November 11, 2017

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...Gary Morris

Hello once more...on tonight's episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville the special guest happened to be Gary Morris. Ray opened the show performing "Mack the Knife"...a legendary pop hit previously made famous by Bobby Darin. Afterward Ray introduces Gary Morris and points out that Gary can sing practically anything...even opera. In a brief exchange, on two occasions, Ray has trouble pronouncing the opera, La Boheme (a production starring Gary and Linda Ronstadt). This trouble in pronunciation comes off more as a joke, however.

Gary speaks of the Veteran's organization he's associated with and the efforts made in helping wounded soldiers heal through physical activity...specifically the sport of fly fishing. Ray asks him to perform "Faith and Freedom". After this performance Ray makes mention of NSAI which stands for Nashville Songwriters Association and "The Wind Beneath My Wings". He mentions the song's writers and Gary talks of his arrival in Nashville. He relates how he met up with Harold Bradley and the making of demo recordings...and this led to Gary being advised to seek out Norro Wilson. Gary mentions that he shown up at Warner Brothers Records in search of Norro...but was asked if he had an appointment...saying "no", Gary nevertheless remained there until finally meeting Norro later that day. Gary mentioned that the Warner Brothers office, at that time, happened to be right across the street from Ray's office. 

Norro produced several singles on Gary but none of the single releases became hits. Gary's breakthrough didn't happen until the latter half of 1981 and the release of "Headed for a Heartache", also on Warner Brothers. Gary's self-titled debut album arrived in 1982 and on the back of the album cover there's a message of thanks to Norro from Gary. One of those single releases that Norro produced on Gary, "Sweet Red Wine", was included on Gary's debut album...with the rest of the tracks being produced by Gary, Marshall Morgan, and Paul Worley.

Gary performs "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and receives a rousing applause. Ray follows this with a performance of "The King is Gone and So Are You". The footage taped for this episode originated during a taping session either late in 2016 or early this year prior to Norro's death this past June at age 79. Prior to the closing credits a dedication message to Norro appeared on-screen. In addition to being a legendary record producer Norro was also a legendary songwriter with a comedic reputation all rolled into one. Norro appears on the cover of Ray's 1987 album, Greatest Hits, Volume Two, as the umpire.

On next week's episode (airing here November 18th) John Berry is the special guest. After this episode the series will not be shown here locally for 2 weeks due to a Winter Pledge Break but the 2 episodes will air on the other local PBS stations that carry the series. The series returns locally on December 9th.

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