Dave Bray USA : Music on a Mission
Dave Bray USA: Music On A Mission
SNIPPET #054
He was just a small boy who didn’t understand the significance of the intricate picture on the wall, but Dave Bray sensed it was something special. When he was old enough to grasp the meaning behind the words “Purple Heart” and the sacrifice represented by the document, Dave listened in awe as his family told him about his great uncle who fought in WWI.
Dave’s uncle lost his leg in the Meuse –Argonne Offensive. He then used his severed leg to prop himself deep in the well he hid in for three days. His pure grit and proud service are represented in that Purple Heart certificate, and it was the only thing young Dave asked for when his great aunt passed away.
Today that same framed certificate hangs in Dave’s home. It now lends inspiration to Dave’s two young boys, together with mementos and selectively shared stories of their father’s military service.
Dave Bray is a veteran of the United States Navy, as are his brother and father. Growing up with reveille as an alarm clock and proud members of military and law enforcement in his family, enlisting in the Navy felt natural to Dave.
Military service, he says, was really appropriate for him. Even as a young high school graduate Dave understood himself enough to know that he needed precisely the type of focus and mentorship he would receive in the military.
The camaraderie and lifelong friendships that also resulted from his service are added bonuses. While he hesitates to discuss many details of his experience as a combat medic, Dave is quick to emphasize the value of serving his country and the passion he still has to continue his service in a civilian capacity.
Dave Bray is on a new mission to spread patriotism and American unity across this country.
His blend of faith-based patriotic rock reaches deep into the soul of audiences across the country in his live performances, and is now available on his new album.
Aching loss and immense sacrifice of military, first responders, and law enforcement all spill through in the haunting lyrics and sounds of Dave’s song, Last Call. Faith and hope pour out in his version of Amazing Grace, and every song on this album is woven between Dave’s narration of God, country, and restoring and teaching respect to the next generation.
In today’s landscape of divisiveness and carefully orchestrated mayhem, Dave Bray’s patriotic rock is his way of tending to the spiritual and emotional wounds of this country. He is steadfast in his commitment to this mission, which allowed him to persevere through the challenges attached to fulfilling it.
Dave always loved music. He’d indulged this love and nurtured his natural talent for this craft with his young high school band, and carried his guitar with him into the military. Music helped ground him during his military career. During his service, he honed his songwriting skills and taught himself how to create audio tracks.
Where many veterans can feel overwhelmed with the sudden independence after leaving the military, Dave jumped into that independence with a guitar in his hands and music in his heart. He was playing in bars the same week. He soon toured the country with the intent of establishing music as his career. With both eyes looking forward, Dave was blindsided by a career setback.
Risks he took on professional decisions turned into disappointments. Suddenly, the musical career he’d felt so certain of no longer felt right. Disheartened, he returned to the traditional workforce and began building assault vehicles – but Dave never lost his inner passion for music.
The steady paycheck and consistent schedule allowed enough room in Dave’s life to continue singing and songwriting for his own purpose. Then, in 2010, fame found him.
The trajectory of Dave Bray’s career changed overnight when Madison Rising signed him as their lead singer. The patriotic band swiveled heads everywhere with its unique version of the national anthem, and Dave found clarity in his new purpose.
It was cathartic and energizing for Dave to find an outlet through which he could channel his love for his country alongside his musical art. The blend of passion and purpose brought clarity to his work, and Dave embarked on a new mission.
Today Dave Bray is a solo artist.
His time with Madison Rising came to a rocky end in a turbulent period of his life, but he emerged stronger and surer than ever that he’d found his calling. Perhaps it is the culmination of these life experiences that seep through into his music today, allowing him to pack each note with pure emotion.
“If we don’t learn from our mistakes,” says Dave, “we’re failing as human beings.”
Those mistakes made things uncomfortable for Dave, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him. Something in him had been awakened through these trials and he now possessed the same certainty of his new mission as he’d had in the military.
He’s fought hard for his country. He’s borne the cost of the freedoms so many Americans take for granted, and he is not about to stand by and watch as Americans are torn apart by a constant barrage of divisive campaigns spewed forth through the media. America is under attack, figuratively and literally, and while he no longer fights in the overseas battles, he is waging war against the more subtle forces threatening to rip this country apart by dividing its people.
Are we going to stand on this divisive platform forever until it just erupts or are we going to find common ground and leave something positive for the next generation? – Dave BrayClick To TweetWith a wife and two young children, Dave is first and foremost a family man. His struggles have led him to a place where he cherishes his family above everything, and his work to unite the country he loves is driven by his determination to keep this country unified so that it does not dissolve into the mayhem he’s seen elsewhere.
Music is that common ground. It can lift people up or break their hearts. Dave’s music carries forth the same patriotic calling as Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” and Dave is all too happy when people make that comparison. “If I can be the next Lee Greenwood I’m happy with that,” he says.
Dave Bray is using music as a weapon against divisiveness and a tool in helping others. He donates his talent and his time to non-profits that support the military, law enforcement, and first responders, and he is not stopping anytime soon. He’s determined to preserve the country he and so many others have given so much for because he believes in its purpose:
“Patriotism and respect are the most important things we can pass down to the next generation, or our foundation crumbles, and this nation crumbles, and will be gobbled up.”
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Barb Allen
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