Emerson Hart of Ezra Ray Hart – Rocking the 90s and the Holidays

Mark McGrath, Kevin Griffin and Emerson Hart of Ezra Ray Hart

Emerson Hart of Ezra Ray Hart

Rocking the 90s and the Holidays

by Jay S. Jacobs

If you were going to a lab to cobble together a 90s alt-rock supergroup, it would be hard to come out with a stronger lineup than Ezra Ray Hart. The band is made up of the lead singers of three different hitmaking bands from that decade. As you might guess from the new band’s name, it features Sugar Ray leader Mark McGrath, Better Than Ezra singer Kevin Griffin and Tonic vocalist Emerson Hart.   

The singers have been working together as a side project on and off since 2016, doing concerts full of nostalgic hits, including songs from their day-job bands, as well as covers of other favorite hits from their generation. They have also done a few runs of holiday shows over the years, and they are back at it in 2025 with a short jaunt of shows which has been going for a few weeks and will be stopping at Rivers Casino in Philadelphia on December 5.

McGrath is arguably the best-known member of the band. Beyond his career as the leader of Sugar Ray – which includes multiple gold and platinum albums and such hits as “Fly,” “Every Morning," "Someday" and "When It's Over." McGrath has also worked as an actor and television host.

Griffin was the singer, guitarist and songwriter for the Louisiana-based college-rock favorites Better Than Ezra, penning and singing the number one modern rock track “Good” and additional radio hits like “Desperately Wanting,” “King of New Orleans” and “In the Blood.”

Hart was the voice, guitarist and main writer for Tonic, which broke out big time with the 1996 album Lemon Parade and the big hit “If You Could Only See,” and other popular alt-rock tunes like “Open Up Your Eyes” and “You Wanted More.”

While Ezra Ray Hart was on the road for their “90s Hits and Xmas Riffs” tour, we caught up with Emerson Hart to discuss the group, his history in music and touring over the holiday season.

How did you and Mark and Kevin start to play together?

We've known each other since the 90s. We've done plenty of radio shows and rib fests (chuckles)  or whatever else comes along the way in your career at certain points. We did a private show individually as artists – I forget what the company was. But we thought, man, this was a lot of fun. It was great hanging out. We should probably see if we can start something that’s just us doing this like this. So, we just decided after that private show that we should put the word out that we are going to put together 60 to 75 minutes of all of our hits. We tried it a couple times man, and people really loved it. We love it because we love hanging out. It gives us a nice little break from our bands. We love our bands, but it's nice to do something different.

All three of you are lead vocalists for your own specific bands. What is it like to share that responsibility for the sort of “super group”?

I like it. I enjoy it because it's just a lot of fun not having to talk all the time. Between those two, I can't really say much anyway. (laughs) They talk so much. It's like I could just sit here and be Dean Martin for an hour and a half. It's fantastic.

It works.

Yeah, it works. We all have different styles of how we do it and they all complement each other. At the end of the day, the point of this is to bring joy to people. It's just to have fun. If we can be part of that nostalgic journey that [the audience] takes back to when things were great in their lives, or when things were different, or whatever it is, we're here for that.

Looking over some of the band’s past set lists, it looks like you obviously do some of your own bands’ songs, plus, for the Christmas shows, you're doing some holiday tunes. Also you seem to do a lot of random covers of other songs from the 80s, 90s, even the 70s. I saw everything from “Tubthumping” to “Do You Think I'm Sexy,” to “Wicked Game” and stuff like that. How do you decide on which cover songs that you want to play?

How do we decide that? A lot of times it just comes up in rehearsal. Or we'll be on a flight together and I'll be listening to something. I'll hand my earbud over to Kevin or Mark, and we'll listen and be like, “Man, I forgot. Such a great song. We should cover this.” We'll give it a try at sound check. If it works, great. If not… (shrugs) It has to make sense. It has to be a song that everybody knows and loves. There are really no stinkers. We don't have any B-sides in the set. It's all hits, all the time. That's, that's our M.O. (modus operandi)

Is it fun to play the other guys’ bands’ music with them, to be the sideman for those songs?

Absolutely. Because I've always been a fan. I've always loved Sugar Ray. I've always loved Better Than Ezra. These were guys that we came up with that we shared radio [time with]. They are my friends. They're the lead singers of those bands. We've always been fans of each other's bands. I mean, really, that's what it is. I love playing those songs. It's hard to play “Fly” and not smile. It's hard to play “Good” and not smile. It gives you an opportunity [to play] maybe songs that their bands don't play anymore. I can be like, “Hey, let's add this into the set just to play it,  because it's a great song, and I feel like you guys don't play it anymore.” You get to play fan, and you get to play friend. That's two great things.

How do the crowds react to the old hits?

It's always really positive. A lot of booty shaking when it comes to the Sugar Ray stuff. Some pensive riffalicious when it comes to my stuff. A lot of college memories when it comes to Better Than Ezra. It's a really nice balance. People love it. It's great to see somebody singing along. That never gets old. That still happens at our shows, individually, as a band [or] as different bands. It's just so great man to see that's still part of people's joy.

What are some of your favorite holiday songs to play?

