Ray Stevens on Hee Haw: 1980 (Second Appearance)...

As mentioned in the blog entry immediately preceding this one this is my second blog entry of the day...as the day progresses, though, I may write some more blog entries...one never knows. We're suppose to have a massive weather system roll through this area later today and into the evening though and wind gusts could reach 40 to 50mph...and so that could hamper any kind of potential future blog entries for the remainder of today.

Several weekends ago RFD-TV aired Ray's second 1980 appearance on Hee Haw. I had never seen that appearance as I had always been familiar with the first 1980 appearance where he sang "Shriner's Convention" and "Love Me Longer". The reason I had been more familiar with that appearance is because TNN (the former cable channel, The Nashville Network) used to air repeats of Hee Haw in the early to mid 1990s and among those repeats was Ray's first 1980 episode. That episode originally aired in February 1980. In his second 1980 appearance, from October, Ray performed his re-arranged version of "You've Got the Music Inside" as well as his current single at the time, "Night Games". In addition Ray appeared in several comedy segments with George Lindsey which took place in the iconic cornfield set. I created some screen caps for my own collection of Ray Stevens photos that I've saved over the years from online searches, etc. but I won't be posting all of the screen caps from his second 1980 appearance on the blog. I'll share another one a little bit later. The February 1980 episode featured footage taped in the fall of 1979 whereas the October 1980 episode featured footage taped in the summer of 1980. Hee Haw had a quirky production process in which everything was recorded out of sequence during just two month-long production periods each calendar year and all the footage was edited and assembled into 26 half hour episodes. Footage taped during the summer production period appeared in the first 13 episodes of each new season while footage taped in the fall of the year began appearing in the remaining 13 episodes. The series kept this production method intact throughout it's entire history. I often make mention of the show's production style because it enables readers to have a better idea of why a singer may be performing a hit from a previous year or something that had yet become a hit but was performed anyhow...and it all had to do with the taping sessions of the show and which production period the guest was making their appearance.

Now, altogether, Ray made numerous appearances on the television series, Hee Haw, throughout it's long run. His first appearance occurred in 1972 (with a beard ironically enough...not clean-shaven). In fact both of his 1972 appearances shown him with facial hair. He was one of the guests on the 1972-1973 season opener (September 16, 1972) and he performed "Turn Your Radio On" and "Along Came Jones". In his second appearance that season (November 25, 1972) he performed "Isn't It Lonely Together" and "Gitarzan". The footage that appeared in both episodes was taped in the summer of 1972. As you can tell by the songs chosen he kept it in the late '60s for three of the performances with the lone exception being "Turn Your Radio On" which at the time of his appearance in the fall of 1972 was considered one of his recent recordings. It had become a hit on the country charts in the latter half of 1971 and into 1972. I've never found out why he or the producer of the show decided on songs that Ray recorded several years earlier (1968/1969) rather than sticking to more recent material (oddly enough his 1970 massive hit, "Everything is Beautiful", was not performed during either 1972 appearance!) but nevertheless his first two appearances from 1972 were wonderful to see.

The next appearance from Ray occurred in October of 1975 and on this episode he performed "Misty" and "Indian Love Call". The footage was taped in the summer of 1975 and so this was months before he would win a Grammy in the category of Best Arrangement of the Year for "Misty". Ray didn't make another appearance on Hee Haw until the February 1980 episode. The bulk of his appearances on the series arrived in the mid to late 1980s. The show had long featured Roy Clark and Buck Owens billed as co-hosts. Buck, however, decided to leave the series at the end of the 1985-1986 season (the show debuted in 1969). This caused the show's producers to come up with a guest co-host feature in which each week Roy would be joined by a different co-host each week. Ray appeared as a guest co-host throughout the late 1980s and he also appeared on episodes as a music guest without being featured as a guest co-host. In 1987, for example, he appeared on two episodes that aired within several weeks from each other...which was an unusual occurrence for any guest let alone a guest co-host. It's my feeling that Ray was such a natural that he could've easily become the show's official co-host along side Roy Clark following Buck's departure but I don't think the idea of Ray ever becoming a permanent co-host was ever discussed but how amazing would it have been!! Even though Ray had appeared on country music programs throughout the 1970s and several single and album releases entered the country music charts that decade he was still thought of as a pop music vocalist and singer of novelty songs but this perception began to change during the late 1970s and so by the time his 1980 appearance on Hee Haw came along he was being marketed as a country music performer. He was marketed and promoted as a country music artist pretty much exclusively from the late 1970s through the mid 1980s before he began an incredible run with comedy records which forever labeled him as a singer of novelty/comedy songs.

