Ray Stevens: "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" surpasses 300,000 unique views

Hello fans of Ray Stevens! Well, I write a blog entry a couple of days ago spotlighting the comedy video "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" nearing the 300,000 unique view plateau and here we are less than 2 days later and it's vaulted past the 300,000 mark. I was thinking it would only be a matter of time but wasn't sure that it would move into the 300,000 level as quickly as it did considering that it isn't being heavily promoted on social media as it once was. The video hit in October 2021 and so it's been available online for a little more than a year. The specific view count is 300,174...a pickup of 256 unique views since January 29th. I'll go out on a limb and say it was my blog entry a couple of days ago that helped push the video past 300,000 sooner rather than later. 

Something funny happened when I went to share the January 29th blog on social media. I included a link to the blog entry plus I included the video link as well. I get a message almost instantly declaring that the video I shared may contain sensitive/offensive material (?) and that it was blocked.

Now, of course, we all know the music video is harmless but it dawned on me that the video's link must've been coded to automatically set off a warning whenever anyone goes to share it. It was then that I come to the conclusion that the video's inability to be shared is what caused it to disappear from social media platforms seemingly overnight. It's something I noticed but never made mention of in any blog entry until now. In the days/weeks/months after the video made it's debut it was being shared all over the place but then it vanished. I never did accept the possibility that the video simply stopped being shared/re-posted by people on social media. I didn't accept it because it made no sense...a video doesn't just stop being shared by a mass audience all at once...and so a lot of the potential exposure the comedy video could've been getting was directly impacted. 

If I had not attempted to post a link to the "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" video the other day I wouldn't have known the video was kept from being shared. The unique views that the video continues to get is truly organic...people are finding it when they search for Ray Stevens music videos since posting a direct link to the video on a certain social media platform is a no-no. My guess is those who made the decision to keep the comedy video from being shared assume it's raunchy or lewd given the video's thumbnail image of Ray standing next to the dancer. It's harmless, comical...some may say absurd...but it's certainly not offensive, raunchy, or lewd in any way. See for yourselves...   

Ray Stevens: The Golden Losin' Streak Remembrance

Ray Stevens rocks out in this 1973 photograph...a close-up of the image appearing on his Losin' Streak album. That particular album reaches 50 this year and I'm giving a golden anniversary remembrance to that one of a kind album. If you follow Ray's career then you're very aware of how obscure, under-rated, and unheralded this 1973 album happens to be in comparison to some of his other albums of the same time period. Ray remarked that the album's title ironically described his recording career at that moment in time. He remarked that he was on a commercial losing streak...but no matter...his artistic display more than make up for it. This album was recorded in what Ray nicknamed The Ray Stevens Sound Laboratory. He had recently opened up his own recording studio after having spent years recording in numerous studios along Music Row. He would also rent out the studio to other record producers and artists. Ray kept this studio open for several years even though he personally stopped recording at the location a year later, in 1974, when he opened up a studio on Grand Avenue. That studio remained his base of operations for 45 years until 2019. The production of Losin' Streak was originally meant to be a focal point had the album been promoted as it should have been. There are several songs on this album that play around with Ray's vocalization...and the music arrangements and the overall sound all carry an experimental flavor. The albums Ray released before and after Losin' Streak lack the specific sound heard throughout this album. The album features an instrumental track that Ray composed, "Laid Back". 

Now, for those who like to be picky, the 1973 album is officially titled Ray Stevens featuring Losin' Streak but I prefer to just call it Losin' Streak. The album contains 11 songs...and Ray is the writer of 5 of the songs. Although Ray had always included songs written by others on his albums it's worth noting that on this particular album and in another album released the same year he was expanding and including more songs from other writers. One writer in particular being Layng Martine, Jr. The tracks "Being Friends" and "Idaho Wine" were from the pen of Layng Martine, Jr. It was in 1973 that Ray 'discovered' Layng Martine, Jr. and signed him to his publishing company (Ahab Music, Co.). The story goes that Layng sought out Ray and said how much of a fan he happened to be and that he wanted to write songs for Ray. Ray published almost every song Layng wrote in this early '70s time period and the biggest Layng Martine, Jr. song Ray published, as far as airplay and sales is concerned, turned out to be "Rub It In", a song that became a massive hit for Billy 'Crash' Craddock. Ray had actually produced a recording of the song by Layng Martine, Jr. but it wasn't a major hit. It reached the charts, though. Now, getting back to Ray's Losin' Streak album... the album's title track, "Losin' Streak", wasn't written by Ray Stevens as some may have thought. The song was written by a writer named Nick Van Maarth. The title track has a very memorable electric guitar and steel guitar blending together...and the up-tempo performance sets the mood for most of the album. "This is Your Life", one of the songs Ray wrote, is the song I imagine Ray is singing on the album's cover. The song contains a shouter of a chorus...some may say he's belting out the lyrics. One of the themes throughout the album is inspiration. "This is Your Life" is a song of inspiration but the one that has inspiration all over it is another Ray Stevens composition, "Inside". Tupper Saussy wrote the positive, reassuring "Things Work Out". Ray brings back a song he originally recorded in 1963, the self-penned "Just One of Life's Little Tragedies". It's a partial re-write, too, as he changes some of the lyrics in the last half of the song in addition to giving it a new music arrangement. Ray also gives a new arrangement to "Bye Bye Love", the classic pop hit by The Everly Brothers. In Ray's rendition the song is changed from an up-tempo sing-a-long to a bluesy ballad. The self-penned "What Do You Know?" closes out the 1973 album. 

