:00 GMT

30 years

The summer of 1978. I had just turned 21 years old. Still living at my parents home and working off and on for my Father at our family's TV/Appliance store. Delivering TV's, going on service calls wit...
Posted by on Thu, 07 Aug 2008 06:44:00 GMT

Next Chapter

HIGH VOLTAGE was a wonderful experience and we grew up pretty quick. Gained alot of new friends and moved in some interesting musical directions. Unfortunately I was moving in a more progressive-heavy...
Posted by on Sun, 09 Dec 2007 18:35:00 GMT

Musical History Part 2

So, Andy and Jeff and I set off on the beginning of our musical journey. At the time Jeff and I were both playing guitar but we had gained possesion of a Teisco bass guitar. It was time to decide who ...
Posted by on Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:50:00 GMT