Ray Gilman Bio

Artist: Ray GilmanAlbum: SpeechlessRelease Date: Jan. 2021Genre: Instrumental Rock

• Speechless is the ultimate exercise in social distancing. Written, produced, performed by Ray Gilman over a 4 month period Speechless was originally intended as a follow up to Ray's 2005 instrumental album Altitude Influenced by British guitarists from the 70s and progressive rock.  As 2020 progressed with Covid, the death of his Father, Riots you name it. Ray felt the need to escape from this stuff and concentrate on the guitar. He didn't want to remind anyone or himself of these events so Speechless is intended to take you on a musical journey and help you forget about the problems of the world. At least for a while.....
• Track suggestions for Radio: 1. Serene Dream 3. Speechless 5. Out Of The Shadows 8. Cut Loose 9. My Thoughts Are Somewhere Else 11. Someday We'll Meet Again
• A veteran of the Minnesota Music scene, Ray has recorded 17 CD's, played thousands of live shows, and produced CD's for other artists in his own recording studio. A multi -instrumentalist Ray sings, plays acoustic and electric guitars, and keyboards. Ray is heavily influenced by guitarists Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, David Gilmour, Robin Trower, The Beatles and too many others to list.Ray started playing guitar at 11 years old and his high school band Crossfire in the mid 70’s became an instant hit booking many gigs even when no one in the band owned a car. They had to be creative to get transportation to the gigs. In the late 70’s and early 80’s Ray played with the local hard rock group Hotash. A six piece group that started with nothing and with persistence owned their own large sound and light system and bus to tour the upper Midwest. Ray’s house and band headquarters in St. Paul Park hosted legendary parties and jam sessions. After Hotash Ray did a stint as a guitar slinger playing with a variety of bands and jamming with blues legend Mojo Buford. In the late 80’s Ray joined Compass a local 5 piece progressive rock band. They released the CD Broken Man (Ray’s first CD) in 1991. After Compass disbanded Ray bought his own Tascam 8 track reel to reel recording system and released his first solo CD Out Of Sight Out Of Mind in 1994 which has now become a collector’s item. Ray got the live one man band concept after attending a Todd Rundgren concert and began assembling the backing tracks in his home studio. Ray spent the next few years travelling and performing as a one man band across the Midwest. After a jam with friends Pat Swedzinski, Tim Bjerke (from Ray’s former band Compass) and Mike Giampalo (from Ray’s former band Hotash) TMPR was formed in Lowertown St. Paul and with the help of Oarfin Records they recorded the CD Live Tantrums live at Amellia’s in St. Paul in 1994. The band was a hit in the clubs The live shows were high energy and dubbed tantrums by their followers.  In the late 90’s Ray enrolled in recording school and produced the CD Tales Of Modern Times. After recording school Ray set up his own studio in his home and recorded a one man band CD called Evening Sky, inspired by a trip to the Gulf Coast. In July 1998 Ray with the help of his underage son Brian formed Gilman’s Crossing. Gilman’s Crossing recorded 3 CD’s and did over one thousand gigs over an 18 year period with changing players. Ray continued recording solo albums releasing the instrumental CD Altitude in 2005 which got him a good review in the now defunct 20th Century Guitar magazine. Ray released more solo CD’s Let It Go in 2010 and No Reason in 2015. Ray released a CD in 2016 called Double Speak and received airplay in the US and Europe. Radio host Don Campau called it Ray’s strongest work to date. Ray is currently performing. Dec. 2017 saw the release of Ray Gilman Multiverse a collection of Ray’s work done in various styles Rock, Jazz, and Electronica. In 2019 Ray released Second Sight an album inspired by nearly losing sight in his right eye. Luckily surgery repaired most of his sight. In 2020 Ray released Reanimated which another exercise in social distancing. Ray plays all the instruments and does all of the vocals. Reanimated is another diverse release featuring rock and blues influences. Quarantine Blues is a statement on the current state of affairs with Covid 19. Ray recently found out his parents have been exposed to it. Animated and Give Me One More Day feature acoustic guitar and have a classic Americana feel. Could Have Been In Love came to Ray in a dream he remembered it and recorded it thus the dreamy keyboard sounds. Hard Deal To Make is a staple in Ray’s live set and is a classic blues number.Jan. 2021 marks the release of Speechless an instrumental album with Ray playing all of the instruments Speechless takes the listener on a musical adventure with soaring guitars and keyboards. Intended to make the listener forget the problems of the world and focus on the music. There are several influences rock, jazz, new age, classical, blues and an acoustic song Quiet time which is the first song written for the project. Renaissance March taps into classical music influences. Speechless and Out Of The Shadows rock hard and approach metal territory.
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