I'm closing this blog entry with a couple of audio tracks. One of the tracks is "This is Your Life". Listen to Ray's performance and take in the glorious music arrangement. I'm also going to include the audio track of "Inside". That song would eventually end up as a B-side to a 1974 single-only release from Ray titled "Everybody Needs a Rainbow". The A-side was written by Layng Martine, Jr. The YouTube audio tracks were uploaded by another Ray Stevens fan named Randall Hamm.

 

Ray Stevens: The Melancholy Fescue YouTube Page

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! As I'm sure you all know by now if you look up several Ray Stevens albums on YouTube you're going to find audio tracks from the albums in the search results. The complete albums are available to listen to on YouTube. In case you've never done it by now all you have to do is type in Ray's name and the album you're looking up. Now, keep in mind, not every single album from him is available to listen to on YouTube but a good chunk of them are. An album from a more recent vintage is 2021's Melancholy Fescue. It's such a wonderfully produced and recorded album...in one of my reviews I think I used the word, exquisite, to describe how I felt about the overall album. It's an album of 12 songs. The YouTube page for the album contains audio tracks to 11 of the 12 songs. "Unchained Melody", since it was previously made into an official music video, it's featured on the YouTube page for Melancholy Fescue instead of just an audio track. The music video's gotten more than 1,000,000 unique views. The YouTube playlist for the album can be found HERE.

The audio track with the most YouTube plays is "Ruby/Ruby Baby" at 5.6K followed closely by "Goin' Out Of My Head" at 4.8K. The third most played audio track from Melancholy Fescue is "Oh, Pretty Woman" at 3.4K. His rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", such a fun song, is nearing 1,000 plays as is "Twilight Time". The track that has the fewest plays is his version of "People", a song previously recorded by Barbra Streisand in 1964. It's gotten 565 plays. When you do a YouTube for Ray and the song, "People", you will not find it among the first dozen or so results. Instead what you'll get first are songs from Ray with the word, people, in the title...and although the song is called "People" you'll have to scroll through numerous video uploads to find the actual song, "People". I'm pretty sure that sort of thing is why the audio track has only gotten 565 plays, to date. If you search for the name of the album you're going to find "People" more quicker than if you do a general search for the Ray Stevens recording. The lack of exposure, apparently, for "People" is why I'm embedding the video to close out this blog entry. I know you're going to love it if you've never heard it...and if you've heard Ray's recording already I know you're going to love hearing it again!

Ray Stevens: "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" nearing 300,000 unique views...

It's me once more...and I was looking over the unique view total for the Ray Stevens music video, "Hoochie Coochie Dancer". It was uploaded onto YouTube on October 8, 2021 and it's steadily been climbing more than a year later. In numerous interviews in his past he has said that he often prefers slow discovery of his music. Now, I'm paraphrasing but that's basically what he was saying when asked why a lot of his songs and albums seem to take awhile to hit or catch on. The phrase riding a song or riding an album is music industry jargon for how many weeks/months/years a song or album is publicized. You can ride a song for months and an album for years. In some cases you can ride an album for a number of years and squeeze every opportunity from it before moving on to the next release. Well, "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" is one of those examples where an immediate follow-up never surfaced and it's been left up to the viral video on YouTube to promote the album it appears on, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. The audio tracks have all been uploaded to YouTube including an audio track for "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" but given YouTube is a visually dominant platform it explains why the music video has reached more audience than the audio track. The music video currently sits at 299,918 unique views. In June of 2022, which I think was the last time I provided an update on the video's view count, the total was 239,004. In a little over half a year's time it received a 60,914 unique view increase. I'm hoping this blog entry focusing on the music video will help push the video past the 300,000 level. I'll keep an eye on the unique views for a few days and make note of when it reaches the 300,000 plateau. In the meantime enjoy the video!   

Ray Stevens and the High School Band

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! One thing you may notice about this fan created blog entry is that, other than the pictorial timeline, I rarely mention Ray's high school years and the band he formed. The reason for this is because of how very little information there is...and what information that exists online is shared on multiple websites to the point that I've never felt it necessary to write a blog entry focusing on his high school band. In other words, with such little information, there's not enough to construct a blog entry. However, a couple of weeks ago on January 12th, Ray posted an image on his social media pages. The image was a photo of himself and his band, The Barons. The photo caption described it as a photo from 1954, when Ray was 15, and it identified the other members of the band, too. In that photo the credited musicians are: Ray Stevens (piano/vocalist); Alan Becker (saxophone); Donald Adams (trumpet); and Don Klett (drums). You can see the photo, which is too large to copy here, by clicking this LINK. I could've saved the photo and then re-sized it...and replaced the larger image with a re-sized copy...and I may do that...but as of now I hadn't. The image of Ray I decided to use in this blog entry is from his years as a disc jockey/host of 'The Record Hop' on WGPC radio in the mid 1950's during the same time period that he was leading The Barons. 

Now, here's where the confusing part comes up. If you're a long time fan of Ray's and know a lot of information about him then you know that Ray's birthname is Harold Ray Ragsdale. He went by the name, Ray Ragsdale, during his childhood and especially in his teen years. He was known as Ray Ragsdale throughout his high school years in Albany, Georgia and Atlanta, Georgia. When you see the photo you'll notice that his stage name, Ray Stevens, is visible on a banner behind him and below the drummer. "Silver Bracelet" is advertised above his name...a song that became his first commercial single in 1957 on Prep Records. If the photo is from 1954 then his name should've been Ray Ragsdale and there wouldn't have been any advertisement for "Silver Bracelet" since that song didn't come along, commercially, until 1957. However, it's possible "Silver Bracelet" had been part of The Baron's set-list in 1954 but it still doesn't explain 'Ray Stevens' on the banner instead of 'Ray Ragsdale'. Ken Nelson, once Ray arrived at Prep Records/Capitol Records in 1957, suggested the name change to 'Ray Stevens'. 

