Michael Ray’s new song “Whiskey and Rain” is equal parts Ronnie Milsap and Gary Allan, a mix of the piano man’s Eighties swing and the Nineties lonesomeness of Allan’s Smoke Rings in the Dark.
“It’s been nothing but a hangover trying to get over you,” Ray sings in a pronounced but easygoing twang, a sign that he’s embracing a natural throwback country sound over the more modern vibes of past hits like “Kiss You in the Morning” and “One That Got Away.” “Till the bottle runs out or the clouds roll away, it’s just whiskey and rain,” goes the chorus.
Produced by Ross Copperman, “Whiskey and Rain” is the first new music from the Florida native since 2018’s Amos LP and arrives with an accompanying performance video. Josh Thompson and Jesse Frasure wrote the song, which follows up Ray’s last single, “Her World or Mine.”
“I went to Ross with the idea that I wanted to be my authentic self on this record, because now I truly know who that is,” Ray says in a statement. “I thought, ‘If we could marry what I love and pair it with his melodic talent to create this 90’s/now sound, I think that would work.’ And it has.”