Hello fans of Ray Stevens!!! The last installment of the CabaRay Nashville bundle series that I wrote on this blog was back in early July so I think it's about time I posted a new installment. In part five I've randomly selected episodes of Ray's CabaRay Nashville television series to embed. Episodes of the show make their YouTube debut every Friday night. Some of these episodes making their YouTube debut had previously aired on RFD-TV but a bulk of them aired on local PBS affiliates across the country. There are some local PBS stations still carrying episodes of the television series but a much wider exposure, even larger than RFD-TV's reach, began when Ray started uploading one episode per week on his YouTube channel. There are/were quite a few fans of Ray that didn't live in areas where local PBS stations carried his music/talk show and so for those fans these episodes will be new to them. If you've been a fan of Ray's for any length of time (longer than 5 years) then you should be familiar with this television series even if you hadn't had the chance to see it until episodes of it began debuting on his YouTube channel. If you've been a long time fan of Ray and are aware of his signature songs but don't necessarily keep up with his career then this television series might be all new to you as well. In Part Five I'm embedding the following episodes... click each guest star's name to see the episode on YouTube...
John Rich holds the distinction of being the only guest to have two separate episodes. Ray explained that there was so much footage taped that he and the production team decided to make two episodes out of the recorded footage. Whenever the series airs on PBS in local syndication it's always in batches but in chronological order and the two episodes with John Rich are always shown as they were intended to be shown... Part one airs first followed by the second part the following week.
Hello once more!! I just finished watching Part Two of Episode 11 of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville guest starring John Rich. The episode's dialogue didn't make any reference to it being a 'part two'...in fact it played like a typical episode. Ray opened the episode singing "Game Show Love". Now, for those not aware, this happens to be one of my favorite songs of his. I had never, ever seen him perform the song and so you could guess my excitement at seeing him on camera and singing the clever break up song using game show catchphrases and titles in the lyrics. The song itself goes back to his 1983 album, Me, but he re-recorded it fairly recently for a CD titled Bozo's Back Again.
Ray re-introduces John Rich. The first thing Ray asks about is John's work as a record producer. John tells of how he's produced some of Kenny Rogers' later recordings as well as those from John Anderson. John Rich describes John Anderson was "the George Jones of my generation...nobody can sing like John Anderson and you immediately know it's him when you hear his voice". John tells of how great it is to make music in America because you're free to do whatever you want. He speaks of visiting a local bar in Nashville and frequently encountering a bartender there trying to get into the music business. He told her to make a demo, etc. etc. and the next thing he knew his discovery became a big hit...that discovery being Gretchen Wilson. Ray demonstrates visible enthusiasm over John's house containing a showroom complete with a bar.
John also speaks of discovering an act going by the name of Cowboy Troy, a rapping country entertainer. Ray then asks how John and Big Kenny met and formed their duo, Big and Rich. John remarks that his first impression was one of concern because here he was dressed a bit more conservative by comparison to Kenny's wild hair and rock 'n' roll attire. John tells of seeing Kenny tossing small, wrapped pieces of bubble gum into the audience...and one happened to land in the middle of John's forehead. He speaks of their success as a duo before speaking about his grandfather and World War Two. He mentions that his grandfather received 6 Purple Hearts during his military service and this sets up the performance of "The Good Lord and the Man".
After this performance John starts to talk about the 2009 market crash and the bailouts of the banks. John commented that the news angered him so much that he literally threw one of his boots at the television. This inspired him to come up with "Shuttin' Detroit Down", a collaboration with one of his music idols, John Anderson. John Rich performs the market crash/bailout song to wild applause.
Ray then closes the show singing "Your Bozo's Back Again", arranged in the manner that you hear on the Bozo's Back Again CD from 2011 instead of it's original arrangement on 1989's Beside Myself. I should point out the difference in arrangement is very subtle but if you're as familiar with 1989's recording as I am then you'll notice the subtle differences in the 2011 re-recording. Unlike "Game Show Love", "Your Bozo's Back Again" happened to be a song that I've seen him perform on television before...but only once. One of the band members was playing an instrument that I have to admit I'd never seen before. It was a handheld instrument that had the appearance of a piano but it was being blown into as if it were a member of the horn family of instruments. If I come across the name of that instrument I'll make note of it in my next blog entry. Speaking of which...my next blog entry should be this coming weekend sometime...it'll be a re-cap of episode 12 guest starring Tony Orlando! I can't wait to hear the things the two of them discuss!!
