Songs and Stories from the Soul
“Songs and Stories from the Soul” is where songwriters share the faith, heart, and real-life stories behind their songs—revealing the moments, meanings, and melodies that move us all.
Songs and Stories from the Soul
02: "Since 88" with Ray Prim On Faith, Politics, And The Song That Saved Him
Ray Prim joins us to unpack “Since 88,” tracing a journey from leaving his childhood faith to finding healing in melody and simple, soulful songwriting. We get honest about politics, algorithms, panic attacks, therapy, and why a song that sings first can teach later.
• origin of “Since 88” in religious break and political shift
• belief now centered on goodness, empathy, and action
• writing process where melody guides the lyric
• Bill Withers influence and love of simplicity
• “ear candy for the soul” as rhythm plus depth
• critique of social media and algorithmic bubbles
• AI as a session player for strings and riffs
• pandemic panic, therapy, and writing “Mr. Midlife”
• legacy grounded in connection over perfection
Please check out the links to Ray’s music underneath this video. Make sure you check him out, follow his social media, and come back for our next episode when we talk about more songs, more stories, and more soul
Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Welcome to Songs and Stories from the Soul, where every melody carries a message, and songwriters share the faith, the heart, and the story that shape their song. Hey everyone, this is Dr. Pelè. Thank you so much for joining us today. I am so excited to have with me Ray Prim, one of the most powerful, the most magnetic personalities in the music business here in Austin. Let me tell you a little bit about this and then we'll listen to the song and come back and talk to Ray. So in this episode, we're gonna explore how Ray uses melody, groove, and storytelling to make listeners feel the truth that even in a fractured world, music remains our healing language. And the song that we've chosen for this uh process is called Since 88, one of my favorite songs. In fact, Ray, I gotta tell you this. When I first moved to Austin and I was looking for the best musicians around here, and I ran you know into your song and this particular song since '88, all these years I've been a fan of that song, and of course, of you. So I'm really I appreciate you being here, man.
Ray Prim:How are you doing, by the way? Thank you for having me. I'm I'm doing pretty good, man. I'm hanging in there, still alive.
Dr. Pelè:Still alive.
Ray Prim:All right, Sage, I'm blessed to be able to still be alive.
Dr. Pelè:Absolutely. All right, let's go ahead and listen to the song, and we'll talk about Sense88 on the other side.
Ray Prim:See, I believe the world is broken, the sky is falling, and God's been missing since eighty eight. I believe my people are dying while your government's lying, technology's trying its best to separate us. But if you stop and think about it, you'll see there's no way around it. Someday, someday you'll see, yeah, yeah. Said if you stop and think about it, you'll see there's no way around it, and someday you'll end up just like me, just like me, just like me. You believe the music is healing, famous people have feelings. I believe the hate is a cancer. Oh, but a wild ain't the answer. Just like me, you believe the world is broken, the sky is fallen, and God's been missing since eighty-eight.
Dr. Pelè:In Since eighty-eight, Ray Prim channels soul, pain, and truth into a meditation on disconnection from God, from each other, and even from ourselves. It's both a lament and a love letter to human resilience, layered with the warmth of classic soul and the edge of modern commentary. Ray, how are you doing today, my brother?
Ray Prim:I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing I'm doing really good. I'm doing really good. Thanks for having me.
Dr. Pelè:No, I I absolutely. So, you know, tell us a little bit about how this song came to be. It's such a a great title, um, since 88. It's just like, okay, question mark, what does he mean? How did this song come to be?
