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.
A couple of days ago a video appeared on YouTube of Ray Stevens in 1975 singing "Misty" on an episode of Pop! Goes the Country. I have the entire episode on DVD and had seen this performance online years earlier, too. Ray uploaded the "Misty" performance to his YouTube channel a couple of days ago and I'm embedding here in this blog entry. The thing you'll notice right away is he's got a beard. If you're as deep into the career and music of Ray Stevens as I happen to be you'll know that, for the most part, Ray kept himself clean shaven throughout much of his professional career until the late 1970s. There are a couple of album releases in the early and mid '70s that feature a bearded Ray Stevens...those would be 1973's Losin' Streak and 1975's The Very Best of Ray Stevens. The sheet music for "Indian Love Call", released in 1975, has Ray with a beard on the cover. As far as television appearances in this time period he had a beard when he appeared on a couple of 1972 episodes of Hee Haw and during an appearance on the American Music Awards in February 1975. He's not been clean shaven (in public) since the late 1970s. The last studio album of his to feature a clean shaven photo of Ray was 1978's There Is Something On Your Mind. Every studio album from 1978's Be Your Own Best Friend through the latest Great Country Ballads features a bearded Ray Stevens.
The uploading of the 1975 performance of "Misty" a few days ago was in recognition of the 1976 Grammy Awards telecast (which originally aired February 28, 1976). Ray won a Grammy at the 1976 awards for his arrangement of "Misty". The official name of that category was Best Arrangement accompanying Vocalist. That award goes to a song's arranger...and since Ray does his own music arranging he got the Grammy. You can watch a clean shaven Ray Stevens sing "Misty" at the 1976 Grammy telecast by clicking HERE. Once you open up the link make sure you click the speaker icon on the video box or else you won't be able to hear the audio! As you see I've embedded below a bearded Ray Stevens in 1975 singing "Misty" on Pop! Goes the Country.
It's me once more!! The late '70s time period in the career of Ray Stevens, for me, is truly fascinating but yet I think the same way about any period of his career. However, that late '70s period takes a lot of priority for me because of how scarce and limited his music from that time period has become. It's a period of time where he was on Warner Brothers.
"You Are So Beautiful" was Ray's debut single for Warner Brothers in 1976. He joined the label after a five year stay at Barnaby Records. This is the label upon which he began publishing his songs under the name, Ray Stevens Music, rather than Ahab Music Productions. This is also a period of time where Ray decided to remain bearded rather than clean shaven. He's not appeared without a beard since the early part of 1978. The last studio album featuring clean shaven Ray Stevens on the cover is 1978's There is Something On Your Mind. "You Are So Beautiful" is performed in a country/bluegrass style...a concept used a year earlier for "Misty" which won Ray a Grammy at the 1976 Grammy Awards for 'Best Arrangement'. The performance above is from an early 1980 appearance on Pop! Goes the Country. Ralph Emery would retire as host of this syndicated television show following the 1979-1980 season...bringing to close a 6 and a half year hosting tenure that began in 1974. Tom T. Hall would become the new host at the start of the 1980-1981 season. Ray appeared on several episodes that Tom T. hosted. The show went out of production at the end of the 1982-1983 season.
Hello once again and I'm here putting together an early Happy Birthday blog entry centering around Ralph Emery and the friendship he's had with Ray Stevens for quite a few decades. Since this is my Ray Stevens fan-created blog I'm going to, as mentioned, spotlight Ralph Emery's career as it relates to Ray Stevens. Tomorrow (March 10th) Ralph turns 87. He was born March 10, 1933 in McEwen, Tennessee as Walter Ralph Emery. The album cover you see on the left hand side of the page is a Mercury Records release from 1970. The Best of Ray Stevens features a very obscure performance of "Ahab the Arab" with an introduction by Ralph Emery. Although I've never found out the origin of this recording I've often assumed that it was recorded at some point in the the latter half of the '60s on Ralph's local television program, The Ralph Emery Show, and Mercury placed the audio onto this vinyl album. I've also come across a vinyl album from the mid '60s in which Ralph appears as an emcee at a concert and among the performers is Ray Stevens...and so the opening performance of "Ahab the Arab" heard on this 1970 compilation album could have come from that vinyl album. Ralph hosted a lot of similar programs relating to country music in the 1960s and it's difficult to find an accurate account of the time-line and titles of the programs he hosted. Opry Almanac is listed as a local television show he hosted, beginning in 1963, and some sources on-line state that this show eventually was re-titled The Ralph Emery Show in 1972 but then there are sites that state each was a separate local television show and that the local Ralph Emery Show debuted in 1966 in the late afternoons. There's also a program he hosted called 16th Avenue South in the mid 1960s and sources say it was a local television show that focused on pop music!? If so, that could be the program where this version of "Ahab the Arab" originated because Ray was definitely marketed as a pop artist in the 1960s. Ralph also hosted a syndicated radio show in addition to his television work.
