McAuley, Ray and Wild Country

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Origin: Douglastown, Gaspé, Québec - Vancouver, British Columbia, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Ray was from a family of country singers and guitar pickers from Douglastown, Gaspé, Quebec. His family moved to Montreal when he was a teenager and Ray later moved to B.C., where he formed a country band with Ed Molyski called Wild Country. Ray was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist and Ed wrote the songs and played lead guitar. The band were somewhat of a sensation in Western Canada in the mid-1970s, releasing one album on RCA Records, 'Sometimes Good, Sometimes Bad' (1977), and appearing on the Tommy Hunter and Ronnie Prophet shows. They were were poised to begin a recording contract in Nashville when Ray died of an aneurysm in 1978 at 33 years old. He was awarded the 1978 Entertainer and Male Vocalist of the Year at the B.C. Country Music Association; the Association’s “Ray McAuley Horizon Award,” was named in his honour.