I was tasked with finding one probably a little bit vocally higher, just because of my tenor. We chose “Last Christmas,” which has been a blast. This is the tricky stuff about the Christmas season. When I grew up, my parents were older. My grandparents, I lived with them for many years and they lived well into their 90s. But my grandfather was born in 1895, so it was a different kind of Christmas. You set up the tree the night before. It was very traditional. I was raised on so much Nat King Cole, The Aces, all these different bands that have become part of our classic genre of Christmas music. Some of the other Christmas songs [I never knew], other than, like, The Kinks’ “Father Christmas,” that probably was a big one for me as a kid. But I never really dug into Wham and listened to them. Number one, he wrote that song, which I did not know, which is insane. Listening to that song, and soloing it out on a pro tools rig, and listening to that vocal, man, what an unbelievable, gifted singer. I always knew he was a great singer. I was a fan of Faith, that first solo record he put out. But man, just singing that song, I really tried to get it right, exactly where it should be for somebody to listen to it and get those feels. Because I think, if you change it too much, it messes with what it's supposed to be.

Since you do so many different covers, just as a songwriter, what are some of the songs that you most wish that you had written?

“Go Your Own Way,” by Fleetwood Mac probably makes the top five. That was the song for me as a child – I have older sisters; they wore that record out – and it pretty much changed me as a writer. I wish I had written that song, for sure. Old school, probably a Jimmy Webb song, probably “Wichita Lineman.” I wish I had written that song. Man, what a song that is. All those songs he wrote, like “Highwaymen” and a lot of great classic hits. And probably current – or not so current, I guess –  but man, “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon. Jesus, I wish Tonic would have written that song. I don't know if we could have pulled it off, but man, what a great song.

Earlier this year, you played at the Tortuga Music Festival. What was that like to be with all those young hip bands?

Man, it was a lot of fun. A lot of fun. A lot of those young hip bands were like, “Oh, man, my mom is such a huge fan.” (laughs) That's always a fun thing. But we had a blast. I'm a huge fan of The Darkness, so watching them perform… I'd never met [lead vocalist] Justin [Hawkins] before, so I got to be side stage and see that. Man, that was such a blast, such a fun show. I really can't ever say anything negative. Dude, all of us are so extremely grateful to be 30 years into this thing, and I'm still doing exactly what I wanted to do. What do I ever complain about?

Speaking of that, it's been almost 30 years since [Tonic’s debut album] Lemon Parade was released. How crazy is it that you've been able to make a living at music for all these years?

Yes, it's crazy. Because, living in Nashville now, 25 years I've been here, I knew a lot of artists. I've seen a lot of them come up and go away and some not burst. I remember when Steven Wilson, Jr., was in a band called AutoVaughn, which I was a huge fan of. Then he just stopped and became a pet food scientist. Now he's like, crushing it. I love his story. That's such a great success story. But all of that aside, yeah, 30 years later, this summer, what an honor to be able to do it and get up and sing. Thank God I have the health to do it.

How surreal was it when you were younger, and stuff like, “If You Could Only See,” was all over the radio and playing everywhere you went. What was that like to be part of that whole whirlwind?

It's definitely a gear change. You're riding a bicycle, and then you're not riding a bicycle anymore. You're riding a motorcycle. I think it took a minute for it to sink in. Your first record you have your whole life to write, and then you got to make another one [right] after you have a hit record. That did a good number on my brain, just trying to remain focused on making the music I wanted to make, because that's what got me there in the first place. Don't fall into the trap of doing the same thing over and over again, which a lot of bands do. It proves to be a successful formula. I just knew it was a risk, and we kind of decided as a band to just keep trying to make great songs and not try to follow what we had already done.

What's happening with Tonic now? Are you still together?

Still together. Jeff [Russo] comes out. He obviously has had enormous success in scoring in the [TV] world, with Fargo, The Night Of, Alien: Earth and all the other things he's been working on. He'll come out and do shows every once in a while, but it's not because he doesn't want to. It's just that he can't. He's just too busy. So Dan [Lavery] and I, we're out and still doing it. We did a lot of shows last summer. We're setting up to have a lot of shows this summer, and making that rock and roll baby, just doing it.

I remember liking your solo CD, Cigarettes and Gasoline too, when that came out. Do you have any new solo work in the pipeline as well?

I just took a break from that for a second. I'm a dad, so I've been dadding a lot at home, which, luckily, my weekend warrior is able to afford me to do that. I can be at home a lot with my boys. And my daughter, she's going to go to college next year. So I am creating, I'm just not sure how to say what I want to say. Does that make sense? I don't want to waste time making a record if it doesn't make complete sense to me what it's supposed to be.

Like you said, the Ezra Ray Hart stuff is mostly all hits and covers. Have you guys ever tried – or considered trying – making some original music together as a group?

Yeah, we have. I call it the Damn Yankees experiment. [Damn Yankees was a 90s supergroup with members of Styx, Night Ranger and Ted Nugent.] That was such a huge success. But yeah, I think we're always open to doing it. We're three writers, so it's bound to happen. It's just a matter of when we can make it happen.

Copyright ©2025 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: December 4, 2025.

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