Herbert Ray Pitre, known as Ray to his friends, has been writing music since he was 10 years old. Recently, the native of Kinder, now in his 60s, completed a book of poems.
“I didn’t think much at first,” he said when he was asked to complete the project. “It went real well.”
Pitre ended up with about 70 poems and Perry Campanella of Lantana, Florida, published it. Campanella works to publish poets and promote poetry through the Social Society for Poetry Craft Preservation. This book is a first known as Country Urban Poetry.
The book of poems is selling well, according to Pitre and Campanella. Pitre said the book features little ideas about life. This publication, Pitre said, “surprised him how well it came out. I didn’t think I could do it,” he said.
His background in music made it easy to write the poetry, Pitre said. He picked up the banjo around the age of eight and now he said he can play all instruments. His musical career began with blue grass and then country.
He wanted to be involved in country. He was the first to sing the Louisiana Waltz, which climbed the charts and opened doors for him in the music world of Nashville.
He’s performed on the Louisiana Hayride and the Conway Twitty Theatre in his music career. He also was inducted in to the music hall of fame, and a display is being created at the Kinder Tourism site. He had the privilege of playing with some of the greatest musicians in the business like Ronnie Milsap.
Some of his titles for his poems include “The Blindman’s Poem,” “Alone in the Woods,” “The Terrifying Dentist,” “A Bad Way to Make Money” and “Playing in the Mud.” There’s a poem about “Overcoming Obstacles” that talks about strength in the mind and in physical forms.
There’s “The Day that I Found You,” a short love poem. He writes, “Lost without direction, a feather in the wind. It ends, “Thanks to you I’ve found myself, the day that I found you.”
He also has a song about self-worth, “Be Happy With Yourself.” In the poem, he writes, “Be happy with who you are, and with no what people say for some folk can be down-right cruel.” He tells the reader to always smile even if they receive a frown. “Be kind always to others, you’ll find good people if you do, staying on the sunny side, will bring out the best in you.”
Pitre is presently working on his music again. He has a large catalog of songs that he has published through his company. He said he has two songs he’s written and has been talking to Zydeco singers like Wayne Toups about performing the songs, “Boudin Booty” and “Cracklin’ Crack.”
He’s hoping to write another book in the future and waiting for a change in the music industry. He said things are different now, and he’s hoping country music will return to its roots soon.
Pitre is married to Wanda Marie Bertrand Pitre, originally of Eunice. The couple are parents to two children, whom they adopted.
