Collin Raye Coming to Gallo Center in January

Singer Collin Raye, an outspoken advocate of country music traditions and the great artists who helped make the genre an American art form, and his band will perform at the Gallo Center for the Arts on Saturday, January 17. The show begins at 8 pm.

Tickets are $29, $39 and $59, and may be purchased online at www.galloarts.org, by calling (209) 338-2100, or from the Gallo Center ticket office at 1000 I Street in downtown Modesto.

Raye is decidedly not enamored of what he calls the 'party on, country bro' style that he feels dominates radio airplay. He blames recording industry executives for perpetuating it. As Raye wrote in a recent column for the Fox News website: "Disposable, forgettable music has been the order of the day for quite a while now and it's time for that to stop...The well-written poetic word of the country song has disappeared."

Raye came to fame with "Love, Me" in 1991. His soulful delivery has set country standards in such other searing ballads as "In This Life," "Not That Different" and "If I Were You." Always an energizing showman, he has also blazed through such hits as "My Kind of Girl," "That's My Story," "I Can Still Feel You" and "I Want You Bad."