Small Town Dreams to Social Media Success Story | Marty Ray Project DSH #956

All right, brother, let's do it.

All right, stop, collaborate, and listen.

ICE is back, my brand new invention.

Something grabs a hold of me tightly, flowing like a harpoon.

Daily and nightly, will it ever stop, y'all?

I don't know.

Turn off the lights and I'll glow to the extreme.

I'll rock a mic like a vandal.

Light up a stage, watch a chalk like a candle dance,

caress the speaker that booms.

I'm killing your brain like a poisonous mushroom deadly.

When I play a dope melody, anything less than the best is a felony, love it or leave it, you better gain weight.

Better hit bulls out of it.

Kid don't play.

If it was a problem,

I would solve it.

Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it.

Ice

vanilla eyes,

Vanilla ice ice baby

Oh ice ice baby

Vanilla ice ice baby

Oh ice ice baby

Now that the body is jumping

With the bass kicking the fingers all pumping quick to the point to the point no faking.

Cooking them seeds like a pound of bacon.

Burning up for not quick and nimble, I go crazy when I hear that symbol.

I am with the soup of tempo.

I'm on a roll.

It's time to go solo rolling

in my five-point goal with the rack top down so my bit can roll.

If it was a problem,

I would solve it.

Check out the hook while Shawnee revolves in ice.

Vanilla

Vanilla ice, ice, baby,

oh ice, ice, baby, yeah,

vanilla

ice, ice, baby,

oh, ice, ice, baby.

Now that the body is jumping,

the base kicked in, the fingers all pumping quick to the point, to the point, no faking, cooking them seeds like a pound of bacon.

Thank you,

man.

Thank you so much, bro.

I signed my first album ever, my first signature ever.

to BB King.

After that moment, I stopped worrying about trying to get a record deal.

And whatever the Lord does,

whatever Jesus brings me, that's what I'll take, however it goes.

And that's where I'm at still this day.

You're a blessing, and hopefully I'm a blessing to you.

All right, so that was vanilla ice, right?

That was vanilla ice, you called it.

What made you want to pick that one out of all your repertoire?

Well, you know,

it was a thing where...

Actually, to be honest, I was learning the guitar at the time.

I was trying to learn how to play guitar, and I was in my early 20s, which is when my music career actually started.

I was in my early 20s, and I started picking around on some things, and I learned those chords, G, D, E minor, and C.

And I said, what could I do with this?

I'm just playing around, and I played two different songs, because I was big into hip-hop back in the 90s, you know, when I was a young boy.

Believe it or not, by looking at me, you wouldn't think that.

But

so I was just picking around and the first one was actually not that.

First one was

nothing but a G thing.

You ever heard that?

Yeah, I have.

Yeah, so it was like it was more of a picking thing.

So it was like,

one, two, three, and two the four.

Snoop Doggy Dogging, Dr.

Dre is at the door.

Ready to make an entrance.

So back on the, you know, we're about to wrap this up.

Could you imagine that sounding like that?

Nah.

Right.

It's crazy.

So I started with that one, but then I did the Ice Ice Baby, and I thought it's been several weeks since I released a song because I had one viral video that really launched my career in music.

And it was a parody of a beard song called All About That Bass, but I called it All About That Beard.

And I parodied it, and it got like 2 million views in a day.

And I thought, wow, I need to be consistent now because maybe God put me on this path to do it.

And so I actually told the Lord, I said, if you want me to do this, Honor the effort I put forth and I'll keep doing it.

So I was doing that.

And then it was a span of about two weeks.

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weeks that i hadn't posted a video and so then i took this ice ice baby thing and that i'd worked on in the past and i said well it's it was about three o'clock in the morning and i posted it at about three o'clock in the morning and even the even the description the original description said uh y'all probably won't like this you probably this is an old song it's not relative at all yeah now but this is a way i've been messing around with ice ice baby if you don't like it just wait.

I'll post another one.

I'm sorry I've been absent, right?

And I posted it, that video, and then

literally, and I know it sounds cliche, but overnight that thing got millions and millions of views.

It got posted on WorldStar Hip Hop.

It got posted on Bam Margera's website,

his Facebook, all kinds of crazy big-time people just...

took this video and posted it shared my post and it's at today accumulatively that video alone, accumulative across all social media platforms, you're talking 200 plus million views on just that one song.

Crazy.

It's got legs, man.

And so the crazy part is that

here's the wild part about when you go and you say, I'm going to do what Jesus put me here to do, he will honor that effort.

So here's what happened.

I posted that.

I had all these people messaging me.

I ran a tow truck.

I ran a tow truck at the time for my dad in Memphis, Tennessee.

And

so I wasn't thinking about, you know, who's got my number or what.

So when these people would message me and they would say, hey, we're,

Vanilla Ice is my best friend, right?

I almost send him that song.

Everybody was hearing it, you know.

Did you know him before you made the song?

Did I know Vanilla Ice?

