Meet Ron

Meet Ron Rayho, a friendly soul that has a rather vast amount of stories he could tell. A country music-loving, retired truck driver residing in Seymour, one might never guess this happy-go-lucky person has won a couple of awards for his endeavors as a songwriter. “It was about 1985 or ’86 when my grandson was born,” says Ron. “He just seemed so happy all the time I wrote a song about him when he was around 8 months old.” The song is called “Lil Boy,” for which Ron won an award from The Country Music Association in 2002. In 1995 soon after his first wife died, he was contacted by Hill Top Records out in Hollywood California requesting any gospel songs. “I don’t know how they got my number but they did.” Ron continued, “I thought I was going to be the next George Strait. I could play a few chords [on a guitar] and that was it. I never got any better.” Apparently they liked his work. The Executive Producer of Hill Top Records Roy Stuart wrote Ron a couple more times requesting music that would go on other CD projects that they were working on. Many of you may remember Ron Stuart from the 1960’s TV show Gomer Pyle, USMC. Mr. Stuart played Corporal Boyle, the desk clerk for Sgt. Carter. Ron submitted a song for each project; all were accepted and placed on each of the 3 CDs. The first was “Lil Boy” on the “Color Me Country” CD, released in 2001. The second song published, “Man Oh Man,” was put on the “Stand Tall America” CD which were songs compiled to encourage Americans soon after the 9/11 attacks. The third song published was placed on the “New York, New York” CD and Roy’s contribution is titled “It’s Me NYC.” It’s the “Man Oh Man” song that got Ray noticed again by The Country Music Association. He received the 2003 Horizon Award Songwriter Of The Year, Patriotic, for that effort. With this kind of recognition, one might think one might hear some of Ron’s songs on the local radio stations around here. That’s not the case. All though Ron has contacted many of the local stations they haven’t shown any interest in giving his songs air-time. It’s not from a lack of trying on Mr. Rayho’s part, as he states, “One of the South Knoxville local stations receptionists probably thought I was a stalker I was stopping in there so much!” Ray is persistent. “A lot of people would say to me, ‘you’ll never get recorded,’ and I’d tell them ‘What if Columbus said the world is flat? You’d still be in Italy baling spaghetti!’” The music put to Ron’s words may remind you of the country music sound of the mid-60’s through the 70’s. Slower drums, slide guitars and easy chord changes. These days you can catch Ron at his job driving the tram at the Knoxville Zoo. If he’s having a Marlon Brando “The Wild One” kind of day, you may see his Songwriter of the Year award strapped to the front of his tram! His work is available for purchase on the internet at www.hilltoprecords.com. From the home page click on “How To Order Product” and fill in the fields required. Certain fields require specific information about the CD such as the code number and CD title. The “Color Me Country” CD code number is CMC-102. The “Stand Tall America” code is STA-105 and the “New York New York” CD code is NYC-103. The CD’s are also available through the mail but you still have to go online and download or print the order form to purchase by check.