"I love music. I love playing it, I love singing it and I have the Lord above and my family to guide me along the way . Every song I write is straight from the heart." . These words are like a mantra for Ray Riddle, who has written more songs than he can even count. A childhood spent on a rural Ohio dairy farm is the inspiration for many of the tunes, with songs like 'Take me Back' and the signature 'Country Boy' conjuring images of warm summer nights after a long day working the fields. As a boy he toyed with guitar, buying his first for ten dollars in a local store. But without other musicians to learn from, he could only progress so far. As a teenager, he left the fields of Ohio for the coal mines of Kentucky and befriended some local bluegrass players, who helped him hone his skills. "I'd go around to people's houses, and we'd play 'till all hours of the night. That right there was what really taught me how to play."