When you read Ray's 2014 memoir, titled Ray Stevens' Nashville, he mentions that he recorded the song three times. He recorded it the first time in his high school's cafeteria. He then recorded it in a more professional setting with record promoter/publisher/producer, Bill Lowery. Ray then recorded it a third time with Ken Nelson as record producer. The third recording is what shown up on vinyl on Prep Records in 1957. The photo identified as 1954 is likely a photo from sometime in 1957/1958 with the musicians correctly identified but with the wrong year given. In his memoir Ray credits The Barons consisting of Bob Duggleby (trumpet); Bill Garrison (saxophone); and Terry Coleman (drums). So, I'm assuming the musicians he credits in his memoir were part of the original Barons line-up of the mid '50s whereas the musicians credited in the January 12th photo on Ray's social media pages are from the final years of the band's existence.  

Ray Stevens: This Is a Diamond

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! This is a Diamond anniversary for the 1963 Ray Stevens album, This is Ray Stevens. The album was released on Mercury Records, in 1963, and it was Ray's second studio album. The track list, as with his previous album, were songs written by Ray. Some people might say a good chunk of Ray's music legacy is tied to his first two studio albums. Now, when music historians/essayists say things like that, I tend to think they're simply referring to a couple of single releases lifted from his 1962 and 1963 studio albums. I wouldn't go so far as to definitively say that his first two studio albums served as a template for things to come but I understand why such an opinion would form. This 1963 album, like it's predecessor, is a mix of novelty songs and love ballads. When you listen to this follow-up album and compare it to it's predecessor one of the things you should notice right away is the detailed approach to each recording. This isn't to say that the 1962 album lacked any lyrical or musical detail...but the overall feel of the 1963 album is different and, as you can tell from reading my thoughts, it's hard to put in words the differences without getting overly complicated and ultimately confusing. Ray, as you can see, appears on the album cover and he's signaling a left turn. I don't know if Ray considered that his Bath-Mobile or not but the comical cover art obviously is meant to let consumers know that this won't be your usual album. 

There were several single releases from the 1963 album. The song that, in hindsight, would be considered the main single is "Harry the Hairy Ape". This novelty, sung in frenetic delivery, tells of an ape that escaped from a local zoo. Ray tells us that the ape is a prankster who likes to hide and jump out of the bushes to scare people. It features an ape call delivered vocally from Ray...and we're told what the translation is each time. The zany novelty song ends up having a satirical slant to it but you won't know this until near the end...with a comment on rock and roll performers of the day; and with that one line in the song it goes from being silly to satirical in split-second fashion. Ray charted pop (here in America as well as Canada) as well as rhythm and blues with both "Harry the Hairy Ape" and another single release, "Speed Ball". The latter novelty is about a motorcyclist and his wild ways...complete with vocal sound effects of a motorcycle as well as the motorcyclist's girlfriend, Sugar Beet. The 1963 album also contains "Funny Man". A serious love ballad about a guy who's known publicly as light-hearted and happy-go-lucky but in reality acts up-beat and funny to hide pain and anguish. The song stuck a chord with Canadian music consumers and it reached their pop chart...peaking in the Top-20. It made an appearance here in America on our pop chart but the Canada finish was by far the most successful. 

The album features 12 tracks...broken down as 6 novelty songs and 6 love ballads. The original vinyl album cover features liner notes on the back. One of the most hysterical, and if you're a legitimate fan of daytime drama, will you find it even more hilarious... a novelty on here called "Soap Opera". It's a wild parody of soap opera's in general and if you're knowledgeable on early soap opera's you might be able to guess which show was the main inspiration for this recording by listening to the dialogue. When you're listening to This is Ray Stevens you're going to hear a variety of songs plus you're going to hear a variety of vocalizations. Some of the vocalizations are intentionally silly and wild but then you're going to hear a vocalization from Ray that I've felt was his impression of country music singers in the song "The Weekend". It's a cheating song, so apparently, Ray wanted to incorporate a country vocal to it and it's an overall fun and lively performance. "The Deodorant Song" is about what you'd think it's about. Ray gives listeners some advice on how to keep friends close and what to do if things get a little too strong in the scent department. The 6 ballads are: "Funny Man", "Just One of Life's Little Tragedies", "Little Stone Statue", "Teen Years", "Loved and Lost", and "It's Been So Long". Interestingly the album closes with "It's Been So Long" rather than on an up-tempo laugh fest. As mentioned all the songs were written by Ray. They were all published by Lowery Music. The album's producer was Shelby Singleton. He also produced Ray's 1962 album. 

Ray re-recorded "Funny Man" in 1968, "Harry the Hairy Ape" in 1969 and in 2012, and "Just One of Life's Little Tragedies" in 1973.             

Ray Stevens: Grazing Podcast Long-Form Interview

Hello Ray Stevens fans! I came across a new long-form interview less than an hour ago. This particular interview was uploaded to the internet a couple of days ago but only today did I find it. I was doing an online search this morning and not expecting to find a lot of new things since checking yesterday evening when I came across a link to a website called Your Farmer Scoop. The link's brief description included information about an interview with Ray Stevens on a podcast. So, I clicked the link and listened to the interview. I title the blog entry 'Grazing Podcast' because that phrase is something I seen while on the website. It's a locally produced program and based on the information it's Episode 73. 

