I was born and raised in Crowley Louisiana on Elm Street. Music was always a part of my life because I had older brothers who played guitar. Walking three doors down the street was within earshot of Wayne Toups practicing his accordian as a boy.

One of my brothers bought a stack of albums about two feet high and a great sound system while in the army. When he came back, he wanted to travel and left the music and record player with two AR 15 speakers with a Marantz amplifier. My Dad came in one day and asked if I were going to listen to music all day. I sheepishly said, "Yes". Listening to the music on such a great sound system gave me an appreciation of fine quality tone.

I graduated from Crowley High School in 1975 and hung around town for a few years. I moved to Russellville Arkansas and lived there for 4 years before moving to Waco, Texas. I lived there for about 10 years and had the art studio at 414 Franklin, next door to Buzze Music. That is where I had opportunity to write song, do art and dream. I moved to Whitney Texas near a gorgeous lake and continued to do art and write. At this time, I played the nationally syndicated Texas Music Cafe, twice. Chris Ermoian headed up the TV show and liked my songwriting so I put a band together for each of the performances.

These recordings were done at Gradel Recording Studio in Waco, Texas. I had the pleasure of working with Kenny Gradel, who has a great ear for tone and loves to record music. Dick Gimble was the major element in instrumentation, playing bass, mandolin, electric and acoustic guitar, banjo and fiddle. He is the son of famed Texas fiddle player, Johnny Gimble. Dick certainly is his fathers son and backs his Dad on bass, where ever he plays.

The recording studio was located in the same building as my art studio. It was the old chamber of commerce in Waco and the downtown area was rather abandoned at the time, much like many mid size cities that had the growth of malls in the suburbs, leaving the downtown area with little activity. The rent was cheap and other artists joined me there to do creative work.

These songs are a part of that time. I continue to write songs and stories as well as do art. You might wonder why I call the album, "Louisiana Lyric". It's because I thought of Louisiana even while living in Texas and wrote many songs about my raising here. That experience will always be a part of my life. I hope you enjoy these songs as much as I did writing and recording them.

Ray Istre