Ray Stevens CabaRay: July concerts...

It seems, to me, that the month of June has flown by. Here it is June 30th...with tomorrow bringing in the month of July...and so I thought it would be perfect to point out the upcoming Ray Stevens concerts at the CabaRay showroom for the month of July.

This month will also be rather busy at the CabaRay for not only will Ray perform 10 concerts during the month of July but there will be two taping sessions for the series, Larry's Country Diner, taking place this month. Larry's series airs on RFD-TV and numerous episodes have been taped at the CabaRay in the past. The taping sessions for Larry's show are always held on a Wednesday. This month finds the taping sessions for Larry's Country Diner to take place on the following dates: July 10th and July 24th. The Ray Stevens concerts at the CabaRay for the month of July are scheduled to take place on the following dates: 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 25, 26, and 27. I look ahead, as I often do, and as the summer turns into the fall he's going to increase his Thursday concerts. When you visit the CabaRay ticket page located HERE you'll see the calendar on the left hand side of the page. You can obviously search for concerts scheduled for a later date if you're planning your visit to Nashville well in advance. Once at the CabaRay ticket information page and you browse through the calendar you'll see how many additional concerts are available from Ray as 2019 glides into the fall months. I'll more than likely post another blog entry or two centering around his concerts at the CabaRay the further we get into the month of July. I'm hoping this will be the month that we receive some kind of news or update as to whether new music is on the way or if production of future episodes of CabaRay Nashville are on the horizon.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville telecasts...

Hello all...and here's hoping you all took a look at my previous blog entry. In it I embedded a video clip of Ray Stevens from the early 1980s in a commercial for Flav-O-Rich. As I type this it's 10 minutes til 7pm Eastern which means we're a little more than hour away from the Saturday night telecasts of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. The series is locally syndicated on PBS stations across the country but it also airs nationally on cable channel, RFD. The episodes airing on PBS, since they're in local syndication, air at various times based on each individual station's schedule and so there's no definitive air-time. This is why for television programs that are syndicated the phrase "check your local listings" is used.

However, the RFD airing of the series is nationally based and with it comes a definitive time-slot: Saturday nights at 8:30pm Eastern.

In my area a local PBS affiliate, KET, airs Ray's series. It airs on one of their sub-channels, KET2, each Saturday night at 8pm Eastern. So, luckily for me, an episode of his show comes on at 8pm on a local PBS station and then at 8:30pm Eastern the national RFD-TV channel airs an episode. Tonight on KET2 an episode guest starring Jamie O'Neal is airing. In this episode, among the songs performed, is "Open the Door, Richard". That particular song goes back several decades...many decades in fact...it emerged in 1947, originally, and Ray revived it in 2012 for his stellar Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music.

On RFD-TV an episode guest starring Jenny Gill is going to air. In that episode one of the songs performed by Ray is "April in Paris". That particular song hasn't appeared on any studio album from Ray, though. One of the perks of watching Ray's television show is sometimes you'll get to see him perform songs that he hasn't recorded, perform songs that were album cuts and not pushed as single releases, or you'll see him perform songs that he's recorded yet hadn't released yet...and you'll see him, obviously, perform the songs that are closely identified with his career. On top of that you'll also see him perform duets, on occasion, with the special guest of the week. There's a lot of activity packed into each half hour episode...and it's a fast-moving half hour...and that's why some out there have wished the show to expand to an hour.

I don't think expanding to an hour is necessary, though. The half hour format is perfect...it keeps the show tightly scripted, fast moving, and more importantly it leaves a viewer wanting more. I think an hour format would backfire simply based on the type of show CabaRay Nashville happens to be. Would I complain about an hour long version of the show? No! I'd watch it regardless. As mentioned earlier, in my viewing area, two different episodes of the show air back to back on two different networks on Saturday night thanks to the 8pm local PBS airing and the 8:30pm national RFD-TV airing and so for viewers in this area we're getting an hour of Ray Stevens every Saturday night but it isn't an hour-long individual episode...it's two separate half hour episodes on two different channels...and in less than half an hour from now these episodes will air tonight: 

CabaRay Nashville: 8pm Eastern KET2 (special guest Jamie O'Neal)

CabaRay Nashville: 8:30pm Eastern RFD-TV (special guest Jenny Gill)

Ray Stevens: Vintage Flav-O-Rich Commercial...

Hello once again...it's been awhile since I've posted a blog entry. I had decided to ease up on the blogging because I'd posted quite a few during the first half of the month but yet that's only due to how active Ray's been and how earlier this month practically everything was centered around CMA Fest 2019 of which he participated by giving an interview on the Close-Up Stage. In this blog entry I'll be embedding a second vintage Flav-O-Rich television commercial that Ray Stevens uploaded onto the social media sites. Last month (May 1st) an ice cream commercial was uploaded in which Ray appeared as a little boy...an effect accomplished, of course, with oversized props enabling him to look tiny. In this latest vintage commercial upload he's advertising milk...but he has to put up with a scene stealing co-star as you can see in the screen cap below. I'd say this commercial is very early '80s...the Flav-O-Rich name debuted in 1979 after having been known as Farm Best...and Ray was the spokesman in commercials before and after the change in company name. This means the commercial may have originally aired at some point between the years 1979 and 1985. I use that as a cut-off year because I think that's the final year he did local/regional commercials for the company...but I definitely think the commercial embedded below is from 1980/1981...

Ray Stevens and Chet Atkins go Frog Kissing...

Well, it's me once more...and a couple of days ago (June 20th) Ray Stevens marked the birth date of the late guitarist/record producer, Chet Atkins, by uploading a video clip from 1977 of the two of them "Frog Kissing". What?? In case it's new to you "Frog Kissing" is a song from the pen of Buddy Kalb (one of Ray's longtime co-writers and business associate) and it was vocally performed by Chet Atkins with harmony vocals by Ray Stevens. I've written about this particular performance in the past as it's part of an episode of The Marty Robbins Spotlight series. Ray Stevens appeared twice...once as the spotlight artist himself and then as a special guest when Chet Atkins was the spotlight artist. I saved a couple of screen caps from Ray's appearances on those two episodes but I've not posted them too often.



Ray's only involvement in this episode was, as mentioned, to participate in the performance of "Frog Kissing". He produced the recording session and he also published and arranged the song. The single was released on RCA Records in 1976 and it became a hit single. It was placed on a 1976 album titled The Best of Chet Atkins and Friends. This wasn't the last time Ray and Chet would appear on television together. Several years later, in 1980, the two of them performed "Frog Kissing" on a television special Chet hosted. When the cable channel, The Nashville Network, got underway in 1983 it provided national exposure to a lot of country music personalities that hadn't tasted national television exposure in their careers and for some it re-introduced a national audience to artists that perhaps were last seen nationally in the '50s or '60s. Keep in mind that country music has always been portrayed as secondary or even non-existent in the eyes of network television programmers and if not for nationally syndicated country music programs of the '50s, '60s, and '70s (prior to the launch of The Nashville Network) there wouldn't have been hardly any exposure for country music performers.

