Ray Stevens: Revisiting the New Orleans Moon...

As I begin writing this blog entry we're an hour and fifteen minutes away from the start of Super Bowl LIX which is roman numeral talk for Super Bowl 59. The game is being played in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Superdome and so I thought it would a perfect tie-in to hype/promote the 2007 Ray Stevens tribute to the culture and music of New Orleans. It come in the form of the album New Orleans Moon. Ray, as is the norm, was the album's producer and music arranger. When you look on the back of the album you'll see that some of the songs feature credits specifically attributed to Ray on the songs "When The Saints Go Marching In", "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans", and half of the two song medley featuring a snippet of "Just a Closer Walk With Thee". They're listed as PD/Arrangement which means the songs are in the public domain. Ray would later record a full version of "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" for a gospel album nearly a decade later. Ray wrote the opening instrumental track which runs 1 minute, 8 seconds titled "Prelude to Way Down Yonder in New Orleans". The remainder of the album is vocal. Ray co-wrote which Chuck Redden the title track, "New Orleans Moon". The album, for those that weren't following Ray's career at the time, was sort of like the peak of his celebration of the music and culture of that particular area of Louisiana. It had began rather unofficially in 2005 during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Ray performed on some local fund raisers in the hurricane's aftermath and mentioned in news reports that he'd lost some property due to the hurricane and the flooding. Ray, Buddy Kalb, and Chuck Redden had written a satirical song titled "The New Battle of New Orleans" which was released as a single-only in 2005. It was a parody of the classic Johnny Horton recording, "The Battle of New Orleans". 

Chuck was the main writer of the parody and it contains a lot of lyrics some may find confrontational or controversial. Ray and Buddy Kalb made some slight variations to the song which means that some lyrics were omitted and new lyrics added. The single received some publicity but it set in motion what ultimately became 2007's New Orleans Moon. In the meantime the 2005 single has since became a rarity. The 2007 album is a serious release and so the 2005 single wasn't placed on the album. In the title track Ray does a vocal impression of Louis Armstrong near the end of the song. In the song Armstrong is referenced to as Satchmo, his nickname. The album does feature Ray's version of the Johnny Horton classic, "The Battle of New Orleans", by the way. Some of the other songs on the album are "Louisiana", "Louisiana Man", "New Orleans", and "Basin Street Blues". 

Here's Ray Stevens singing "New Orleans Moon" from an episode of his CabaRay Nashville television series. Keep in mind that you can go to YouTube and listen to the entire album, too.