Michael Ray knows that his music has had an impact on his fans from the messages that they share with him, and the stories they tell him when he meets them.

Michael also has had music impact his own life – and he was lucky enough to not only share that story with the artist who recorded the song – the song is “Ships That Don’t Come In” and the artist – the late great Joe Diffie.

Michael shares, “Joe Diffie was not only just one of my musical heroes but a great friend and somebody that I had some great memories with…. I’ve said it since day one…since I’ve heard this song…and I’ll always stand by it I think that… ‘Ships that Don’t Come In’ is one of the best written country songs of all time and there’s a line in there that says ‘God made life a gamble and we’re still in the game’ – that line has gotten me through so much. I moved to Nashville lived in a two bedroom two bath with five other guys drove my tour van was playing shows in Florida to pay for shows in Mississippi…and all that stuff, I always quoted that line whenever things got hard and I wanted to give up “god made life a gamble but we’re still in the game.”

One of Michael’s most cherished memories is getting to sing the song alongside Joe Diffie…

“I actually got to sing that with Joe one time on a cruise ship that we did… a country cruise together… it was one of my last times being able to see him and I cherish that song even more now.”

Michael Ray’s latest song that his fans are connecting with is “Whiskey and Rain.”

Photo Credit: Sean Hagwell