RAY GILL JR.
Show Host | Team Member
I’m originally from Chicago, but spent most of my “Wonder Years” in Texas in and around the Dallas/Ft Worth area. My musical education came early with an older sister who filled our house with sounds of the 80’s synth music. That was mixed with a dose of Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and Bob Marley coming from my parents of Beliezian and Jamaican origins.
At 14 I was left to my own cognitive resources for musical discovery in 1986 which lead to an embrace of the emerging genre of the time in Rap music. But it wasn’t until I discovered groups like Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, and The Hieroglyphics crew that I truly found the music that would forever define me. These underground icons kept me in the “Alt” orbit leading to an embrace of the “grunge” movement which started with the discovery of Smashing Pumpkins, “Gish”.
The musical journey that guided me down the “Alt” music path eventually lead me to the stale beer and cigarettes motif of the live music venues and local music. This journey continued as I became a bartender in these venues through college and managed and eventually owned my own indie-rock club after college called Hailey’s. This gave me exposure on every level of the music industry but always culminating in me being just another fan when the music started every night.
I moved to Portland in May 2016 where I’ve been a part of the OPBmusic team and eventually became an on-air DJ and the author of the “Monday Mix”(https://www.opb.org/author/ray-gill-jr/) where I write about three new songs each week worth a listen. OPBmusic became a casualty of the Covid-19 Lockdown but the article was picked up and can now be found in OPB’s Arts & Culture.
As a DJ for PRP I hope to encapsulate this musical journey into a show that can both be a shared reflection of the music from the 90’s and 2000’s while answering all those critics who say “There’s just no good music today” by relentlessly mining for what’s new and exciting and sharing with my audience.
