Fast-rising country newcomer Ray test runs solo trek

One of the newcomers on the 2017 Oro Valley Music Festival lineup is country singer Michael Ray, who in two short years after releasing his major label debut already has scored back-to-back No. 1 hits — “Kiss You in the Morning” and “Think A Little Less.”

The latest single from the 29-year-old winner of CW network’s 2012 “The Next” competition came out in June and has yet to blip the charts. But Ray is confident “Get to You” off his yet-to-be-released sophomore album of the same name will continue the momentum that started when he released his eponymous debut in 2015.

“It’s been crazy. It’s been exciting to be a part of a lot of great tours and being able to have two No. 1s in the past couple years,” said Ray, who makes his Tucson debut on Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Oro Valley Music Festival. “It’s been a whirlwind.”

The whirlwind continues days after we see him when the Florida native embarks on a 15-city national tour on Oct. 5 to promote the new record.

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We caught up with Ray at home in Nashville in late August as he and his newly adopted husky shepherd, Rigley, were getting ready for another road run. Here are three things we learned from our conversation.

• Definitely not an overnight success: “Me and my band were traveling in a van for eight years, nine years just trying to make some tracks and trying to make something happen,” the Florida native said. “To have grown from a 12-passenger van to a 15-passenger to a tour bus and playing places where we’re headlining is fantastic.

“I feel like now more than ever my goal is to be packing arenas, selling amphitheaters. That’s where my eye is now, to focus to keep making music for the fans. And being able to one day look back and say ‘remember when we couldn’t even sell out this room and now we’re selling out arenas.’”

• About those tattoos: “The sleeve on my left arm” — with fat black wavy lines and a giant cross on his forearm — “is the same sleeve as my dad has. The other one is music related, including an old microphone.” He also pays a nod to his grandfather on his right arm.
• Creating moments: “There’s enough bad stuff going on in the world so for 30, 45 minutes I want to take people’s minds off that and create moments.”