While all of this was going on Ralph was also at the helm of WSM radio's all-night show, Opry Star Spotlight. This program was, in time, referred to as the "all-night show" informally. Ralph hosted this show from 1957 until 1972 and due to it airing in the overnight hours when WSM radio's signal was at it's strongest he was able to be heard in nearly every State in the Midwest and certainly all the Southern states. Remember, too, this was decades before satellite/internet radio became the norm and so it was something to behold that a disc jockey on a local station was being heard well outside of their market. The legend of Ralph Emery's radio years are tied to the "all-night show" but, as mentioned, he hosted a syndicated radio series in addition to other radio programs that aired in syndication...including one titled Take Five for Country Music and an hour long show where he simply played the current records of the day.
Ralph Emery and Ray Stevens, 1979
Upon the retirement of Ralph from the all-night show on WSM radio in 1972 he continued hosting his television show and syndicated radio programs and he maintained a presence on WSM radio in the daytime hours for a number of years following his departure from the overnight shift. He was also one of the Grand Ole Opry staff announcers during the majority of his time at the radio station. He began hosting a nationally syndicated television series in 1974 titled Pop! Goes the Country. This is the show upon which television viewers across the country were introduced to Ralph Emery. Ray made numerous guest appearances on this television show and by the time this episode aired in 1979 Ray had become well established not only as a 'pop' recording artist but he had also crossed over into country music and remained there permanently by decade's end. In Ray's earliest appearances on Ralph's various television and radio programs he was still officially marketed as a pop act even though he had been living and recording in Nashville and had played on hundreds of recording sessions up and down Music Row since the 1960s. Ralph's programs always had the welcome mat open for Ray Stevens. I wish every radio and television appearance from Ray were available. I find his earlier appearances fascinating and I like to compare/contrast the various decades of his career. I also like reading older interviews of him and compare his thoughts in one era with his contemporary thoughts and gauge how much he's changed or remained the same. Oh yes, I also like to see older clips so I can make note of whether Ray's clean shaven or bearded. As you see in the screen cap Ralph is also shown with a beard...and he wore one for a number of years. His entire run on Pop! Goes the Country (1974-1980) has him bearded. Ralph shaved off the beard but kept a mustache at some point in 1986/1987 but by 1991 he was clean shaven and he's remained that way.
Now, in between Ralph's departure as host of Pop! Goes the Country in 1980 and the debut of Nashville Now on TNN in 1983 he hosted a short-lived series on TBS titled Nashville Alive!. Ray appeared on this show...a photo of Ray and Ralph in one of Ralph's books is credited as coming from that TBS series. Also in the photo is Ralph's wife, Joy, in a gorilla suit. Nashville Now introduced Ralph to an even wider national audience. Pop! Goes the Country, syndicated nationally, aired on the weekends in various time-slots depending on which station carried it. The bulk of it's airings took place in the late afternoons on Saturday or Sunday opposite sports programming. However, Nashville Now aired in the same time-slot every weeknight on cable channel TNN for 10 years. The length of the show was 90 minutes for most of it's run and it aired from 7pm to 8:30pm Central/8pm to 9:30pm Eastern for much of it's history. Later it was pushed to 8pm to 9:30pm Central/9pm to 10:30pm Eastern to make clear a place for Crook and Chase and their expanded hour-long program. They had previously aired after Nashville Now but by the early '90s they were scheduled as Ralph's lead-in show. Ralph's main competition was whatever was airing on network television and whatever happened to be airing on cable television...notably CNN...considering almost every other cable channel at that time specialized in repeats of television shows and movies...rarely was there a cable channel that specialized in original programs. Ralph's TNN show was trimmed to an hour for several years before it's eventually end in 1993.
