At 24, Lindsey Ray has already been there and done that when it comes to the music industry.

“I left high school to go to New York City to record,” said the Belfast native. “I was working there trying to pursue a record deal, but the whole thing made me really unhappy. I wasn’t doing the kind of music I wanted to do. It was all really cheesy pop music. I wasn’t playing piano. It didn’t feel right.”

Ray returned to Belfast in 2004 to reassess her situation. She knew she had to follow her dream of making music, but how? She was slinging pizzas in a local joint and floundering creatively. Nothing was going right.

“That was kind of my turning point. I had to find myself,” said Ray. “I wasn’t doing any music at all that whole year.”

Change came soon, though. In 2005 she hooked up with the band that she’s still with two years later: Straight Up, a reggae and funk group that plays gigs all over the state, and holds down a weekly Sunday residency at the Sea Dog in Bangor during the summer.

She also quietly, secretly started writing her own songs on the piano – something she had never had the guts to do until her friend Dave Johnson, a Belfast musician and producer, encouraged her to try it out.

“He kept telling me I should try to do my own thing. I didn’t have any confidence in my songwriting at all. I wrote my first song in the fall of 2005, and then boom, I had like 40 songs,” said Ray. “It happened very fast. I didn’t even play live until that following April, and I was so terrified.”

But those first few shows went well, and a year later she’s much in demand, playing from Portland to Bangor. A glance at her MySpace page (www.myspace.com/lindseybach, in reference to her given name, Lindsey Bachelder) shows that she has solo gigs lined up every week until June, including this evening’s 5 p.m. show at the Lookout Pub in Belfast, an April 20 gig at WHSN 89.3’s Multiple Sclerosis Society fundraiser at the Keith Anderson Community Center in Orono, and April 27 at the Muddy Rudder in Brewer.

With her commanding alto voice and striking good looks, you might not believe she was ever shy or unconfident about her music. Already a talented piano player, her time spent performing with Straight Up has sharpened her technical skills.

“I always just played by ear. My dad played piano, so I got it from him. I always told people from a very young age that I wanted to be a musician. But I never had any training,” she said. “With the band, it’s like I went to school but didn’t have to pay for it.”

Ray writes slow-burning, R&B-edged pop songs that suit her expressive, soulful voice, as on “Wake Me Up,” the song that Ray is most proud of and that she entered into a nationwide contest sponsored by artist development group Music Nation. In the first week of the competition, “Wake Me Up” was named the Judges’ Choice. A few weeks after that, though, Ray was presented with a contract that was less than ideal.

“If I signed the contract they drew up, they’d own the songs I published. As a songwriter, that’s a slap in the face. I’d rather not have a record deal than do that,” said Ray. “So I told them I wouldn’t sign it. They told me I’d forfeit my position, but apparently I’m still in the competition.”

“Song For Sam” is another personal favorite, and not just because it was the first song Ray ever wrote: it was inspired by the drug-related death of a close friend.

“I went to his funeral, and I came home and I wanted to vent. So I started writing,” explained Ray. “It expresses a lot of frustration and sadness. I kept it to myself for a long time, but then I sent it to [Sam’s] friends and family, and they’ve responded really well. I get a lot of people on MySpace telling me about how that song has affected them. I think if I were going to play a song on TV I’d play that one. To get the message out.”

But the performances on “The Late Show with David Letterman” will come later. For now, Ray is more than busy playing all over Maine both solo and with Straight Up. She’s one of those select few artists in Maine able to perform as a full-time job.

“I’m actually able to make a living as a musician,” said Ray. “It’s not easy, but I’m making it work.”

To vote for Lindsey Ray in the Music Nation competition, visit lindseyray.musicnation.com. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net. Check out Emily’s blog, Rock Blogster, at community.bangordailynews.com, for more info about nightlife and other fun happenings in the Bangor area.