Country singer Michael Ray to hit the stage for Tucson rodeo concert

Country singer Michael Ray might have a little extra giddy-up in his go-go at his Tucson rodeo concert Saturday night.

“We’re coming with a plan, Arizona,” the 31-year-old “Think A Little Less” singer said during a call from home in Nashville. “We are so ready ... and we’re just itching to get back out on the road.”

For the first time in his seven-year career, Ray gave himself a little breathing room to start the new year. Instead of hitting the road right after the holidays, he holed up in the studio writing songs and laying the groundwork for his third studio album, which he hopes to release late this year. The first singles could be on the radio by late spring, he guessed.

“I think throughout the years you learn your system and what works best for you to be at your best in these moments,” he said. “And what I’ve learned in the last few years is when you have 130 to 140 (shows) a year and trying to fit in making a record or writing or whatever that is, the whole process, it was just hard to balance them both.

“This year is the first where I was able to actually take the time to write and carry on the creative process of doing a record,” he added. “It’s been a really cool new process for me, to rethink about what I want.”

And what he wants is an album that follows the path set down by his first two — his 2015 debut “Michael Ray” and the 2018 followup “Amos.” Each spun off several charted singles, including the Top 10 hit “One That Got Away.”

“There are a few songs on (‘Amos’) that I have really been proud of,” Ray said, ticking off the songs “Her World or Mine,” “Dancing Forever” and “Drink One for Me.”

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“That record really, kinda honestly, gave me the confidence to do this third album the way I am now,” he said.

The new album will still have Ray’s signature neo-trad sensibilities that equally balance country’s lighter pop sound. But his lighter side won’t be as light, he said.

“We’re not going to change the sound, we’re just adding onto it,” Ray said.

But more than anything, Ray is hoping his fans walk away with a better understanding of who he is beyond the chart placements and gold record sales.

“I want to tell more of my story, I want to be able to show that a little more, and just try to be more vulnerable and open on this record,” said Ray, who last year married fellow country star Carly Pearce; the pair on Valentine’s Day released their first duet “Finish Your Sentences.”

“I really want to connect who Michael Ray is and where I come from. Until this moment I haven’t really been able to address that so it will kinda be, in some ways, a re-introduction,” he added. Ray headlines the second official 2020 La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo concert at Desert Diamond Casino Saturday, Feb. 22. Country legend Charley Pride is first up at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21.