Ray of Hope at Ray Brothers BBQ
Family Band Plays Benefit For Local Family and Concert Announcements Begin For The Yard Amphitheater
Sunday evening Ray Brother’s BBQ hosted its first live music in their brand new, beautiful bar room. Though the audience was limited to the staff, the first-ever performance of the sibling band Wilt’d was streamed live as a fundraiser for the Frederick family of Hamilton.
Wilt’d consists of William Domes, Ivy Domes, and Lily Domes. Ivy and Lily traded a small acoustic guitar as well as beautiful soaring harmonies. Their brother William held down the percussion and on a few tunes played electric guitar. The band sounded amazing and the mix in the room was produced perfectly by Alex Lavon and Jeremy Johnston. This young band has been perfecting their sound this year during the pandemic and is clearly ready to perform. They performed covers from such acts as Lord Huron and Four Non Blondes. You could hear a pin drop in the room. Though the music was nearly all-acoustic, the electricity and excitement were palpable as for many this was the first live music in over a year.

“We are so honored to have been able to share what we love with people we love and to use our passion to help the Frederick family. It is so important to be part of this support system for them and for all who have suffered during the pandemic. We could not have asked for a better purpose for our music.”
Lily Domes
Tucker and Colin Ray are magnanimous with their efforts to support local families, organizations and charities. Every year they host a golf tournament supporting a different local school as well. A statement from the Ray Brothers:
“As you may remember from a post a few months ago, some of our closest friends the Fredericks recently lost their father to COVID-19 related issues. Our hearts are broken for their loss. When people you are so close to lose a loved one, especially in a small community, it is as if we all lost someone. We did everything we could do to comfort them through this horrible situation.
Unfortunately, the sadness did not end with the loss of Mr. Frederick.
While their loss was still too fresh, Mrs. Frederick suffered a stroke, leaving her with a very long road of relearning basic functions that so many of us take for granted. Speech, memory, day to day tasks. The immeasurable weight and sorrow that this pandemic has brought to this family just doesn’t seem fair.
We here at RBQ wanted to do something to help them if possible.
With the permission of the family, we have organized a fundraising event via live music that will be streamed from our new barroom stage. The Fredericks will be the first family to benefit from this new series of Sunday concerts. Our hopes are that we can appeal to your giving hearts and ask that you donate toward their long road of financial struggles due to such unforeseen events.
This pandemic has brought hardship for everyone…some much more than others. Those of us that can have a duty to be there for our friends, family and community. We appreciate your support in helping pick up our friends during their time of need.”
There is still time to add to the $3000 the restaurant and music venue has already raised. To donate through PayPal, click here. For Venmo donations, click here. One hundred percent of the proceeds will benefit the Frederick family. Please put “Frederick family” in the subject.
In other hopeful news, the Ray Brothers have also begun announcing outdoor live music with pods of two or four people available. If you have not seen a show in The Yard Amphitheater you are missing out on one of the best music venues in the state. Located off of Route 20, near neighboring farms it has a “field of dreams” feel with sunsets and moonrises over the fields and valleys over a beautiful stage that has hosted many big-name regional and national acts. The Yard Amphitheater is similar to the restaurant in that each band that plays wants to come back and the staff treats the patrons like family.
The lineup so far includes these amazing acts with many more TBA:
6/19: Hard Promises – A Tribute to Tom Petty
6/26: Sophistafunk
7/17: Mo Lowda & The Humble w/s/g Doom Boys
7/24 Root Shock w/s/g Adam Brooks
7/31: Ripe
8/1: Pearly Baker’s Best
8/14: The Old Main w/s/g Darryl Rahn
You can check out the link for tickets and safety protocol here. It is looking to be an exciting summer and thanks to the tireless work of so many this ray of hope will keep shining over the rolling hills of Central New York.

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