The benchmark series of this cable channel was Nashville Now, hosted by Ralph Emery for a decade (1983-1993). This led to a lot of appearances by artists that were featured on previous television and radio programs hosted by Ralph Emery...and Ray Stevens was no exception and on several episodes of Nashville Now the guests happened to be: Chet Atkins, Boots Randolph, and Ray Stevens. All three in the same episode!! There's at least one episode (from 1990) in which Ray and Boots appear together. The Nashville Network ceased to exist in 1999 and was rebranded in 2000.

The often mentioned connection between Ray Stevens to Chet Atkins is how in the early '60s Chet utilized Ray's multi-faceted talents in the recording studio which enabled Ray to become a much sought after session musician and music arranger...and ultimately a record producer in his own right. There is also another professional connection in the field of real estate...and that's not all. Chet wrote a song with songwriter Margaret Archer that Ray recorded in 1987...the satiric look at televangelists entitled "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?". 

Later on in the 1990s Chet appeared in a 1995 episode of the Crook and Chase series, Music City Tonight, an episode promoting the Ray Stevens VHS movie, Get Serious! (Chet had a brief cameo appearance playing an accordion). When Ray was recording songs for his 9-CD box set, The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music, he included a song from the pen of Chet Atkins and Billy Edd Wheeler titled "I Still Write Your Name in the Snow". That song originally appeared on a 1996 album from Chet titled Almost Alone but I don't know exactly when the song was written...chances are it could've been something dreamed up years earlier but never recorded until 1996.

I always found Chet to be whimsical and funny in his own kind of way...not overly talkative...unless you hit on a subject that inspired him to be talkative and I imagine he could tell you the model, make, and year of release of practically every guitar ever manufactured or at least could identify the type of guitar on sight just by looking at it. He was very helpful in the success and evolution of Ray's career even though, ironically enough, Chet never produced a Ray Stevens recording during all of those decades of friendship.

Ray Stevens CMA Fest 2019: Interview, Part One...

Hello one and all...we're still going through a lengthy run of severe weather and so I've not been on-line as much as I typically am. I got onto the internet this morning and discovered that part of the CMA Fest 2019 interview that Ray Stevens gave earlier this month on the Close-Up Stage was uploaded onto YouTube!! I mentioned in several blog entries that if I find out that it's been posted then I'd embed it in a blog entry and that's just what I'm doing! This portion of the interview is 25 minutes.

The video's description states that it's the first half of the interview...and I'm guessing that the remainder of it will become available as well. I'm not going to do a review of the interview because you all can watch it for yourselves. I usually do a review of audio interviews because I know that some people may not be able to listen to audio files for whatever reason (they may not have a compatible audio program or there may be a glitch in the playback) but I think everyone should be able to click the YouTube button on the video screen and watch without any technical issues.

I will say that it's fun to see Ray speak of his upbringing in Clarkdale, Georgia and splitting his leisure time by playing baseball and taking piano lessons. One of the first things discussed, though, is music education for school children which goes hand in hand with the It's Starts with M.E. awareness campaign. Ray provided some commentary in video form for the program and you can find it on YouTube as well. The initials stand for Music Education.

In the interview he speaks of his years at various record labels and he talks of Bill Lowery, Jerry Kennedy, Shelby Singleton, Charlie McCoy, Elvis, and others. He brings up Owen Bradley having the first recording studio with echo. A truly entertaining 25 minutes. The first half ends with the host/interviewer, Peter Cooper, asking Ray about comedians. Ray gives some examples of some of the comedians he used to watch perform a lot in Las Vegas and says that he loves humor. I'll be on the look-out for part two and will embed it once it becomes available.

Ray Stevens from the Stage of the CabaRay...

There's been so much rain and potential for thunderstorms that whenever I've gotten onto the internet I've tried to make the most of it which is why I've been so blog heavy the last couple of days. This area is in for another round of storms and so when I finish this blog entry I'll be shutting off the laptop for perhaps the rest of the day. Now, the funny thing is, as I'm writing this the downpour is ended but the sky and clouds are still grey looking...indicative of more rain is on it's way at some point.

In the meantime I decided to re-visit the Ray Stevens performance of "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town". Ray performs it from the stage of his CabaRay dinner theater and he speaks about it's writer, Mel Tillis. In the history of country music most singer-songwriters do not normally receive equal notoriety...there are some that have written a lot of well known songs but because their singing career happens to be popular, too, their songwriting is often under-played or under-appreciated. Mel Tillis, in my opinion, is one of those. He had such a stage presence, first of all, and how he turned his stutter into a comical asset made him endearing to thousands of country music fans; and so given the stage presence, his long string of hit songs, and his visibility on television programs, commercials, and an occasional movie appearance his songwriting side was overshadowed.

He wrote a number of songs that became gigantic hits in both country and pop music...and one of them, "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town", became a classic...referred to as a standard. It's been recorded by hundreds of recording artists. The act that put it on the map happened to be Kenny Rogers and The First Edition (the group Kenny was a member of before he pursued country music in the mid 1970s).



Ray has never recorded this particular song for those curious. He and Mel had something of a similar career path during the 1990s as the two of them ultimately found success in Branson, Missouri. Ray's first taste of Branson success arrived with a series of concerts at Roy Clark's theater which caused Ray to wonder whether or not he, too, should take a chance on Branson as others were doing. Ray, as we know, opened up his Branson theater in June of 1991. Mel began performing in Branson in 1990, as well, in a series of existing theatres prior to the 1994 opening of his own theater. Research shows that Mel put his theatre up for sale in 2002 but remained there until 2004 when the purchase was finalized. Ironically, just as Mel was starting up his theater in 1994, Ray had left his theater after three seasons (1991, 1992, and 1993). Mel was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007 and passed away at age 85 in November of 2017.

Ray's performance of "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" is from an episode of CabaRay Nashville...the episode titled 'Tribute Show'...from Season Six. Ray taped 9 episodes of the show from the CabaRay in the spring of 2018 and they were added to the four that had been taped at the previous location in the latter half of 2017. Those episodes are part of Season Six (the final 9 of the series, so far). The Sixth Season should begin to air on RFD-TV in the fall of this year and run through the first several weeks of 2020. As of this writing Season Five of CabaRay Nashville is airing on RFD-TV (episode 3, guest starring Paul Overstreet, aired Saturday night, June 15th).

I'm assuming that production of further episodes at the CabaRay will be underway at some point this calendar year and those episodes will ultimately begin airing on RFD-TV in 2020 at the conclusion of Season Six...but that's only my guess. Ray's series consists of 13 episodes per season and when his show returned to RFD-TV this past January the cable channel began airing Season Three which has been followed by Season Four and currently Season Five is being broadcast. If you're keeping count: 13 + 13 + 13 equals 39 episodes.

Once Season Six begins airing (13 episodes) it will bring the total to 52 episodes. So, by January or early February 2020, recently taped episodes of CabaRay Nashville should begin to air on RFD-TV to mark the start of a Season Seven or the cable channel could start airing select reruns of the show. I wish I could see into the future...unfortunately at this point it's all a guess. Anyway...getting back to the CabaRay itself...

In this video clip Ray gives you a tour of the CabaRay. There's nothing like seeing the showroom in person, though...so don't let the visual tour satisfy you. If you're able to attend a concert there don't put it off. This tour should cause you to want to visit his dinner theater in person if you're able to. You'll be glad you did. The ambience is great.

