July 30, 2017

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville series...

Hello all...I don't know if I usually write fan-created blog entries on Sunday mornings much anymore but this morning I decided to compose one. I was looking over some of my previous blog entries...more or less reviews of Ray's PBS television series, CabaRay Nashville. In one of those blog posts I shared a list of the upcoming episodes set to air on KET2 (the local PBS affiliate that carries Ray's television program). The list looked like this...

July 7 – Harold Bradley and Mandy Barnett
July 14 – Shenandoah
July 21 – Michael W. Smith
July 28 – B.J. Thomas
Aug 4 – Rhonda Vincent
Aug 11 – Restless Heart
Aug 18 – John Michael Montgomery
Aug 25 – Baillie & the Boys
Sept 1 – Tommy Roe
Sept 8 – Mark Wills
Sept 15 – Duane Eddy
 
All of those air-dates are from a copy of episodes and each of those air-dates happen to be on a Friday. OETA distributes Ray's television series and on their site they have an episode guide which lists the first 26 episodes set to air on PBS. The air-dates range from July 7, 2017 to December 29, 2017. That particular December episode is billed as The New Year's Eve episode following back to back Christmas episodes (December 15 and December 22). Each episode on OETA's list has already been taped and have air-dates scheduled. 
 
Local PBS stations have the option of carrying the program on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday in the afternoon, evening, or night. So, technically, Friday is the day of the week for the earliest of air-dates. Several weeks ago KET2 added a couple of episodes to that list. I never made mention of it because of my preoccupation writing reviews of his television episodes. 
 
The two episodes added are for the month of September. So, going by the official Friday air-date method, September 22 will guest star Angaleena Presley and September 29 will guest star The Riders in the Sky. On KET2 those episodes will air September 23 and September 30. 
 
These 13 episodes are being promoted as his summer PBS schedule. I am hoping that there is going to be a fall PBS schedule of episodes released because there are 13 more episodes "in the can", as they say, for a total of 26 exclusive PBS episodes. 
 
KET2 doesn't have any episodes listed beyond September 30th and so I'm hoping that doesn't mean they're going to stop airing his program. This is why I hope that episodes are going to be added to KET2's web page to fill in the months of October through December. So, to my way of thinking, once it hits late August or early September KET2 may add the rest of the available episodes to their list. The OETA list of episodes I made mention of has episodes set to air on PBS stations throughout the rest of the calendar year. The first episode in October, for example, is to guest star Rex Allen, Jr. but given that KET2 doesn't provide any air-dates beyond September 30th I'm wondering if they'll air the episode or not. I'll find out more information, though.

July 29, 2017

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...B.J. Thomas...

Hello once more! If you are among the fans of Ray Stevens that are able to see his syndicated PBS series, Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville, then this week's episode is another spectacular show. The guest this week happens to be B.J. Thomas.

The show airs in my area every Saturday night at 8pm on KET2, a sub-channel of KET. Ray opened the show singing "Hound Dog"...with mostly an entirely different arrangement/delivery than the Elvis recording...and I suspect that Ray's recorded the song for some future project but then again perhaps the performance of the song is exclusive to the series. It's a wonderful performance nevertheless. Ray then brings out B.J. Thomas...and the conversation immediately shifts to "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head". Ray tells of how he turned the song down...not because he didn't like it...but because he had another song ready to come out (that song, while not mentioned, happened to be his recording of "Sunday Morning Coming Down"). Ray pulls out a ukulele and attempts to play the musical intro to "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"...B.J. takes the instrument away and hands it to guitarist Jerry Kimbrough (a long time member of Ray's group of studio musicians).

After B.J. performs "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" Ray mentions the session work he used to do and brings up being organist on a recording by B.J. in 1966 called "Billy and Sue". B.J. remarks of how much he's loved Ray's songs and makes references to "Just One of Life's Little Tragedies" and "Funny Man". Ray brings up B.J.'s recording of "Mr. Businessman"...and B.J. talks of his recording and jokingly refers to the song having at least four thousand words. B.J. mentions the reason they never issued it as a single...it had to do with not wanting to have a competing record of the same song on the market. He sings the song as Ray plays piano...but Ray sings a verse, too, and they both sing parts of the song's chorus as a duet. The performance is one of the highlights of the episode...you could tell that Ray enjoyed it and you could visibly see from their expressions how invested the two were in the performance.

Following a brief clip of a scene from Ray's 1995 Get Serious! movie (the one featuring the partially made music video of "The Day I Tried to Teach Charlene MacKenzie How To Drive") B.J. sings his biggest country music hit, "Hey Won't You Play Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song". Strangely enough there's no mention made of B.J.'s award winning gospel career. For a period of time in the late '70s and into the early '80s B.J. had a very strong association with gospel music. In a 4 year span (1978-1982) B.J. racked up 10 gospel hits (6 of them hitting the Top-10 of Radio and Records Christian music chart) and he won 8 Grammy awards for gospel performances.