Yeah.

No, no, that's not.

I'm about to show you how I got to know him in this story.

His so-called friends, right?

These were his,

these people said they were his best friends.

There were several of them.

And they said, give me your number and I'll give it to him.

And I said,

what I got to lose?

You know, my number is a tow truck number anyway.

So I said, I'll send them my number and maybe at the very least I get a toe out of it.

So I sent all these people my number.

I said, hey, if you know him, send it to him.

I'd love to talk to him.

I'm a big fan.

And so about two months after this video posted, I get a call and I answer it just like always.

And I say, Glenn Ray's toeing.

And it's his voice.

And he goes, Hey, Marty Ray, just like that.

And I go, hey, how you you doing?

How can we help you?

He goes, what's up, man?

It's Rob.

And I said, how you doing, Rob?

How can I help you?

You know, I didn't know that his name was Rob.

And so he said, it's vanilla ice.

And I said, oh, okay,

sure.

You know, you don't believe that.

The vanilla ice is calling some old country boy like me.

Why would this be happening?

And so then he...

He says, I want to bring you out to that.

We're doing this I Love the 90s tour in Miami.

We're starting at the first show.

I want to bring you out to play with me at the end of the show.

I said, okay, man.

Hey, if I see the email, I'll believe it.

And sure enough, I got the email.

I went to Miami.

It was my second show ever that I ever done in my life.

I've done one show, and there was about 100 people there.

And I went from that one show to the second show.

Remember, I told you, God, I told God, honor the effort.

I went from one show playing for 100 people to the second show playing for 40,000.

Holy crap.

Dead serious and terrified.

Yeah,

absolutely terrified.

So that's how, and then Vanilla Ice and I became friends after that.

He took a liking to me and I sure like him.

Rob and I are friends still to this day.

And I've done several shows with him now.

Nice.

I actually brought him into Clubhouse.

Remember when Clubhouse was up there?

Yeah, that was popping.

Yeah.

I brought him into Clubhouse.

We did a room there and had thousands of people in there.

It was really cool.

Oh, yeah.

So yeah.

What's the biggest lesson you've learned from vanilla ice?

The biggest lesson is that dude is, he is really positive.

This dude is,

it's it's hard to, you never see him not smile.

I've never seen him not smiling.

Now, he might be, he might have times, I'm sure he does, where he don't smile, but if somebody's watching him, he's always smiling.

So it's as if he's figured out, and he actually sent a graduate, happy, or happy graduations, congratulations to my daughter when she graduated recently.

And one of the advice, some of the advice that he gave her was he said,

he said, always remember to pursue,

to pursue happiness, the pursuit of happiness.

and he was quoting that of course from you know the constitution yeah and uh i said man he's really done that he's really pursued happiness he's if nothing else he is pursuing happiness so i would think that that would be his stance on life yeah is to he always says get in where you fit in so whatever he means by that i don't really know but it sounds cool absolutely i think it has to do with happiness You know what I mean?

Every time I see him on television, he's smiling.

Smiling.

Look at his Instagram post.

He's just happy.

He seemed like a really happy dude.

He had some times in his life, though, where he was not happy.

He was on a show called Surreal Life and stuff like that, and it seemed like he wasn't happy.

But I didn't know him back then.

It could have been all show.

I don't know.

But

he's just a happy dude.

So I like that about him.

I like that

he's figured out how to find joy in things.

No, that is admirable because of what the music industry, how they kind of kicked him out, and he still is positive.

That's really cool to see.

The music industry will chew you up and spit you out.

You mean nothing to them.

They're just Rick Barker will probably tell you that.

You're just a number to them, right?

That's it.

That's all you are, man.

If you ain't performing, it used to be in the music industry, you used to could, they would have development deals and they would bring you in and they would put money behind you, develop you and things like that.

And they would believe in you or not believe in you.

And then

if you, if you had a chance to prove yourself after they felt like you were ready, and those times were good and bad for some artists,

but for some of them, at least they had the chance to be, to get a chance to be developed.

You know what I mean?

And they don't have that anymore.

If you got a train going, like I have probably collectively, I don't know, maybe 1.5 million fans across all platforms.

Not in any one place, though.

So maybe, maybe I could go to a record label and say, hey, here's what I've done.

Here's some numbers.

Will you help me now go further?

And they probably would.

I don't know, but maybe, maybe not.

But

that seems like the kind of M.O.

that they have.

You get something going, let us jump on board.

Right.

You know, and it's not, it's not, let us help you get something going.

That's over, it seems like.

It seems like more artists are going independent these days.

That's what I've been from the start.

Well, not from the start.

I mean, I've been that from the start, but that wasn't my intention from the start.

I really,

I thought that, I thought that giving,

I took the last bit of money I had in the bank and I went and made an EP.

And I had this EP and I had the honor and the gift to be able to go to certain shows.

And I was actually, you know, and when you get anytime you get an idea, there's a spark there and you're gung-ho, you know, you're going after it and you go, I'm, this is it.

