Charles Ray's poems and novels often reflect his Scotch-Irish and Cherokee heritage, his use of both the past and the contemporary, and his deep respect ad personal connectedness to the natural. He has been reluctantly employed as a college professor, high school teacher, farmhand, sawmill worker, and construction laborer. He graduated from Brevard College, Western Carolina University, and Appalachian State University. He holds the doctor of arts degree in English from Middle Tennessee State University.