Ray Stevens: A fantastic Portrait...

It's been a rain soaked Sunday...a lot of severe weather has come and gone but as I begin this fan created Ray Stevens blog entry I heard some rumbling of thunder. I don't like to keep my laptop on during storms. I've always been that way ever since the days of my desktop computer...a storm passed through one afternoon and the electric zapped on and off for less than 10 seconds...but the computer wasn't the same afterward. So one can call is superstitious but I always try to have the computer off if I know bad weather's on the horizon.

A couple days ago (June 13th) Ray shared a fantastic portrait of himself on his social media sites. The portrait was done in charcoal and it was presented to Ray by a company called Whitney Sims Designs. A photo of Ray and Whitney appeared on the social media sites this past Thursday. I happen to think the photo is fantastic. It's a charcoal illustration of a recent publicity photo of Ray inside the CabaRay showroom.

I do not know the future of this illustration. When I seen it for the first time I remarked on one of his social media sites that it should find a home inside the CabaRay somewhere. There is already a mural which hangs inside the CabaRay, an oil painting by Bobby Goldsboro, and it's titled 'Ray Stevens...Way Out There'. It's a depiction of Ray in his own universe next to a white piano with the planet Earth in the background. I'm guessing the reason for the piano color being white is because in the very early concert performances he was using a white piano and then he decided to bring the red piano back into his stage performances. If I recall correctly Ray, in some of his interviews in the weeks after the CabaRay had it's grand opening late in January 2018, mentioned that so many people wondered why he wasn't playing a red piano and so he brought it back. The red piano, of course, originated during his stage shows in Branson, Missouri at his former theater and unbeknownst to him had become something of a positive eye catching identity of his stage shows. The charcoal illustration of Ray, according to a social media post from the artist, was done in secrecy for nearly half a year. I can't get over how realistic it looks...how in the world did the artist get the realistic look of the pocket square that appears in the dapper suits he wears!? The image is a lot larger over on social media sites. She even re-created, in charcoal, the blurred image of his name. This image appeared on an advertisement for CMA Fest 2018 and it's appeared elsewhere which is why I refer to it as a charcoal illustration of a recent publicity photo. The reason for the blur in the photographs, obviously, is due to his name being out of focus when the picture was taken and so she re-created that look when she did the charcoal illustration. This will probably be the artist's only link to Ray Stevens and so why not give the portrait some publicity in this blog entry...and the image will remain here for as long as this blog's accessible. I provided a link to the artist's Facebook page in the second mini-paragraph above.

As of this writing you have five more days to catch Ray Stevens in concert during the month of June at his CabaRay showroom: 21, 22, 27, 28, and 29. There are ten concerts scheduled for the month of July, as of this writing, with two of those concerts scheduled for Thursday nights but more about the July concert schedule when we get to next month. The television series, Larry's Country Diner, will be taped there on the 19th and 26th of June. Ever since the CabaRay opened last year there have been select dates on the calendar (almost always a Wednesday) in which episodes of Larry's television program are taped. There hasn't been news of any upcoming episodes of CabaRay Nashville being in production. If he ever begins to tape episodes of the show he'll make mention of it on the social media sites due to the fact that tickets to the taping of the show are usually presented in some sort of a 'contest' among the fans...and so far there hasn't been any of those kind of posts to appear on Ray's social media sites since early in 2018 when the latch batch of new episodes (to date) were taped at the CabaRay. How do you like the marquee? I cropped, edited, and resized the image but this is what you see as you drive down River Road as you approach address 5724...the marquee sign pointing the way to the CabaRay. If you were to be in your vehicle on Charlotte Pike and heading toward River Road, for example, you'd be able to see the large, red CabaRay sign high above the shopping center below. The showroom sits atop a hill overlooking a shopping mall. To attend a Ray Stevens concert at the fabulous CabaRay showroom click HERE. The marquee is changed frequently depending on if there's a Thursday concert added or if there's a taping to take place for Larry's Country Diner but the bulk of his concerts are held on a Friday and Saturday night and the marquee shows when the Piano Bar opens, when the dinner is served, and when the concert gets underway. The gift shop typically opens for about half an hour prior to the main doors being opened for the dining customers. After the concert concludes the gift shop re-opens and the Piano Bar re-opens...and usually Ray appears in the Piano Bar along side the resident pianist to sing pop standards or other songs and he signs autographs, takes pictures, etc. etc.

Also something to keep in mind is the month long contest taking place. A contest giveaway for two free tickets to a CabaRay concert is going on all this month. I wrote a blog entry about it several blog entries ago but when you click the link provided in the above paragraph you'll get an alert about the June contest. Now, of course, if you are reading this blog entry in July or later this year the alert/contest will no longer be active...so it only applies to the month of June.

Ray Stevens: Vintage Visuals...early 1990s...

Hello again! I didn't want to include this image in my previous fan created blog entry due to it perhaps clashing with the serious nature of celebrating Father's Day and so I'm putting together this blog entry to give some spotlight to an early 1990s photo of Ray Stevens that emerged the other day. Well, actually, it appeared on social media sites yesterday. It appeared on his Facebook page Saturday (June 15) with a time stamp of 2:53pm. It's a large photo of Ray, in character as Willard McBain, from the song "It's Me Again, Margaret". I should say, more specifically, from the music video of the song. The video's extremely popular and the song remains extremely popular in his stage shows. According to my own research over the years there were so many people who were introduced to the music/career of Ray Stevens through that one particular song when it was originally released as a single in the mid 1980s.

The telemarketing explosion of his Comedy Video Classics in 1992 built on the song's popularity with his audience. It's my belief that the exposure of the song by way of it's 1992 music video enabled him to capture even more fans...and then after the internet boom and the subsequent creation of video hosting sites (notably YouTube) it's given Ray's music videos even more exposure. The photo is large to say the least...so in an effort to have it appear presentable on this blog I resized it just a little bit.

The photo, given it's rectangular length, is always a challenge when it comes to the overall look of a blog when factoring in the text. The photo is actually longer than this but I resized the image. Those wanting to see the full length photo should visit his social media sites. I think this fan created blog page attracts viewers/readers that are very aware of Ray Stevens and his recordings but I also keep in mind that some people that may stumble upon this blog page might never have even heard of Ray before and so I try to approach my writing style from the perspective of somebody reading about Ray for the first time. If you happen to be one of those then check out the blog archive off to the right hand side of the page. I've been writing this fan created blog page since 2008. "It's Me Again, Margaret", from the pen of Paul Craft, tells the story of an obscene phone caller named Willard McBain. The song is done in what's sometimes referred to as sung narration...which describes a song that comes across as if it's being spoken but there's enough rhythmic cadence to the voice and there's music accompaniment to come across as if it's being sung as well. One of the masters in country music of the sung-narration performance is Tom T. Hall. The impact of Willard McBain in the career of Ray Stevens ranks right up there with other fictional characters from other Ray Stevens recordings: Ahab, Fatima, and Clyde from "Ahab the Arab"; "Harry the Hairy Ape"; wild motorcyclist "Speed Ball"; the amateur guitar rocker, "Gitarzan"; Ethel from "The Streak"; Coy and Bubba from "Shriner's Convention"; the raucous, religious "The Dooright Family"; Harv Newland and Sister Bertha from "Mississippi Squirrel Revival"; the intimidating "Blue Cyclone"; Arlow Druckert and Myrna Louise from "The People's Court"; Doris from "Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat"; etc. etc. Comedy Video Classics, from 1992, sold millions of copies and it was released through direct marketing and later on it began appearing in retail stores. The reason behind the music videos, well, I should say the reason Ray initially released the music videos in a VHS collection is because of their popularity with the audiences of his live stage show in Branson, Missouri at the time.