I loved the interview...and you're going to love it, too. The audio is crisp and when you listen to the interview you'll think Ray sounds like he's in the same room with you. The interview is conducted at the CabaRay showroom...in the control room. The first part of the interview is a discussion of the CabaRay and about midway through the opening minutes both the host and Ray break out into laughter over the mishearing of the word, Valet, and how it sounds like Ballet. You'll find yourselves laughing as you hear the two of them clear up the confusion. After the opening few minutes the host gets into all kinds of happenings in Ray's career. You'll hear Ray talk, at length, considering it's a long-form interview that lasts a little over 40 minutes. One of the refreshing, if that's the proper word, aspects of this interview is that the host asks lots of questions that you ordinarily won't hear in other interviews. 

I think this may be the first interview in a long, long time where Ray is asked about his music videos...specifically the ones that shown up on his 1992 Comedy Video Classics release. The host relates how much he loves the music videos and singles out various comedic scenes in several of them. I don't want to give out everything and so if you all want to hear one of the recent interviews of Ray Stevens click HERE. I left a comment over there but it's awaiting the website moderator's approval...so, depending on when you click the link, you may or may not see my comment.  

Ray Stevens: The 2023 Birthday Blog Entry

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! I have a feeling some of you reading this are here, specifically today, because you've found this fan created blog page in a general online search for Ray Stevens given that today is his birthday. If this is your first time reading this blog take a look around the Archive section and view the pictorial time-line I created highlighting moments in Ray's music career. Well, I often call it Ray's music journey instead of music career. I chose the word, journey, for the blog's title because I feel Ray's career resembles a music journey...and very seldom has Ray looked backward in the journey...and even now he's working on new recordings which I'm hoping will see release by mid-year at the earliest. Happy Birthday Ray Stevens! Ray was born January 24, 1939 in Clarkdale, Georgia. His birthname is Harold Ray Ragsdale. His mother's maiden name happened to be Stephens and when Ray entered the music business on a professional level in 1957 a record producer at Capitol Records, Ken Nelson, suggested Ray change his last name from Ragsdale to something else. The spelling of his mother's maiden name, Stephens, didn't accompany Ray's professional debut. Instead, the stage name spelling happened to be Stevens. If you look at the photo time-line you'll see that Ray was involved in music, in some way or another, since his teen years. He was a disc jockey on local radio (WGPC) and eventually found himself working for disc jockey/music publisher, Bill Lowery. Ray's roots are all over the Georgia towns of Clarkdale and Albany. He was also witness to the Atlanta music scene as a teenager and this regional locale formed the backdrop of his music sensibilities. In interviews Ray has often remarked how much he loved hearing now-classic Rhythm and Blues groups and recording artists. He's also said that growing up in that particular region he regularly heard country music, gospel music, and he loved comedy/novelty songs...and growing up in that melting pot of music styles all played on the same radio station is something that most people will never get to experience. 

Since we're very early on January 24th I'm thinking that later on today we'll see a birthday photo, or two, posted on Ray's social media pages. There's usually a Happy Birthday post with a publicity photo of Ray or a brand new photo of Ray with a slice of cake. 

I know that there's a discount sale today at his online store. There will be a 24 percent discount on your order total...and since it's a Birthday discount sale it's only valid through the end of the day. If you've never been to Ray's official website it's very easy to navigate. Once there you'll see the various tabs for the different sections of his webpage. You can click this LINK and it'll take you to Ray's official store. Ray's last comedy album, to date, arrived in October 2021 titled Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. A music video to one of the songs on that album hit YouTube the same month, "Hoochie Coochie Dancer". The comedy album was Ray's 5th album of 2021...following a 4-CD box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. If you follow Ray's career or have come across this blog page in the past then you'll know all about those albums released in 2021. Ray promoted the box set and the comedy CD through his social media pages and appearances on select programs. One of those appearances was on Mike Huckabee's TV program and another on a radio show hosted by Tony Orlando. That's quite a broad group of people Ray Stevens prefers to reach out to...which perfectly illustrates his varied music sensibilities and why he's reached people for 8 consecutive decades: '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, 00s, 10's, and 20's.

As a birthday bonus I'm embedding the audio track of "Soap Sally", one of the comedy songs from Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. Visit the various social media pages of Ray Stevens today and tell him Happy Birthday.

Ray Stevens: Revisiting the Album Discography

Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! If this is your first time seeing this blog page it's been in existence for more than a decade. It's a fan created blog and within the various blog entries I've written I try and convey information, opinion, and facts balanced with video performance embeds and photographs. Now, at the center of this blog, is legendary Ray Stevens. This, as mentioned, is a fan created page and it has no direct involvement from, or interaction with, Ray, and so whatever you read is of my own creation. In other words the commentary and thoughts shared throughout my blog entries should not be taken as any kind of official representation of Ray. I was looking in my blog statistics earlier and seen where I got some traffic for a blog entry I wrote quite a number of years ago focusing on Ray's album discography. I didn't go back and read what I previously wrote but I think I made mention of the fact that it's very difficult to have a full, 100 percent accurate showing of an album discography on Ray Stevens. I say this because of the many compilation albums that have been issued on Ray not only in the United States but overseas throughout a 40+ year time frame. Ray's official website contains one of the most comprehensive album discographies and there's also a couple of online sites that contain a singles and album discography and they're just as detailed as the one on Ray's website. Since this is a blog page all about legendary Ray Stevens I've included discographies of Ray in the past...and now I'm going to provide an updated list of albums. My list will contain all of his studio albums and select compilation albums that I feel should be in any fan's collection. A lot of these albums, fortunately, are available to listen to online. Well, I should say a lot of his recordings are available...some of his actual studio albums have never been officially converted onto the digital/streaming platforms. Ray has an active YouTube channel and an active Spotify page...those two online platforms are what I'd seek out when you're searching for the music of Ray Stevens. Oh, of course, he has an official webpage that I often provide links to and you can find his songs on Amazon and other online places; however, YouTube and Spotify offer his music on demand and those two sites don't suppress his contemporary recordings like some online music sites, I've noticed, have been doing. This album discography is intentionally incomplete as I'm not striving for a complete list. I'm only spotlighting the official releases (studio albums) and select compilations. 