Good morning all the fans of Ray Stevens!! Oh yes I'm a bit late at posting my recap of the most recent episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville but nevertheless here it is. It wasn't uploaded onto Ray's video site until sometime yesterday and by the time I checked the internet to if the video had been uploaded there wasn't enough time to watch it and post a recap yesterday but I decided to watch the episode first thing this morning when I arrived home from work. Episode 11 is a two part event guest starring John Rich.
Ray opens the show singing "Shriner's Convention" in it's entirety!! I emphasize this because he usually performs an abbreviated version (omitting the second phone conversation) but this time he performed the entire song from start to finish. Afterward he introduces John Rich and makes mention that the window's from John's house give a great view of Nashville. John refers to the area in which he lives as Lover's Hill and that the house is on Civil War ground. He mentioned that during construction several relics from the Civil War were found. Asked by Ray the reason for the house being built where it is and John replied that he always loved country music and Nashville and if he should ever get a house in Nashville or have one built to make sure it's on a hill and overlooking Nashville's skyline. He said it's because when he wakes up he wants to be able to look out the window and see Nashville below.
Ray asks John to discuss his career at Opryland. John says how much he misses Opryland and asks the audience if they feel the same to which they applaud. He tells of his career at a venue in Opryland called Music City, U.S.A. which leads into Ray telling the audience that John is a positive thinker. John says how much he loved hearing Ray's songs and sings a piece of "Mississippi Squirrel Revival". John tells of the time he called Information asking for Ray Stevens and he was put in contact with Ray's office. John says that he asked to meet Ray...and to his surprise Ray called him back. John recalled that they ended up spending at least 2 hours talking about songwriting and the music industry. The conversation turns to Johnny Horton and how patriotic his records happened to be. John said that he's never gotten the chance to record anything with Ray and with that the two of them perform "The Battle of New Orleans".
After the performance Ray asks John to discuss the song's he's written that others have recorded. He tells of how he got a phone call from an up and coming act needing songs for a Showcase in the hopes of getting signed to a recording contract. John recalls that the label the artist happened to be aiming for was an unknown called Broken Bow. John said that he eventually gave the newcomer the okay to perform the songs...and that newcomer happened to be Jason Aldean. John remarked that five songs he wrote were eventually taken to number one by Aldean. John recalls Tim McGraw wanting "Like I Never Loved At All" and it eventually became a duet hit by Tim and Faith Hill. This leads into John telling how Faith wanted a song written especially about her...and John came up with "Mississippi Girl". John sings a piece of that song...just the opening couple of lines...and Ray thanks him for appearing but says "talk to you later". No mention is made that there's a part two the following week but there is. The second part of John Rich's episode aired this past weekend on local PBS stations. It will be uploaded this coming weekend on Ray's premium video site. Ray closes Part One of episode 11 by singing his arrangement of "Young Love" (which he released as a single in the latter half of 1975).
Once Part Two of episode 11 with John Rich is uploaded onto Ray's video site I'll watch it and provide a recap. If you're in or around Nashville or are on vacation...think about visiting the Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom. It's located in West Nashville on River Road off Charlotte Pike. The upcoming season of Ray's PBS series (season Six) is currently in production at the facility...also, episodes of Larry's Country Diner are being taped at the showroom each Tuesday. The video clip provides all the information you'll need.
Hello all...there's been a lot of activity showing up all over several social media sites regarding all things CabaRay...all things CabaRay Nashville...all things Ray Stevens...you get the idea. Everything from video promo's to wine to most recent news of Larry's Country Diner. In an effort to not let everything jumble together and perhaps get confusing or overlooked I'm going to methodically go through and offer each bit of activity that's gone on at a slower pace so everything can sink in.