Ray Stevens, Boots Randolph, and Ralph Emery; 1990
In the screen cap above, unfortunately a bit blurry, we see Ray Stevens and Boots Randolph in conversation on Nashville Now with Ralph Emery. In this appearance Ralph has his mustache and they're discussing the album that Ray produced on Boots Randolph and released through Clyde Records. This happened to be one of the first projects released through Ray's own label and there's a television commercial for that CD on YouTube from 1990. If you were a member of Ray's fan club at any point in the 1990s, as I was, then you should be familiar with this CD. It was one of the items offered for sale in the Ray Stevens mail order catalog for much of the decade. Unfortunately I don't have any super vintage photo's of Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery, from the '60s, specifically. I know they must exist but they haven't surfaced on-line for public sharing/viewing. Some photos of the two of them can be found in several of Ralph's books and there's a photo of the two of them in a radio studio from the early 1970s in Ray's 2014 memoir. Ray hosted several book signing events throughout 2014 and into 2015...one of those book signings featured Ralph interviewing Ray at the Nashville Public Library.
The Nashville Public Library hosted the special book signing event in 2015 where a set of Nashville Now was recreated and Ralph interviewed Ray Stevens, Barbara Mandrell, Lorrie Morgan, and Con Hunley. It was part of their on-going series, That Nashville Sound. Previously that series hosted an interview by Ralph Emery of Ray Stevens discussing his memoir and career, in general, and later on the library hosted the recreated Nashville Now special event.
Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery, 2015
When Ray made the announcement that he would be opening a showroom in West Nashville titled CabaRay one of the people attending the ground breaking ceremony happened to be Ralph Emery. The groundbreaking took place, ironically enough, in March 2016. On groundbreaking day Ray and several friends were photographed at the site of the soon to be constructed showroom posing with shovels and digging into a mound of dirt. The construction company was also on hand, of course. As we all know a myriad of issues came up along the way...most of it tied into the lengthy approval for a building permit. Once this was obtained...nearly half a year later...construction got underway which pushed a fall 2017 grand opening time table to an early 2018 grand opening (the showroom opened for business in January 2018).
Ralph Emery, Gorilla, and Ray Stevens; 2016
As we see in this photo Ralph is toasting the groundbreaking of the CabaRay along side a gorilla and Ray Stevens in March of 2016. I don't know if this is the same gorilla that met Ray Stevens at the airport in the cover photo of Here We Go Again! in 2015. It might be that gorilla's cousin...it's difficult to tell. Anyway, by the time this photo was taken Ralph had long since retired. After the end of Nashville Now in 1993 he didn't go away...he continued to appear with a recurring interview series called On the Record. That series was based on a highly rated interview Ralph conducted in 1992 with his pop music counterpart, Dick Clark. In fact there was a second program in which Ralph was the subject of an interview from Dick Clark. In the hour long series, airing on TNN, Ralph initially interviewed guests that had also authored books. Ralph had become known for a series of books based on his experiences and memories from his career in country music...the first one was appropriately called, Memories (1991), and this was followed by a series of other books throughout the 1990s: More Memories (1993), The View From Nashville (1998), and 50 Years Down a Country Road (2000). Ralph also interviewed country artists regardless of whether or not they had released a book but the conversation was almost always centered around autobiographical information and life experiences rather than the show turning into an hour long commercial for the book or the guest's latest recording.
In 1995 Ray Stevens appeared during the opening week of Ralph's daytime talk show on TNN. This show aired from the Opryland theme park live at 9am Eastern/8am Central beginning in the latter half of the year. Ray's appearance featured a sight gag in which he walked out on stage screaming in a pseudo-Austrian accent about how hot the cup of chocolate happened to be and he 'tripped' and spilled the contents all over Ralph, seated behind his desk. Ralph was caught off guard because instead of scalding hot chocolate spilling out of the cup it was nothing more than marshmallows. Ralph asked Ray how in the world he happened to make the cup appear to have steam coming from the top of it and he explained the hand trick...covering the powdery marshmallows in the cup for several seconds and then removing your hand from the top of the cup will make it appear as if steam is rising from the cup. I've never attempted the trick but that's the way he explained it. Ray promoted his Get Serious! VHS movie and performed "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?".
The morning show Ralph hosted on TNN was later moved to an early evening time-slot later in 1995 but it was eventually canceled soon after. I don't know if the end of that series was due to any backstage problems or any conflicts with the Opryland management or what...it was certainly a format that Ralph had mastered and so it wasn't like he was attempting something new. It could be a case of lack of enthusiasm from TNN or just a change in viewing habits causing the interview format to have run it's course!?