Ray Prim:Okay, so so this song has a two-part meaning, right? So one, the first part is um I used my mom is a Jehovah's Witness. Okay, and so she used to have me knocking on doors and and all that stuff, and I would go out and preach and all that stuff. And then in the year 1988, I decided enough. I can't do it anymore. And so that's what it's like God's been missing since 1988. Now, I'm not saying he's been missing as far as been completely from my life, but that's when I was like, I don't want anymore, I can't do it anymore. I gotta do my own thing. And then the second fold of that song is in 2016, which is eight plus eight, the man who's in charge right now came about on the scene. And it started my my since then I've been fighting against him or trying to get him out. The political angle came in. So, yeah, so split if you notice, it's like the our government's been lying. Yes. That's stuff I say like that. So it's all kind of, you know, I'll talk about a wall, I'll talk about all this stuff. So it's a mixture of religion and um and for me, music, music, when I say that line, uh, music is healing. That's what gets gets me through stuff. Anytime I'm depressed or whatever, that's why I I reach for music. Um, so it's it's more it's more like that. It's it's it's it's it's not on the line of spiritual as far as you know, God or human, uh, a bigger power. It's more like music to me was a bigger power, and I had to leave the religion because for me, Jehovah's Witnesses just wasn't my thing. And two, I had this nemesis. Well, not as far as nemesis for me, but you know what I mean? Yeah, eight plus eight, 2016 is with it. Where I mean I've always been kind of political. I was political with the band Seven Stones, but then it really pushed me that way. Yeah. And if you start watching my songs from there, I'm like, okay, you know, I throw in another thing to keep people, you know, not to drive people completely crazy. But most of my focus has been that way. And I've been, I've been like that. I mean that might have hindered my my followings or whatever, but people who rock with me, they rock with me.
Dr. Pelè:So yeah, you know, you know, I have to say, one of the things I love most about interviewing uh people who've done, I think, powerful, courageous things like you is where else are we gonna hear this story about how you know it's 88 over here for the year, and it's also 88 over here for this other meaning and the politics and the religion. That's just so powerful to hear the background story. And you know, sometimes, you know, I wonder, especially when I heard the line, God's been missing since 88. I was like, wait a second, how far is he gonna go with the religion piece? Um, but let me ask you, since since it was a little bit literal, you know, Jehovah's Witness over here, your mom's uh focus, all that, what is your perception or your the way you view God today in in 2025? What what's your where have you landed now in in terms of that, you know, with the God, where is God kind of a thing?
Ray Prim:You know how I look at it, to be honest with you. I look at it is is it's the world's a hard place to live in, right? For some for most people. For most people, it's a hard place to live in. Yeah. And whatever it takes for you to get through it, if it's not hurting anybody, I'm not very religious myself anymore. Um, I do believe that there's a high I like I say, I something's gotta be out there because music is too magical, right? It makes you feel it didn't just pop out of somewhere, you know, something then. So it has to be something inspiring. The fact that I can come up with a song and I don't know exactly where it comes from, there has to be something out there, but it's not something I I put my whole attention to. Like I try to live a good life, I try not to hurt anybody, I try to be good. You know, I I live uh that's far I learned that from my mom, and I figured if I'm living like that, then if I pass away, I've got whether there's if it's real or not. If it's real, I'm going through them doors because I lived a good life. You know what I'm saying? I don't hurt anybody. I believe uh I believe in treating people the way they should be treated, um, and I'm kind and I have empathy. So I I I don't really worry too much about, you know, I don't really pray and all that stuff. Um, but at the same time, I'm not one of these people you shouldn't pray. Yeah. You know, I'm not, you know, whatever it takes for you to get through this world, if it's Buddha, okay. If it's Jehovah, okay. If it's Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, okay. If you're not hurting anybody, and that's what it takes for you to wake up every day, I'm a hundred percent behind you. Yeah, at the same time, I think that Christians should feel the same way towards people like me that don't necessarily want to go to church, but still believe in being good and being a good person, you know what I mean? Well, that's how I live my life.
Dr. Pelè:Yeah, no, at the end of the day, it's our God, yeah, right. Every single one of us, we were created somehow, right? And and so uh I think we should all aspire to God, and if we do it in our different ways, hey, you know, I have to say one of your lyrics was the world is broken. Um, I mean, first of all, just overall, I the poetry in this song for me, and I'm a songwriter, so you know, I'm critical. But the the poetry in this song is just profound. You talk about the world being broken, you talk about um hate being a cancer, uh, and then you go to well, God's been missing since 88, and then you talk about the the the government is lying. I mean, you're just jumping poetically. Tell us how you wrote the lyrics on this. Like, did you first write these lyrics and then the music showed up, or maybe the music was there first? Like, how did you put this together? It's so complete, is the best way I can explain it.
