Singer Gary Raykin thrives in a musical world where the key question isn’t “What’s your latest hit?” But “Can you enchant a crowd that may be hearing you for the first time?”  This he always does. Now, after years of strictly live performances at posh private events, the Pittsburgh native has transferred his stage magic to record in The Long Journey, his first solo album.  Recorded in Nashville at the fabled Sound Kitchen studios, it is a treasury of new material and pop classics, all tailored for country audiences. Among the album’s highlights is a swing version of Bon Jovi’s 1989 hit, “I’ll Be There For You,” that feature Bon Jovi’s lead guitarist (and the song’s co-writer), Richie Sambora.  Raykin picked it as his first single. Bon Jovi’s long-time sound engineer, Obie O’Brien, co-produced the album with Don Oriolo.   Here also are inspired re-interpretations of “Unchained Melody,” the Drifters’ and Jay & The American’s “This Magic Moment” and the Vogues’ “Five O’Clock World” (which later became a country hit for Hal Ketchum).  Raykin knows the Vogues’ material well, having served as the pop group’s lead vocalist from 1984 until 1998, when he formed his own Studio E Band. Adding to the impact of The Long Journey are eight brand new songs that the gifted composer Don Oriolo crafted especially for Raykin’s voice.  “He heard me sing at a private party at [disco queen] Gloria Gaynor’s house,” Raykin explains.  “Afterward, he had me come over to his studio and sing for him.  He said, ‘I love your voice, your range.  I want to write some songs for you.’”  Oriolo was so impressed by Raykin’s potential as a recording artist that he introduced him to O’Brien. Oriolo’s lyrics are marvels of insight and mood, from the dreamy and reverential love song, “You Are The Light,” to the bouncy “Kenny Rogers And Dunkin Donuts,” which salutes an overburdened working mother who finds comfort in life’s smaller joys. The most poignant cut on The Long Journey is “Wounded Warrior,” with its spoken introduction by Jeremy Feldbusch, star of the 2006 documentary Home Front and national spokesperson for the Wounded Warrior Project.  Feldbusch was blinded by shrapnel while on duty in Iraq. “Jeremy’s a big fan of my music,” says Raykin.  “I just have so much respect for these guys who go over there, put their lives on the line and come home shattered.  They need our help.  We decided early on to give a percentage of the album’s proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project.  Then we thought we should have a song on the album that honors them.  So we asked Don if he could write one we could add to those we’d already cut.  He wrote it in about two days.” Movie star handsome and possessing a four-octave vocal range, Raykin formed his first band with his brother when he was 16.  They began playing at high school dances and quickly moved on to club dates.  In the early 1980s, Chuck Blasko a founding member of the Vogues, heard Raykin sing and asked him to join a new edition of the group.  He toured with the Vogues for 14 years and sang on their 1987 greatest hits album. Since establishing his own band, Raykin has concentrated on the low profile but lucrative private-events circuit.  There he has shared the stage with Hank Williams Jr., the Commodores, Little River Band, the Temptations, Gloria Gaynor and Neil Sedaka—to name just a few. He and his band even performed at the red carpet premiere of the Matthew McConaughey movie We Are Marshall. A recent convert to Raykin’s music is legendary Country Radio Hall of Fame member Ed Salamon, who’s long been on a first-name basis with virtually every star in country music.  “Gary reminds me of Kenny Rogers,” Salamon says. “He can sing a song from any genre of music and make it appealing to a wider and more diverse audience.” While he’s a dynamic and smooth operator on stage, Raykin tends to be shy and self-effacing when he’s out of the spotlight, a trait his fans find endearing.  Invoking his album title, Raykin concludes, “It’s been a long journey to get where I’m at right now—and it’s one that’s still going.