How Michael Ray Learned to Tame His ‘Redneck Side’ — Taste of Country Nights, On Demand

Michael Ray sure has come a long way from his hometown, Eustis, Fla. I got a chance to sit down with the country star and have a long, one-on-one chat, and he revealed to me how he has learned to not only deal with, but tame his "redneck side."

Michael Ray tells us he checked himself into a seven-day retreat, post divorce from fellow country star Carly Pearce. It was a mental health check, and I told him that I believe this was a noble thing that he did, and it's great he's speaking about it and normalizing it.

"I'm a trailer kid from central Florida," Ray shares in our interview. "When people start telling lies and there's bulls--t going around, and I'm like, first off, you weren't around for none of that ... the redneck side of me goes, 'I wanna hit everybody.'"

Ray's new Dive Bars & Broken Hearts EP dropped last month, and he visited the studio during release week. At the end of the interview, we spent several minutes on another passion of his, but the meat of this conversation had to do with music and mental health.

"Man, what I've learned was there's so much of my life that I make hard on myself, because you carry all the stuff you went through growing up and there is such thing as generational trauma ... I did not realize that you carry that with you," Ray admits.

We spoke about his mental health, new music, and what he's been up to lately in the latest episode of Taste of Country Nights, On Demand. Listen above.

Evan Paul is the host of Taste of Country Nights, a syndicated radio show heard on more than 120 country radio stations nationwide, every night from 7PM to midnight. He plays the best new country music and interviews today's top stars, like Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Dan + Shay, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Lady A, Morgan Wallen + more!