Ray closes the show in an Elvis vein...just as he opened the show...but this time it's a stripped down performance of "I Saw Elvis in a U.F.O.". I say stripped down because it doesn't feature a lot of the big production that the recording featured...but it does contain some outer space music effects. Is there such a thing as outer space music effects?? I should say Sci-Fi music effects...specifically the sound effect of the U.F.O. soaring and hovering. If you're familiar with the recording (from 1989's Beside Myself album) then you know the sound effect I'm referring to. Even stripped down performances from Ray Stevens are still entertaining because he's a natural Entertainer.

I've written about this in some of my other blog entries. Season One of Ray's television program is on DVD. The project contains the first 13 episodes that originally aired on RFD beginning in November 2015. Some trivia: during it's run on RFD (2015-2016) it was called Ray Stevens' Nashville. Once it joined PBS stations it's title was slightly changed to Ray Stevens' CabaRay Nashville as a tie-in to his upcoming venue (set to open either late August or early September). The episodes on this DVD serve as a wonderful introduction to the series as a whole. I think that the episodes that started to air on PBS this month will eventually get repeated but I have no idea. His RFD episodes (26 total) had gotten re-aired several times during the RFD run and they were the first episodes to air once the program moved to PBS this past January but only time will tell if the rest of the RFD episodes make it to DVD or if any of the PBS episodes make it to DVD. As of now there are 26 episodes available to air on PBS affiliates based upon a program guide provided by the show's distributor, OETA. The air-dates cover the months of July through December of this year. The local affiliate in my area, KET2, has a schedule of upcoming episodes listed on their site. They are scheduled to air episodes through September 30th. There is no episodes listed beyond the 30th of September...so, for me, it's a small mystery of why the rest of the episodes aren't listed. KET2, like other local PBS stations, began airing episodes of the show that originally ran on RFD. KET2 picked the show up in late March and they aired a handful of the 26 episodes that originally ran on RFD. Starting in July of this year PBS began airing first-run episodes. September 30th will be the 13 episode mark of first-run shows...will KET2 add the remaining 13 first-run episodes to their schedule (taking up the months of October through December)...as we get closer to the end of August or September perhaps we'll have a more clearer picture.

Ray has long been known as an artist that is predictably unpredictable...you can't guess or make assumptions...if he gets an out of left field idea he may run with it or just when you think you have his music direction figured out he'll do something that'll surprise you...even after 60 years as a recording artist.

Next week's episode is going to guest star Rhonda Vincent!

July 23, 2017

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...Michael W. Smith...

Hello once more...last night Ray Stevens happened to be in Renfro Valley, Kentucky performing at the venue in Mount Vernon. I wasn't able to attend this time around but I've attended several of his previous concerts in Renfro Valley. I was, of course, seated in front of my television at 8pm last night catching the latest episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. This particular episode carried a gospel theme and it guest starred a Contemporary Christian icon, Michael W. Smith.

Ray opened the show singing "Dry Bones". Now, this is a song that I first heard Ray perform at a telethon hosted by Gary Chapman several years ago. I did some research and it was actually 6 years ago (2011) on a telethon called Somebody Cares for the Southeast. Ray eventually recorded the song and it appears on 2012's The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music and the Gospel Collection CD from 2014. It appeared on the Encyclopedia project because of it's lighthearted and whimsical overtone...and how some consider it a gospel novelty song. Ray also performed "This Old House", a legendary hit by Rosemary Clooney and other recording artists but she had the biggest hit (featuring bass vocals from Thurl Ravenscroft) and then there's the recording by the song's writer, Stuart Hamblen, which wasn't a hit but it's a recording I also love to hear. It's been recorded by numerous artists and other performer's have had hits with the song but I singled out those 2 recordings from Rosemary Clooney and Stuart Hamblen because those are the recordings I was more familiar with...that is until Ray recorded his version of the song! Ray's version appears on Just a Closer Walk with Thee/Gospel Favorites, a CD from the summer of last year.

Michael W. Smith is brought out after Ray makes mention of Smith's legendary career in gospel music. He cited that Michael had won a lot of Dove Awards (the leading awards organization in gospel music...winning 45 as of 2015) and he also made mention that Michael has racked up 31 number one hits in his career and sold millions of albums (14 gold and 5 platinum albums). They spoke about a couple of CD's...Hymns and Hymns II-Shine On Us. Michael made mention of the exclusive sale of the CD's through the Cracker Barrel chain of restaurants. Ray mentioned that his latest gospel recordings had originally been meant as a double CD of 24 songs but at the last minute they decided to break them up into 2 separate volumes: Gospel Collection (2014) and Just a Closer Walk with Thee/Gospel Favorites (2016).