The Lord put me on this path and I'm going after it.

But then you want quick success.

So you wanted to go quickly and quickly and up and up and never see a valley.

But sometimes, sometimes you have to go up and then you got to be humbled to get through the valley.

You don't even build faith unless you go into the valley.

There's no faith built on a top of a mountain because all you know is good.

You don't build faith to believe in the good if you've only experienced the good.

It's kind of like the tree in the garden.

Why was it there?

So if there was no choice of evil, then there was only good.

There's no choice at all.

So it was like, that's how it was in my career.

But when I first started, it was like I had this drive and I had this album and I was going to all these different shows of these famous artists like B.B.

King and Charlie Daniels and all these people, these legends.

And I was, I thought by handing them this, this CD, one of them would listen and then I would get a record deal and all the whole, the whole rigmarole, you know, the whole thing.

And one time, this was, I was giving up, really.

I was done.

I told the Lord, I said, I guess it ain't meant to be because

I put forth effort and I'm trying to hand this album out.

And this was before the Vanilla Ice song.

And I said, I'm handing this album out.

Nobody cares about it.

And then I went to the last show I was going to was a B.B.

King concert, one of his last shows.

And I was on the front row because because I knew the guy that booked entertainment.

And I was sitting there on the front row, and B.B.

King's out there.

He's old at this point.

He's in a wheelchair, so they rolled him out and put him in a chair.

And he's playing.

And as he's playing, I'm just sitting there, you know, just vibing the whole time.

You ever listen to B.B.

King?

No.

Oh, man.

You got to pull up B.B.

King.

When you leave here, just on the way home, just put some in.

And so I'm sitting there vibing and just enjoying this time, really.

And so he stops the show.

He's sitting there and he goes, everybody hang on.

Everybody hold on.

They've got a trumpet section.

He's got all these things.

And everybody just stops because he's the boss.

And then he goes, points right at me.

And he goes, as long as that man right there is having a good time, so am I.

And I was going, what in the world?

Why is he pointing at me?

You know?

And so all these people, they think I know B.B.

King.

They think I'm famous.

And hey, how do you know B.B.?

And I'm like, I don't know him any different than you do.

I'm just a fan.

And so, like I said, at this time, I'm giving up on music.

So it was like God's going, no, you ain't giving up.

I'm going to use kings

to exalt you, to keep you going.

Because the proverb says,

a man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.

And so I live by that scripture.

That's my life.

And I was sitting on that front row.

And when he stopped the show for no other reason than just to say that, I go, wow, you must want me to keep going.

And so then afterwards,

this is crazy.

After that, I get a chance to, a chance, hope I get a chance to meet him.

Neil, the guy who booked him, he's taking us backstage and they're leading us backstage with a flashlight that's down like this right here.

And it's the side of the stage and there's security guards, you know, they're all standing there like this to keep us from going onto the stage.

Now, I don't know why they're doing that.

I just figured because it's dark.

You can't hardly see.

So I'm just, I'm just, I'm the only white boy going back.

It's because it's all his family.

It's all BB's family.

And so I'm not even supposed to be back there.

So I was at the back of the line of like 50 people.

And I'm in the back of the line.

I got my Martin guitar and I'm holding it and I'm watching.

But before I even get back there, they're leading us and this, there's these security guards.

And as I'm going back, this hand, as I'm walking by, this hand comes out between these security guards and grabs my hand and starts pulling me towards the security guards.

And I'm doing like this.

And they're going, you got to, what are you doing?

You got to move on.

I said, somebody's got to hold of my hand.

And they do this and they part and it's B.B.

King.

And he's holding my hand.

He's sitting in a wheelchair behind the security guards.

And he goes like this and he goes, son, I want you to know I enjoyed playing for you tonight.

And I go,

Mr.

King, I love you, man.

I love you.

He goes, I love you too, son.

He said, I'll see you back there like that right there.

And I go, and I had an album, a B.B.

King album and a picture.

of B.B.

King.

And he signed both of those.

And I had my guitar.

He didn't sign it right there.

I didn't even know if he was going to.

So I'm waiting in this line now in the back, right by the the green room it was as if bb king himself the king of blues waited for me to walk by there when he saw that i was going to come through there imagine that is that wild or what crazy that's insane why would that happen so then i'm sitting in the line i'm watching as his people are turning all the all these other all the family members away with their guitars.

They got guitars and they're being turned away.

He won't sign them because he was contractually obligated to only sign Gibson guitars.

So I'm watching them go away and I'm saying,

he's never going to sign a Martin man.

That's like one of their number one competitors, like in acoustic guitars.

So I'm thinking, I ain't going to get to get this signed.

And at the very end of it, like I'm watching him and his energy is just real low and he's gone through all these people.

And then I come in, as soon as I come in, he goes, Hey,

my friend, like that, just lights up as if he didn't have a worry in the world.