Ray Prim:I'm I'm I'm a melody guy, so the first thing I come up with is the melody, and I have to make lyrics. Like some people will write lyrics and they'll make the lyric, the melody fit around the lyrics, right? I don't do that, I make the lyrics fit into the melody. And if it does, so I need to cover a lot of ground, I have to open my mind out. So first I'll have a whole bunch of things written down. Okay, you know, the government's line, and they will do this, and they do this. And then, you know, I've been I've been troubled with it since 1988, but then I went left. So I can't fit all that in the line, right? So then I okay, I want a chunk here, I want a chunk here, I want a chunk here. And I just started putting it together so melodically makes sense because I don't, I don't like I I I never want to come off sounding like I'm preaching. You know, I want people to be able to sing and it and be enough to where they if they stop. Like if if I here's my what I try to do. The first time around, if you get it all the way, then I don't feel like I did my job because I don't want you to get it right away. I want you to enjoy it the first time. Then I want you to come back and be like, oh wait, he said this. Yeah. Wait, then he must mean this. Yeah. Now this connects to this. What does that mean? And then they're gonna dive deeper and want to do a second listen. If they if they get it on the hear the first time, I tell them, don't go to church, come back to me. And I if I say like tell them completely what to do, and I don't make it where they think about it, then I I don't I think they'll get sick of me. Like, like, you know, stop preaching, you know. I'm like, I don't I don't I don't want to come off like that.
Dr. Pelè:So and you and you do you hide you hide some of these secondary messages inside the lyrics, and that's why, for example, I discovered you know one section today, and next week I'm I'm singing another thing. It's like, wait a second, I thought song was about you know, so I keep going deeper, but on that note, you you seem to be blending soft core soul, maybe even a little bit of gospel, a little bit of I'm hearing Aaron Neville. Sometimes when you do your vibrato, I'm even hearing you know, Barry Gibb of the Beaches. I'm hearing everything, man. It's like you've got this. You call your your music ear candy for the soul. Give us a sense of this idea of ear candy for the soul, the categories that you you pursue.
Ray Prim:Musically, you know what's funny about that? Shane's cousin described that. She came up with that. That's how she felt about it. I I I I I call myself uh singer soul writer, but she came up, she's like, I was just like, uh, because I was like, I need a description for my song, my music. She's like, What would you think? She's like, It's ear candy for the soul.
Dr. Pelè:And you gotta remind us who who's Shane now. You gotta remind us.
Ray Prim:That's baby C. That's my girl. Baby C. Shane. I normally call her Baby C Baby C, but that's Shane. Her cousin. All right, uh, came up with that. My whole bio, her cousin wrote that whole thing. Wow, wow. I know I'm I'm terrible at that stuff, but yeah, that's what she was like saying, it's ear candy for the soul. I was like, I like that because I'm all about the rhythm too. Yeah, I figured I figure if you're gonna talk to people, make them bob their head. You know what I'm saying? Like make them bob, either make them bob the head or make them cry. One or the other.
Dr. Pelè:I remember I remember coming to one of your concerts and and you were doing your thing, and I looked around and I could see people just like you know, they were they were like you held them because that there was a depth and and a curiosity that everybody was feeling at that time. You know, another one of your lyrics that I really like is you you kind of go after technology, even. So we've talked about government, we've talked about religion, we've talked, you know, you went after technology. I think you said um technology is is trying its best to separate us.
Ray Prim:That's what it's doing.
Dr. Pelè:Well, what what did you mean by that? Because I think that was profound.
