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.