Katy Hobgood Ray Featuring Dave Ray

I Dream of Water

Out of the Past

You may have already read about Katy Hobgood Ray on these pages with Richard’s interview. If so, (and even if not) you realize that she’s a versatile artist, probably most conveniently labeled as a folk-blues artist but that term does not really do her justice. She is known for children’s music with the band Confetti Park, she sings with Steve Howell &The Mighty Men, she and partner Dave Ray are members of Friends of Leadbelly, and she has performed at numerous festivals in the Louisiana region, including the prestigious New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Principally, Hobgood Ray is a songwriter residing with Dave Ray between Memphis, where both hold down day jobs, and New Orleans.

I Dream of Water is a collection of mostly original songs either written by Katy, Dave, or in collaboration. The duo writes of their experiences in the Deep South and share the lead vocals with support from eight musicians and vocalists, including horns, one of whom is the acclaimed Brad Walker on saxophone. It’s a loosely themed album, centered on water, which plays such a pivotal role of both sustenance and devastating danger in the Louisiana region. In the opening “Lollie Bottoms” Hobgood Ray goes from admiring have the river runs through Faulkner County to fearing its power with these lines – “River eats away the dirt of our levee/ Levee Lollie, can you hold for one more day?”

This theme become even more direct in “Washed Away,” the only tune that both co-wrote, as Hobgood Ray eulogizes those who have lost their lives in a piano-driven gospel-oriented tune with background vocalists giving it the choir effect. The up-tempo “Oh Devil” speaks to the Jim Crow South with a greasy slide guitar from Greg Spradlin and bluesy trumpet lines from Scott Frock. The atmospheric title track is set to spare accompaniment, led by Chuck Dodson on keys and drummer Dave Hoffpauir. Again, she sings about water, the constant fear that one has growing up in the floodplain.

The vocal duet between she and Dave Ray, the lilting “House Divided” deceptively serves as a metaphor not only for two quarreling lovers but the state of the country today.  The two pull no punches in the Dave Ray penned anthemic “Dirty Water,” about their beloved New Orleans that has still not recovered from the devastation of Katrina. Katy sings the last verse with an extra venom – “The president told us nothing would stand in his way/He’d move heaven and earth to make us whole once again/We waited so long, but the phone never rang/The promise meant nothing, and nothing has changed.”

Spradlin plays keening dobro on Katy’s heartfelt interpretation of Lead Belly’s “Little Children Blues,” originally recorded in 1940. “Des Allemands” is one of the brightest tunes, recalling a road trip across the bayou south of New Orleans for a reunion in a small parish town. It’s a showcase of sorts for Frock’s trumpet and Walker’s sax. Dave Ray takes the vocal lead on his own “That Really Matters,” a sharing of some of life’s important lessons and the most ostensibly bluesy track. The closing “Kings, Queens And Jesters” is a bonus live recording with Katy playing the role of Edith Piaf during the Great War, urging us to celebrate the joys of living while we still have time.

Until now Katy Hobgood Ray has been a leading artist in children’s music and a bandmate in adult-oriented roots music, so this effectively marks her debut as a leader in the latter. Shae and partner Dave Ray certainly have the writing chops, and they’ve put together a varied, memorable album. Their future seems especially bright. We can’t wait to hear more from this duo.

• Jim Hynes