A jumbo-screen appeared over top of the stage and during several of his performances there would be video footage airing above...mostly to add a visual description for people to see as they were listening to the song. A decision was ultimately made to manufacture a VHS of those music videos...an original version of what became Comedy Video Classics was sold exclusively at his Branson, Missouri theatre. Eventually what we know as Comedy Video Classics became available through television ads in 1992 and the rest is history.

Trivia: Ray's theatre opened in Branson on June 15, 1991 (talk about timing...28 years ago yesterday) and he performed there regularly until 1993. He made a return to the theatre in the mid 2000s, performing there in 2005 and 2006, before selling it to RFD-TV. In between 1993 and 2003 the theatre was utilized by an organization that presented a live stage show titled Country Tonite and according to Ray's memoir the organization, due to a decline in revenue during the 2003 season, asked Ray to take back the theater but they would continue to make payments on the remainder of their loan. In his 2014 memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville, he speaks of the Branson years. In Chapter 24 he relates his close calls with death, his Diabetes diagnosis, and his treatment for Prostate Cancer in 1999. Ray would later record "The PSA Song" not too long afterward. It's since been released on a CD titled Laughter is the Best Medicine.

The famous music video of "It's Me Again, Margaret" can be seen below. I've also included a video clip of him performing the song in the early '90s in Branson, Missouri. The performance is from his former theater and it's from the VHS, More Ray Stevens Live!. In 1993 he released two VHS tapes of a concert, taped in 1992, that was broken in two parts: Ray Stevens Live! and More Ray Stevens Live!. The first VHS was released through direct mail just as Comedy Video Classics had been. It was a million selling success and would later become a hit in retail stores in 1994. The second VHS featured material, obviously, that was cut from the first VHS. The second VHS features performances from his band as well as vocal performances of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "Love Can Build a Bridge" by Janice Copeland and another segment featuring her as the character, Beulah, in a comical routine with Ray's brother, John. She performs "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" in her Beulah make-up. The irony is Ray was in the process of selling his theater around the time Ray Stevens Live! was making it's way into retail stores.

Ray Stevens performs "My Dad"...

Hello all...it's Father's Day! Last year around this time (June 17, 2018) Ray Stevens uploaded a performance he did of the song "My Dad" from his CabaRay Nashville television series. I never created a blog entry title centering around that performance/video clip but I decided to do so today. As mentioned it was uploaded a year ago tomorrow...for Father's Day fell on June 17th last year. I never knew the specifics but it's always the third Sunday in June which marks Father's Day and so this time around it falls of June 16th but last year it was June 17th.

Anyway...there are a couple of websites I came across in the past that mistook the title of Ray's recording and claimed it's a cover of an earlier song by the same title from actor Paul Petersen. A glaring mistake on their part, obviously, because both songs are different even though they share the same title, "My Dad". Isn't it revealing how very little research actually goes into the construction of some websites out there? I'm not posting the early '60s recording simply because this is a Ray Stevens fan created blog page and so his recording of the completely different song, also titled "My Dad", gets total deference.

Ray originally recorded the song in 1983 for his Mercury album, Me. It's from the pen of Dale Gonyea. Ray re-recorded the song for inclusion on his 2011 album, Bozo's Back Again, which is a mix of re-recordings and some obscurities. The song, "Ruby Falls", made it's CD debut on that release but the song itself had been available as an Mp3 single for almost a decade. "Priceless" had never been available while "Just For The Hell of It" had originally appeared in the soundtrack for the 1981 movie, Cannonball Run. In the 2011 recording of the song Ray includes an opening verse not heard in the 1981 soundtrack recording. In the 1981 recording the song begins with the chorus. He retains the same music arrangement for the 2011 re-recording.

"My Dad", as mentioned, was one of the re-recorded songs on that 2011 CD and here's Ray performing it on an episode of CabaRay Nashville...

Ray Stevens: Vintage Visuals...early 1970s

Ray Stevens 1970

Hello all...if I were to have used a larger version of this image you'd probably be able to see just a little bit of stubble on Ray's face. Long time readers of this fan created Ray Stevens blog page should be well aware of my bizarre fascination when it comes to being on the look out for pre-1975 images of Ray Stevens with a beard. I know that his first two appearances on the television series, Hee Haw, shown him with a beard as did the album cover of his 1973 release, Losin' Streak. Those appearances on Hee Haw took place in 1972. In his first appearance he sang "Turn Your Radio On" and "Along Came Jones". In his second appearance he sang "Isn't It Lonely Together" and "Gitarzan". As you can obviously tell the picture sleeve of this 1970 single, "Come Around", backed with "Monkey See, Monkey Do", Ray is definitely clean-shaven but as mentioned if you were to see a larger image you'll detect stubble.  This particular single release was for the Norway release and I'm sure it was something of a hit over there but I've not been able to come across any kind of chart listing for the single. I'm certain that the reason it was released in Norway is either due to one of Ray's previous single releases being a hit over there (more than likely "Everything is Beautiful") or he may have passed through the area during an overseas tour (a common occurrence in his career during that era) and he or the record label wanted something exclusive that could be sold during personal appearances. Those are just my educated guesses based on the fact that the record company specifically released the single in that market. Also, in this era, record companies would issue various single releases that typically highlighted a specific A-side while a B-side would differ depending on where it was issued as a single. In this case "Come Around" was pushed as the A-side in Norway and backed with "Monkey See, Monkey Do" whereas in Germany the single's B-side happened to be "America, Communicate With Me". That particular B-side was actually an A-sided release in America, the United Kingdom, Canada, and in other international markets.

As you can see this single's picture sleeve for "Turn Your Radio On", a late 1971 release, features it as the A-side but uses a recording from a previously released album as it's B-side. "Loving You on Paper" comes from Ray's studio album, Unreal, released in the latter half of 1970. That particular album also features "Come Around", "Monkey See, Monkey Do", "America, Communicate With Me", "Sunset Strip", "Dream Girl", "Talking", and others. This wasn't anything uncommon, though. If a single is released well before the completion of it's parent album then a previously recorded song will be placed on the B-side. This was the case for all three of the gospel single releases from Ray in 1971. His first release, "A Mama and a Papa", featured as it's B-side one of his most obscure recordings, "Melt". The song has never appeared on any studio or compilation album. It's audio track can be heard on-line for those aware of it's existence but by and large it's a song that only the most devoted of fans are familiar with. His second gospel single, "All My Trials", is a masterpiece of over-dubbing/multi-tracking and as it's B-side is a recording from 1969, "Have a Little Talk With Myself". This brings us to his third gospel single, "Turn Your Radio On", backed with "Loving You On Paper". All of those single releases became available long before the album, Turn Your Radio On, was released in 1972. The irony being that once the album became available the company didn't promote the fourth single release not nearly as much as they had the previous three. The rock-inflected arrangement of the fourth single, "Love Lifted Me", actually became something of a commercial hit in the country of Bangkok. It placed among that country's Top-40 and was charted for several weeks but it never reached the charts anywhere else. The single was actually among the Top-10 hits in Bangkok for the week ending September 30, 1972. I discovered this bit of trivia when I did a Google search for vintage issues of Billboard magazine more than 10 years ago. In the September 30, 1972 issue it has "Love Lifted Me" by Ray Stevens listed in the Top-10 in Bangkok. It's on the page that's titled Hits of the World. "Love Lifted Me" had a release with two different B-side recordings, though. In the United Kingdom the B-side was "Glory Special" while in America the B-side was "Monkey See, Monkey Do".

