“Thank You” by Ray Boltz, Thursday, November 23, 2023
Ray Boltz is a retired singer-songwriter. He is best known for his Contemporary Christian inspirational songs that graced Christian radio in the early ‘90s. His breakthrough hit, “Thank You,” was the sleeper hit that propelled the singer to become one of the biggest names in the genre. The song won Song of the Year at the 1990 Dove Awards, the Gospel Music Association’s annual award ceremony. The singer had a prosperous career in the industry throughout the ‘90s. In the early ‘00s, he began to embrace a new image, incorporating rock music into his concerts--a stark contrast to the light church music for which he had come to fame. He even founded a rock label, Spindust Records, signing the band GS Megaphone. Boltz appeared in one of the band’s music videos, riding a motorcycle. This rock ‘n’ roll image was much less shocking to fans than what Boltz revealed in 2008.
I AM SO GLAD YOU GAVE. Ray Boltz recalls his conversion experience when he was 19 at a Christian concert in a 2012 interview with Voss Video Productions. He explains that the band seemed to be glowing because of their love for Jesus, and Boltz realized at the end of the concert that “Jesus wasn’t just a person who lived a long time ago.” He prayed at the end of the concert, asking Jesus to come into his heart. Boltz started his musical career at the age of 29, when he recorded his first album Watch the Lamb. But soon after he released his first album, the small record label he signed to went out of business. The label released the rights back to Boltz, who was then able to market his music independently. Eventually, Boltz signed to Word Records, one of the biggest Christian labels, and released The Altar in 1989. In 1994, he re-released Thank You, though the song had already won Song of the Year in 1990. Boltz wrote the song as a pastor appreciation gift for his local church. In the song, the speaker has a dream about going to heaven with an unnamed friend. Many people line up to tell the friend about how little actions--praying, giving money, teaching--helped others make a decision to follow Christ. The song became a hit on Christian radio and has been sung in countless churches. According to some sources, the song was performed at Mother Teresa’s funeral.
I AM A LIFE THAT WAS CHANGED. In the early 2000s I remember hearing “Thank You” for special music at church. The guy that sang it sounded like Kermit. Interestingly, there was also a singer at church that sounded like Miss Piggy. But that’s a story for another day. Some of the musically conservative church members went to see Ray Boltz in concert. They complained that the music was deafening and that the singer was just bringing glory to himself with his “rockstar attitude.” None of Ray Boltz’s hits warrant a rock concert. I forgot about Boltz until 2010, when an article mentioned him after Jennifer Knapp came out as gay. In 2008, Ray Boltz came out as gay to the Washington Blaze, an LGBTQ+ publication. Boltz claimed that he always knew that he was gay, but tried to essentially “pray the gay away.” After over thirty years of struggle, which included a wife, four children, and several grandchildren; Boltz says that he had become suicidal because he could no longer keep his secret. His family came to fully accept Ray, though he and his wife Carol divorced. Since coming out, Ray hasn’t been fully accepted by the Christian community that once decorated him with awards. However, Boltz remains in the faith and even recorded an album in 2010 called True.
GREAT IS YOUR REWARD. I realize that including Ray Boltz’s “Thank You” in my playlist is a bit of a bomb. I know that most people, myself included, don’t want to listen to this song regularly. The song feels like what Ned Flanders listens to on the regular. But Ray’s story is fascinating to me. I don’t listen to Christian radio now, but I have a feeling that they don’t play Ray Boltz much. There are certainly a ton of Christian artists from this era who can fill the void of slow inspirational offering collection or telethon songs. But I also think that there’s been a bit of erasure of Boltz’s legacy. It’s incredibly hard to find sources about Christian music from the pre-Internet age. I really would love it if CCM Magazine archives were easily accessible. But it seems that Christian music is a genre of artists that conform to a strict morality clause, and an artist is rendered useless to the cause when they deviate from that clause. It’s almost like there’s an attitude of “Thank you for giving to the Lord. Next.” Today, we’re giving Ray Boltz a little appreciation. His message now is to embrace who God made you to be--whether that’s gay, straight, bi, pan, trans, non-binary. He has laid a foundation for countless queer Christians to reconcile their faith and their sexuality. And for that, I sincerely thank you Mr. Boltz. I hope that your reward is great.
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