Ray Prim:They have these algorithms that divide people live in their bubbles, and it's because of this technology, it's social media. One person hears this one story. I'll go on my social media and I'm I'm you know, I'm left wing, whatever you want to call it. I don't consider myself left wing, but yeah, all I'll see, all I'll see is that stuff that that that's probe for that. I won't see anything from that side, and it's purpose to keep us divided because if we're divided, we won't realize who we really need to focus on, and it's the billionaires of the world. You know what I'm saying? It's like, don't let me get started on that. I'll that's not really, but that's what I when I said technology, I'm talking about so I'm covering social media, I'm covering the government, but that's that's what it to me, that's what it is. It's like social media is made to divide us. The guy who invented it, he did it out of not out of love, he did it to get back at a girl. You know what I mean? Wait, wait, are you talking about who are you talking about? I'm talking about Zuckerberg. Oh, Zuckerberg is a man. He gets he did it and start his first thing he invented was to put girls' faces on there and judge them. Yeah, and and friend finder or something like that. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Negative things. So if you if you start off with hate, then it's good. This is where we end up. You know what I mean? Like this is you know, he vent he vented it for that.
Dr. Pelè:Well, I have to tell you, talking about you know, Facebook, the one thing that has always made me leery of social media is the idea that we're calling people friends when we don't even know who they are. Like that that is so sneaky. You know, this is people think they know you know Avatar. Like this idea of liking people, liking friends, the words they choose, they're so they get into you, and before you know it, you're like, Whoa, I have friends. I don't have friends.
Ray Prim:You get upset when you don't have a lot of likes. Exactly, exactly. Like, you know, why don't they like my picture? Why don't they like my comment? I've got 5,000 people on here and only 12 people are liking it. You know what I'm saying? Like, how you gonna have 5,000 people and only 12 people like something? Only and you know what the thing is, and they purposely do that too. They only let a certain amount of people see your things so you don't reach a whole if you want to reach a whole bunch of people, you gotta pay. You gotta get that billionaire richer, you know what I'm saying? So it's like it is what it is.
Dr. Pelè:So, you know, you do call yourself a singer soul writer, and by the way, that's very in inventive. I hope you you know copyright that or something. I like that.
Ray Prim:I was trying to, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.
Dr. Pelè:Because that's really that's good. Singer soul writer, I love that. Um, you call yourself that. If you if you were to think of your your legacy, you know, the the the footprints that you you're leaving behind, what would you want people to say about Ray Prim, you know?
Ray Prim:Um that I wrote lyrics that that meant something to them. You know, I'm not the best singer, I'm not the best musician, but if I could I just want to connect with people. And I and and and my favorite artist is Bill Withers. He's not the best singer, he's not the best musician, but his songs resonate with you longer, and it's and and simpli simplicity is is is what I love. Like I love simple, just grab you. I don't care about different time signatures all over the place. I don't care about all this busy stuff. Yeah, I like simple, grab you, make you feel something. And if I accomplish that, which I think I've done on a few on a few songs, I've written over a lot, I've written a lot of songs. But I think I hit that a couple times, a few times, and I want people to be able to say, you know what, there was a guy that that really to meant something to me.
Dr. Pelè:So if you could go back to when you wrote since 88, what would you tell yourself now that you know what you know? Now that you're rocking those microphones that we've been talking about.
Ray Prim:I would I would say keep the keep the black fret money, the two thousand dollars that I won to make the record. Invest in your studio, right? Invest in your studio. I would say I would say I would I I mean I had a good time making the record with Omar, but I would say, I'm not lying, I would go back and say, listen, take this $10,000. I wouldn't rewrite the song because I love the way the song came out. But I would take that money and put it invested in my studio and um just keep on writing that. Because that's the that's one that that is one of the songs I don't like. I I don't think I'll ever re-record or try to fix it. I mean, because it turned out great. Um uh I probably re- I would probably re-sing it because you never you know how you all people with our vocals, like I never feel like my vocals, like I can't I can't stand the way I sing, but I think I'll probably try to redo that. But as far as lyrics, the way it goes, I mean I and I you know what I do sing it differently nowadays, but you know how that is too. You just get sick of singing something the same way all over again. You kind of change it around.
