Collin Raye’s Back On The Mountain

Collin Raye must be getting accustomed to that Silver Mountain gondola by now.

For the second straight year, this hit-making country singer will play Silver Mountain’s high-country amphitheater. Plenty of his fans will be riding that gondola, too, to catch his fine live act for at least the second time.

Or maybe the third or fourth. Raye has also opened for Wynonna Judd and Tanya Tucker in Spokane in the last few years.

Raye started singing professionally in Texarkana, Texas, at the age of 14. He burst onto the national scene about five years ago.

Last year was a particularly big one for him, mainly because of his song, “Little Rock.” The video of “Little Rock” was named the No. 11 video of the year by Country Music Television (CMT).

That song was about a guy who hadn’t had a drink in 19 days - a dry stretch that fails to impress the woman who dumped him. The song caught on in the recovery movement, and Raye became a spokesman for Al-Anon and Alateen.

He also had a hit with “That’s My Story,” a Lee Roy Parnell tune with the memorable catch phrase, “That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.”

Both of those songs came off his 1994 album “Extremes.”

He has a brand new album out now, called “I Think About You.” It is filled with the kinds of songs that made him a star - strong ballads and rockers.

His influences range from Johnny Cash to Jethro Tull and Rod Stewart. At two of his shows here, he closed with Bob Seger’s “Katmandu.”

But his real hero is fellow Texan Waylon Jennings, who, says Raye, is “completely legitimate as an artist.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Collin Raye Location and time: Silver Mountain Amphitheatre, Kellogg, Wednesday, 7 p.m. Tickets: $27.50 preferred seating, $22.50 general admission