ABC/Fred LeeAfter hitting number one with his debut single, Michael Ray believed it was important to take a bit of a left turn with the follow-up.
“You know we wanted to put something completely different out on the second single, something that was opposite of ‘Kiss You in the Morning’ to show an opposite side of me, as well as to show more of the traditional side of what I was raised on,” the Florida native says. “And so, when it came time to pick… we were going through the record, and ‘Real Men [Love Jesus]’ just stood out.”
Michael says the song also stood out for some very personal reasons.
“When I first heard ‘Real Men,’ it was right after I lost my grandfather in February, and it felt like it embodied who he was and it embodied the men that I was around as a child growing up,” he recalls. “You know, that’s the type of man that you want to be. I knew I had to have it on the record. I loved what it said and I felt like it needed to be said.”
This week, “Real Men Love Jesus” edges its way into the top 25, just as Michael gets ready to head out on the Blackout Tour with Brantley Gilbert and Canaan Smith. The three play their first date January 28 in Saginaw, Michigan.
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