Dr. Pelè:Well, you know, uh, I don't know how big you are into AI these days. If you want variety of the same song in different styles, I've been you just AI, it'll come up with whatever, you know.
Ray Prim:Well, soon I actually I've been I you know, and I I know this is probably gonna make some people mad or whatever, but um, I just finished my album and um I decided I've I said once I finish that album, I'm gonna dive into this thing and see what's up. So I've got 200 demos. Uh of of AI? No, no, 200 demos of my stuff of over the years that I haven't done anything with like this song that I just don't care about, right? Yeah, because you know when you're writing a song, it's hit it's hit or miss. It's like exactly, and I figured I was like, I'm gonna keep all of them just in case, whatever. Yep. And so, man, I put one of those songs in this in this suno. It said cover your own song, yep, and pick the soul singer to sing it. Uh-huh. It made me mad. Why? Because it was good, it's better than anything I could ever write. No, I don't like that thing. I have to tell you, I I've experienced exactly what you're saying. It is amazing. What it wrote, and here's the thing, I'm going to, I uh and I've actually I've used it on a couple of things that I'm thinking about doing. I am going to use it to to to flesh out certain ideas. Like, I'm gonna go through those demos. I mean, there's some things it it wrote that I was like, oh, I don't like that. Like you know what I'm saying? It's it's hit or miss. And but you can, if you especially if you're in a position like me, that you know, I mix other people's stuff and I mix my stuff, you can take those stems out, redo some of the stems, redo some of the stuff, redo some of the drums. There's a matter of fact, like I'm I'm glad you there's a song that I'm acting that I'm one of the demos that I really like that I I I love the way it took, it took a the guitar part that I was playing, and it turned the guitar part into the bass. Wow. And made the the guitar riff, the bass line, and it had some other stuff around it. Yeah, and I was like, I would have never thought of that. Yeah, never.
Dr. Pelè:I I have to say AI, a lot of people are you know not very happy with AI music right now. But the truth is it's gonna make people like you who are already professionals, already written great songs, faster.
Ray Prim:That's all it's gonna be faster, and it's gonna also put me out of job.
Dr. Pelè:Well, well, here's the other thing. People are gonna start producing their own stuff. Exactly, because you're you're an engineer producer too. So, but the thing is, I mean, sometimes if you ask it for a guitar, it'll play the guitar better than you can.
Ray Prim:Or better than for me, that's not hard to do though. Like anybody can play guitar better than me. You know what I'm saying? I am listening. I tell people a thousand times I am not a music, I don't consider myself a musician. Like, I I I I I'm not a bad guitarist, but I I'm not a guitarist guitarist. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, I played rhythm. I'm a I am what I am is a an artist who can produce, arrange, mix, and write songs, right? Yeah, so I'm not gonna go out and win a guitar contest. But I I but what I love about this thing is I don't see it any. I when I look at this, and what I'm this is the main thing I'm gonna use it for. I don't see it any differently than me trying to get my strings to come over here to my house.
Dr. Pelè:Exactly.
Ray Prim:And work on strings. I will never be able to play strings, right? It's a session musician. I will never be able to do that. So, but this thing you go into Suno, and I give it the track and say, I want a soul string right here with such and such and this key, um, play with this, like show this much emotion, and it spat back something. I was like, Amazing, you know? I'm like, this is I don't have to hunt down my string players, like I don't have to bug them. Like, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, and I know I I get on the nerves. I'm like, because I write all the time. Yeah, yeah. So I'm not this is not stopping me, slowing me down. It's gonna make you faster, you know. Yeah, and then it's like like a if I want a guitar lead, play a guitar lead here. Now, I think the thing me a lot of people are complaining about is like it's stealing from other artists or whatever, but I don't even I don't you know what I don't even think like I was talking to Blevins and he was like saying I don't think they even know how it works. Yeah, well Levins Blevins telling me he doesn't even think it knows how to work. This thing is just learning to put notes and stuff together.
