Ray Edenton
Oral History Information
Ray Edenton played guitar on hundreds of recordings as part of the famed Nashville studio band known as the A Team. He grew up in a musical family with his grandfather playing fiddle and being encouraged to play music at a young age. In fact, he was performing in front of audiences by the time he was six years old, in and around his home town of Mineral, Virginia. A radio program with Joe Maphis after World War II set the wheels in motion for Ray to begin recording and performing with a variety of musicians, which he continued to do when he moved to Nashville. Ray soon proved he could play a number of instruments including the bass guitar, and the studios began to call him for sessions. As part of the A Team, he would work sometimes three and four sessions a day. As a result, Ray can be heard on recordings by just about every artist who recorded in Nashville between 1953 and 1990, when he retired.