And I come in there, and I still,

I'm almost in tears.

I don't don't understand what's going on other than it's a divine appointment.

It's divine from the Lord.

It's the only explanation.

I walk up to him.

I hand him my Martin guitar and he looks up at the head of it and he looks up at me and he goes, I'm going to sign it anyway.

And he goes, hand me that Sharpie.

And he signs B.B.

King and

he hands the guitar back to me.

He hands the Sharpie off and we're about to take a picture.

But before we do that, I got that album.

This is crazy.

I hand him my album and he goes, my, my, my.

I knew that.

That's what he said now he had no way of knowing this i had no fans at all not one fan and so he goes i knew that he said who's got that sharpie and i said no no mr king that's for you i want you to i want you he said i know who this is for i said oh okay and so they brought the sharpie back and as when he brought that sharpie back he goes i want you to sign this to mr bb king i signed my first album ever my first signature ever to B.B.

King.

Wow.

And I handed it back to him.

And I knelt down beside him.

And that picture is still on my wall today.

And I held that album, and he held it, he held it up too.

And they took a picture of me and B.B.

King, and I got that picture, and I got the picture that he signed and the album framed in my office.

Wow.

Is that crazy or what?

No, it's part of him lives inside you, man.

Dude.

Sounds like it, right?

That story keeps me going.

But that all started from you asking.

You got to rein me in because I can be long-winded.

You know what you're getting into.

Though,

that was from the question, independent.

So after that moment,

I stopped worrying about trying to get a record deal.

I said, I'll just go about it.

And whatever the Lord does,

whatever Jesus brings me, that's what I'll take, however it goes.

And that's where I'm at this day.

This being on here, this is amazing, right?

To be on your show is an amazing gift.

That's from him.

That's a blessing from him.

You're a blessing.

And hopefully I'm a blessing to you in some way.

So all these things like this happen.

And it just continues.

It's his way to continue to honor my little bit of effort.

Wow.

That's the truth.

Yeah, you've been at this for a while, man.

A lot of people would have given up in your shoes.

Yeah, man.

You can't give up when you're on a mission.

You know what I mean?

If you really look at it as a calling, you can't give up on that because that's your purpose.

If it's your purpose, then there's no giving up.

There's no plan B.

You might do other things to supplement the plan A,

like I do.

I do other things now, but I didn't always, but I do now.

I just started doing other things, but you might do other things to supplement, but that calling always stays true.

You never give up on that.

You'll die going after that calling because it's not really for you.

It's for other people.

You see, here's the deal.

This is the truth.

People don't realize this.

Everybody in this world would have a better life if they realized one thing.

Jesus said when he gave his life on the cross,

he said, love others as I have loved you.

And that love, if you trace it back to the root meaning, it means breathe for.

One of the meanings is breathe for.

imagine that if he said breathe for others as i have breathed for you that means you don't get breath for yourself you're only breathing for everybody around you wow i'm breathing for you you're breathing for me and we're breathing for all of them so seeing that that takes the selfishness right out of it yeah because every breath you breathe is for somebody else wow and when you take the selfishness out of it your purpose is great see

Again, I can go forever.

So if you got another question, maybe you should just ask

because

I can just talk, man.

No, it's important.

I talked a lot on the show about purpose.

So a lot of people struggle to find it.

You know why people struggle with purpose?

Because

science, NASA, all these entities, whatever, whether good or bad, they tell the world that they are in an ever-expanding universe.

And if they die, there's not much importance.

Nothing really happens.

No big deal.

We're on the animals' planets or whatever.

But that's not true.

See, God said the opposite of that.

He said, I built all of this.

I made all of this creation, and then I put you here.

You are the most prized creation.

You are the most treasured thing, and I made you in my image.

All of this is for you.

All of it.

So then when you die, it is greatly important to heaven.

It's greatly, it's of great importance and sorrow to them.

If you die, and it cuts off that purpose,

it's a sorrow for heaven.

And he doesn't look at it the same way as

whoever it is, science or national, whoever it is that says those things about it doesn't really matter because they're trying to see the enemies, the enemy's job is to take value and purpose out of people, to make them think they have no value, when we are the most valuable thing here.

Humans are the most valuable thing here.

And we are under attack actually from certain groups and sects saying that we are the problem here.

When this whole planet, this whole earth is for us.

That's really the difference in living for the Lord and

not living for the Lord.

Because you realize that my purpose, you put me here, you knew me fearfully and wonderfully, you made me.

Before I was formed in my mother's womb, you knew me.

And you have a purpose for me.

And I'm going to live that purpose.

You never lose sight of it if you believe that.

You see what I'm saying?

Yeah, that's deep.

But so many people have lost sight because they don't believe that.

They've been trained.

Some people have been trained up to believe in that, but then they're trained out of that through college and intellects.

And the Bible talks about, the Bible even says, it says, there are many wise people and they are forever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth.

Think about that.