In the late 1990s Ray taped several new music videos for a collection ultimately released on VHS titled Funniest Video Characters. In this collection was "The Pirate Song"...a music video for a song Ray originally recorded in 1985 but later re-recorded in 1991. It had since became one of those fan favorites. Ralph Emery appears in that music video. Once you know he's in it and you spot him I bet your eyes will be drawn to him every time he's on screen. He plays one of the underlings of the Captain.
Getting back to sight gags...in an episode of Pop! Goes the Country in 1977 Ray performed a sight gag involving a large ceramic chicken mask...while wearing the mask he clucked a piece of "In the Mood". In another interview he was asked to imitate a chicken and so he began flapping his arms and clucking. A clip of this was featured on a 1990 surprise tribute special to Ralph Emery. In that special Ray performed a song he wrote specifically for the special, "Ralph, You Have Embarrassed Us All". He sang it with Roy Clark, Faron Young, and Kathy Mattea. In the video clip the introduction is by Johnny Cash and Barbara Mandrell.
Now, fast forward 24 years from 1990 to 2014 and here we see Buddy Kalb, Ralph Emery, and Ray Stevens during a photo opportunity at the Nashville Public Library. This was taken at some point before or after Ralph's interview of Ray took place.
Buddy Kalb, Ralph Emery, and Ray Stevens; 2014
Ironically enough Ray Stevens wasn't a guest on any On the Record episodes and I suspect the reason for this was there wasn't time to fit in an interview, due to Ray's busy schedule, and the concept of the series emphasizing an introspective, personal interview instead of a breezy, let's have some fun type of interview, perhaps led Ray to avoid appearing on it. It's anyone's guess. In the meantime a peek into Ray's life was on the horizon as TNN was putting together an episode of The Life and Times, a recurring biography series, and the producers decided to tape an episode about the life and career of Ray Stevens. The hour long special featured rare photo's from Ray's personal collection and video clips not seen since their original airing...specifically snippets from his NBC television summer show in 1970. This hour long special features commentary from Ralph Emery, Norro Wilson, George 'Goober' Lindsey, Charlie Chase, Brenda Lee, and Buddy Kalb...in addition to Ray himself.
Last year Ralph Emery officially inducted Ray Stevens into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ralph was elected in 2007 and current members officially induct a new member each year at the Medallion Ceremony. In December of last year the two of them appeared as Guests of Honor at a fundraiser in Dickson, Tennessee at the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum where they had their pictures taken and signed autographs. To date that is the last time the two of them publicly appeared together. I put the two of them together in this collage, though. Happy early Birthday, Ralph Emery!
I hope the makers of the Pop! Goes the Country DVD's come out with a disc devoted to the many Ray Stevens appearances...preferably episodes that haven't been issued on DVD yet. Ray appeared on the show quite a few times and in many cases these programs are the only televised appearances of Ray Stevens during key moments of his earlier career.
In addition to the performances, which are a treat, you'll also see the interview segments. Ralph Emery hosted the program during the first 6 years (1974-1980) and upon Emery's departure in 1980 Tom T. Hall took over as host and remained with the program until it's end a few seasons later. Here is another chance to get your Pop! Goes the Country DVD collections featuring episodes starring Ray Stevens. In the links below you'll be taken to the Classic Country DVD item page where you can read in more detail.
Each DVD features multiple episodes starring various country artists but I'm singling out which Volumes, so far, contain a Ray Stevens episode...
The Volume 24 release is the most recent offering. Ray is clean-shaven in the 1977 episode. It is in this 1977 episode where he and Ralph Emery discuss at length the success of the fictional Henhouse Five Plus Too and their chicken clucking country/pop single, "In The Mood". I mention that because it isn't referenced in the DVD item description. In the 1979 episode Ray, I'm assuming, performs "Shriner's Convention" for the very first time on television weeks before it was issued as a single early in 1980. He opens the show with a performance of his 1976 Top-20 hit, "You Are So Beautiful". I'm barely scratching the surface...he also performs medley's of previous hits in addition to his interview segments with the host. In the 1979 episode he demonstrates the various styles of piano playing by offering the styles of Floyd Cramer, Ray Charles, and a brief Jerry Lee Lewis. In the 1975 episode Ray performs "Misty", "Indian Love Call", and "Twilight Time" in their entirety in addition to delivering a cultured version of "The Streak" which leaves Ralph Emery and the other guest, Sammi Smith, in fits of hysterical laughter. I hadn't purchased the DVD with the 1978 episode on it and so I can't go into detail about that one...yet...but I should have it in my possession sooner rather than later.
