Michel Neray – Five Questions With

Jenna Melanson·April 3, 2023

Michel Neray’s “Don’t Look Behind” makes you stomp and holler along with a great life lesson

“When you have the time, you don’t have the money, and when you have the money, you don’t have the time” – these are the words singer-songwriter Michel Neray spoke aloud to no one in particular while he was walking three dogs on Eglinton Ave in Toronto.

His motivational speaking and consulting business tanked during the pandemic, and he had started walking dogs for his wife’s business when he got the call that he had landed his biggest consulting contract. Additionally, he had just started to get somewhere with his songwriting. Now, how to juggle all those responsibilities?

That’s the premise of his song, “Don’t Look Behind.” His songwriting takes listeners on a journey, making decisions to follow their hearts without regrets.

Listen to “Don’t Look Behind” below and learn more about Michael Neray via our Five Questions With segment.

Care to introduce yourself to our readers?

For some people, doing a lot of different things can seem unfocused, while for others, it’s the very essence of what makes them interesting and worth spending time with. I am a professional speaker, storyteller, advertising copywriter, outdoor adventurer, motorcycle rider, and songwriter. Everything I do informs everything else I do. It not only gives me my voice…. It is my voice. I think that’s why I’m drawn to Americana — the genre itself is an amalgamation of folk, roots, country, blues, and sometimes with a dash of pop. Don’t ask me who my favourite artist is; it’s whomever I’m listening to at the moment.

Tell us a bit about your most recent release.

When COVID hit, my motivational speaking business tanked. I offered to help my wife, who is a dog walker. No sooner had she assigned me several dogs. I landed one of my biggest contracts ever. So here I am walking dogs on a busy street, trying to figure out how to get everything done – but grateful for everything life was throwing at me – when I said out loud to the dogs, “When you have the time, you don’t have the money, and when you have the money you don’t have the time.” That line became the inspiration for the song. It practically wrote itself.

Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?

When something makes me think, feel, or smile, I ask myself, ‘did I learn something new about myself, other people, or the world around me?’ It could be the most seemingly trivial thing, but those are often the things that can make the biggest difference to my understanding of who I am and my place in this world. If it can be useful to me, chances are, it can be useful to others.

Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?

I am booking a bunch of gigs in breweries and cafes — where people come for the music as much as the conversation. Of course, there’s the album launch party in Toronto on June 8… If you’re in town, come on down!