Employee Spotlight: Ray Farnell
Monday, Oct 06, 2003
This edition's spotlight is on Ray Farnell. Ray is one of our audio engineers. He is also an award winning songwriter, singer, and actor. He has performed at venues throughout the South, won numerous songwriting contests and has written songs for local and national charities.
Q. How long have you worked at Dogwood Productions?
A. 10 years.
Q. What previous experience do you have in the audio field?
A. I was involved in broadcast media from 1978 through 1994...I was a radio announcer and news announcer and produced commercials. I've been playing music and writing songs since my late teens.
Q. When did you first become interested in music?
A. When I was a kid, I remember hearing my Mom sing, and I'm sure that influenced me. I had friends and family who were musically inclined. On weekends I'd spend time listening to the radio or 45 rpm records and spend money on records or 8 tracks and cassettes.
Q. Who are some of your musical influences?
A. Very diverse...Blues singers like Josh White and B.B. King, Country singers like Hank Williams, Sr., Roy Acuff and Jimmy Rogers, Rock singers and groups such as the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Eric Burdon, the Doors, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Seals and Crofts. Folkies like, Don McLean, Harry Chapin, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Gospel singers and groups like the Sensational Nightingales, the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Persuasions, to Andre Crouch. And Classical composers like Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky.
Q. How has your time at Dogwood allowed you to express yourself creatively?
A. I draw on my talents as a songwriter, singer and actor almost daily in my job when creating such things as radio and television commercials. I use my acting skills when coming up with the "right" voice for a commercial, and I turn to songwriting and singing in the development of commercial jingles and music beds.
Q. What are your interests outside of work?
A. Above all...my wife and two children...playing music and writing...acting talent in local theatre groups...also mountain biking.
Q. Do you have any humorous stories about Dogwood from your time here?
A. Maybe the time about 9 years ago at the old location, when the ceiling tiles fell into a clients chair as soon as he had left the building. Talk about timing!