He's had such a lengthy, successful run with comedy songs and albums entirely devoted to comedy throughout the mid 1980s and beyond that the mere mention of him, once upon a time, being a pop music vocalist is often met with laughter from those not familiar with the range of songs Ray had recorded over the decades before he began the country comedy phase of his career for which much of his material over the last several decades has played to. I'd say within the last decade and a half he's released plenty of non-comedy projects and so he never abandoned the ballad/serious side of his career...but as in times past a lot of the consumer attention tends to gravitate toward whatever comical recording might come along from him rather than the non-comical. His television series, CabaRay Nashville, offers Ray the chance to showcase his diverse range of music styles as well as provide a lot of guest artists an outlet to perform and talk. The series also gives certain viewers, those not as familiar with Ray, a chance to see how serious he really is and how he lives and breathes the recording and creating process.

Now, for those that like to take note of whether or not Ray has or doesn't have a beard during an appearance, there are numerous times throughout 1975 where Ray made television appearances with facial hair and then there are appearances that year where he's clean shaven. He's bearded during the Grammy awards telecast (presenting an award along side Moms Mabley) as well as in an appearance on Pop! Goes the Country in 1975. Ray appeared clean-shaven on his Misty studio album but yet he has a beard on a compilation album released the same year (1975) called The Very Best of Ray Stevens. Interestingly Ray performed the same set of songs on both Hee Haw and Pop! Goes the Country. Anyway, here are the two 1975 albums side by side. Ray had a beard on the album cover of Losin' Streak in 1973, let's not forget...so it isn't something that had been unprecedented prior to 1975...but from 1978 onward all of the studio albums features Ray on the album cover with a beard. I don't think Ray's ever appeared clean-shaven in public since 1978. I've sometimes wondered what the reaction would be if Ray would shave off the beard, simply for shock value, given how many decades he's been seen with one. It's still Ray Stevens...with or without facial hair...and I think a lot of people, as strange as it sounds, tend to forget that and would actually think the lack of facial hair would mean a change in personality or performance style or vocalization, etc., etc. It would certainly change his visual appearance obviously but it would still be Ray Stevens. The last studio album released by Ray to feature him clean shaven is 1978's There Is Something on Your Mind.

Ray Stevens Specialty Items...

Hello all once more...this is one of those days where I'll be writing two blog entries about Ray Stevens in the same day...this first one is centering around some limited time items for sale focusing on two of Ray's recordings: "Shriner's Convention" and "Mississippi Squirrel Revival". The items are being sold through an online site HERE. The site is called Tee Spring which I'd never heard of before but the Ray Stevens items being offered for sale on this site are manufactured on demand and they're authorized by Ray and so this isn't some site offering bootleg, unauthorized items. I don't know how long Ray's association with this online company is going to be and so if any of you are interested in seeing the items and ultimately purchasing any of the products being offered for sale then visit the site in the above link. The type of items being sold for a limited time are T-shirts, a coffee mug, and posters. On the product page for clothing, for example, you'll have the opportunity to select the size (obviously!) as well as it's color and for the other items you'll get the chance to pick what color you prefer. The poster for "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", for example, can be purchased with a blue background (my choice!) or with a white or an orange background. The design of the posters mirror what appears on the T-shirts. There isn't a coffee mug for that song, though...only for "Shriner's Convention". As I'm sure a lot of you realize these are the kinds of unique items that will probably one day turn up for sale on other online sites and due to the unique nature of these authorized, yet obscure items, the sellers of these items will probably ask for a hefty price but my advice is take advantage of the reasonably priced items now before they're potentially offered for three or four times the amount elsewhere at some point in the future.

Ray Stevens: Feel the Music video clip...

Hello one and all...in this particular blog entry I'm giving some spotlight to an album from Ray Stevens released in 1977. I'm doing so because of a recent video clip that surfaced on YouTube several days ago. I did a couple of blog entries centering around this album in the past...I think the last one I did was a couple of years ago (2017) when the album turned 40 but I'd have to consult the archive section off to the right hand side of the screen. In 1977 another music legend, Marty Robbins, hosted a syndicated television show called The Marty Robbins Spotlight. Ralph Emery was the announcer and each episode would focus on one or a couple of artists. The series consisted of 36 episodes in which Ray was the featured spotlight artist in one but he also had an appearance in the Chet Atkins episode as well. In that episode the two of them perform "Frog Kissing", a single that Ray published, produced, and arranged featuring Chet singing in addition to playing the guitar. The song itself was from the pen of Buddy Kalb. The episodes of Marty's series, based on my own assumption, were taped at some point in the first half of 1977 and perhaps into the summer months before they began airing in the fall and so Ray's album, Feel the Music, was widely available by the time his episode was airing.