Ray Stevens: Recent Rayality TV promos...

A couple of months ago I posted a blog entry showcasing some of the promo clips of Ray's sketch series, Rayality TV. The series airs nationally on RFD-TV every Friday afternoon. The series made it's RFD-TV debut on my birthday (December 2, 2018) and as of this writing 14 episodes have aired due to a rocky beginning on the schedule. The air-date chronology below is listed in the following simplistic formula: Episode Number and it's air-date...

Episode 1: December 2, 2018
Episode 2: December 9, 2018
Episode 3: December 16, 2018
Episode 4: January 14, 2019
Episode 5: January 21, 2019
Episode 6: January 28, 2019
Episode 8: April 26, 2019
Episode 9: May 3, 2019
Episode 10: May 10, 2019
Episode 11: May 17, 2019
Episode 12: May 24, 2019
Episode 13: May 31, 2019
Episode 14: June 7, 2019

The Episode 11 YouTube promo can be seen below. In these succession of episodes (starting with Episode 11) Ray presents clips from his 1995 direct-to-video movie, Get Serious!.



Below is the Episode 12 promo which appeared on YouTube on May 22, a few days before the episode aired on RFD-TV on May 24th.



Interestingly in the promo clip for Episode 13 Ray doesn't mention the finale music video from Get Serious! by name and in keeping with his lead I won't make mention of it either...if you have the movie (either on VHS or DVD) then you should know the music video which closes the film but here's the promo for the May 31st episode...



Lastly, here's the Episode 14 promo which appeared on YouTube this past Friday (June 7th)...



The program's RFD-TV PAGE shows the previous air-dates for the series and if you look at the episode list above as well as on the program's page you'll see that there wasn't an airing listed for Episode 7 and more than likely that had to do with it being a Christmas themed episode. You'll also notice that there weren't any air-dates during the months of February, March, and the first half of April. If you remember, back then, RFD had scheduled Rayality TV to air immediately following the repeats of Hee Haw on Sunday nights since the two series are similar in their production styles. Outraged fans of another series, Joey and Rory, complained of their show being removed in favor of Rayality TV. The outrage was so loud that Ray's clip-fest show was taken off the schedule until a new time-slot could be found and eventually Rayality TV returned in late April in the Friday afternoon time-slot that it's held ever since. I looked ahead to this Friday, June 14, on RFD-TV's schedule and they have Episode 2 listed to air (!?) and then for the following Friday, June 21, they have Episode 16 listed. I don't know if those are typo's on the station's part or if they're going to skip over episode 15 and re-air episode 2 or not this coming Friday.

Ray Stevens comically Interrogated...

It's me once more...about a week ago (June 5th) Ray Stevens uploaded a brief sketch from his VHS release, Amazing Rolling Revue. The program was referred to as a pilot for a television series that had never been aired. The premise of the show is that it took place inside Ray's tour bus...a bus that comically housed a full scale performance venue complete with stage and audience...with the driver of the tour bus being race car driver Darrell Waltrip. Throughout various moments in the program Ray and his band and the audience could be seen "shaking" from side to side due to Waltrip's tendency to forget he wasn't on the racetrack. Now, of course, that comical effect was achieved by simply shaking the hand-held camera while Ray and company simulated being tossed around from side as side as Waltrip was speeding around curves.

Speaking of Darrell...he's been a part of the NASCAR broadcasting team for Fox Sports since 2000 and later this month he'll be retiring. I don't follow auto racing and so I wasn't aware of his upcoming retirement from broadcasting. I was more or less browsing the internet to see if he was still in broadcasting when I came across the news articles of his upcoming retirement. He'd dabbled in broadcasting since the mid 1990s, according to research, but didn't pursue it full-time until after he retired as an auto racer in 2000. I do recall several times in the 1990s he guest-hosted for Ralph Emery on episodes of Nashville Now. His first assignment as a NASCAR broadcaster occurred early in 2001 for Fox during their airing of the Daytona 500. His last assignment will be later this month on June 23 in a race titled Toyota/Save Mart 350. He's closely identified with a phrase which also appears in Ray's 1974 hit, "The Streak". The phrase being "boogity, boogity"...but getting back to the origins of the video clip...

The Amazing Rolling Revue VHS was never sold over television like some of Ray's other VHS releases and so the only way to purchase it was through his fan club or at the gift shop at his former theater in Branson, Missouri.

The half hour program was comprised of comic sketches and performances which anticipated his current sketch driven series, Rayality TV, by more than 20 years. The only difference is that the sketches appearing on Amazing Rolling Revue were to be exclusive to that series should it have been picked up by a broadcast or cable network at that time...it wasn't going to be a collection of sketches and concert footage taped in the past and assembled together to form a half hour series...which is what Rayality TV happens to be. There have been several episodes of Rayality TV that have inserted footage from Amazing Rolling Revue. The video clip uploaded back on June 5th is the scene of Ray, speaking in a comically exaggerated Austrian accent, portraying a captured, yet boastful, spy being interrogated...bragging about how much torture he'll be able to endure...but we see it's all talk...



The video clip above is comprised of the various sketches of the routine which appeared throughout the Amazing Rolling Revue half hour episode. If you watch closely you'll see the edits when each scene starts to fade to black. The opening scene lasts 30 seconds before it fades to black and then a second scene from later in the episode is shown for the next 16 seconds before the third scene gets underway at the 47 second mark in the video clip with Ray asking if he's going to be hit with the glove. The third scene, of course, takes up the remaining seconds of the nearly 1 minute video clip.

Ray Stevens: Boots Randolph commercial...

Hello again...a couple of days ago I wrote a blog entry partially centered around photos from CMA Fest 2019. The second part of the blog entry focused on a recently uploaded video clip of Ray Stevens and Boots Randolph from an episode of Nashville Now in 1990. Ralph Emery, the host of the show, introduced the duo and they performed "Tequila". Ralph interviewed the two of them afterward and spotlighted an instrumental album, Boots, that was being sold through direct marketing (print advertisements and television commercials). The album is chock full of saxophone instrumentals and it's something I'd known about for years but until recently I'd never seen any video footage promoting the project. The album was released through Ray's own label, Clyde Records, with Ray being the arranger of all the recordings.

Unbeknownst to me the very television commercial that Ray and Boots were speaking of in the 1990 Nashville Now video clip had been on YouTube since 2017. The video doesn't feature Ray's name as a 'tag' and so it's never come up in video search results.

