Bob Wray
BOB WRAY
Bob Wray is a studio musician and bass guitarist from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, who came to the Shoals after a stint with Travis Wammack's touring band. When the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (better known as the Swampers) broke with Rick Hall in 1969, Wray took a job at FAME Studios, playing on Clarence Carter's Patches album and the Osmonds' number-one single "One Bad Apple."
In 1971, Wray joined WZZA Radio founder Bob Carl Bailey and an all-star cast of Shoals session musicians at Broadway Sound Studio for the recording of Z.Z. Hill's The Brand New Z.Z. Hill album. Wray also worked sessions at other local studios, including Muscle Shoals Sound, Wishbone and Widget.
Wray has worked with a variety of other pop and country artists over the years, including Candi Staton, Roy Orbison, Mac Davis, Mac McAnally, George Jones, Willie Nelson and Hank Williams, Jr.
"I've had kids come up to me and go, 'Are you the same Bob Wray that played on Ween?' It was their [1996 country album]. Some of the song titles would never make it on the Grand Ole Opry! But I went from Ween to Ray Charles."