The front of the album shows an illustration of a stereo speaker as a tie-in with the album's title. If you literally feel the music then you'll be placing your hand on an actual speaker...but, of course, the song itself has a much more deeper meaning. It's a motivational kind of song which says that you need to find purpose in life and live for yourself rather than living for other people...or, in other words, living a life in which everybody but your own self is happy. "Feel the Music" was issued as a single backed with "Dixie Hummingbird". There was also the usual promotional copy which featured "Feel the Music" on both the A and the B side. Strangely enough "Feel the Music" didn't reach the charts but then it's B-side was released as a single. "Dixie Hummingbird" received the promotional copy treatment but there wasn't a single released featuring it as an A-side. Instead, the record store employees went through and flipped "Feel the Music" over where "Dixie Hummingbird" was seen first by music consumers. The single releases didn't have an A or a B side designation anyhow. "Dixie Hummingbird", an outstanding performance, reached the middle pack of the country music chart...in that particular era the country singles chart matched the pop singles chart...each chart had 100 positions. It came oh so close to cracking the Top-40 of the country music chart. A third single from Feel the Music, "Get Crazy With Me", also reached the charts but it peaked in the lower half of the Top-100. Ironically it's B-side was none other than "Dixie Hummingbird". The back of the 1977 album features an image of Ray and the illustration of what the back of a stereo speaker looks like. The album was largely written by Ray with the exception of the Buddy Kalb composition, "Set the Children Free". The rest of the songs were all penned by Ray Stevens.

Buddy's songs didn't begin to feature prominently on Ray's albums until the mid 1980s onward. The first songwriter credit on a Ray Stevens album for Buddy Kalb was "One and Only You" on 1976's Just for the Record. The inclusion of "Set the Children Free" on 1977's Feel the Music means it's the second composition from Buddy Kalb to appear on one of Ray's albums. "Frog Kissing", the Chet Atkins hit with harmony vocals from Ray, didn't appear on any of Ray's albums but it marked a third Buddy Kalb penned song that Ray recorded in that 1976-1977 time frame.

A clip of Ray performing "Misty" on Marty's show was uploaded nearly a year ago (March 2018) and a couple days ago (February 13) the performance of "Feel the Music" was uploaded. The entire episode has never been uploaded onto YouTube but here's the most recent upload from the 1977 appearance on Marty's program...



Now then, even though the entire episode featuring Ray Stevens as the spotlight artist hasn't been uploaded onto YouTube as of this writing, the entire Chet Atkins episode (with a special guest appearance by Ray) is uploaded onto YouTube. A screen-cap from that appearance is below...

The Chet Atkins episode I'll embed further down the blog entry and the only reason I'm embedding the entire episode is because there isn't a video clip of Ray and Chet's performance from that episode. Ray and Chet would perform the song together several years later, in 1980, as part of an all-star salute to Chet's career. In that performance Ray was seated at the piano and by then had grown his recognizable facial hair...in other words he had become bearded...but the 1980 performance is just as good as the 1977 performance. The earlier performance, in comparison, comes off more lively and a lot of that has to do with the fact that the song was less than a year old when they performed it on Marty's show so by the time 1980 rolled around, with the song now going on four years old, it was still entertaining due to it featuring the novelty aspect of Mister Guitar singing.

Now, getting back to Ray's spotlight episode, I know you're all probably wanting to see the performance of "Misty" as well...and if so you can watch that performance below. In case you never seen this video clip before (it's been on YouTube for a year) it starts out with Ray and Marty in discussion and then there's a brief sketch involving a saxophone player and a violinist in which Ray interrupts with his comically exaggerated Austrian/German accent. I think the violinist is Lisa Silver. Afterward the camera returns to Ray and Marty discussing and laughing over what they just saw and eventually Ray performs "Misty"...