Volume Four in the 20 volume series of Pop! Goes the Country DVD's arrived in the mail today. This one, like the two volumes I wrote about in another blog entry, features Ray Stevens. This particular episode comes from 1975...35 years ago...and Ray is at his all-time best yet again. He opens the show singing "Misty" and during the interview segment he sings a cultured, classical version of "The Streak" which has host, Ralph Emery, and the other guest, Sammi Smith, in fits of laughter. Sammi was on the stage preparing for her song when the camera would pan over to her and she'd be laughing...the classical version of the song continued on to it's conclusion and then Ralph introduced Sammi who had to quickly regain her composure before singing "Which Way Do You Wanna Go?". Later, Ray sings "Indian Love Call" and it's an incredible performance. If you've never seen him perform the song in a concert setting such as this you'll be in for a treat. This marked the first time I had seen footage of him singing the song. Ray had a Top-40 country hit with the song in the second half of 1975 here in America and he also enjoyed Top-40 success with the single over in England. It was his sixth Top-40 single in the United Kingdom..."Misty" had reached the Top-5 in the United Kingdom and the Top-5 on the country chart here in America...in addition to reaching the Top-20 on the pop chart.
Sammi Smith's second song of the episode was "Help Me Make It Through the Night", which was her biggest hit. Ray performed an up-beat version of "It's Twilight Time" and in my opinion he must have been thinking about recording the song for his MISTY album because it's arranged in a similar way to most of the songs on that album. Of course, the song never made it onto that album but it's a wonderful performance nonetheless. The album hit during the first week of July 1975 on it's way to a Top-5 finish.
This episode, according to the company that sells the DVDs, lists the episode as June 10, 1975. What I don't know is whether or not that's the day it was taped or if that's the day it was aired. Whenever it was taped or aired it's a wonderful appearance...and one that shows Ray with his beard, something rare during this era of his career. As a matter of fact, Ray is clean shaven on the MISTY album...but on a compilation released that same year he's full of beard as you see below.
The finale of Pop! Goes the Country features Ray and Sammi joking around with Ralph. Sammi plays a guitar and dedicates her rendition of "Misty" to Ray...she only sings a few lines while Ralph jokingly attempts to stop her performance; after which, she pretends to be offended that Ralph was talking over her dedication. Ray sings a piece of "Everything Is Beautiful" as the credits start to roll. There are five other episodes of the show on this DVD and they're all from 1975. I bought three of the DVD's because of Ray Stevens' involvement but these programs are a must for any country music fan. On Volume Four, in addition to the Ray Stevens-Sammi Smith episode, you'll also get episodes that feature Faron Young, Carl Smith, Melba Montgomery; there's episodes with the Statler Brothers and Susan Raye; Ronnie Milsap and Charlie Daniels appear on an episode; Johnny Cash and wife, June Carter, get an entire episode devoted to themselves. Bobby Bare is featured in an episode, too.
It doesn't appear that I can contain my excitement over receiving these DVD's in the mail today. I sent away for them this past Saturday...I wasn't expecting them to arrive this soon after the disclaimer alerted me it would take 5-7 days for delivery. Anyway, they arrived in the mail today and I watched the Ray Stevens sections of the DVD's which were the main reason why I purchased them. I'll no doubt watch other sections of the DVD, too, because I like watching old/vintage/classic country music programs. Although this program was designed to tie in with the pop influences in country music the show still gave a national spotlight to well-established country music acts. On Volume 15, Ray is incredible in my opinion. He walks out and immediately launches into "You Are So Beautiful", his Top-20 country hit from 1976. After the performance he has his interview segment with Ralph where Dolly Parton is brought up. Ray talks about once being Dolly's record producer and how he envisioned her as an R&B singer, saying the vibrato effect of her voice in the mid '60s sounded closer to R&B than to what country audiences were used to at the time. This can also be said about Willie Nelson, too, who himself had a voice that didn't become marketable in country music until the 1970's. Ray's next song was "Save Me From Myself", in which he sang the first verse and the chorus. The song originated from 1977. Later, Ralph highlights various groups that Ray has sang about in various songs and then tells the audience that Shriners can now be added to that list.
