New song about president elect Trump strikes a chord in liberal Massachusetts

In response to what he calls “the entertainment industries lack of respect for our incoming president”, local singer song writer, Johnny Ray, went into the recording studio to answer the situation the best way he knew how, with a song. “I understand and support everyone’s right to free speech and self-expression,” says Johnny, “and this is how I wanted to express myself.” The song called, “GREAT AGAIN” is somewhat of a tribute to president elect Trump who Johnny met while entertaining with his band at Mar-A-Lago in West Palm Beach. Johnny says it was a very casual encounter and he was taken aback by how gracious and kind Mr. Trump was. “There was no media or people around to impress, just Mr. Trump and a couple of my band members on break. We ran into each other on the grounds near the main building. He was already a pop icon and I thought it would be fun to have a picture with him.”

What happened next was nothing short of amazing he says. “The band had one of those old wind up cameras, where you wind the film in between pictures. Cell phones were pretty basic then and didn’t take the quality pictures they do now. Mr. Trump and I stood there posing, grinning, and exchanging small talk for what seemed to be an eternity because the camera was not working properly. Finally Mr. Trump, in true “take charge” fashion said “let me see that camera” and started fiddling with it. “I don’t know what he did but when he handed it back to the guy taking the picture, it worked.” Johnny thinks that most celebrities would blow you off and be dismissive under those circumstances, but Mr. Trump patiently waited and even helped to make sure he was able to take the picture. “You could tell he was a person that really cared about people. He spent time chatting with each of us. There was no faking or pretense during our interaction together.”

Johnny said he was able to ignore a lot of the rhetoric that surrounded the 2016 presidential campaign because of his personal experience. He thinks the media has a way of creating feeding frenzies around celebrities and says, “as much as they can create a celebrity, they can rip them to shreds just as quickly. I’m not denying unfortunate things weren't said or implied during the campaign, but as far as all Trump supporters being racists or homophobic, that’s just not true. I know and work with a cross section of people and I don't see any difference between liberals and conservatives as human beings. In my opinion, the picture the media paints of conservatives with such a broad ugly brush is just false. So the song became a cathartic way for me to express myself with optimism in response to what I believed was a polarizing narrative being put forth by the main stream media." Johnny said he wanted to get the song out there for personal reasons too. "I especially wanted my friends that were feeling hurt or let down by the election to hear it. I wanted to say, hey this going to work people and there’s nothing to be afraid of, in fact, this could be the greatest thing that ever happened for America in a long time." Johnny has also partnered with The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, and is in discussions with other veterans organizations to make sure 100% of the net proceeds from every digital download is donated to them.

What Johnny didn’t expect was for the song to reach #3 regionally on the internet music platform Reverb Nation during the week leading up to the inauguration. “Having a song about Donald Trump in the top 10 in a liberal state like Massachusetts is an anomaly I’ll never be able to explain. I hope it’s because the melodies are catchy and the rock’n grooves feel good. There's even a nod on trumpet to the presidential theme, "hail to the chief" near the end of the song. Maybe people are just listening to the music and not worrying about what the song is about, I don’t know, but it’s being played a lot and that’s something I really don’t mind.” “GREAT AGAIN”- is available on Reverb Nation, Amazon Music, and Google play by searching The Johnny Ray Band. Or you can log onto; www.greatagainthesong.com Twitter: @MAGAthesong Facebook @greatagaintheso You can donate directly to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans here: http://www.nchv.org/