Now, here's the Chet Atkins episode in it's entirety. Ray Stevens makes his appearance 18 minutes into the show (actual time stamp showing 17 minutes, 53 seconds). Ray is introduced as "your average man on the street" (although you can hear the audience laugh and applaud when Ray's face appears on the video screen) but the brief routine continues as "the average man" is asked by Marty what he thinks of Chet being a singer. After some jokes at Chet's expense Marty officially introduces Ray and this leads into the "Frog Kissing" performance... 

Ray Stevens sings Michael Jackson...

Well, here I am posting another fan created blog entry about the career of Ray Stevens. In my previous blog entry I gave some spotlight to the upcoming concert season at the CabaRay showroom. In fact the entire blog entry was centered around the fabulous venue in Nashville, Tennessee. It's nestled in the suburb community of Bellevue and it sits high atop a hill on River Road overlooking the community.

A little bit later in this blog entry I'll provide a link to the showroom's ticket page as March 14th is the official kick-off date for the upcoming season of concerts. In this particular blog entry, though, it's all about a certain recording from Ray Stevens which originated in 1988. In a lot of my blog entries over the last decade I've given a lot of spotlight to Ray's 1988 comedy album, I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like. It's so different from the album that preceded it, 1987's Crackin' Up, and the album that followed it, 1989's Beside Myself. I'm not going to examine the entire 1988 album as I already did that too recently (last year I wrote a blog highlighting the album's 30th anniversary) but given the appearance of a video clip from Ray Stevens a couple of days ago I decided to embed that clip in this blog entry. I didn't share the video clip in my last blog entry because I wanted that one to be entirely devoted to the CabaRay showroom and the upcoming season of concerts.

Ray's social media outlets posted an audio of his 1988 recording of Michael Jackson's pop hit, "Bad". The video clip used an unreleased photo of Ray, in Michael Jackson attire, surrounded by a gang of people that looked as though they were searching for the casting department of one of my favorite shows, Hee Haw. This photo appears on the screen throughout the entire recording. The artwork is a parody of the Michael Jackson Bad album and single from 1987. This is just an image of the photo...the art work parodying Michael Jackson's hit I decided to edit out because you can see the art work in the YouTube clip with Ray's name listed along the left side of the picture sleeve and the song's title appearing in spray paint form.

Apparently Ray and MCA were either thinking about issuing his recording of "Bad" with the alternate title, Awful, as a commercial single or it was to be a parody in which the lyrics would be the same but the song's title would be "Awful" instead of "Bad"...that part of the concept isn't divulged over on the video's YouTube page but the cover art you see in the YouTube clip below was to be the picture sleeve for a proposed single release. The video clip was uploaded on February 7th and so far more than three thousand people have seen it. I've always loved Ray's recording of "Bad" and given this cover art and the fact that the song was under consideration to be a single release back then creates something of an interest in the recording from those that had never even heard it before. Keep in mind that the song is performed with it's accurate title...the cover art was never released and the song's title, "Awful", was never recorded...it came from an idea that was scrapped during the planning stages...but it's neat to see what may have been. 



However, as things are likely to happen in the music industry, plans changed rapidly and a decision was made not to release Ray's version of "Bad" as a single nor issue it under the alias, "Awful". It's amazing how much one learns after they feel they've either learned it all or had heard it all. I'm glad that Ray and company decided not to release the single under the title of "Awful"...could you just imagine the kind of commentary that a title like that would generate from the various snooty, snobby, crabby, and highbrow critics that seem to always critique music or criticize recording artists whom they personally dislike from the start? The Ray Stevens haters would have a field day!!! So fortunately the plans to unleash the recording under the name of "Awful" was scrapped but the recording from Ray Stevens lives on under it's actual name, "Bad", for all to enjoy.

If you attend a concert at the Ray Stevens CabaRay showroom I doubt that Ray will be performing "Bad"...it isn't something that's on his set-list...but one never knows. How can you attend a CabaRay concert? It's really easy. Click this LINK and then click on the calendar to the month of March. You can select a date by clicking on the number that's circled. Concerts, as mentioned, kick off on March 14th and during the remainder of the year concerts will take place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and then only on Friday and Saturday as the year progresses. The showroom is on River Road just off of Charlotte Pike.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Concerts 2019...

