QUARANTINE AND CHILL WITH THE CADILLAC THREE
The Cadillac Three is and American Southern Rock / country band from Nashville, TN. This killer trio has been playing together as The Cadillac Three since 2011 and toured internationally. Previously known as “The Cadillac Black”, Kelby Ray (Bass guitar, Steel guitar and vocals) said, “We didn't own the trademark to the name, and needed to do so. There was a band called 'The Black Cadillacs' and another 'Cadillac Black' and we didn’t wanna go through a bunch of legal shit, so we changed it to something we could trademark. I like it better anyway!”.
With the release of their self-titled debut album (through Big Machine Label Group), the track ‘The South’ reached #32 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart list. ‘The South’ features TC3 along with Florida Georgia Line, Dierks Bentley and Mike Eli or Eli Young Band. Since their onset, the group has put out three additional killer albums (Bury Me in My Boots, Legacy and their most recent release Country Fuzz on February 7th of 2020.
The guys always bring incredible energy to their live performances and have some of the most loyal fans in the world. From rocking out packed locations like Cains’ Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Download Festival in the UK, their fans know every song by heart and sing them loud. The group consists of Jaren Johnston (lead vocals, guitar), Kelby Ray (Bass guitar, Steel guitar and vocals) and Neil Mason (Drums and vocals). The group also is attributed for writing songs for well known country artists. Johnston has written songs for Keith Urban, Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith) and Jake Owen.
With the release of any new album, all bands quickly launch an album tour to promote the new songs and increase listenership. This unfortunately wasn’t able to happen due to sudden halt to daily life by Covid-19. The Coronavirus has abruptly stopped all touring globally. This deadly disease has brought the world to a standstill and many are struggling financially.
Each of us can see the impact locally on small businesses struggling to keep revenue flowing while being required to close their doors. Most won’t recognise that musicians are feeling the same struggle without touring. Touring and album sales is how these guys make a living.
When asked about how Covid-19 has affected TC3, Kelby Ray said, “Just the same way it's affected everyone. My wife and I are trying to do our part and stay home the best we can, I've only left the house 3-4 times in a week. Obviously it's taking a toll on our touring, which is how we make the majority of our income, but we're ok for a while and we'll be able to get back out there soon enough. But I do have a handful of friends that own small businesses and have had to lay off workers, it's sad, but hopefully that stimulus will help.”
Without the ability to tour and having just released a new album, TC3 is still trying to bring their music to their fans. “We're always working on new stuff, whether we're quarantined or not! We've been recording our country fuzz radio shows simultaneously from each other's houses too, its been fun. Check out the airtime at countryfuzzradio.com!”.
The live shows hosted by the members of TC3 are every Friday night at 9 pm Eastern and replay throughout the week. Some fun facts about Kelby Ray that might surprise his fans is that he loves to smoke a tobacco pipe on a regular basis and that he loves to cook. You too can learn to cook just like Kelby thanks to his ‘Cooking with Kelby’ YouTube show. Whilst he’s not filming it right now, Kelby says that it might make a comeback “sometime down the road”.
Kelby is keeping busy these days by working in the yard, giving online lessons, cooking, working on Country Fuzz Radio and trying to stay productive. When he’s not doing these, he’s listening to his favourite chill album, Saved by Now Now.
Have you ever wanted the chance to take guitar lessons from an official rockstar? Well now you can! Kelby Ray has opened up a limited number of time slots for online lessons through Zoom. “I’ve got a couple weekly students right now, and have more availability,” he explains when asked. For any inquiries for Kelby’s guitar, bass, acoustic or lap steel lessons, you can reach him at kelby@kelbyray.com.
The Cadillac Three are an amazing group of guys and we look forward to seeing them out on the road very soon. Until then, please support The Cadillac Three by streaming their music, visiting their websites, purchasing their music & merchandise or if you’re lucky enough, talking online classes from one of them.
What does the future look like for TC3? “More music and more shows as always! We'll see you guys out there real soon I promise!”.
Check out The Cadillac Three’s latest release, Country Fuzz, on Spotify here.