Steve Tyrell’s Shades of Gray is set for release on September 24th on all digital platforms. Here’s what Steve had to say: “When a voice can come through the radio, make you stop what you’re doing, and touch your soul, that’s powerful,” says Steve Tyrell. “And that’s what happened to me the first time I heard Ray Charles. There was nothing he couldn’t sing—blues, soul, country, standards—and growing up in Texas, I’d sit in my room for hours on end just listening to Brother Ray.”
Years later, Tyrell would find himself doing the exact same thing, hunkering down at home during the COVID-19 pandemic and playing Charles’ records on repeat as he put the finishing touches on his thirteenth studio album, Shades of Ray (The Songs of Ray Charles). Recorded in New York and LA, the collection honors the late soul icon’s towering legacy, but it’s no ordinary tribute. For starters, the record actually includes Ray Charles himself, who appears here on a previously unreleased duet with Tyrell.