In fact, if you do a video search on YouTube for 'Ray Stevens + Boots Randolph', you'll get the recently uploaded 1990 Nashville Now performance/interview plus a 1993 performance by Ray, Boots, and Chet Atkins of "Yakety Yak" from another episode of Nashville Now. In that performance each instrument gets spotlighted with a solo (Ray on piano, Boots on saxophone, and Chet on guitar). Chet's recorded version of the song was always referred to as "Yakety Axe" while Boot's recorded version of the song was always referred to as "Yakety Sax". Chet's recording is legendary but Boots' recording even more so due to it being played all over the world as chase music on The Benny Hill Show. Anyway, the 2017 upload of the 1990 Boots Randolph television commercial isn't among the search results. I found the video by searching 'Boots Randolph 1990'. I'm a little hesitant about sharing the video on this fan created Ray Stevens blog page and here's why...

The 1990 television commercial was uploaded onto YouTube on February 18, 2017 with the declaration of it being terrible and therefore perfect for a YouTube channel of so-called 'inferior commercials'. Although I emphatically disagree with the opinion that it's a terrible commercial I'm embedding the television commercial for a number of reasons: I'm a fan of Ray Stevens and he briefly appears in it as does Buddy Kalb; Ray arranged the music for the recording sessions; Boots was a legendary saxophonist; and the embed spares you the derogatory commentary surrounding the video on it's YouTube page...in other words the embed allows you to enjoy the commercial without having to see the sour commentary attached to it. I know that by embedding the video it gives some publicity to the YouTube channel due to the channel's name being visible in the upper left hand side of the screen but I've decided the commercial is just too entertaining and fun not to share.

In the fine print once the blue screen appears showing the telephone number, mailing address, etc. you'll see Ray's Clyde Records label listed underneath the Money Back Guarantee policy. As a visual gag Boots appears in different stage clothes to fit the flavor of the performance. Boots had a sense of humor and so I don't know if it was his idea or Ray's idea for him to dress up differently for almost every screen shot. As an example Boots is wearing a blue train conductor's hat during a sampling of "Take the A Train"...and there's also a sampling of "Tequila"...20 saxophone instrumentals altogether.

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Ticket Contest...

Hello once more...I've been on a mini-blog entry roll lately! I was looking over Ray's social media sites and there's a post over there promoting a ticket giveaway contest. The post originally appeared June 7th on his CabaRay Facebook page. It had been several days since I visited the CabaRay Facebook page...the last time I did a check in over there I saw a video promo for the CabaRay Wines posted June 5th.

The ticket contest lasts for the entire month of June and if you enter you'll be in the running for two free tickets to the show. If you enter the contest, in my opinion, you should do so knowing ahead of time that you'll definitely be able to attend should your name be drawn. The link will only be accessible throughout the month of June and should you be reading this months or years from now, obviously, the link and contest will be inactive. Anyway, if you're planning on attending a concert and want to try for two free tickets, click HERE. Click the green box to accept the terms and conditions. The contest rules are available for viewing underneath the Facebook banner.

Once you enter the contest but circumstance arrive that impact your chances of attending there's an Opt-Out link in the top right hand corner of the page. My guess is the concert will be in July considering the contest runs the entire month of June. I'm thinking this contest will be something of a success and should it be I hope Ray will increase the number of free ticket giveaways beyond two if he should do this kind of thing again. I didn't see any information indicating where the seating will be for these two free tickets. I know the dinner seating is floor level while balcony seating is for non-dining customers. The staff will serve drinks in the balcony upstairs, though...but dinner is served at table seating downstairs.

Ray Stevens: Vintage Visuals early 1980s...

Oh yes I'm almost a week late in posting this image on my fan created Ray Stevens blog page. I wrote several blog entries recently centered mostly around Ray's participation in CMA Fest 2019 as well as his concerts at the CabaRay but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity of sharing this particular photo...

I almost came close to titling this blog entry 'Georgia at Alabama' as if it were a College ball game. It's Ray Stevens on stage with Alabama, of course. When the photo was posted this past Tuesday on his social media sites I remarked that Ray's belt buckle and vest cry out Urban Cowboy and that the photo has to be from somewhere during the 1980-1982 time frame...maybe 1983. Ray and Alabama were label mates on the RCA roster during that point in time. The label was also the home to Ronnie Milsap, Charley Pride, as well as the label that kept the catalog of Elvis Presley in print. Chet Atkins, one of Ray's closest friends in the music industry, had long been a recording artist (instrumental albums) as well as a record producer for RCA and later an executive at the label but he stepped down as an executive at some point in the late '70s. I'm pretty sure Chet was responsible for guiding Ray to the RCA roster in 1979 once Ray's contract with Warner Brothers expired but I don't know if Chet, himself, signed Ray to RCA in 1979 or if someone else happened to. Ray's debut album for RCA was released in February of 1980 shortly after the release of the album's title track, "Shriner's Convention". Ray recorded three studio albums for RCA: Shriner's Convention (1980), One More Last Chance (1981), and Don't Laugh Now (1982). The label released two compilations on Ray during the 1980s: Greatest Hits (1983) and Collector's Series (1985). The latter was a general release in which artists both past and present for RCA were each given their own Collector's Series spotlight release. Ray had joined MCA Records by the time RCA began issuing the Collector's Series compilations so he was considered, obviously, a former RCA artist. Each release consisted of eight songs. Chet Atkins, in the meantime, had departed from RCA in 1982 after a decades long run. He joined the label in 1957 and so he spent 35 years on their roster as a recording artist and music executive before departing for Columbia Records. I imagine it's pure coincidence that Ray's third and final studio album for RCA arrived the same year Chet departed from the label: 1982.

Now...about that photo...

Ray, as you can see, is in the early '80s country music attire...casual clothing with a decidedly western flavor (Urban Cowboy). The next thing that caught my eye is the wild hair of their drummer but then the third thing that caught my eye is Jeff Cook's shirt!! Does it look familiar? If you're a Ray Stevens fan the shirt should be very familiar to you. In addition to it's appearance on 1983's Greatest Hits (released on RCA) Ray also wore the shirt (or one very similar) in a television appearance in an episode of The Fall Guy. He appeared in the episode 'The Pirates of Nashville' and during a performance scene of "Piece of Paradise Called Tennessee" he wore one of those flowery black button up shirts. The episode originally aired November 23, 1983. Ray Stevens, Dottie West, and The Charlie Daniels Band appear. Dottie and Charlie appear as themselves, though, while Ray plays a fictional character essential to the episode's story-line. The irony, though, is at the time of Ray's appearance on The Fall Guy he had signed with Mercury Records and had issued a studio album, Me, and so he wasn't on the RCA roster when his episode of The Fall Guy premiered; and yet another irony is one of Ray's RCA recordings is heard in the background, 1982's "Country Boy, Country Club Girl", during the show's opening scene. I have no information on the production details of Ray's episode of The Fall Guy. It was taped at some point in the latter half of 1982 or sometime in the first half of 1983 given that it's an episode of the show's 1983-1984 season.  

Ray Stevens: CMA Festivities and Functions...

