I first saw Ray one night at the infamous Sunday Night Blues Jam at the Kaffeeklatsch. I think this was even before Thad Usry was with them. Someone over the PA said, "The Crawler's are here so stick around." or something like that. Then a guy at the bar said, "You're in for a treat." I said "Why's that?" He said, "Cuz you get to see Ray Brand." I looked around for him and I knew who he was without even being told. He was wearing the leather vest and at that time was wearing an old gambler-style hat with conchos around the band. When a guy walks dressed like that and has a reputation like I was just introduced to, you know who he is without even being told. Just one of those things. And then I saw him pull out the SRV Signature Strat with the feathers on the headstock. That guitar would be the source of a lot of conversation for us and really was the start of our brief friendship.  

 

I didn't actually get to meet Ray though until a Crawlers gig at the old Mollie Teals on Governors Dr. in Huntsville. I had been playing at the jam one night and up jumps Thad blowing on the harp. He was one of the few at the time who'd play with me. :-) Anyways, he got me to come to the gig at Mollie's. He said, "Now you gotta meet Ray." So he brought me over there. Ray and I got to talking about how we both had posted on the Texasflood Yahoo Group message board. He was tickled that I was the first person he'd actually met in real life from there. Then we got to talking about that Strat. You see, I bought the same year and model of that guitar from a guy in 1996 my first summer in school. Mine and Ray's SRV Strats are both 1992 strats with the 1989 serial numbers meaning that they came from the first 100 or so production runs of the guitars. The necks are Brazillian Rosewood instead of the Pao Ferro they all use now and they have a fatter shape. Ray and I both agreed that after we'd played other SRV strats that the new ones just don't feel the same. Anyways, as I'd find out more info on them, I'd always tell him what I found out. He'd always hit me up for some info if he saw me. 

 

I guess I'll share a few stories he told me. I remember once I told him how I had just gotten this SRV bootleg CD of a gig at Fitzgerald's in the late 70s, early 80s. He said, "I was probably there that night". He lived in Austin at the same time SRV was cutting his teeth before he was famous. I thought that was cool. Then he told me once about how he showed up in a bar in Atlanta I think it was. Dickie Betts was playing. The bar owner came up to him and said that Dickie was too drunk to play and so he asked Ray to do it. Not very often someone gets asked to fill the bill for Dickie Betts. The last time I actually got to talk to him, for more than 5 mins, was at the Alabama Roadhouse. I told him I was messing around with one of those picks made from a silver quarter, and he told me about how he played with a peso and that Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top gave him that idea. I asked him where I could get one and he just up and said that he'd get me one. Unfortunately, he never got the chance.

 

 I only got to play with Ray twice. Once was at a jam at CDs and then more recently, when I was halfway decent, at the Blues Jam when the Crawlers came in. I jumped up there and played two tunes with them and then got down so they could do some of their new stuff together. I remember telling the crowd, "It's not very often you get to play with a hero and this guy is one of mine." And then Thad says, "Well thank you." It was pretty funny. That crazy Thad.

 

 Everything you hear about Ray was true. He was one of those guys who made you feel comfortable. He'd go out of his way to help you along. He'd give you tips on this or that if you wanted him to. For instance, I remember telling him awhile back about how I had just bought a Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal to mess around with, trying to get that "Marshall tone" he had out of a Fender amp. Months later he came up to me and asked, "How did that pedal work out for you?" I had all but forgotten about it. That's just how he was. Like someone said at the funeral, he treated you like a peer no matter what you did for a living, who you were, etc. I've met alot of good guitar players and some of them can be real jerks. They're all grins when they're around you, but as soon as you leave they'll run you down because they think they're better than you for whatever reason. But Ray was 3 times better than any of those guys and a real genuine nice guy as well.

 

I consider it an honor to have known him and I thank him for his acceptance of a "new guy" when I was starting out and the things he taught me. I always thought I'd have the time to show him how good of a player, and person, I would become. I can only believe now he's up there watching me along.

 

Lance Smith

The 4-Door Ramblers

---