Hello all once again!! As I've often mentioned in a lot of my previous blog entries if I hadn't written one in awhile it's more than likely there's not much happening in the career of Ray Stevens that's been publicly released for conversation/discussion or I imposed a hiatus on myself so some of my previous blog entries can be discovered by those that come across this particular blog several days or weeks later. If I were to write several blog entries in a day's time it creates the practice of blog burying whereas a blog written earlier in the day gets buried by blog entries written later in the day, etc. etc. and in this day and age with short attention spans it's not necessarily a good idea, I think, to engage in blog bombardment. Anyway..it's technically been a week (my last blog entry being February 3rd) and so I figured it's a good a time as any to create a new blog entry. As you can tell from the blog entry title this one is centered around the upcoming season of concerts at the CabaRay showroom. I'll be closing this blog entry with the bigger image of the CabaRay but I didn't want to have that particular image up top...it looks more visually appealing (to me) as a blog entry closer due to it's banner design. I've began previous blog entries with the larger version of that image before...but I prefer it as a closer.

It's been nearly a year since my brother and I attended a concert at the CabaRay (March 1, 2018) and the day I selected to attend happened to be on a Thursday night. The CabaRay had it's grand opening late in January of 2018...not necessarily the ideal time to kick off a performance venue in the midst of winter weather...but I've assumed the reason for that kick-off was tied into his professional connections to Nashville with the fact being that he moved from Georgia to Tennessee in January of 1962 and his birthday being January 24th...so several factors may have played a part in the CabaRay opening it's doors to the public in the month of January. By the way...the photo above depicting the showroom's red letters in the evening/night hours...as my brother and I were driving away from the showroom you could see the letters from the interstate and yes there was some sadness overcoming me as we drove further and further away...I didn't want to leave. Now, obviously, you could see those red letters in the daytime but it was neat to see the letters in bright red lights. If I recall correctly I made mention of the CabaRay letters and the overall exterior design in my review of our trip to Nashville. Search the archives over on the right hand side of the page in the March 2018 section.

Just exactly when does the upcoming concert season at the CabaRay get underway?? Well, the first concert of the season will be on a Thursday. The date being March 14, 2019. In the early months there's three nights of concert performances (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) just as there had been last year. By the time the summer vacation season rolls around it reverts to Friday and Saturday nights for the bulk of the year and then it gradually slips in a Thursday performance as the calendar gets closer to the holiday season. You can visit the CabaRay ticket page by clicking HERE. Once you open the page click the calendar forward arrows to open up the month of March. The dates containing a concert is circled. You can click on any month of the calendar to find concert dates, of course. If you click on a specific day you'll then be taken to a page where you can purchase tickets for that specific day of the week. The floor seats come with a dinner. If you prefer to just attend a concert without the dinner or any of the other perks then there's balcony seating. You'll still be getting a great view of the concert and of Ray but without the dinner experience.

Given that Ray is to release brand new recordings at some point this year and some on-line music videos along the way I'm making a guess that the CabaRay gift shop will probably be an exclusive location to purchase the new projects until they become available for on-line purchase through his web-store but then again the projects may become available through his on-line web-store prior to their availability on Amazon and other on-line sites that sell music. As of this writing there's not been any concrete information released concerning any future projects and in what manner they would become available...all I know is what you know from his most recent interview which took place a couple weeks ago prior to his birthday. We know there will be a music video at some point and a series of CD's containing songs he's recorded over the last number of years. You can read that interview by clicking HERE.

Ray Stevens in 2009...

Just by coincidence I was looking on the internet and browsing through an on-line music store of Ray Stevens items and I came across a CD that's been in my collection for over 11 years now. Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What?!? came along in 2008 on Clyde Records. I purchased my copy of the CD at a merchandise table when I arrived at a venue that was presenting a Ray Stevens concert. If I remember correctly it was at Renfro Valley, Kentucky. I had only seen Ray twice in concert before visiting his CabaRay showroom in Nashville, Tennessee last year (once in Renfro Valley and another time in Nashville, Indiana). Those two concerts were in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Curb Records picked up distribution of the CD and sold it on-line and once it became available for purchase through on-line retail stores I wrote a CD review and posted it. Curb issued the CD on February 10, 2009 and so it's almost 10 years to the day that the Sinatra tribute CD became widely distributed. It had previously only been available through Ray's on-line store. It isn't a comedy album...I want to make that clear...and so if you appreciate the serious side of Ray Stevens in addition to his comical side I'd suggest you purchase this CD if you haven't done so already! The songs are largely arranged in a manner similar to the originals but with just enough difference to distance it from the Sinatra originals. I had hoped, at the time of it's release, it was the beginning of a covers period where tribute albums from Ray to various iconic crooners of pop music were to be forthcoming but this ultimately turned out to be a one-time detour. You can read my on-line review by clicking HERE.

