Ray Herndon (born July 14, 1960) is an American country singer/songwriter and guitarist known mainly for playing with Lyle Lovett's Large Band and McBride & the Ride.
Shortly after finishing at Mesa Community College he left the family business against his mother's wishes,[4] joining a Phoenix houseband, J. David Sloan and the Rogues.
[11] Looking to "expand [his] horizons,"[4] in 1989, he became a founding member of the country group McBride & the Ride; they had early success[12] with four consecutive top-five singles.
[14] After the 2002 split, he released a solo album, Livin’ the Dream (with musical guests, including Lyle Lovett, Jessi Colter, Jon Randall Stewart, Sonya Isaacs and Clint Black).
His major successes included co-writing Kenny Chesney's breakout Me and You and his own My Dog Thinks I'm Elvis, which was used in a television commercial for Radio Shack.
[13] Besides Chesney, he has written songs for Aaron Tippin, Lee Greenwood, Linda Davis, Sonya Isaacs and McBride & the Ride.
After his time as a Nashville songwriter,[17] he returned to Arizona to help his family run the Handlebar J, where he and his brother Ron have done weekly shows.
[25] He has remained active in the local Arizona music scene with mentoring young artists[26] and 2022 performances with Matt Rollings[27] and a tribute to Jerry Riopelle.