They're super smart people and they still don't know the truth.

Crazy, right?

It's wild, dude.

They can study all day, but they'll never know.

They'll never know it.

Well, because they can't, because they won't humble themselves to say, I can't know.

I can't understand you, God.

I can't fully understand you.

If I could grasp you, then you wouldn't be God.

If I could say, okay, I figured him out, then he lives outside of space and time.

We try to put him in time sometimes, but he created it.

The creator of space and time can't live within it.

He has to live outside of it.

So then we go,

now I got to figure out exactly when you are going to do this, when you want this, and how you did this.

What was the beginning?

What was the end?

And he goes, I have no beginning.

I have everlasting.

see humans have a problem with that even Christians they have a problem with that and that's that's a tough thing to grasp but if you can humble yourself and go I'm okay with that I'm okay with knowing the hope in me is that is that I know that the God of all creation that he gave his life for me that he robed himself in flesh and he came down here and his name is Jesus and I thank him for doing it what an honor to know that he did that for me that he loved me that much that is that is the greatest purpose of this world And if people could really realize that, this whole thing where you say you talk about purpose a lot because people lack it, if they could just study a little bit, if they could just humble themselves a little bit, they would find real true purpose.

That is everlasting purpose.

It never leaves you.

It never leaves you.

There's always that battle with science and religion, right?

There is, but in reality,

there's a guy named John Lennox,

so smart, such a smart man.

And

he talks about science and religion, and most scientists

try to take God out of religion, but the greatest scientists that they all are inspired by, like Isaac Newton,

he didn't discover the law of gravity and say, oh, wow, the law of gravity.

Now I don't need God.

He said, oh, wow, the law of gravity.

This is how he did it.

That's what Isaac Newton says in his book, Mathematica.

He talks about God.

He's not against God.

He's trying to figure out how God did these things.

And I think God's okay with that.

I think he's fine with you.

I think he left trails here for us to figure out, to prove his existence.

So science, while today seems like the mortal enemy of God, it's because a religion of science has begun.

But the actual study of science is not really an enemy.

It's an adversary.

I mean, it's

an ally of God.

So was there a specific moment in your life that made you go all in on God?

I was actually born,

I was born into

Christianity, you know, but that doesn't mean that you're going to

stay the course.

A lot of people were born into Christianity, and I was born in an apostolic Pentecostal church, and I'm still in one.

Wow.

And you know what that is?

No.

Is it a specific branch?

You know, there's many denominations, but we know, like, the thing with us is that we believe in Acts 2.38 to the T, like the message of Acts 2.38, the plan of salvation.

And it is, Peter said unto them, Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We believe in that entirely.

Some people,

some other denominations don't.

Some of them do.

I don't know, but I'm just saying we are the ones that staunchly believe in that.

But it's

when did I, when I was, to do a, to give a, I guess, a pinpoint a moment when I was all in on Jesus was I was 18 years old.

I was living a wild life.

I mean,

in the clubs, fighting and doing all kinds of horrible tricks.

You were a hothead back in the day.

Huh?

You were a hothead back in the day.

Oh, dude.

Yeah.

Bad, bad, bad thing, man.

Bad situation.

Still have the same friends.

I mean, as far as they're still my friends, but we've all calmed down now.

But I started calming down.

from this point.

If I was 18 or 19 years old, we were in a parking lot and there was this car driving around the parking lot.

We were all parking, you know, back then, I don't know what kids do now, but back then, we would go and park on we had certain streets that we would cruise, and then we would park somewhere and gather and talk and whatnot.

And kids still do that?

No, yeah, I didn't think so.

They're online or something now, right?

They're on TikTok, parking on metaverse.

So, no, we were parked outside of a parking lot, big parking lot,

and uh,

this car is just driving around trying to hit people.

This car is like really

acting wild.

And

so

I'm walking with my buddy

across one of the streets there that was in this parking lot.

And this car comes up.

And right here,

it almost hits me.

And it just stops right here beside me.

And I'm going, whoa, man.

And so, back then, I'm a different human.

So I'm like, man, what's your problem?

You know, we're going at it.

And he's running his mouth and he's saying some things and wants to fight.

And so I said, you know what?

Let me come around there.

And so I started walking around to his side.

And

when I started walking around, he took off again.

He took off driving.

So now he's really on a mission to hit somebody.

And

as he's driving around, it's just really, everybody's frantic at this point because he's trying to hit cars.

And I think the dude was methed out or something.

But nonetheless, I took a shopping cart

and I slung the thing and hit, I mean, I hit right in the side of his car with a shopping cart.

And when I did that, I was left out there in the middle of this parking lot, no poles, no, no vehicles, no nothing.

And he made a circle and I wouldn't even, I thought he was leaving.

And I was just casually going back to the group, which was down the way.

And they started yelling.

They was like, Marty, look out.

And he had made a circle and gunned it.

It came right towards me and ended up running me over.

Holy.

He hit me right here in my side.