1962: 1,837 Seconds of Humor  {Mercury Records}

1963: This Is Ray Stevens  {Mercury Records}

1968: Even Stevens  {Monument Records}

1969: Gitarzan  {Monument Records}

1969: Have a Little Talk With Myself  {Monument Records}

1970: The Best of Ray Stevens  {Mercury Records}

1970: Everything is Beautiful  {Barnaby Records}

1970: Unreal  {Barnaby Records}

1971: Greatest Hits  {Barnaby Records}

1972: Turn Your Radio On  {Barnaby Records}

1973: Nashville  {Barnaby Records}

1973: Losin' Streak  {Barnaby Records}

1974: Greatest Hits  {re-issue of 1971 album; Barnaby Records}

1974: Boogity Boogity  {Barnaby Records}

1975: Misty  {Barnaby Records}

1975: The Very Best of Ray Stevens  {Barnaby Records}

1976: Just for the Record  {Warner Brothers}

1977: Feel the Music  {Warner Brothers}

1978: There is Something On Your Mind  {Warner Brothers}

1978: Be Your Own Best Friend  {Warner Brothers}

1979: The Feeling's Not Right Again  {10 song collection, 1 new; Warner Brothers}

1980: Shriner's Convention  {RCA Records}

1981: One More Last Chance  {RCA Records}

1982: Don't Laugh Now  {RCA Records}

1983: Greatest Hits  {RCA Records}

1983: Me  {Mercury Records}

1984: He Thinks He's Ray Stevens  {MCA Records; Platinum Record}

1985: Collector's Series  {RCA Records}

1985: I Have Returned  {MCA Records; Gold Record}

1986: Surely You Joust  {MCA Records}

1987: Greatest Hits  {MCA Records; Platinum Record}

1987: Crackin' Up  {MCA Records}

1987: Greatest Hits, Volume Two  {MCA Records; Gold Record}

1987: Get The Best of Ray Stevens  {Direct-market double album; MCA Records}

1988: I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like  {MCA Records}

1989: Beside Myself  {MCA Records}

1990: His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits  {Curb Records; Gold Record}

1990: Lend Me Your Ears  {Curb Records}

1991: Greatest Hits  {Curb Records}

1991: Number One with a Bullet  {Curb Records}

1993: Classic Ray Stevens  {Curb Records; new, original recordings in spite of it's title}

1995: Cornball  {compilation album; Warner Brothers}

1995: Do You Wanna Dance?  {compilation album; Warner Brothers}

1995: The Serious Side of Ray Stevens  {compilation album; Warner Brothers}

1996: Great Gospel Songs  {compilation; Curb Records}

1997: The Best of Ray Stevens  {Rhino Records; Dr. Demento liner notes}

1997: Hum It  {MCA Records}

1997: Christmas Through a Different Window  {MCA Records}

1998: The Country Hits Collection  {compilation album; Varese Sarabande}

2000: Ear Candy  {Clyde Records}

2001: All-Time Greatest Hits  {Varese Sarabande; booklet liner notes}

2002: Osama Yo' Mama  {partial re-issue of 'Ear Candy'; Curb Records}

2004: Thank You  {Clyde Records}

2007: New Orleans Moon  {Clyde Records; re-issued on Curb Records}

2007: Hurricane  {Clyde Records; re-issued on Curb Records}

2008: Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra  {Clyde Records; re-issued on Curb Records}

2009: One for the Road  {Clyde Records}

2009: Ray Stevens Christmas  {Clyde Records; re-issued on Curb Records}

2010: We The People  {Clyde Records}

2011: Spirit of '76  {Clyde Records}

2012: Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music  {Clyde Records; 9-CD box set}

2014: Gospel Collection  {Clyde Records/Gaither Music Group}

2015: Here We Go Again!  {Clyde Records/Player Records; re-issued on Curb Records}

2016: Just a Closer Walk With Thee  {Clyde Records/Gaither Music/Springhill}

2016: Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me  {CabaRay; re-issued on Curb Records}

2021: The Iconic Songs of the 20th Century  {4-CD box set; Curb Records}

2021: Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore  {Curb Records}

If you notice there's a lot of Clyde Records releases that were later re-issued by Curb Records. Most of the time those re-issues are for the online/streaming availability on sites like YouTube and Spotify. Ray's 9-CD box set from 2012 has also been re-issued by Curb Records...they've uploaded the audio tracks onto YouTube. I don't have it listed but Ray issued a multiple CD collection simply called Box Set on his own Clyde Records label. This project was later re-issued by Curb Records, too. In the few years leading up to 2020 Ray was issuing music on a new imprint, CabaRay Entertainment. He had retired his long time imprint, Clyde Records (which made it's debut in 1988). A music video and single-only release of "Dear America", from 2016, featured the CabaRay Entertainment imprint as did his Christmas album that year, Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me. However, in 2020, Ray signed with Curb Records once again and they issued 5 albums on him in 2021. Those 5 albums followed the 2020 single/music video release of "Everything is Beautiful - 50th Anniversary", a re-recording of his 1970 song accompanying a brand new music video. 

2020 also saw the music video release of "The Quarantine Song" in which a separate audio recording has since been placed on 2021's comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. 

In between 2015 and 2021 Ray was keeping himself busy recording episodes of his syndicated television series, Ray Stevens' Nashville, later re-titled Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. He was also working on the music that would eventually get released on the 4-CD box set in 2021. Ray had planned on having his CabaRay showroom open by the latter half of 2016 but, not long after a news conference announcing the ground breaking of the music venue, Ray ran into bureaucratic red tape, building permit delays, and construction delays. The CabaRay showroom eventually had it's grand opening early in 2018. 