Later on in 2009 he released a 15 song CD titled One for the Road which is a mix of new, previously unavailable songs in addition to re-recordings of previous songs found on older albums of his that weren't in print. It was originally an exclusive at select Pilot Truck Stops and I happen to think most of those Pilot stores were in Tennessee and the southern states because no Pilot truck stop in my area ever offered the CD and so I had to wait until the Pilot exclusive ended before it became available for sale to a wider audience almost half a year later. Talk about agony!! I love the art design of the CD...the chrome-like decor of the CD's title and the playful looking image of Ray behind the wheel. The back of the CD features an image of Ray seated on the truck's step looking as if he'd just completed a long road trip and is winding down. As mentioned the CD features previously unavailable new songs, previously released recordings, and new re-recordings of previously available songs. On top of that there are three recordings from 1992 billed as 'bonus tracks'. Confused yet? The bonus tracks were his early '90s re-recordings of "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", "It's Me Again, Margaret", and "The Streak". Those audio recordings could also be heard on the music videos released on Comedy Video Classics in 1992. "Bon Temps Roulette" as well as "Hang Up and Drive" had previously been available on 2000's Ear Candy and 2002's Osama Yo' Mama. New re-recordings included "Mary Lou Nights" (originally recorded by Ray in 1983), "Jack Daniels, You Lied To Me Again" (originally recorded by Ray in 1990), and "Oh, Lonesome Me" (originally recorded by Ray in 1975). The song, "Retired", had previously been recorded by Ray and one of it's writers, Brent Burns, as a duet several months earlier for a project titled I've Got a Beach in My Backyard (a 2009-released Brent Burns CD) but Ray sings it solo for the 2009 One for the Road CD. This leaves six recordings that had never appeared on any previously released album: "Concrete Sailor", "Convoy", "The Right Reverend Roadhog McGraw", "Cooter Brown", "Hangin' Around", and "Never Too Late".

One of those new, previously unavailable recordings found on the trucker CD happened to be "Concrete Sailor" which I later discovered had previously been recorded by Jerry Reed. I had known of Jerry for years and liked hearing him sing and I always liked watching him play the guitar and laugh or grin at the audience or the band members as he was frenetically picking away. I was never a hardcore fanatic of his...in other words not in the same manner as I am with Ray Stevens...but I liked his songs.

I first knew of Jerry as an actor, though...and then I discovered his music career. I knew he sang the theme song and acted in the Smokey and the Bandit movies and he appeared on television programs singing...but I never put two and two together back then...as a kid you're impressionable and if you see someone as an actor that sings then that's how you perceive them until you learn otherwise. Needless to say I quickly discovered a lot of Jerry's hit songs and became aware of him even more as a singer and all around entertainer...but anyway, this CD opens up with Ray singing "Concrete Sailor" from the pen of Buddy Kalb. It originally appeared on Jerry's 1980 album, Texas Bound and Flying. Since the song happened to come from the pen of Ray's long-time associate and collaborator, Buddy Kalb, it's interesting that Ray chose not to record it back then...and so Jerry recorded it...but given that Buddy wrote it the song was published by Ray's company. If you happen to have the actual single of "Texas Bound and Flying" you'll see "Concrete Sailor" as the B-side. It's also of note that in 1980 both Ray and Jerry recorded for RCA records.

Once I discovered that Jerry had originally recorded "Concrete Sailor" I've often wondered if Ray's recording of it was done as a silent tribute to Jerry Reed. Ray's recording came along in 2009 following Jerry Reed's death in September 2008. I call it a silent tribute because there was no attention or publicity surrounding it's appearance on Ray's One for the Road CD even though Ray knew it had been originally recorded by Jerry Reed.

Speaking of Jerry Reed a recent article appeared on-line by Jeremy Roberts. I've featured articles by him several times in the past and this time around it's an article/interview of one of Jerry's former band members, John Harris. You can read the interview by clicking HERE. If you like what you read, and I think you would, be sure to click the applause symbol. It's the site's version of a 'like' button to show you liked the interview.

In one of the episodes of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville there was one titled Tribute Show. In this episode (Season 6, episode 9) Ray performs songs made popular by the likes of Glen Campbell, Mel Tillis, Merle Haggard, as well as Jerry Reed. A promo for the episode was uploaded onto YouTube with a voice-over by Buddy Kalb. In those promo clips you'll hear Ray doing the voice-over but for this one it's delivered by Buddy...