And I went up, I said, he said, wow.

And I went up, I hit the glass, went up in the air, and I was coming down on my head.

I was coming down with my head first.

And as I'm coming down, literally, I'm going through my mind.

And I'm thinking, and people say this all the time, but this actually happened with me.

I was flipping through.

It was as if I was in slow motion because I knew I was coming down on my head.

And I was going, man, Lord, what have I done that's any good in my life, man?

And I'm just, it's like I'm flipping through pages in my life and I can't find nothing.

I'm like, what have I done for your glory and not for my own?

And I'm just doing that.

And

it's such a long conversation that happened like that.

But like I said, it felt like slow motion.

So then as I'm coming down, I ended up saying toward the end,

I said, Lord,

if you'll save me one last time,

I'll serve you.

I promise you.

I'll run after you.

And I came down the last minute.

I hit my shoulder somehow.

Can you imagine this big head not hitting the concrete before the shoulder?

Somehow my shoulder, shoulder, I came down and at the right time, this, my head was forward and my, my shoulder hit the ground like almost like this, you know what I mean?

And so my head never even touched the ground.

Wow.

And got up.

I still have a massive hematoma right here.

You know what a hematoma is?

It's when you get hit and there's just this massive blood pocket or something.

And so it's like still right.

It's not, it's not blood anymore, but it's just soft tissue now.

But it still sits there.

And I got up.

I had a broken rib.

I had several things that went wrong.

I'm limping

to get into my buddy's truck.

He's going to take me to the hospital.

And

I said, just take me home, man.

Just take me home.

You didn't want to go to the hospital?

I didn't because

I didn't want my dad to find out because

I was worried that my dad would get so mad that he would go after the guy and try to, you know, kill him.

He was like that.

Well, with his kids, you know, with his children, who wouldn't be, right?

That's your son.

I have two daughters, so you don't have kids yet, do you?

Not yet.

So you don't know.

And you'll do anything for your children, man.

If somebody hurts your children,

you'll do anything.

Yeah, if they hurt them intentionally, I'd imagine you'd be really pissed.

Big time.

Big time.

So I didn't want him to know.

So I went in there.

He ended up finding out anyway.

Oh, he found out who did it?

He found out.

He didn't know who did it, but he found out that it happened as I was.

As I was in the, I was already there.

The cops, because he was, because like I said, he owned a sewing service, so he he knew all the cops yeah because we told for him and they ended up calling him and said hey we we uh got a call about your son he got ran over and he he's going what he goes yeah he got ran over in the in the parking lot and he goes he goes marty is you talk about marty he goes yeah he goes he's in the bathroom in here and i was in there you know licking my wounds is what i was doing and uh he busted through the door he goes hey What happened?

I said, I fell out of a truck.

Me and Tyler was messing around.

I fell out of the truck.

And he goes, no, you didn't fall out of the truck.

He goes, what happened?

And I ended up telling him.

And sure enough, he got his gun.

And, you know, he went looking for the guy, man.

And thankfully, he didn't find him because who knows what charges could have been brought up.

You know what I mean?

Could have been in prison for life

for some stupid moment in my life when I would have been the cause of that because

I couldn't control my temper because I was a tough guy.

You know, when you're a boy back then,

you think you want to be a tough guy.

You think, this is all I need.

I just need to be able to hit people.

And if I could just hit somebody and they get knocked out immediately, that'd be great, man.

I'd feel real tough.

But then if you're honest with yourself, no matter how tough you get, there's always somebody tougher.

There's always somebody that might have a knife.

They might have a gun.

So it don't really matter how tough you get.

And then it was like Jesus said, the only way for you to really be tough is right on your knees, praying.

That's really the only way because you can't protect your kids better than I can.

You can't protect your wife.

You can't protect yourself better than me.

So, so be a warrior on your knees, not with your fists.

So, that was that it all started changing right then.

I would like to say it happened overnight, but it did not.

Wow.

I just started, I started getting into his word and I started, you know, going, I plugged into church.

I said, I'm going to, I'm going to go to church, man.

I got to be in there because I'm not able to live a good life without being constantly filled with a word from the Lord.

What a story, man.

Holy crap.

Yeah, dude.

And you look at these tough guys, you know, some people call them bullies, and you look at their personal lives, and they're dealing with a lot of stuff mentally usually, and they're taking it out on other people.

Big stuff, man.

Did you see the, do you watch Theo Vaughn?

Yeah, I watch his podcast.

Did you see when Sean

Strickland was on there?

Yeah.

Did you watch all that?

He was crying.

Golly, man, that broke my heart, dude.

That broke my heart because I know where his answer is,

but he is, I can tell that he is one of the ones.

He's been hurt probably by church.

He's been hurt by people in the church.

And the answer,

if he would truly go after Jesus, Jesus will heal that broken heart, man.

You think so?

I know he would.

I've seen it happen.

I've seen it happen so many times.

It happened with me.