Ray explains the idea behind the song and then performs "Shriner's Convention" in it's entirety. This episode I believe was taped in 1979 because the first two songs that he performed were both recorded for Warner Brothers, the label he was on during 1976-1979, while "Shriner's Convention" would become his debut single on RCA Records in February of 1980. This very well could be the first time he performed the song on television. An interesting fact about that song is there were two recordings of it cut relatively close to one another...one recording credits 1979 as the copyright year and another recording credits 1980 as the copyright year. The 1979 recording can be found on MCA's Greatest Hits from 1987 and CURB Records His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits from 1990. Most of the other albums that feature that song use the 1980 recording.
Toward the end of the show Ralph asks Ray about his idols and about piano players. Ray does a few lines of "Hallelujah, I Love You So", a Ray Charles hit. Ralph brings up Floyd Cramer and Ray performs "Last Date".
Moving on to Volume 17...this episode was hosted by Tom T Hall. Ray opens the show singing a much different take on "You've Got the Music Inside" complete with hand-claps and an up-tempo arrangement. Midway through this hand-clapping frenzy he slows the song down but then goes back into the up-tempo sing-a-long style. For those familiar with the song it was written and recorded by Ray as a slow ballad. Tom later has Ray perform "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down". Ray sings the first verse and the chorus. Later, Ray and Tom play a game where audience members call out their favorite Ray Stevens and Tom T Hall songs and the object of the game was to sing a line or two from the songs. Ray performed a couple of lines from "The Streak" and "Everything is Beautiful". Tom sang a few lines of "Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine" and "Harper Valley, PTA". Ray and Tom sing a duet together, "It's Hard To be Humble", which I first heard by Mac Davis. The duet is hilarious, I think, with the two of them intentionally belting out a lot of the words. The instrumentation behind the song is like a polka almost...maybe it is a polka.
On Volume 15 the other guest of the show was a singer known as Dottsy. On Volume 17 the other guest of the show was teenager Wendy Holcombe who performed several banjo numbers and sang "Rocky Top".
Pop! Goes the Country was a half hour show and so a lot of times the guests would sing one or two songs in their entirety and then sing a shortened version of another song. The show moved along quickly, too, and there was hardly ever more than 3 guests per show...most episodes featured 2 guests. Some critics say this program was sort of like country music's version of The Midnight Special and Solid Gold rolled into one.
Welcome once again to the journey...this time around I'm playing the part of a salesman as I shine the light on a couple of DVD collections that feature the one and only Ray Stevens. The first collection I want to spotlight is Pop Goes the Country, Volume 15. A web-site is selling a 20 volume DVD collection of the famed country music series which ran in syndication from 1974 through 1982. Ray is among the many guests featured on Volume 15. Those who are not familiar with the series, it was hosted by Ralph Emery for six years, 1974-1980. Singer Tom T Hall became the new host in 1980 and he continued in this role through the end of the series in 1983. Jim Varney became a series regular during the final season. Ray's performances on Volume 15 include: "You Are So Beautiful", "Save Me From Myself", and "Shriner's Convention". The time span for those three songs are 1976, 1977, and 1980 but I do not know if the DVD will feature clips from those years or if it's an episode from 1980 and Ray's singing all three of those songs.
Ray is also a featured performer on Pop Goes the Country, Volume 17. It is on this collection of performances that you'll see Ray perform "You've Got the Music Inside", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", "The Streak", "Everything Is Beautiful", and an obscure duet with host Tom T Hall on "It's Hard To Be Humble". I do not own these DVD collections...yet. Once I get them in my possession I'll be able to write more about them. If you want to order them for yourselves all you have to do is do an internet search for "Classic Country DVD" or classiccountrydvd.com and once there you'll be able to navigate through the site easily. The DVD titles will be listed off to the left of the page as there are more DVD collections available besides Pop Goes the Country but since this is my Ray Stevens blog page I'm of course only spotlighting the DVD's with significant Ray Stevens participation.
After all this talk about classic Ray Stevens from the late '70s and early '80s let's jump 30 plus years into the future to the present year, 2010. Ray continues to heat up the You Tube airwaves with his series of political music videos. His most recent, "Throw the Bums Out!", is nearing 50,000 hits in it's first 6 days on-line. "Caribou Barbie" at the moment has more than 52,000 hits in it's first 17 days on-line. These You Tube play counts will continue to rise and so I'll lay off from reporting the totals for awhile. Those two music videos have a combined total right now of 99,259 hits. When you put it into perspective, this means that over the course of 2 weeks Ray Stevens has gotten close to 100,000 video hits...and that's just counting those two music videos. The big one, "We The People", is currently in the 2.8 million range and it also continues to get strong play on You Tube. It's 150,000 or so hits away from topping 3,000,000! As I said in my previous blog, it's exciting to see all of this Ray Stevens activity!!