Ray speaks about his first gospel album in 1972, Turn Your Radio On, after Albert Brumley is brought up in a conversation. He tells Michael that the record company (Barnaby) didn't want him to issue a gospel song or an entire gospel album "because you're not a gospel singer, etc." and at the time they didn't feel a gospel recording would go over well with a pop music audience. Ray mentioned that he recorded "I'll Fly Away" for that record, too. They both perform "I'll Fly Away" (Ray sang background vocals and played piano as Michael sang) and this was followed by a solo performance from Michael seated at Ray's piano performing "Shine On Us".

After the stirring performance of "Shine On Us" it was time for some lighthearted fun with a presentation of the animated music video of "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?". This was followed by the Professor Cusic segment. He gave some background on one of the writers of "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?", Margaret Archer, and he delivered one of the funniest exit lines by asking if anyone's ever heard of Ray's television show. Some of his commentary went something like this: "Did you know that one of the writers of Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?, Margaret Archer, is a part of the staff of Ray's CabaRay Nashville television show. Have you seen it?". The poker face he gives the camera is priceless. Chet Atkins and Margaret Archer are the writers of the song, by the way.

Upon that introduction Ray performs "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" standing up. I say that because he's usually seated at the piano when he performs the song. There happened to be just a slight re-arrangement (to my ears) but the overall execution of the song remained the same as Ray's original recording from 1987 during the various televangelist scandals.

Next week's episode is going to guest star B.J. Thomas. Those of you who are long time fans of Ray should know the unique connection between Ray and B.J. but if you don't I'll briefly inform you that it has to do with "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" (a song from the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid movie) but B.J. had also recorded one of Ray's songs, too, before that. Stay tuned!

July 17, 2017

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...Shenandoah...

Hello all...its a steamy Monday morning here...and I'm about ready to recap the previous episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville from this past Saturday night. One of the things the more eagle eyed viewers may have caught is the new wave of thumbnail images that crawl along the screen during the opening. Those images highlight episodes that were recorded during taping sessions in late 2016 and earlier this year. Saturday night's episode guest starred the famed country music band, Shenandoah. Their episode was taped back in February of this year and this past weekend marked it's first air-date. The episode began with Ray performing "Ned Nostril"...how wonderful it was to see him stroll out and perform such a beloved song...perhaps, admittedly, obscure to most...but to us long time fans and lovers of his music "Ned Nostril" is a genuine classic. During the band solo's they pulled out napkins and acted as if they were sneezing and sniffing.

Now, for those that have never heard the song before, it's about a guy with a nose as long or as longer as Pinocchio...and he had a very rough childhood...but as an adult he became a crooner of Hawaiian songs (using his nose as an instrument). Ned enlisted the help of some buddies who had a bad habit of sniffing ragweed and so his ragweed buddies would sneeze and sniffle their way through musical breaks as Ned hummed along using his nose.

The complete title of the song is "Ned Nostril and His South Seas Paradise Puts Your Blues on Ice Cheap at Twice the Price Band, Ikky-Ikky Ukky-Ukky". The original hook of the song happened to be Ray's vocal impression of Johnny Cash. In the performance Saturday night he delivered the song in a Cash style, in keeping with the song's original recording, but some of the original arrangement had been changed. On the recording (from 1984) it has an intro similar to "Folsom Prison Blues" but on the PBS performance it wasn't as prominent.

Something that I briefly mentioned in a couple of my previous blog entries is that these PBS exclusive episodes are much more looser and come off more relaxed (sounds redundant, yes?). In Saturday night's episode the audience was spoken to by Ray and they had much more interaction with the activity taking place on the set than in the previous episodes that originally aired on RFD before the series moved to PBS this past January.

Ray brought out Shenandoah and explained that each member of the band was considered special guests. They spoke of their chosen instruments and their history in the music business. The lead singer, Marty Raybon, mentioned the band's 30 year anniversary...Ray remarked that he'd been in the business a long time, too...approaching 60 years...and a small back and fourth about 30 and 60 commenced. There was more audience reaction/interaction during the Shenandoah segment, too. The band performed "Two Dozen Roses", "I Wanna Be Loved Like That", and "Church on Cumberland Road". Every so often during the instrumental breaks in those songs Marty could be heard hollering "yeah!!!".

In addition to the music and exchanges with Shenandoah there happened to be an instrumental spotlight on Ray's steel guitarist, Tommy White. Ray opened this segment speaking about a 1959 steel guitar instrumental which, ironically, became a massive pop hit (one of the most ironic instances in music history...an instrument almost exclusive to country music riding the top of the pop charts). The recording, "Sleep Walk", hit #1 in September of 1959...originally performed by a duo known as Santo and Johnny. I thought I had never heard this recording before but once Tommy White began to play it I immediately remember hearing that melody on a television commercial at some point in my life. Along the same lines came an out of left field performance from Ray...the legendary pop hit "Only You".

