scotty-wray-longtime-guitarist-miranda-lambert-passes-away

Scotty Wray, Longtime Guitarist for Miranda Lambert, Passes Away

Country icon Miranda Lambert’s longtime friend and lead guitarist, Scotty Wray, has died. The two played together for 16 years. The announcement brings me back to a 2005 Keith Urban concert, where a young, shy Lambert was opening in one of her first tour appearances. Before the sun set at the Gorge at George in Washington, Lambert was joined onstage by Wray. Together they stole hearts.

Years would go on and the two would work together simultaneously creating music and smashing records. However, according to Country Now, the guitarist struggled with heart problems in recent years and it was announced that he passed away Friday. No cause of death was released at this time.

Notably, Scotty Wray was the brother of Collin Raye – a popular 90s songer/songwriter. He confirmed the news of his brother’s passing Friday evening.

Throughout her many tours, Wray stuck by Lambert’s side. The two became incredibly close friends and she even performed a song he co-wrote with Collin Raye called “Scars.” Lambert spoke of the tune and how it emotionally impacted her. They performed the song together live in concert and recorded it for Raye’s album released in 2020.

Miranda Lambert Reacts to Wray’s “Scars” Hit

“This song is — Oh, God, I hope I’m not gonna cry when I sing it,” Lambert said from the stage as she admitted ”we have been through everything together, good and bad. We both went through a really s—ty 2015 and we have the tattoos to prove it.”

Raye also spoke of his brother, his success, and ultimately his failing health.

“He’s played with Miranda Lambert since she began. He introduced me to Miranda when she was 17 years old. So, I’ve known her a long time,” Raye explained to Bones. “He was sort of her only band when she was playing around Dallas and Austin and stuff. And playing acoustic things and stuff.”

He continued:

“He’s played with her up until… Recently he’s had some health issues with his heart and whatnot. He had a really bad year last year (2019). He’s probably done touring at this point,” Raye said.

Lambert also posted a tweet on Twitter about Wray’s impact on her in 2019. She followed it up with a birthday message for her longtime friend.

“Final weekend of the #roadsidebarsandpinkguitars tour. This was one of my fav tours I’ve ever done. Thanks to the band/crew for working so hard & most importantly to the girls for the friendship/inspiration. Thanks to all the amazing country music fans who came out to hang w/ us!” Lambert captioned the series of photos.

As of Saturday, Lambert has not made any comments about Wray’s death.