On Friday February 19, 2010 I caught an episode of Pop! Goes the Country. RFD-TV airs the show on Friday, early Saturday morning, and on Monday. This week an episode starring Ray Stevens aired. The show will repeat two more times. A little history about the television program...it premiered in 1974 as a syndicated program. It aired on the weekends...typically in an afternoon time-slot. The show lasted nearly a decade...ceasing production in 1982. The host of the show for the bulk of it's run was Ralph Emery, 1974-1980. The national television audiences of the '70s who watched country music programming were introduced to Ralph Emery on that show...even though Emery had long been a country music disc jockey and host of a local Nashville television program for years prior to Pop! Goes the Country debuting.
Now...on to the episode...
Ray opened up the show singing a soulful rendition of "Honky Tonk Waltz", his Top-30 country hit from 1976. When he opened the show with that song I figured the episode was from 1976...but it wasn't. Ray played the guitar AND piano during the song. While at the piano he had a guitar strapped to him and he'd play the guitar a little bit and then play the piano, back and fourth, throughout the song. As mentioned, he didn't sing it exactly the way it was recorded.
During the song Ray got up from the piano during the instrumental solo. For those who are familiar with the recording you'll know what part of the song I'm referring to. Anyway, during the instrumental break, Ray left the piano and began "waltzing" with Donna Fargo and then, for laughs, he tried waltzing with the show's host, Ralph Emery. After the song, the interview segment came next. Ray and Ralph sitting side by side chit chatting...it wasn't an in-depth interview like Ralph was known to do on radio and on Nashville Now in the 1980's and 1990's. Instead, Ralph brought up "In the Mood" by The Henhouse Five Plus Too. When Ralph brought that song up I knew the episode had to have been from early 1977. Ralph then told Ray that he had a gift for him in honor of the success "In the Mood" had achieved. What was the gift?? Well, Ralph pulled out a gigantic chicken mask. Ray put the mask on and then began to cackle "Thus Cacked Henrietta"...showing that the chicken clucking performance that appeared on his 1985 album had been in the planning stages way back in 1977.
Ray told everyone that he had plans of doing a lot more chicken clucking songs...including one to the tune of The Lone Ranger, "The William Tell Overture"...but then he also said that he may not do anymore...to date, "Thus Cacked Henrietta", from 1985, was the last recording Ray did under the guise of chickens.
Elsewhere on the show, Donna Fargo sang "Mockingbird Hill". Ralph made a small slip-up prior to introducing the song, though. Ralph innocently remarked to Ray that he should think about recording that song for himself...even though Ray had already recorded the song on his 1975 album, Misty. Of course, such a statement by Ralph would only be caught by those who are serious Ray Stevens fans.
It was Ray's turn to sing again...his second song of the episode was "Get Crazy With Me". By now it was clear that the episode was indeed taped in 1977. Randy Barlow sang a song...after Donna Fargo sang her second song, "Don't Be Angry", Ralph asked Ray to close the show and as the credits rolled Ray sang "Feel the Music" while wearing a top hat with the letters CAT written across the front.
This particular episode with Ray Stevens will repeat tomorrow at 2:30am Eastern time on Saturday the 20th. Two and a half hours after midnight tonight to be more specific in case those of you who have RFD-TV in your channel line-up decide you want to set your VCR or DVR for the re-airing.
Now, for those who come across this blog at some point later on Saturday or Sunday, don't fear. The Ray Stevens episode will repeat for a third time on Monday the 22nd at 11:30am Eastern time. If anyone out there who reads this blog has that channel you won't be disappointed in seeing vintage Ray Stevens from 1977 entertaining the audience in the studio and the viewers at home.
So, there is plenty of opportunity to tape or catch the show in case you missed the 4:30pm airing earlier today. RFD-TV is available on cable and satellite. For those who have digital cable you may want to click the program guide button on your remote controls and check a lot of the channels in the higher number bracket. Here where I'm at RFD-TV is in the 220 range on my channel list. I have digital cable...which is almost like satellite television but without all the extra's...but I think a lot of people have RFD-TV but don't realize it yet.