Did you all catch the recent airing of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville on RFD-TV earlier tonight? It was an edited/re-worked version of the premiere episode which featured Steve Wariner as the special guest. The series continues to air in local syndication on PBS stations across the country, too. The photo of Ray off to the left is from inside the CabaRay showroom in West Nashville. In my previous blog entry I wrote about a private luncheon that was held for Ray and his friends and family back on May 30th. The luncheon took place at the CMA Theater and I provided a link to one of Ray's social media pages. The photo album on that site shows the activity from Ray's appearance at CMA Fest this past June 6th. I also made reference to a photo taken during the May 30th luncheon. I can only identify five of the twelve people in the photo, however. I'm assuming those that I don't recognize visually are other members of his family or business associates/staff members. I came across a webpage highlighting the luncheon and I left a comment over there. It's one of those sites where the administrator has to approve a comment before publishing and you can visit that site by clicking HERE. As usual I copy most of my comments just in case, for whatever reason, they fail to make an appearance on their intended website and so here's the comment I made...

"Even though I’m a huge fan of Ray Stevens I’ve never been a fan of the lengthy waiting period for newly elected members to receive their plaque and other credentials that come along with being a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. In the past the newly elected members were not announced in a news release, instead, the performers were contacted privately by the CMA and then the official induction would take place on the nationally televised CMA Awards. Perhaps 10 or so years ago the privately held Medallion Ceremony was created to replace the nationally televised inductions of the Hall of Fame members. The gap between election to formal induction remains the same…half a year or more. This year’s members were announced back in March but they won’t be formally inducted until October. Looking at the photo I obviously see Ray Stevens and I can detect Don Cusic (in the red striped shirt) and Buddy Kalb the third from left in the back row. Down front is Ray’s grandson (who, in this photo, looks like NFL quarterback Andrew Luck). Seated to Ray’s left is one of his daughters. I don’t know the identities of the other people in the photo."

As of this writing the comment hasn't appeared on their website yet but, nevertheless, I've copied/pasted it above. When you click the webpage link in the opening paragraph you'll see the photo from the luncheon. The photo has made it's way around the various social media sites by this point. As you can see from the comment it's a little on the critical side when it comes to the election/induction process...but I don't think it's too harsh or anything. I've simply never understood why there's such a lengthy waiting period between election and formal induction when it comes to the Country Music Hall of Fame...or any hall of fame for that matter. It doesn't mean I dislike the process...I've just never understood the reasoning behind it.

Well, now, here's a little bit of breaking news...as I'm putting together this blog entry I was browsing the internet in another tab and I came across an article published on a webpage called Newhillbilly. I was mistaken about the man in the red striped shirt. It looked like Don Cusic but yet Newhillbilly identifies him as Ben Surratt. I didn't think it was him, though, or else I wouldn't have said Don Cusic upon first glance with such confidence. Anyway, though, Don wears glasses...oh well. I'm allowed to make a mistake every now and then (where's the embarrassed emoticon when you need it?).

Ben Surratt and Ray Stevens 2019

Ben is one of Ray's studio musicians and he doubles as the engineer. He also oversees the technical aspects of the CabaRay Nashville television series. You can visit the Newhillbilly site and see the photo with the people identified by clicking HERE. I was familiar with some of the names but didn't know what they looked like until now. The above photo I captioned to highlight it being from earlier this year at the CabaRay showroom. I have another photo in my on-line archives of Ray and Ben from a couple of years ago...inside Ray's former recording studio which was recently demolished on Grand Avenue...

Ray Stevens and Ben Surratt 2017

Don Cusic

Now, for those curious, Don Cusic appeared on early episodes of CabaRay Nashville as the Professor of Music. Don, in addition to being a real college professor, is the author of dozens of books and he's been part of the music industry for decades even though I've only recently become aware of him through his connections with Ray Stevens. It turns out that Ray's known of Don Cusic for decades, too, but only recently have their names become linked together for several projects. He helped author Ray's memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville, in 2014. A couple of years earlier he wrote the liner notes/essay contained within Ray's 9-CD box set, The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. I posted several photos of the box set and the essay booklet in a blog entry from March 2012 titled 'Ray Stevens 9-CD Box Set: My Review'. You can find it, of course, in the blog archive section on the right hand side of the blog page. Click 2012 and search the blog post titles from March and you'll find it. On earlier episodes of CabaRay Nashville Ray would perform songs from the encyclopedia which were preceded by pre-recorded introductions from Don Cusic wearing a graduate's gown to emphasize Don being a professor of music. Don also lent his pen to some of Ray's recent gospel recordings...the most notable being "If Jesus is a Stranger" from 2014's The Gospel Collection, Volume One. I say it's the most notable because it's the song that Ray performed quite a few times on various television programs and spoke highly about in interviews from that time period. It's easy to see, from my eyes at least, why I initially thought Don Cusic was wearing the red striped shirt in the CMA Luncheon photo.

Ray Stevens: CMA Fest 2019 Images...

Hello once more...I've done some internet searching in the days following the Ray Stevens interview at CMA Fest on the Close-Up Stage and came across some images. By now most of you have probably seen these...I'm a couple days late due to some off-line activity keeping me away from the computer but it's the weekend so now I've got the time to put together a blog entry.

The interview featured a monitor/jumbo-tron kind of thing for those that weren't sitting near the stage and prior to the interview getting underway I assume this was used as the audience was making their way into the venue. I chose to use a small image due to the margin issue...I did a preview and seen that medium caused my commentary to get squeezed off to the right hand side of the page too much...so I decided to utilize a smaller image. The interview was presented by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the interviewer was Peter Cooper. You'll see him in a couple of photos below. However, earlier in the day (June 6th), Ray made his way to the venue and photos of him signing autographs made their way onto the internet. He even signed someone's guitar. He posted those photos on his Facebook page. The photos include private citizens and they may only want their images shown on Ray's social media sites and so I'm not going to post them here but if you all want to see the fan photo's that were posted on his Facebook page you can see them HERE. Once the link opens and if the photo's aren't among the first results simply check his photo section and you'll find them. Back on May 30th Ray attended a private luncheon presented by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The guests were some of Ray's friends and some family members. Photo's from the luncheon (prior to eating) were posted on-line May 31st. The luncheon isn't to be confused with the Medallion Ceremony...that private gala will take place in October...it is at the Medallion Ceremony where the newly elected members of the Country Music Hall of Fame are given their medallion and are presented their plaque. The plaques, of course, will then be put on display inside the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Off to the right is Peter Cooper and Ray Stevens during the June 6th interview. As you can tell there isn't any video available nor have I come across a transcript...and so as of this writing all that's become available are photos unless I hadn't looked deep enough on-line!? I'll do another search later on today and see if I've overlooked any sites...sometimes a podcast will surface when you least expect it. Now, along with the photo's that I've posted from the CMA Fest interview, Deborah Allen was featured in a photo along side Ray and a clean shaven John Berry...according to the time stamp of the photo it was posted at 3:01pm on June 6th. The interview that Ray gave took place a little past 1pm and so this was a couple of hours later, of course. An hour earlier a photo surfaced of Ray and a singer named Cody Webb. I did some research and learned that he's an up and coming artist that hasn't had his 'big break' yet but he's recorded several albums.