Dr. Pelè:Yeah, and and and here's the deal for anybody who says that they're copying existing musicians and getting ideas and strategies from them. Uh, how do people write songs again? That's what we all do. If you want to write a song, you have to know a library of styles and you you you learned it from somewhere.
Ray Prim:So, anyway, but but anyway, you know, it's just it's just listen, it's just a better, this is just better. Yeah, that's all there is to it, okay? And it's a thing. People didn't like people probably didn't like the the like the record players that came along, or the daw, you know. I mean, you know what I'm saying?
Dr. Pelè:So it's an audio workstation, yeah. It is gonna be what it is. Ray, you are very humble. You almost you're not you're almost talking down on yourself. I'm gonna I'm gonna stand up right now and say you're a great singer and a great guitar player. Um, and so I'm not gonna let you get away with that. Okay, for people who may not have seen you live or who know you, you're just being humble. All right. I I wanted to make sure I got that in there. Because I mean, come on, man. I mean, I love your stuff, you're confident, you you've been doing this for a minute, and you have something to say. Now, if music is healing, and you know, as you sing and do all the things you do, what healing do you still find today? You know, because we picked a song that's something you did a while ago, but what about today? How's music treating you today in your heart?
Ray Prim:Man, you know, I uh because I have a song like I recently encountered. I don't know if you ever had a panic attack. Have you ever had one of those? Maybe well, you'll know, but like this. It ain't amazing. Man, when that thing you feel like you're having a heart attack, you feel like you like you and you just feel down and and stuff like that, and depression and stuff like that. So I it was like during the pandemic, and I was like, you know, I felt like I just got up to this level, and then this pandemic comes along, and everything I was doing knocked me down. I was like, man, you know, I'm getting older. I was like, this is my chance, I'm about to play here, I got this, and all that stuff just went away. And I was like, man, I don't feel like doing this anymore. I was like just down, and so my girl's like, you know, you maybe go to a therapist, and then my therapist was like saying, you know, I want you to go home and I want you to write certain things. Yeah. And I wrote a song because a lot of stuff, my time, I'm I'm I'm I'm a when I'm gonna write it at observed, right? Uh-huh. Very seldom is it's personal about me. I'll I'll put pieces of me in it, but very seldom it's like the whole thing's about me. But now this one I was like, okay, I'm gonna write this whole thing about me. It's called Mr. Midlife. Wow. And um that was just it, it let me know like the power of me. The second I wrote that song and I got it out, that fog is like you know when you go through a thing and you come out the mist. I wrote that song and started playing it, and it was just like I just came out. I was like, okay, I'm back. Wow, you know, I was like, and it's I don't know if you get if you get a chance, maybe check play that too, but that's that's the one that's the most personal to me, it's Mr. Midlife. You know, it's like yeah, I try to tell anybody with depression or anything like that, you know, first go get get yourself a therapist, and and if you can play a chord or two, learn guitar, learn some music, man. It it is amazing.
Dr. Pelè:It is medicine. In fact, um in one of the songs that I I've reviewed of mine, I I talk about music being therapy for me. It's like medicine, it heals me. Um we agree on that. Ray Prim, you know, you remind us in my view that brokenness doesn't mean hopelessness. Uh I think since 88 is a reminder that even when quote God feels missing, music brings us closer uh to truth, to each other, and to something higher than ourselves. So Ray, I just want to thank you so much for being a part of this and and for for sharing your song and your experiences and even the stuff that you don't understand right now that you're like how do I love AI or not?
Ray Prim:I think I'm on the fence, but I'm gonna jump over. You're gonna jump over. Yeah, I had some big some some guys that tell me first thing I trust the guys who told me about it. So I'm gonna I'm gonna jump on in. I've and I've been messing with it, so we shall see.
Dr. Pelè:You know, we shall see. So everyone, uh, thank you for hanging out with us. Please check out the links to Ray's music uh underneath uh this video. Uh, make sure you check him out, follow his uh social media, and uh come back for our next episode when we talk about more songs, more stories, and more soul. All the best.
