Featured Musician: Ray Shavers
From Kris Youmans
Ray Shavers has spent most of his adult life in the Coweta County area.
He has worked as a subcontractor laying hardwood floors to make a living, enjoying the creative process of it and meeting new people every day. What he really loves most though is creating new music, writing lyrics, and arranging the songs in his own unique style. He challenges himself to make each song very different from the last one.
Ray has performed with many local musicians in most venues in this area. He currently has his own band featuring
Jacob Joiner on lead guitar, Allen Windom on bass guitar, Mark Pietrofere on drums, Steve Arnold on saxophone and Barefoot Slim Hall on steel guitar. Ray plays guitar and is lead singer and his wife, Rebecca Shavers, sings harmony.
They perform mostly Ray’s originals and some classic country honoring artists such as Merle Haggard, Toby Keith and Hank, Jr. Lately, he’s been enjoying some of the newer artists such as Red Clay Strays and Zack Top because of their traditional, yet unique sound. They are presently rehearsingfor the Southern Music Festival at the Phenix Drag Strip in Phenix City, AL on November 8, where Ray will be the headliner.
Ray and Rebecca, also perform as a duet and Ray plays along with his original studio track they recorded in Nashville at Omni Sound Studio so that everyone can hear the full arrangement of the songs with some of the best studio musicians in Nashville. Bill McDermott, award-winning producer at Omni, said that Ray’s songs are stellar! He’s produced many famous stars and said Ray was a very solid songwriter and music arranger and that his songs are relatable, timeless and unique.
Ray has been nominated for Country Male Vocalist of the year at the 2025 Josie Awards and will be walking into the Grand Ole Opry on the red carpet with Rebecca by his side. He says he is very honored to be in this category and whether he wins or not, they will enjoy and cherish this experience.
Shaver’s song “Drink Her Gone”is currently at number 60 on Cashbox Music Charts thanks to his manager, Beverly Gosden Jenkins at BGJ Promotions and Music Group. She has dedicated a lot of time in getting Ray’s songs out on independent radio stations all over the world and her expertise and experience is really paying off. She inducted him on her A-TEAM of rising artists. He also did a video for “Drink Her Gone”which was recorded in their private Music Barn in Moreland.. The video is on Ray Shavers music channel on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@rayshavers7240). Ray has been a featured artist two times in Cashbox Magazine in the past few months.
He is currently working on a new video for his song “I Hope Heaven Has A Honey Hole.” The song is about his grandmother, Annie Mae Elmore, taking him fishing when he was a small boy and his father, Kenneth Shavers, who was also a musician, taking him fishing as a teen.
“Both are already in heaven, so I wanted to do a video featuring my mother, Dorothy Blanton, as GrannyElmore, a family friend, Liam, as me as a child then I’ll play the part of my dad and another family friend will play the teen version of me,” Shavers says. “It will mean a lot to me and my family.”
Ray said and wanted to thank Georgia Gold Promotions for filming and editing the video and Rebecca for directing the video and organizing the logistics. Ray says that he’s enjoyed this process of writing, recording, and making videos to create something meaningful for his children and grandchildren as his legacy.
Rebecca said Ray has included some family and friends in both videos so that everyone he loves can be a part of his music. “After all, that’s why he does what he does,” she said.
Good luck to you, Ray, at the Josie Music Awards on November 2nd. We are hometown proud.
