“You’re never too old”: Myalup’s Ray Jones celebrates winning WA Country Music Male Artist of the Year award

If you did not know any better, you would not think there was anything too out of the ordinary about Ray Jones. A friendly greeting outside his humble Myalup Beach abode turns into a conversation about a life which appears to have been leading up to this point. For those who may not be aware of Jones’ musical talent, by his own admission, you are not the only ones. “I still get people who say ‘I didn’t know you sang and played the guitar’,” he says. In an industry which seems to increasingly put youth and beauty over talent, the unassuming 56-year-old grandfather seemed to slip under the radar. Until last month. Jones was up for the Male Artist of the Year accolade at the WA Country Music Awards, though he did not like his chances. “I thought there was pretty stiff competition and it is hard to break through on those kind of things,” he says. “Honestly, I had no concept that I was going to win.” When Jones did manage to beat fellow finalists Brandon Poletti and Phil Walleystack, it came as a surprise — to more than just him. “(My wife) Cheryl didn’t even have her phone out and she said ‘I was fumbling for it because they said your name’,” he says. It is recognition for a fire that has burned in Jones for most of his life, but has only fully started to take hold in recent years. Raised in Harvey, his love of music started from an early age. He had a lead singing role in a musical at his primary school, but it was one of his older brother’s guitars which really lit the flame. “I was always fascinated with it, but was not often allowed to touch and when I could, I would sneak in and mess around with it a bit,” Jones says. “As soon as I was old enough to buy my own, I did.” He got involved with local rock ‘n’ roll bands in his teens and while he had fun, it was not really his scene. Jones’ musical career took a back seat after getting married and having children at a young age, though the passion still burned in the background. He still owned guitars and would play them with one of his sons as he grew older. “It was always there and it was always a plan at some stage to come back to it, then sort of 15 years ago I started on a venture of doing a one man show.” By his own admission, Jones “went into a room for five years” and worked on his craft before his first gig, a performance for about 100 people at a private property. After receiving positive feedback, he slowly took on more and more work, and with it, more and more attention. Perhaps one of the biggest moments came in 2018, when Jones was introduced by a mutual friend to Bill Chambers, father of ARIA Hall of Fame inductee Kasey Chambers. A talented country musician in his own right, Jones said the pair “almost instantly” had a connection. “The next day, we wrote a song that day together which is on my album and then over the following nights we played shows together.” “Over those few days we became friends and he said to me ‘you need to record your music, you need to come (to my studio) and record something’ and I was very hesitant until I thought about it for a while.” Another key connection he has made is with singer-songwriter Kerryn Tolhurst. He was the writer behind Pat Benatar’s 1988 hit All Fired Up and has also produced Paul Kelly, The Black Sorrows and Goanna. Tolhurst is now putting his experience to work as the producer for Jones’ newest work, which has been recorded remotely from his Myalup home. It does occasionally have its challenges, with something as simple as the neighbour’s lawn mowing or a bird squawk being enough to force a retake. For most of his recent musical journey, Jones had been balancing his creativity with his job at Alcoa. In October last year, he decided to focus on his music full-time. “I could be driving to work talking to somebody really famous on the other side of the country about what we are doing and then you walk into work, you are a nobody in blue overalls and nobody cares what you do,” he says. The impact of the award win was instantaneous, with Jones describing it as opening a “magical door”. “There were people that didn’t want to know you in the afternoon of that Friday, didn’t seem to want to come across and shake your hand.” “Yet after that, everyone wants to know you.” He describes the accolade as validation of his place within the industry, recalling some of the ageism he has faced. “I’ve talked to record labels, all kinds of people who said ‘look, you’ve got good product, but you’re too old and we can’t market you’,” Jones says. “That is alive and well right now, so winning this award was great in the sense that ‘OK, am I still too old?’ “Ageism is something that shouldn’t exist and it is something that I want to really battle against.” He has now learnt to laugh any age-related rejections off, but if there is one message Jones would like to get out, it is this: “You’re never too old.” His new EP I Have Home is out now.