The Grand Ole Opry is about to meet a rock song born from fire.
Ray Ray Star is bound for Nashville and the 12th Annual Josie Music Awards on September 20, nominated for Song of the Year – Rock Artist for “Ashes Next Door.” The Canadian guitarist, producer, and independent firebrand will walk the Opry House carpet with a track that does not flinch.
The song is personal. Sixteen years of sobriety sit underneath it. The title comes from a real blaze next door—a neighbor lost to addiction, a fire that took nearly everything he owned except two guitars. Chris Vayne’s vocal cuts through the wreckage. The point is not the wreck. The point is what still stands. The past does not vanish. It does not get to drive.
That is why this nomination lands. The Josies pulled “Ashes Next Door” from more than 100,000 submissions and put it on the same rock-artist list as Paulino’s “Don’t Give Up On Me” and a field of independents who write like the room is on the line. Red carpet runs 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. Doors at 5:15. Show at 7:00. The night before, the JMA Conference fills the Gaylord Opryland. Ray Ray has already said what the trip means: gratitude, other nominees, and one of the most legendary rooms in music.
From North Delta basements to Music City’s biggest independent night is not a soft landing. It is the same stubborn voltage that kept two guitars out of the ashes. Nashville, he is coming. The song already did.
The official website for Ray Ray Star may be found at https://www.rayraystar.com
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