Wow.

It's happened, man.

My own daughter, it's happened.

Really?

For real, man.

There's no true healing other than the healing of the Lord.

It just really is.

I hate to sound so preachy on here.

I didn't intend for that to be the case, but

it just comes out because it's my life.

Yeah.

It's just my life, man.

I've noticed a lot of people, this is my first time in Nashville, but a lot of you guys are passionate about the Lord out here.

Oh, man, that's good to hear.

I didn't know that.

I'm not really from Nashville.

Oh, you're not?

I've only lived here for five years.

I'm from Memphis.

I was born in Memphis, raised in Arkansas, across the bridge.

You know, Memphis is divided by a river.

the Mississippi River.

Yeah.

And right across the river is Arkansas, but it's still called West Memphis.

Pretty weird.

So that's where you grew up?

Well, I was born in Memphis, Tennessee.

I grew up a little further down

the river, down away from the river.

It was a town called Blivel, Arkansas.

Small town?

Very small.

Actually,

to be precise, Blivel was the big town that I grew up in, not really in, but I grew up in a smaller town outside of that small, big town.

Oh, wow.

There was about probably 20,000 people in Blivel.

I grew up and graduated from a school in Gosnell, Arkansas, which was about maybe 2,000 people.

Damn, that's it.

Yeah.

Super small.

It's really small.

There's pros and cons to that, I think.

There's more pros than cons.

The cons are not having access.

Access, limited mindset.

You think your whole life is in that area.

Oh, that's true, dude.

Yeah.

You nailed it right there.

But the pros are the community.

The community is important.

You know, having people you can trust.

And you know everybody, and everybody's your friend, and everybody's looking out for everybody and it really is that way in the small towns.

But you're right about the

I always told people I was actually taught in my school and by my family they weren't

no one really in my town was ever a dreamer where they thought, hey, you know, you can dream outside your city limits.

You can go, there was a, there's a, still is, a new core, it's called New Core Steel.

And it was a, it's a big steel mill, one of the biggest in the world, I think.

And it's right in Blivo.

It's a big steel mill.

People make great money there.

They make $100,000 to $200,000 a year there.

So that was what we were taught to go after, really,

in the small town.

That was the dream.

That you're within your city limits.

This is achievable.

Don't think of that you can achieve something greater than this, higher than this, because this is what you're meant for.

You're here, right?

And so my whole life, I never did really have a...

a dream to be in music.

I never thought that I could

make a living doing music.

I never thought that.

I thought God gave me this gift.

I've always been able to sing.

I never really learned how.

I just sing and some people like it.

Wow.

You never got lessons or anything?

Never got singing lessons.

Wow.

I probably don't even sing right.

You know, to be honest with you,

if some vocal, if you got a vocal teacher or something that watches your show, they'll probably hear me and go, yeah, he could have done better if he was breathing right there or singing.

It's probably the truth.

I've seen those YouTube videos.

People would create those songs.

And I would hate for them to grab one of my videos because they would probably destroy it.

You know what I mean?

Because I don't know really how to sing.

I just do it from the heart.

And like I said, some people like it, some people don't.

I mean, from the first comment I made to you when you were singing, I felt it was spiritually like comforting.

That's crazy.

You definitely sing from the heart.

Thank you for saying that, man.

That means the world to me because that's the truth.

It's the only way I know.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah, too many people are robotic these days and they use auto-tune and stuff.

And it's like, dude, you don't even sound human at this point.

On my albums, albums, I made it a point on all of my albums that I've released, my original albums, and even on my covers, whatever I do, whatever I release musically,

there is not one stitch of auto-tune.

No melodying, no nothing.

So there might be a place where I get off pitch or something.

It stays.

I just keep it there.

Love it.

And then if people don't like it, then they don't like it.

That's kind of how it goes.

But it's a fight, though, when you have an engineer.

They're sitting there, you sure?

I mean,

it could be right here.

You could take this, bro.

I'm supposed to be here.

And I go, man, just leave it like it is.

Or I'll go in there and say, let me just try to sing it until I get it right.

Let me sing that line again.

Sometimes we'll do that.

And then, but now I got an engineer.

So, he's so awesome.

Jesse Poe, if anybody needs one, he's the guy here, man.

And he just knows me.

And he's very encouraging.

Anyway, so yeah, that's the truth, though.

Pitch correction is huge everywhere now.

You don't hear anything on a radio that doesn't have it.

Nah.

If you could make a song with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Dead or alive?

Yeah.

Man, you know,

of course, I just told a story about B.B.

King.

I thought after that day, I said, wow, we're going to do a song together at some point.

It just seems like God has intended that to happen.

But it never happened.

He died shortly, not too long after that.

So if I could do a song with somebody, that'd be really cool.

It's crazy that he played so late into his career.

I know.

He played till he died, man.

Wow.

Yeah, I like to think that my album that he took rode on his bus for his whole life.

