Stephen Ray
was raised in Green Bay, Detroit, and multiple cities from Northern to Southern California and now resides in Nashville, TN. Over the years he has performed with the late Toby Keith, Cody Johnson, Chris Janson and Parmalee among others major touring acts. Stephen has sung the National Anthem twice for Green Bay Packers home games at Lambeau Field. His music has been featured on major streaming networks, various national television spots and feature films. His most streamed song, Hurting To Tell, has accumulated over 1 Million streams across all platforms. Hurting to Tell is a song that communicates the heartache of going through pregnancy loss and miscarriage. It is a topic not frequently sung about, but close to the hearts of Stephen and his wife who, prior the birth of their son in 2024, struggled with recurring miscarriages over 3 years and became vocal about it in 2023 in hopes of supporting others going through similar journeys. Another popular song, That Makes You A Cowboy, is a tribute to the late Toby Keith, who Stephen had the opportunity to open for and sing “Should’ve Been A Cowboy” with Toby on stage in 2021. All of Stephen’s songs are available on all digital streaming outlets.
Stephen received his calling for music at 12 years old, learning guitar in the footsteps of his older brothers, and first playing the bass guitar to perform in a pop rock band with his brother in middle school. By age 15 he had performed on the Vans Warped Tour in Detroit and other iconic venues such as the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, CA. His songwriting and guitar playing began to develop further through high school and college spanning various genres of pop, rock and country. After graduating from the University of San Diego, Stephen, his brother and their pop rock band had released multiple albums and were touring regularly, opening for acts such as Good Charlotte and Smash Mouth.
Stephen has written, and released numerous songs not just for himself but other artists as well in the past 20+ years of committing to the craft of songwriting.
While he does not actively tour or perform, he maintains a dedication to songwriting and supporting other songwriters by staying involved in the Nashville music community. Every year, Stephen brings multiple hit-songwriters to the Steve Mariucci Family Beacon House in Maquette to put on a show at their annual fundraiser. Songwriters have included Tim Nichols (cowriter for “Live Like You Were Dying” by Tim Mcgraw), JT Harding (cowriter for “Sangria” by Blake Shelton) Deric Ruttan (cowriter for Dierks Bentley, Eric Church and Blake Shelton) and Patrick Murphy (cowriter for “Standing Room Only” by Tim Mcgraw, “Back 40” by Dylan Scott).
Stephen has also been honored to perform twice as an up-and-coming songwriter at the Songwriters in Paradise festival or “SIP Napa” in the company of hit songwriters Patrick Davis, Kristian Bush, Tyler Reeves and more.
See below for a full list of songs written by Stephen and follow his social channels for updates on his latest musical endeavors!
STEPHEN RAY SONGWRITING/producing CREDITS from 2002 - 2025
VIDEOS
Stephen Ray sings with Toby Keith
Stephen Ray National Anthem at Lambeau Field