The hectic, busy schedule of television show production and getting a state of the art concert venue built left him little time to release full-length albums every year. Ray will be releasing new projects this year...nothing is known about the style of songs or if they'll be available in CD or only in digital download format. In addition to that bit of news Ray Stevens celebrates a birthday tomorrow (January 24th). I'll be writing a birthday blog entry early Tuesday morning.  

Ray Stevens sings "Sir Thanks-a-Lot"

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! A few days ago was the birthday of Dolly Parton and to celebrate it Ray uploaded his 1977 performance of "Sir Thanks-a-Lot". Ray had performed the song on Dolly's variety show which went by the name Dolly. That TV series was syndicated and it's official air-dates were September 13, 1976 - March 7, 1977. Ray appeared on the episode that aired, ironically, on his birthday. On January 24, 1977 the Ray Stevens episode of Dolly aired in syndication. Ray had worked with Dolly at Monument Records back in the mid 1960s before she joined the Porter Wagoner group. Ray performed a couple of recordings on the 1977 episode...one of which happened to be "Get Crazy With Me", a brand new song at the time. That song would appear on his 1977 Feel the Music album. Ray and Dolly performed two duets: "Searchin'" and "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby". Ray performed "Sir Thanks-a-Lot" and it included Dolly as the damsel in distress. The comedy song is about a Knight during the time of King Arthur...of course the Knight that Ray sings about was never a member of the Round Table in Camelot. Nonetheless Ray tells us about Thanks-a-Lot and his heroic chivalry in days of old. 

Ray had originally recorded the song in 1969 for his Gitarzan album and this may be the only time he ever performed it on television. Ray is at his up-tempo best churning out lyrics a mile a minute without missing a single beat but there are some giggles and laughs from both at various moments in the performance...but that sort of thing only adds to the charm.

Ray Stevens: Truckers Network Radio Interview

Hello to all of the fans of Ray Stevens! I just finished listening to a long form interview of Ray. For those that might wonder what the phrase 'long form' means it basically means the interview is longer than 'short form'. Okay, I'm trying to be cute...but in all seriousness the phrase 'long form' simply means that the interview is lengthy and it isn't rushed. I came across a link to this interview on a social media page...and the specifics state that the interview took place yesterday (January 20th). A podcast titled Truckers Network Radio hosted by Shelley Johnson, Tom Kelley, and Tom Kyrk. You will hear all three in addition to Ray Stevens during the long form interview. The episode's length of time is 54 minutes, 22 seconds and every minute and second of that podcast is filled completely. In the interview, which is subtitled A Walk Down Memory Lane, Ray discusses a lot of his history and touches on several of his recordings. In addition to recalling a lot of his recordings the host plays seven of Ray's recordings at various times throughout the interview. In a career that dates back to the late 1950s it is next to impossible to give everything a detailed going over...even in a long form interview...and so the hosts touch upon what a public may be familiar with or what they may not know when it comes to Ray Stevens. Toward the end of the interview they speak about his CabaRay showroom and that it'll re-open for the 2023 season in March. 

I took some notes while listening and was going to compose a detailed overview of the interview but then I decided against that at the last minute. I think a long form overview of a long form interview may discourage some from listening to the actual interview and it would therefore rob yourselves of hearing Ray personally answer all of the questions being asked and his recalling his 60+ year recording career...and so here is the LINK. You'll love every minute of the interview.  

The Ray Stevens recordings that the hosts play are:

Jeremiah Peabody's Green and Purple Pills (2005 recording)

Misty (original 1975 recording)

Mississippi Squirrel Revival (1992 recording)

It's Me Again, Margaret (1992 recording)

The Streak (1992 recording)

Everything is Beautiful (1992 recording)

Gitarzan (1995 recording)  

Ray Stevens: The Funny Faces and Comical Creations...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! Here we are on January 15th of the brand new year...and a somewhat newer photo from Ray Stevens emerged on his social media earlier today. I refer to it as somewhat newer because it's a fairly recent photo of Ray making a funny face on the stage of his CabaRay showroom just minutes west of downtown Nashville. In the photo, as you see on the left hand side of the screen, Ray is holding his microphone up to his ear. A similar pose surfaced last year of Ray intently looking inside the top of the microphone. Down through the decades Ray Stevens has often given us a lot of funny faces and comical creations. On numerous album covers he's given us funny facial expressions and on almost all of his comedy albums, specifically, he's appeared in costume as some sort of historical figure or as a parody of something widely known in pop culture in general. For example, for his 1997 comedy album, Hum It, he appeared on the cover dressed as Whistler's Mother. The added touch of a basketball referee blowing a whistle added to the visual joke. When that comedy album was originally released a lot of people (music historians included) missed the Whistler's Mother connection and immediately remarked that Ray was dressed as Mother Bates from the Psycho movies. 

Now, going back to 1962 for example, we have this publicity photo of Ray Stevens that Mercury Records used in a lot of weekly music publications of the time period and I've seen this image appear on a number of albums, too. If you know your Ray Stevens music history then you know that 1962 is the year that Mercury Records released the first full length album on Ray titled 1,837 Seconds of Humor. That album's centerpiece was "Ahab the Arab" which hit the Top-10 on both the Pop Hot 100 and the Rhythm and Blues chart. The album also features "Jeremiah Peabody's Green and Purple Pills", "Saturday Night at the Movies", "Furthermore", and "A Hermit Named Dave" just to name a few. Ray recorded a rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" but for whatever reason it wasn't placed on his 1962 album or his This is Ray Stevens album in 1963. There are a couple of other wacky photos of Ray Stevens from the early 1960's time period but none was as ubiquitous as the black and white photo. That photo even appeared on the cover of sheet music. 

