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Raymond Cave, the "Musician?"
When Ray sneaked down stairs to watch Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan TV show in 1955, he knew playing accordion was not going to be "cool" unless he could sing. He formed a band in public school, becoming the lead singer by default.
At age 15, he auditioned for a band called "The Dimensions" and became the lead singer, transitioning from The Beach Boys to Beatles to Rolling Stones. With band leader, Dick Craftchick, and Johhny Allinotte, Ted Wall, Frank Boyer, the band played high school dances, teenage clubs and opened for groups like JB & The Playboys and The Dave Clark Five.
"I never considered myself a good singer or keyboard player but I loved to entertain on stage. It came easy with real talent behind me. Dick, Johhny, Teddy and Frank were all top notch musicians. Besides, we turned the volume up!"
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After a 20 year hiatus from his musical roots, Raymond Cave picked up the guitar while flying in the Caribbean and started writing songs. "Singing for supper was a lesson is humility but it was good for the soul." After anchoring his sailboat at Foxy's on Host Van Dyke Island (BVI), he was playing to the tourist crowd, when Jimmy Buffet sat down beside him and joined in on one of Ray's songs.
"Hey, we were both playing for beers, working the crowd for tips. Jimmy said to look him up in Key West. So eventually, I did and we played for beers at his Margaritaville club."
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In Key West, Florida, banging a hammer during the day and performing at night at local bars such as The Bull and Sloppy Joe's, he also produced songs for local artists under his Hawkin' Table Records label, including his own series of albums titled Capt'n Cave.
"My fourth album went "Copper". I sold a 1000 units and T-shirts while playing for tips. Now that's hawkin' tables!"
In 1992, his ole '41 Ford flathead coupe rumbled up to Big Pine Key to attend Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) forums held by coordinator, Nancy Tunick (also radio programmer by day). That eventually led to NSAI seminars in Nashville, including song camps with writers such as Jon Ims ("She's in Love with the Boy"), Angela Kaset ("Something in Red"), Ralph Murphy (''Half The Way'', ''He Got You''), and Grammy award winner, Don Schlitz.
"Thanks to Nancy Tunick, I snagged an invite to song camp 101 with the pros in Nashville. Hell, I had to sell my saxophone for the airfare! I pitched a song called Linda Melts the Snow but Angela Kaset didn't get the title. Actually, I didn't get it - the lyrics didn't support the hook. That's when I learned lyrics and structure are everything in any kind of music, be it country, pop or rock - gotta nail-it-to-the-wall."
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"If you think you're good...go to Nashville, stand in line at the Blue Bird Cafe and play 2 songs in-the-round. After that, I left my guitar in the case for 2 weeks."
Not to be discouraged, he continued with NSAI song camps 102, 103...and attended monthly seminars on songwriting, copyrights, publishing, song-plugging, radio promotion, contracts and the business side of the music industry.
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