Ray sang this song as several members of the studio audience danced in the background. It was a thrilling moment in the show...seeing Ray get into the song and physically mimic any number of crooners of that era...now, adding to that thrill, was the mention of a future CD featuring that song and others. I have no idea if this CD he mentioned is going to be released this calendar year or not but he called the CD, Slow Dance. He has mentioned this CD in the past...in addition to a Bluegrass project titled Melancholy Fescue...but there's never been any sort of concrete information released concerning the future of either project and when or if they'll be released. I'm sure both projects, at some point, are going to get released to the public but it's just a matter of when. His television series and the upcoming grand opening of his CabaRay venue are without a doubt the top priority in his career at the moment...CD releases are on the back burner. His most recent project is the DVD of the first 13 episodes of his television series (during it's run on RFD).

This week's episode is gospel themed and it guest stars Michael W. Smith. It'll air here this coming Saturday (July 22nd).

July 9, 2017

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...Summer Schedule...

Hello one and all...in my first fan-created blog post of July I have some updated information to pass along concerning the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville television show on PBS. In a previous blog post from last month I posted the upcoming schedule of episodes set to air on one of the local PBS stations in my area. There are a couple of changes, however, as episodes originally posted have been removed and replaced. Beginning this weekend (officially this past Friday; July 7th) all of the local PBS affiliates that air Ray's show aired the same episode.

Over the course of the last several months (dating back to early January of this year) local PBS affiliates picked episodes that previously aired on RFD and aired those. The PBS station in my area began airing the show in late March and of those RFD episodes available to air, WCVN/KET2 broadcast 15 of them (the 15th being a gospel themed episode guest starring T. Graham Brown and it also guest starred Ray's daughter, Suzi Ragsdale). Last night's episode guest starred Harold Bradley and Mandy Barnett.

On that particular episode it carried an early '60s feel...but yet this isn't surprising considering the guests that night. Ray opened the show singing "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" which eventually led to an explanation of the song's origins and history and how, coupled with it's brisk sales success and the fact that it happened to be a comedy song, inspired him to focus on comedy for awhile and perhaps that would enable him to breakthrough and become a successful recording artist. He had to pull the single off the market after threats of a lawsuit from the copyright owners of the Sgt. Preston character but the sales attention he had gotten led him to issue another comedy song...and this one contains one of the longest song titles in existence: "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills". That song rocketed up the Hot 100 and into the Top-40 in the blink of an eye in 1961.

Harold Bradley, a legendary guitar player/session musician and brother of the late Owen Bradley (himself a legendary music figure), talks of his background and history in the music industry. Owen happened to be a producer at Decca (later renamed MCA) and eventually opened what was to be known as The Bradley Barn (a recording studio inside a converted barn). Prior to this, however, both Owen and Harold worked in what was referred to as The Quonset Hut. The facility happened to be located at a house on 16th Avenue and 1954 is the year it opened for business...attaching a Quonset Hut to the house later on...which originally was intended as a film/TV studio but over time it became part of the recording studio. Owen and Harold sold the studio to Columbia in 1962 and, as mentioned, The Bradley Barn came into existence a couple of years later. Ray and Harold discuss their identical first and middle names: Harold Ray Ragsdale (the birth name of our Ray Stevens!) and Harold Ray Bradley. They speak of Patsy Cline and this eventually brings out Mandy Barnett. She sings "Crazy" and "I'm Confessin'" as Harold plays the electric guitar. Given the length of time spent with Harold and Mandy there wasn't much time for some of the familiar segments. There was a Video Jukebox segment featuring the limited animation music video, "Barbecue", and a closing song from Ray...a performance of his early '60s hit "Harry the Hairy Ape".

This begins the official third season of Ray's television show. The updated schedule of episodes can be found below. The air-dates listed below fall on Friday but that doesn't mean Friday is the official day of the week the show airs. Some local PBS affiliates air the show on Friday evening while a bulk of the PBS affiliates air the show on Saturday or Sunday evenings. As mentioned the first episode has already aired here...some PBS affiliates are airing that episode today...some PBS affiliates aired the episode on Friday.

July 7 – Harold Bradley and Mandy Barnett
July 14 – Shenandoah
July 21 – Michael W. Smith
July 28 – B.J. Thomas
Aug 4 – Rhonda Vincent
Aug 11 – Restless Heart
Aug 18 – John Michael Montgomery
Aug 25 – Baillie & the Boys
Sept 1 – Tommy Roe
Sept 8 – Mark Wills
Sept 15 – Duane Eddy
The last three episodes on the above list weren't originally scheduled to air when I provided what turned out to be a tentative list of future episodes in a previous blog. The last three episodes are going to air here on September 2, 9, and 16. Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville Schedule.