I've been a Ray Stevens fan for more than 30 years and do you know that I don't have any information as to the origin of this particular photo?? Through the process of elimination I know it's based upon his 1985 recording, "The Pirate Song", from his I Have Returned album. What I don't know, as of yet, is where this photo come from. I don't know if it's from a performance of the song on an episode of Nashville Now or if it's from an awards show. Ray often performed a song, or, co-hosted, or presented an award, on various award shows with the most appearances on the Music City News awards. That photo could be from a Music City News telecast but I don't know. Ray performed the song in a television special called The Country Comedy Hour. I know of this because Ray has the performance uploaded on his YouTube channel. They say that performance is from the early 1990s. I don't know if that television special ever aired, though, or if it was a pilot that was unsold since I've searched various online search engines and can't find any information about it...beyond the video clip Ray posted which does show up in search results. Although it's a black and white photo note the colorful parrot on his shoulder. This photo could be from a rehearsal of that Country Comedy Hour...but the pirate uniform looks just a little different than how it appears on the video clip, at least in my eyes it does. Ray made an official music video of that song in 2000. Here's the performance from the comedy special in the early 1990s. Comedy duo Williams and Ree, as well as, among others, Ruth Buzzi, appear in this performance as additional pirates. 

This photo is one of the most wildest of Ray Stevens. He is playing the role of Coy from his 1980 recording, "Shriner's Convention". The photo was taken while he rode out on stage at his former Branson, Missouri theater. The motorcycle has appeared in dozens of performances of the song and it appeared in Ray's 1995 Platinum selling Direct-to-VHS movie, Get Serious!. That movie includes the official music video of "Shriner's Convention". A similar photo of Ray on the motorcycle graces the cover of his 1993 Double-Platinum VHS, Ray Stevens Live!. If you've ever seen the album cover of Shriner's Convention an illustration of the motorcycle appears on the cover. The color scheme of the motorcycle and the name, Coy, written across the front of it first appeared on that album cover in 1980 and so the illustration of the motorcycle was the basis for the real motorcycle that Ray would drive out on stage. I believe the first appearance of the motorcycle in a performance of the song happened during the Music City News Country Awards in 1980. I'd heard that Ray donated the motorcycle to a local Shriners organization in the early 2000's and so it's no longer in his possession.   

Ray Stevens: 2023 CabaRay concert tickets on Sale Now

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! The news broke yesterday, around 3pm, that tickets for the 2023 concert season at the CabaRay showroom are on sale now! I didn't have time to post a blog entry about the 2023 season because I was getting ready for work. I work evenings until a little after Midnight. Anyway, the first concert of the 2023 season will take place on March 11th. That's just two months from now...and time can fly by quickly. There will be three concerts in March...each one being held on a Saturday: March 11th, March 18th, and March 25th. There will be five concerts in April...with the first concert of the month taking place on April 1st, which is a Saturday, and each Saturday after that there will be a Ray Stevens concert at the CabaRay showroom...but I'm looking too far ahead. I wonder if Ray will pull any kind of pranks during the first concert of April...since it'll be April Fools Day after all. I'll write another blog entry in the latter half of February about the CabaRay 2023 concert season getting underway in March but I felt the need to write a blog entry now, too, just to share the breaking news from yesterday evening.

You can find out more information and purchase tickets when you click this LINK. 

The calendar over on the CabaRay website has each concert day circled...and if you click on any concert date it'll take you to information about that date and there will be ticket purchase information and dinner purchase information. Dinner is optional, though. You don't have to purchase a dinner in order to attend a concert...but most people that go there prefer to take in the whole experience. At the CabaRay not only will there be a Ray Stevens concert and an optional dinner but there is also a gift shop and a piano bar...plus plenty of photographs and paintings lining the walls and awards/trophies on display from Ray's career in several display cases. The piano bar opens up roughly 2 hours prior to the CabaRay doors opening. When I attended a concert there the gift shop opened an hour before concert time and re-opened after the concert. The piano bar also re-opens after the concert and Ray usually appears there to take photographs or sign autographs...or sometimes he'll play piano duets with the piano bar pianist, John Jonethis. 

Ray Stevens: 35th Anniversary Time...

As the title of this blog entry points out this is the 35th anniversary time...for what you may be asking? It's 35th anniversary time for anything that took place in the career of Ray Stevens in 1988. This was another action packed year. In the first half of the year Ray was continuing the successes of the previous year as recognition for his 1987 single, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?", was in the running for a Grammy Award early in 1988. Ray performed that Grammy nominated single on a 1988 episode of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson...and at one point the camera shown Johnny holding Ray's 1987 album to the camera so the audience could see what it looked like. In 1988 Ray launched his own record label, Clyde Records. The very first product released on the Independent label happened to be some recordings by his daughter, Suzi Ragsdale. In 1988, however, her stage name was Suzi Stevens. Ray's record label, however, became much more visible several years later when he began the telemarketing phase of his career. He released mail-order VHS tapes under his Clyde Records banner beginning in 1992. In 1988 a mail-order release, Get The Best of Ray Stevens, was an on-going success...a double album released by MCA Records in 1987 the television commercials and print advertisements continued getting circulation throughout 1988 and even into 1989. Ray's studio album in 1988 came along in the middle part of the year...titled I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like...and it marked a turning point in his recording career. The subject matter in a lot of the comedy songs was a bit more topical and only a few of the songs played into the 'southern humorist' vibe that had been heard in greater quantity on Ray's previous comedy albums. 