First off several months ago, prior to the grand opening of the CabaRay, Ray launched an on-line video site called RayStevens.tv and I immediately subscribed. I purchased a full year's service rather than have a monthly payment. This subscription based site is something that offers fans, among many other things, the opportunity to see episodes of CabaRay Nashville. Ray's television program previously aired on RFD television. It aired on that network from November 2015 until December 2016. In January of 2017 the series began airing on local PBS stations across the country.
Ever since the television series moved from RFD to PBS there isn't a day that goes by that someone on social media doesn't complain about their not being able to see Ray's television show anymore...and some wish it were still on RFD.
Anyway...this video site that Ray launched a couple of months ago offers those that do not have the opportunity to see his television show a chance to watch it on-line. He posted a promotional video clip late in November and a second promo clip in late December. In the first clip he makes mention of the often posted commentary from those that used to watch the show on RFD but no longer can once it moved to PBS.
The video promo's do not reflect chronology. The clip marked Promo2 actually appeared on-line first (November 14, 2017) while the clip marked Promo1 appeared on-line second (December 27, 2017). I guess they (Ray and associates) want more emphasis on the December clip and so they re-named it Promo1. A third promo video for the video site arrived on YouTube on his birthday (January 24th). Those not familiar with video uploading, yes, you can edit a video's title and it not even impact the statistical data of the video whatsoever.
Now, of course, you all should be able to notice that each of those promotional video clips were taped on the same day but individually released a month apart (November, December, and January). A promo clip for the CabaRay itself shown up on February 21st...
Once you visit the CabaRay you'll no doubt come across the Bill Lowery High Spirits Emporium Bar located inside the venue. It is in this section of the CabaRay where you can now sample and even purchase a bottle of what's being sold/advertised as CabaRay Wine. In the advertisement on Ray's social media sites it states that he personally selected the kind of wine being sold. They make mention in the description for the wine that it's bottled in Napa, California. You can see, once you click the image, a larger view of the wines being offered at the CabaRay. The label's contain the years 2013 and 2016 along with the CabaRay logo, the type of wine, and the state in which it was bottled. The news release of this CabaRay Wine appeared on Ray's social media sites on February 21st and so it's only been less than a week since the announcement was made. There isn't video footage promoting the wine, yet...I assume there will be such video publicity at some point. At the moment it's advertised in the form of photographs.
Yesterday a post on the Facebook page of Larry's Country Diner (a television show hosted by Larry Black on RFD) advertised that their upcoming season of television programs is going to be taped at Ray's very own CabaRay venue. Their taping season gets underway on March 6th and they'll be taping two episodes each Tuesday through the middle of April.
Along with the activity surrounding the subscription based video site and the introduction of CabaRay Wine and Larry's Country Diner there have been more promo clips uploaded, on YouTube, for Season Five episodes of CabaRay Nashville and this brings me to the news I found out late last night concerning the local PBS station in the area that airs Ray's television show each Saturday at 8pm. In blogs past I have often made the comment that KET2 began a repeat cycle in January of past episodes of Ray's television series rather than airing Season Five (the current season). I checked the show's profile page at KET2's website and found out that the show is going to go on hiatus for a month (other programs, for unexplained reasons, are going to air in CabaRay Nashville's time slot) but then according to the posted schedule CabaRay Nashville is to return to the airwaves on KET2 on March 24th.
However, if you remember, Ray produced a 90 minute special last year that PBS stations could air during pledge drives. I found out that this PBS special will air on KET2 next month. In fact, it'll air at 12am on March 4th and it'll rerun on March 6th at 3:30am. If you're not a night owl or if you happen to work during those hours then definitely set your DVR for either of those air dates. I'll be watching it on March 4th and more than likely I'll DVR it at the same time. The PBS special has aired already on several PBS stations over the last several weeks. Iowa's PBS station, IPTV, aired the 90 minute special just this past Saturday. Some PBS stations are offering a DVD of the television special as a donation gift.
