When you’re getting a permanent addition to you body, you want to make sure it means something, right?

Michael Ray has several tattoos, but each one has a personal connection to his life, “All my tattoos are either family based, religious based, or music based.”

He shares the story of one of his tattoos that honors his late grandmother, “So, my grandma, Penny, she passed away a couple of years ago, and I have a tattoo memory of my grandfather, and I wanted a tattoo for her. Her nickname was Penny, and I got a penny with my Grandmother’s birth year, 1942, on the date, on the inside of my arm.”

If he could change one thing about the tattoo…it would just be WHEN he got it. Turns out Michael got it on a show day, and it being on his arm, well, Michael admits “I started playing guitar that night…for the show, and it hurt like hell.”

But even with that night of pain Michael proudly says “it’s probably my favorite tattoo.”

The tribute joins other special tattoos he have honoring family members, “I feel like I got my grandparents with me, and got my dad with me.”

Check out this performance version of Michael’s current single at country radio, “Whiskey and Rain.”