Ray Rizzo is a musician, writer, singer, recording and performance artist and producer currently in his 14th year of gentrifying the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York with his wife Traci, dog and cat. As a drummer, Ray has recorded and/or performed with Bob Weir, Trixie Whitley, Glen Hansard (incl. Grammy-nominated Didn’t He Ramble), Chocolate Genius, David Pajo, Tara Jane O’Neil, Yo Yo Ma (Grammy-winning Songs Of Joy and Peace), Martha Wainwright, David Wax Museum, Charles Neville, Justin Vivian Bond, Josh Ritter, Claire Bowen, Rhett Miller, Daniel Lanois, Sam Cohen, Danger Mouse, Doveman, Dawn Landes, and James Rado (Hair). He has been a member of the bands King Kong, Papa M, lovesauce and soulbones, Java Men, Days of the New, a.m. Sunday, Dawn Landes and The Hounds, Less the Band, Mesiko, Little Silver, Yow Instant Auto Classics, Lady Rizo and The Assettes Orchestra and L’Woo. He has produced recordings for Lady Rizo, Less The Band, Days Of The New, a.m. Sunday, Kind Monitor, Corporal, and Mesiko. He has performed at St. Ann’s Warehouse, Lincoln Center, The Ryman, The Fillmore, Joe’s Pub, Red Rocks and The Cutting Room, as well as on The David Letterman Show and The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Ray is the drummer in Josh Ritter’s Royal City Band, and an active founding member of the bands Corporal (with Michael Shannon), Java Men, and Frogbelly and Symphony, who will be releasing new music in 2020.

Mixing music-making with theatrical stage performance, Ray has worked with Rachel Chavkin, Daniel Sullivan, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Adam Rapp, participating in an early workshop of Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown and appearing in productions of Twelfth Night (The NY Shakespeare Festival), Balm in Giliad (directed by Lake Lucille project and Beau Willimon), and collaborations with Rapp including Finer Noble Gases (Humana Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Fest, Bush Theater London) and Essential Self Defense (Playwrights Horizons) wherein Rizzo along with Rapp and Lucas Papaelias received a 2008 Drama Desk Nominee for Best Music in a Play. In 2009 Ray established a program of live performance collaboration called Motherlodge Live Arts Exchange to foster an atmosphere for new works to be developed in new contexts between Louisville, KY and New York City. Over its’ first 10 years, Motherlodge presented over 200 artists including Taylor Mac, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Penny Arcade, The Louisville Leopard Percussionists, Catherine Irwin, Adam Rapp, Michael Arthur, Tommy Ramone, The Lisps, Jim James, and Tyrone Cotton. Inspired by the inclusive spirit of The Rudyard Kipling venue in Louisville (1986-2015), Motherlodge fosters new directions for artists to collaborate within the communities where the Motherlodges take place, inspiring works which still endure including Molly Rice’s The Saints Tour, Eric Meyer and Jason Narvy’s “Crawling Between Heaven and Earth”, Bungalow Betty, collaboraions with Chef Timothy Tucker and The Salvation Army Culinary Training Program, and the tribute bands Back 2 Mac and Steely Danish, which Ray also performs with.

Ray has written about music and musicians for The Courier Journal and LEO Weekly in Louisville, where he also published the bi-weekly column Notes From A Rock Hard Rocker from 2000 to 2002. Along with the members of Less the Band, he conceived and co-wrote Astroland, an apocalyptic musical story that premiered at The Kitchen in NYC in December of 2008. His original musical “Canary” co-conceived and with book by Molly Rice received workshops at Rattlestick Theater and Playwrights Horizons.   

Ray’s work as a producer, show maker, creative director and consultant continues with shows and projects that use live performance to inspire communities to interact without the use of cell phones. Nearly every month at Three’s Brewing in Gowanus, Brooklyn, he co-schemes an inspired mix-tape-ish live show called The Three Ring Bender with musician and longtime rhythm section buddy Annie Nero. He often presents performances at community gardens in Brooklyn, and is currently developing a podcast that explores themes of property rights, housing and coexistence, and a documentary project about Latin Jazz musicians. He is a creative partner of Weitzel Entertainment Group.