Since Michael Ray grew up in Florida playing in his family’s country band, there’s no denying he enjoys a great classic, crying-in-your-beverage ballad. But he believes his latest hit, “Whiskey and Rain,” is really more than that.

“I love sad country music, and sometimes you’ve just got [to] blanket [it] with a good two-step feel, you know, so people don’t know they’re hearing a heartbreak song,” he tells ABC Audio. “But it is a heartbreak song, but it also kinda has a double meaning.”

“I think the other side of the heartbreak,” Michael continues, “is the fact that sometimes when you’re going through stuff, you’ve gotta go through it, you know, and pour some whiskey and listen to the rain and just know that tomorrow’s a new day, and a new 24 for you to make better than the last.”

Though we don’t know much about Michael’s follow-up to 2018’s Amos, he says his radio single is an appropriate appetizer.

“‘Whiskey and Rain’ is such a great introduction to this album,” he explains, “and a good insight for fans to see where this record’s going, and where my mindset is on all this — this whole album and the making of this record.”  

So far, the only other track released from Michael’s forthcoming third album is “Picture,” a song he co-wrote after the unexpected death of his beloved uncle. 

Earlier this month, Michael kicked off his Just the Way I Am Tour, which swings by the Smokin’ Summer Jam in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday.

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