FROM THE DECATUR DAILY: REAL PEOPLE
Ronnie Thomas
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Delray recalls hard road on Music Row
Carol Lynn didn't realize the firestorm she would ignite by airing an artist from the past on her country music show over Hartselle radio station WQAH 105.7 FM.
Listeners couldn't get enough of Martin Delray and "Lillie's White Lies." Many thought he was an up-and-coming star. A decade earlier, Delray, 55, took his rich and polished baritone as far as he could, given the fickle nature of the music industry.
Lynn opened floodgates she could not easily close. Two years ago, she coaxed Delray into getting a band together for appearances at the Lick Skillet Music Barn in Hazel Green, where fans lapped up the music, and at the Cullman Ag Center.
THE DAILY ran a feature on Lynn in October. The spread included an accompanying article on her association with Delray. The Internet brought more questions about the singer from DAILY readers from Georgia to California. They wanted the full story of what had happened to him, where they could get copies of the only two CDs he ever released, and if he would ever record again.
"Music business is two words," said Delray from the Williamson County Indoor Sports Complex in Brentwood, Tenn., where he is director of tennis for the Parks and Recreation Department. "I enjoyed the years I spent on the music end of it, but I didn't enjoy the business."
He said he is one of many people who came down the road in pursuit of a dream and got the short end of the business.
"Basically, I was trying to get in the batter's box, but for the most part, unless you're very lucky, it's out of your reach as to what happens. The people controlling the labels have too many bean counters to answer to."
Delray said during the 1960s and, to an extent, the 1970s, a label could afford to stick with an artist it respected and believed in, but it doesn't have that luxury anymore.
"They want it to happen right now," he said. "They haven't got the time to fool with it."
Delray said recording, while expensive, is only the start to making a song successful.
"The marketing aspect to get air play is three to four times what it costs to make the record," he said. "You have to fight for rack space at Wal-Mart and Target."
He said in retrospect another contributing factor for him was timing.
A fairly young label, Atlantic Records, signed him, and he had moderate success. In 1991, the company released his first album, "Get Rhythm." Johnny Cash wrote the title song and cut it as the B-side to his 1956 hit, "I Walk the Line." Cash appeared on Delray's "Get Rhythm" video.
The album also included "Lillie's White Lies" and two songs Delray co-wrote, "New Wine" and "Let Love Do My Talkin'." His second album, "What Kind of Man," included an original song, "Solid Rock." He co-wrote "What Was I Thinkin'?"
Rick Blackburn was the head of the label and was among the first in Nashville to start using research surveys. Delray's second album scored highest among Atlantic's other artists, including Tracy Lawrence and Confederate Railroad. But the label decided not to go with the "What Kind of Man" video.
"This is where the timing aspect comes in," Delray said. "The record business began picking up steam to go with younger artists. I was a late bloomer, in my early 40s, and it was obvious they weren't going to put the effort behind me. I was unsuccessful in securing a deal with another label. Others looking at Atlantic asked, 'If they can't break ahead on a guy this good, then how can we expect to make it?' "
To remain in the business, he began looking for writing deals. Again, the timing wasn't right as publishing companies purged their rosters.
"I did gigs as long as I could, and there were a couple of booking agents who made the effort to keep me out there," Delray said. "But you can't keep a road band together and make a living. I had been a tennis player for a long time with a genuine love for the game, and I literally fell into my job."
He met his wife, Cynthia Anderson of Lewisville, Texas, at a birthday party in Nashville. They have a daughter, McKenna, 6, who has "been on the tennis courts, does gymnastics, danced in the 'Nutcracker Suite' and just started piano lessons."
When time permits, he plays writers' nights around Nashville and retains fond memories of his visits to the area.
"For our show, that guy (Don Williams) sold out the Lick Skillet, a dance floor with about 400 seats," Delray said. "It was as if something had been snatched out of time, like the Beatles had landed. I was amazed that, that many people had the kind of energy they brought to that room, 10 years after the ride was over. When I kicked off the intro to 'Lillie's White Lies,' the response was overwhelming.
"I was overcome by that unbelievable moment."
In a final ironic twist to his music career, Delray noted that Blackburn, who cut him loose at Atlantic, had booted Cash from Columbia Records in 1986 after an almost 30-year run.
"I'm sure his decisions weren't personal, and that he had people looking over his shoulders," Delray said. "However, with Cash, he was dealing with an icon, and I believe a different decision could have been made, not quite as offensive as it ended up being. RCA, in my mind, carried Eddy Arnold until he didn't want to do records anymore. Columbia probably should have done the same thing with Cash."
Last summer, Blackburn, of Franklin, Tenn., visited Delray for four tennis lessons.
"I had not seen him in about five years," Delray said. "The lessons went well. There were no hard feelings on my part."
To mark his career and in a tribute to Cash, who died in September 2003, Delray signs his autographs this way: To John Doe, thanks for your support ... "Get Rhythm!"
Fans can order Delray's CDs by e-mailing
[email protected]. They are $15 each, with free shipping.
"And I include an 8-by-10 photo, while supplies last," he said.
