Bennett Innovations' Music Director, Greg McGuirk is putting the finishing touches on the debut CD release from local artist Cari Ray. Cari approached Greg last year about helping her produce the project, but Greg had initially passed on it because of other obligations.

"I was knee deep in preparations for my church's Christmas programs, so I wasn't taking on any new after-hours projects." Ever the persistent one, Cari approached Greg again this year. "I realized pretty quickly that Cari was extremely talented as both a singer and songwriter, and I really wanted to sink my teeth into her music. I also knew that I wouldn't be able to pull it off as an after-hours project, because it would be too time consuming, so I approached Bruce about letting me do this as a Bennett project during business hours."

With Cari being agreeable to be flexible on scheduling (so that Greg could keep up on regular BI projects) Greg & Cari got busy.

"I started by going through her songs & picking them apart. This was the 1st test of our working relationship because I was making judgments on what songs were strongest, what songs needing revisions / new sections, & what songs went well together. Cari was very receptive & responded with some great new ideas."

Greg enlisted some of the city's finest musicians to bring Cari's music to life: guitarists Sandy Williams & Doug Henthorn, bassist Jeff Stone, drummer John Wittmann and vocalist Rita Keith (who added some vocal harmonies).

"Sandy is always fun on projects like these, because he shows up with virtually a truck load of electric & acoustic guitars, mandolin, dobro, baritone guitar, high strung guitar. It made for a lot of experimenting with sound colors that paid off nicely for Cari's music."

Cari's CD release party is set for October 17th. You can read more about this exciting new artist at her website: www.cariray.com.

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