Growing up on a cotton farm in California might not seem like the best preparation for a songwriting career, but for Ed Hill, BMI’s 2006 Songwriter of the Year, it held plenty of valuable lessons that have helped him rise to the top of his profession. The biggest one probably applied after he had been in Nashville awhile struggling, trying to make things happen and painting houses just to eat.

“I was about to leave town,” explains Ed. “It’s just so hard when you start out, and I didn’t really have a Plan B. But I just kept my head down like a farmer, like my daddy, and kept working hard. And if you do that, eventually you’ll work your way into some luck.”

Ed had plenty of experience to draw on from his early years as part of the ’70’s Bakersfield scene. He played five nights a week at a club where legends like Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson would sit in with the band, and later joined the famed Palomino Club house band in L.A. Ed became so adept on the keys while out West that he was nominated for the Academy of Country Music’s Piano Player of the Year in 1980 and ’82.

Arriving in Nashville in 1986, Ed joined AMR/New Haven Music, and was soon getting cuts by Reba McEntire (“Til Love Comes Again”), Faith Hill (“It Matters to Me”), and John Michael Montgomery (“Be My Baby Tonight”). He also scored hits with Trace Adkins’s “Songs About Me,” and Martina McBride’s “Whatever You Say,” and is currently on the charts with Tracy Lawrence’s comeback hit, “Find Out Who Your Friends Are.” And he has a track on Reba’s upcoming duets album with LeAnn Rimes, “When You Love Somebody Like That.”

Known to write a song a week on average, Ed never knows where inspiration will strike, so he follows one strict rule of thumb: “I always make my wife buy me shirts with front pockets on them, and I carry a pen and pad in that pocket, no matter where I go. That way I can just pull it out when I get an idea, which could be at any time. I always have my antennas out…it’s fun!”

It is a rare creative soul who can work at the highest artistic levels in two distinct disciplines. Ray Stephenson has just this kind of soul.

Wildly literate, utterly artistic, impossibly ambitious, absolutely a slave to his art, the South Georgian is completely committed to the truth. He is a world class  songwriter, recording artist, an intensely captivating live singer, guitar player, record producer & virtuoso painter. Add in the ability to express the uniquely personal in a universal way, and you have a true artist. 

Ray Stephenson does exactly that in his paintings, his songwriting & his performances. 

As a musician, Ray Stephenson is a Grammy Award winning, Platinum selling singer/songwriter from Nashville, TN. His successes include winning CCMA Songwriter of the Year in 2013, writing the title track of Kenny Chesney’s album Hemingway’s Whiskey, and writing the Blake Shelton/Miranda Lambert duo and album title track, Red River Blue. Both reached #1 on the Billboard Album Charts and were certified Platinum. Some of the most revered and iconic legends in Country Music have recorded his music, including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Merle Haggard. He’s been a part of 4 Grammy nominated projects and 1 Grammy winning project (Guy Clark’s final recording, My Favorite Picture Of You, which brought home the Grammy “Best Folk Album” in 2015).

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As a painter, Ray's paintings are hanging in the homes of collectors like Willie Nelson and Oprah Winfrey.  In 2012, Ray became the Official Painter of the Monsters of Rock Tour. He’s been featured at the Bluebird Cafe, Ascend Amphitheater, Nashville Airport, the Country Music Hall of Fame ,Gaylord Hotels, Aloft Hotel, 3rd and Lyndsley, CMT and Two Old Hippies. He's had feature articles in Nashville Arts & Southwest Georgia Living magazines.

His paintings explore his love of color, texture, music & nature. Ray’s artistic influences are found in the paintings of Odd Nerdrum, Gustav Klimpt, Rembrandt and Andrew Wyeth. His fine art is highly sought after by art collectors & is a part of several prestigious private collections. He has exhibited his work in Nashville, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Atlanta, & the US Virgin islands.