Yeah, I wonder if he ever played it.

I don't know.

I don't really know.

I know that

the only guy that I know played it that I really know is Charlie Daniels.

You know who that is?

No.

You don't know who Charlie Daniels is?

No.

Do any of you guys know who Charlie Daniels is?

Why are y'all?

You're so young.

You know him, right?

Oh, thank Charlie Daniels.

Charlie's 35, so.

Thank God.

Well, see, you ever heard the song Devil Went Down to Georgia?

Ah, if you played it, maybe.

Devil went down to Georgia, he was looking for a soul to steal.

He was in a buying because he was running behind, he's willing to make a deal.

When he came across this young man's song on the fiddle and playing it hot, the devil jumped up on a hickory stump and said, Boy, let me tell you what.

I guess you didn't know it, but I'm a fiddle player, too.

And if you care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you.

You play pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the devil his due.

I bet a fiddle of gold against your soul to think I'm better than you.

He goes at the story, right?

Boy named Johnny and goes, Johnny, you're rising up your bow and play your fiddle hard.

Because hell's broke loose in Georgia and the devil deals the cards.

And if you win, you get this shiny fiddle made of gold.

But if you lose, the devil gets your soul.

It's a jamming song, dude.

Y'all got to look this song up, man.

Yeah, I might have to.

You have to.

It might.

You have to.

Sean, say, I will.

I will.

Thank you so much for saying that.

Yeah, you guys back here, too, right?

Y'all going to look at us?

Okay.

Oh, you've heard it.

Oh, sweet.

Sweet.

Wow.

So I saw him live too.

That was during that same era of time.

I handed him the album.

He just, I took a picture with him.

He goes, thank you, Sean.

And then it was about, I don't know, it was a while later, but I got a tweet.

I still have the tweet to this day.

The tweet is still on his Twitter.

Yeah.

And he tweeted me out.

He said, at Marty Ray Project, listen to your album, It Rocks.

And I go, wow, dude, screenshot, shared that everywhere.

You know, I still share it every now and then today because was another moment where

I was down in the pits, and then this king said, love your music.

It's rocks.

And so I just started going back up like that again.

Love it.

Yeah.

We'll end off with a fun question here.

What is the best era of music, in your opinion?

The best era of music.

Well, that's tough.

That's tough.

What's your answer?

I just want to know.

I would say 90s.

That's a good answer, dude.

That's a real good answer.

That's the era I really grew up in, was the 90s.

So it's tough.

But I really, just like we were talking about earlier before you started recording, 70s era in the 80s.

But the 70s was, you know, Al Green and people like that.

But I think I got to go with 90s just to end it good.

Okay.

Yeah.

Who's your favorite artist from the 90s?

That's tough.

It's Michael Jackson 90s or is he 2000s?

Michael Jackson's a long span.

So you can say, yeah.

Michael Jackson 80s, 90s.

That was early.

Michael Jackson was back in the 50s, I believe.

Damn, what?

Yeah, Jackson 5.

Oh, that's true.

Yeah, he was a little boy.

Yeah, I'm trying to think who else is big in the 90s.

Who's yours?

Well, I grew up listening to Boys to Men.

You listen to them?

No.

Son of a gun.

Please tell me y'all know Boys to Men.

I'm not going to say any boys to men.

But son, hey, y'all got to get him

some real 90s music.

All right.

Yeah,

I'm going to send you a playlist.

Okay.

I'm going to, for real.

Will you listen to it if I send it?

I will.

Or will you do like you did a while ago and not answer me?

No, I was filming.

I was filming.

People, he was filming.

That was just a joke.

If y'all can keep that.

Well, dude, it's been a blast.

We'll link your YouTube below.

Where can people find you?

I am at Marty Ray Project,

wherever social media is.

And I have original albums that are able to be streamed anywhere.

And I just bought this

beard oil company.

Can you believe I own a beard company?

Oh, yeah, you do?

Yeah, Beardalizer.

Beardalizer.com.

So if anybody's got a beard or if you want a beard, it looks like you could grow a nice one there if you'd let it go.

Maybe if I let it go, yeah.

Yeah, you should.

You think so?

I think you should become a man today.

Damn.

Yeah.

Ah, shit.

Shots fired.

We'll make it.

You sounded scared when you said that, actually.

Not everyone can pull them off, man.

That's true.

Asians don't have the best beards, in my opinion.

That is, well, sometimes.

The samurais

samurais could pull off the goatee.

They had some pretty nice beard styles.

Yeah.

But yeah, full beard like this.

I don't know if there's ever been an Asian word.

I can't think about it, man.

We get a mustache and that's a butter.

When are you gonna let that come out?

Never.

Take it out.

Nah, dude, I'm good.

You know how good you'd be on the court?

I'm already good on the court.

That's true.

Well, you got me there.

There we go, man.

Thanks for going on.

God bless you, brother.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah, thanks for watching, guys.

As always, check them out below.

See you next time.