The 1988 album features 10 comedy songs...and topical, satirical humor kicks things off with "Surfin' U.S.S.R."...a very funny song which became only the second music video of his career. The music video contains exclusive content not heard in the audio recording. In the music video we see a comedic sketch at the beginning with Ray doing vocal impressions of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Why it was never part of the audio recording is a mystery. My guess is it was something Ray or Buddy Kalb come up with when it was decided to turn the song into a music video. The song comes from the pen of William Martin and here's the 1988 music video... 

The good ole boy vibe shows up in "Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex". In this song Ray laments the headache most any parent feels when satellite television is hooked up and how, back then, all kinds of R-rated films were easily accessible to anyone that could operate a remote control (including children). Remember, of course, this was 1988...we were nearly 10 years away from the internet as we know it coming into existence...and back in 1988 it was fashionable but also controversial, to some, to have satellite television...with 'adult programming' easily available in the home. The disclaimer written on screen prior to a strong R-rated movie would be something like "this film is rated R; the following film contains strong language, nudity, violence, and sexual situations". Well, those kind of disclaimers and the country's fascination with satellite TV inspired "Language, Nudity, Violence, and Sex". The fiddle sawing away is the prominent instrument in the recording. There isn't an official music video for the song but the audio is on YouTube...

One of the unexpected treasures of Ray Stevens albums is how songs can take on a life of their own or be discovered years after their original recording. The second single release from the 1988 album, "The Day I Tried to Teach Charlene MacKenzie How To Drive", is a fun up-tempo song with a distinctive 1950's rock and rolling dance arrangement...heavy on saxophone, too. The story is comical...Ray sings about attempting to teach a deaf girl how to drive a '57 Chevy. Ray performed it on the 1988 television special celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hee Haw. Then, 7 years later, the song resurfaced and played a big role in his 1995 direct-to-VHS movie, Get Serious!. The role of Charlene MacKenzie was played by Connie Freeman. Here Ray Stevens is singing the song on a television special titled An American Music Celebration...

Some of the other comedy songs on the 1988 album are "The Booger Man", "I Don't Need None of That", "Blood and Suede", and a country rendition of Michael Jackson's song, "Bad". The "Blood and Suede" song is fabulous...and Ray sings it in hushed tones as if he's passing down a story that's better left whispered about than shouted out loud. In the song Ray tells us of a car crash on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles between a Porsche and Mercedes Benz and the consequences of adultery. The 1988 album is fabulous and if you've not heard the entire album go to YouTube and look up the album title and you'll be able to hear the audio tracks from the entire album.  

Ray Stevens: Hello 2023...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! Oh how it feels to write a blog entry on the first day of a brand new year...it feels awesome in that each year begins a clean slate and you have 364 days left until we reach this particular time again. Since we're on January 1, 2023 for several more hours (it's nearing 8pm here) I decided to open the new year with what I call a hodgepodge blog entry where I don't focus on just one point of discussion...I skip around for a few paragraphs and get the new year underway. 

The photo off to the right is one of the earliest appearances by Ray Stevens on a television show with a beard. As you can see, if you look carefully, that the beard isn't necessarily thick or what some would call fully grown...even though you can clearly tell that it's a beard. The facial hair looks more like it's in a week long, or a week and a half long, growth period. When you see different angles of Ray caught on screen caps from this 1972 performance you'll understand more about the thinness of the beard. Ray is singing "Turn Your Radio On", one of his single releases late in 1971. Ray's recordings were in a gospel direction the latter half of 1971 and into much of 1972. They centered around Ray's Turn Your Radio On album. The album itself was released in the first half of 1972 after three singles had already been released: "A Mama and a Papa"; "All My Trials"; and the album's title track, "Turn Your Radio On". All three singles charted Pop which came to a huge surprise to the record company he recorded for at the time, Barnaby Records. In addition to their Pop chart appearance they found success on the adult oriented Adult-Contemporary music format, too. "A Mama and a Papa" and "All My Trials" became Top-10 hits with the adult music format. If those Pop music chart placings for gospel recordings weren't surprising enough "Turn Your Radio On" made it onto the country music chart...reaching the country Top-20 early in 1972...in addition to charting Pop and Adult-Contemporary. It was a Top-10 hit on Canada's country music chart.

Barnaby Records, naturally, followed up those three gospel singles from Ray with his rock-inflected arrangement of "Love Lifted Me". Now, according to sources I've come across over the years, this single reached the music chart of Bangkok. It doesn't get singled out as a hit overseas in Ray's discography but I saw it listed as a hit in Bangkok in several issues of Billboard magazine's Hits of the World. In the September 30, 1972 issue it shows Ray's rendition of "Love Lifted Me" in the Top-5 in Bangkok. I don't know why it's never listed as a hit single but it most certainly was. The single didn't chart anywhere in the United States or Canada...or anywhere else...except for Bangkok. In this period of Ray's career he was heavily active in touring...all over the United States, Canada, and several overseas venues (notably in England). The world travel and constant show dates, as most Ray Stevens fans are aware, led him to write the homesick ballad, "Nashville", which hit midway through 1973 following the severely under-rated Losin' Streak album. "Nashville" was a homesick ballad but it also doubled as a tribute to Music City, U.S.A. and for the last 8 and a half years (2014 - present) it's been something of an anthem for Ray.. it become the name of his wonderful 2014 memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville, and it become part of the title of his television series, Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville, which made it's debut in November 2015. In the same time period "Nashville" was turned into a music video as well. The homesick ballad from 1973, which hit the Country Top-40, was suddenly experiencing resurgence within Ray's music journey. Now we're in 2023...and Ray's music journey continues marching on. Like you I'm anticipating a lot of activity from Ray in 2023. He's on hiatus now...until the spring...but I won't be on hiatus.