This image kind of shows you the perspective from the audience of how the interview looked...the jumbo-tron hanging above. As I pointed out in some recent blog entries the Close-Up Stage was just one stage at CMA Fest. There are stages all over the grounds...and with all of that activity going on it's always created some indirect competition because what's taking place at the Close-Up Stage is competing with what may be taking place on another stage elsewhere, etc. and in a lot of ways it's like asking the visitor to pick and choose...but then again the CMA Fest was once called Fan Fair and so the fans show up to see the performers that they are a fan of. The event is still underway...it'll come to a close tomorrow. If you happen to visit the CMA Fest webpage for the 2019 events you'll notice that on the schedule's main page it only highlights five stages: Nissan Stadium, Chevrolet Riverfront Stage, Budweiser Forever Country Stage, Chevy Breakout Stage, and Firestone Country Roads Stage at Ascend Amphitheater. The reason for this, I assume, is due to those venues having a corporate sponsor. Anyway, you'll need to select 'All Locations' from the drop down menu in order to see the performance stages that don't have a tie-in with a corporate sponsor. The Close-Up Stage is part of that drop down menu.

Has anyone else seen the video upload of Boots Randolph and Ray Stevens performing "Tequila"? It's a highly energetic instrumental performance from the late saxophone legend, Boots Randolph, and aiding on piano is Ray in a sombrero. The performance is from a 1990 episode of Nashville Now and in the introductory clip the host, Ralph Emery, points out that Ray Stevens isn't the 'star' of this particular performance...and as a result Ray sits a few feet away from Boots partially hidden underneath the sombrero. However, the performance is followed by an interview in which Ray talks of his arranging the latest project Boots has released and the advantages of direct marketing to a mass audience. It was fun seeing Ray talk about direct marketing considering that it would be just a couple years later that he would shock the music and VHS industries with the phenomenally successful Comedy Video Classics. Ray had previously sold a compilation, Get The Best of Ray Stevens, through direct marketing in 1987 but for Ray the 1990s would be dominated by a series of direct marketing successes (1992, 1993, and 1995) as well as a three season stay in Branson, Missouri (1991, 1992, and 1993). The direct marketing success were: Comedy Video Classics (1992), Ray Stevens Live! (1993), and Get Serious! (1995).

The album that Ray and Boots are discussing had been available for purchase through Ray's fan club, too, throughout most of the 1990s. I have a couple of catalogs that list it among the other items being sold.

The YouTube video's description states the performance is from April 11, 1990...

Ray Stevens CabaRay: June concerts...

Hello all...an early Monday morning and my first fan created blog entry for the month of June 2019. I had a somewhat busy weekend...I brought a lot of items, well, practically all of the items, from a room at my grandparent's house that I've often referred to on-line as my mini-museum and I brought those items to the house I've lived in for the last 19 years. I was going through the items and came across a lot of the Ray Stevens Fan Club newsletters from the mid to late '90s and early 2000s that I saved. I even came across an invoice for my 1995 purchase of the VHS, Get Serious!, from June of that year...I wasn't even aware that I had saved it. Also among the personal items was Ray's tour schedule for 1996 that the fan club mailed out to members. The fan club, known as FFFOL, was in operation from 1987 to 2002. I was a member from 1994 to 2002. The acronym stands for French Fried Far Out Legion. If you own VHS or DVD copies of his 1993 Ray Stevens Live! project you're already aware of that name if you read the closing credits or remember the opening number on More Ray Stevens Live!.

As I looked over the 1996 tour schedule I seen that Ray began the tour in Nashville, Indiana at The Little Nashville Opry on April 13th and he ended the bulk of the tour in Nashville, Indiana at The Little Nashville Opry on September 28th but technically he had one more show date on the 1996 tour and it was in Hiawassee, Georgia on October 5th at Anderson Music Hall. Ray's tour schedule also had him making appearances in Illinois for two concerts on April 20th and 21st at a venue called Nashville North in Taylorsville and then he made his way down to West Virginia for an appearance at the Jamboree in Wheeling (April 27). In May he kicked things off with a series of concerts at The Wayne Newton Theater in Branson, Missouri from May 6th through May 13th and then appeared in Mahnomen, Minnesota on May 18th at the Shooting Star Casino and then on May 19th at the Star Plaza Theater in Merrillville, Indiana. A concert on June 8th in Salem, Ohio took place at the Ponderosa Park. Ray appeared in Cumming, Georgia on June 15th at the Lanierland Music Park. Ray then become something of a resident performer at The Wayne Newton Theater in Branson, Missouri during the months of July, August, and the first half of September 1996. He delivered concerts at the theater on the following dates in July: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27. The August concert dates were held on the dates of: 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24. Lastly, the September 1996 concert dates at The Wayne Newton Theater were: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14. The following day he was in Hutchinson, Kansas at the Kansas State Fair and this was followed by a September 21st concert in Renfro Valley, Kentucky before, as mentioned earlier, a return trip to Nashville, Indiana on September 28th.

The 1996 concerts in Branson marked the first time he'd performed there since 1993 when he was headlining his own theater (it opened in 1991 and Ray stepped aside in 1993 and rented the venue to other music-based productions before headlining the venue once more in the mid 2000s). The 1996 concerts had also marked his return to concert performances due to most of 1994 and early 1995 being taken up by the taping/filming of his Get Serious! VHS movie. Ray's career in Branson is legendary even though he didn't have the kind of decades-long run that several other performers enjoyed. He ultimately sold his theater to RFD-TV and they've been using it as a showcase for all kinds of performers. It's officially known as RFD-TV The Theatre. After wrapping up his series of concerts in 1996 Ray continued to engage in limited concert appearances...often staging concerts at the Acuff Theater at Opryland. He occasionally returned to Branson but for the most part he largely retired from extensive touring. He did a series of concert at The Welk Theater in Branson and he made appearances at The Moon River Theatre during the tribute/memorial/remembrance concerts being held for Andy Williams and as of this writing those were his final appearances in Branson, Missouri.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom

Ray has since moved on from Branson and in 2018 he opened his much-anticipated CabaRay showroom. The layout is based upon the venues he used to appear at in Las Vegas in the '70s and early '80s complete with table seating for customers that order dinner along with the concert...theater seating is in the balcony for those that order concert-only tickets...and there's also a piano bar and a gift shop at the CabaRay. Ray will be performing concerts at the CabaRay on the following dates during the month of June: 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 27, 28, and 29. The first concert of the month has already happened...it was held this past Saturday (June 1st). Ray typically performs there on Friday and Saturday nights and during some months he adds a Thursday concert. The CabaRay is in it's second season of operation. It's located on 5724 River Road in Nashville, TN.

This coming June 6th Ray will be appearing at the CMA Fest...he'll be on the Close-Up Stage being interviewed about his career and recent election to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The scheduled time for the interview is 1:15pm Central and it's suppose to be half an hour...but given it's a live event there's no telling if it'll go longer than that or if it'll get underway at it's scheduled start time. I'll obviously be searching all over the internet later on that day to see if I can find any images, manuscripts of the interview, video/podcast, etc. etc. and if I come across anything from Ray's 2019 CMA Fest appearance I'll be posting/commenting about it...but that goes without saying!!