Back to the previous paragraph. Once KET2 brings back CabaRay Nashville as a weekly series on March 24th it'll begin with a repeat of Tommy Roe's episode from September 2017. This will be followed by, on March 31st, the episode with Mark Wills as a guest (originally airing on KET2 in September 2017). Then, on April 7th, KET2 will start airing recent episodes from the current season of Ray's series. Season Five officially began the first weekend of January this year but rather than add the first 7 episodes to their schedule they're going to start with episode 8 on April 7th. Episode 8 is the one that aired over the weekend guest starring the duo, Wilson Fairchild. Of course this means KET2 will not be airing the first 7 episodes of Season Five but they'll air the remaining episodes. Here's the upcoming KET2 schedule of CabaRay Nashville air dates:
March 4th: CabaRay Nashville Special (12am)
March 6th: CabaRay Nashville Special (3:30am; repeat)
March 24th: Tommy Roe (repeat from September 2017)
March 31st: Mark Wills (repeat from September 2017)
April 7th: Wilson Fairchild
April 14th: Deana Carter
April 21st: Gary Puckett
April 28th: John Rich (part one)
May 5th: John Rich (part two)
May 12th: Tony Orlando
May 19th: Jamie O'Neal
May 26th: Mark Chesnutt
Notice that John Rich will appear in two back to back episodes. This is the first time that a guest artist will headline on back to back episodes.
Season Six is still in production and those episodes are being taped at the CabaRay. I don't know when those Season Six episodes will begin to air...in a previous blog entry I made the assumption that they might start airing in April of this year on his video site and then air on local PBS stations later in the year.
Oh my...was this a lengthy blog entry or what??
Hopefully episode seven from last weekend (guest starring Sam Moore) will be uploaded onto Ray's video site later today. Usually they're uploaded no later than Sunday, a week after they're aired on PBS, but there have been times where uploads didn't surface until Monday. Once I'm able to see the episode I'll provide a re-cap.
In a follow-up blog entry I decided to do some internet searching and although I hadn't found a complete guest list for Season Five of the Ray Stevens locally syndicated PBS series, CabaRay Nashville, I've been able to discover who are likely going to be part of the line-up. I searched some image sites (Instagram, specifically) and looked up photos tagged under Ray Stevens and my memory was refreshed to the late spring/early summer months of 2017. This would be the point in time in which the episodes making up Season Five were likely to have been recorded. Ray Hildebrand's photo with Ray had a May 2017 year of release attached to it. Some other photo's from recording sessions taking place in the first half of 2017 included Ray with the likes of Jenny Gill, John Rich, and Tony Orlando. When I seen those photo's it jogged my memory. I did some further look back and found a Facebook post from June of 2017 in which Ray mentioned that he was in the middle of taping episodes for "a new season" and accompanying his post was a photo of him and guest, Sam Moore.
Now, going with that information I researched earlier this morning, combined with the information I already knew surrounding Season Five I feel I can safely say that this is an abbreviated line-up of guests for this current season of episodes...keep in mind that this guest list is not in chronological air-date order...
Ray Hildebrand, Steve Wariner (edited Season One episode), Paul Overstreet, Dailey and Vincent, Jenny Gill, John Rich, Sam Moore, and Tony Orlando. So far that's 8 broadcasts...so there's 5 episodes whose guests I have no information about. Until a list becomes available of this season's guest stars I'll have to rely on the uploads at Ray's video streaming site and those videos are posted a week after they've aired on PBS stations.
A sampling of local PBS affiliates currently airing episodes of his show: KET2/WCVN; APTV; WXEL; WNIT; WNPT; KRWG; WLJT; KMOS; KCTS9.
If any of you visitors/readers of this fan created blog are familiar with those local PBS stations check their websites for detailed information concerning air-times of Ray's television program. The station I watch his program on is KET2, a sub-channel of WCVN. Those in Washington state and in a good percentage of Canada, from what I've researched, can view Ray's program on KCTS9 but they air his show in a less than desired time slot of 4:30am...so you all are more than likely going to set your DVR and record his show. Since his television series is in local PBS syndication it means that not everybody is going to see the same episode every week. Some affiliates are airing Season Three episodes and other PBS affiliates are airing Season Four episodes. As I've mentioned KET2 is repeating episodes from Season Three. I don't know when they'll start airing Season Five episodes.
