Hello once again all you fans of Ray Stevens!! I was thinking long and hard of what to title this blog entry because in the past I've used a lot of references to the syndicated country music series, Pop! Goes the Country, given that Ray made frequent appearances on the show. The series was hosted by Ralph Emery for nearly 6 full seasons (1974-1980) and then by Tom T. Hall during the final three (1980-1983). This video clip I'm sharing would be from the last series of episodes that Ralph hosted in 1980. From this series Ralph would go on to host a short-lived national series on TBS, Nashville Alive. That series wrapped up in 1982 and then, within a year, he was hosting Nashville Now on The Nashville Network beginning in March 1983 and that lasted a full decade. In this video clip Ray and Ralph discuss the business of making records. Ralph brings up that Ray once produced records on Dolly Parton. Ray tells of how Dolly was recording for Monument Records at the time and that he wanted to promote her as a pop artist. Ray worked behind the scenes while at Monument Records in addition to being a recording artist.
In addition being a singer, songwriter, record producer, musician, and music arranger Ray Stevens often worked in what's known in the music industry as A and R.
Ray looked around for songs and listened to demo's of songs...my guess is he'd submit his findings to whatever record producer or record executive that had the final say. Although he doesn't directly say it in the video Ray kind of alludes to that the only downside to being in the A and R department is if the recording artist wants to do their own songs. If a singer happens to be a songwriter or, more often than not, insists on recording their own songs, there usually isn't much compromise and the work of the person tasked to find songs falls by the wayside. But nevertheless Ray talks about being the record producer of several early Dolly recordings...including "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby". Later in the video clip Ray performs an abbreviated "Save Me From Myself", a song from his 1977 album, Feel the Music. He sings the first verse and the chorus. I wish the entire song would've been performed, though, but it's still fun to watch and hear him talk and sing!! It was the birthdate of the late Ralph Emery several days ago and this video clip appeared on Ray's various social media page.
