Ray Stevens and the Halloween Harmonies...

Hello again...in my previous blog entry I spotlighted the upcoming Christmas season of concerts at the Ray Stevens' CabaRay showroom beginning November 1st. However, we don't want to forget about Halloween this coming October 31st. I sometimes post a blog entry each year spotlighting the novelty songs Ray has recorded with a Halloween theme...they're the same songs, of course, because to date he hasn't recorded any new songs with a Halloween theme...but in order to prevent my blog entries surrounding his Halloween songs from being buried in the archives I sometimes resurrect the concept this time each year. Oh I could easily instruct readers of this blog to search the archives on the right hand side of the screen for the month of October in each previous year but that could be a bit time consuming and so I bring back the topic with, hopefully, a different take or angle each time.

On the YouTube front Ray's been issuing audio tracks and performances from his CabaRay Nashville television series of Halloween themed songs from his career. The first of these happened to be a performance from his television series of "Spiders and Snakes". Now, for those very familiar with the song, you'll know that is has nothing to do with Halloween but the title of the song lends itself to creatures you might find slithering and crawling around in any number of deep, dark dungeons and basements. The song was a huge hit for Jim Stafford but Ray recorded a version of the song in 2012 for his 9-CD comical bonanza, The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. Ray performed the song on an episode of CabaRay Nashville and here's the performance...



Elsewhere on that 2012 project are Ray's versions of several other novelty songs that have long since been identified with the Halloween season: "The Purple People Eater" (originally recorded by Sheb Wooley in 1958), "The Witch Doctor" (originally recorded as David Seville, alias of Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., in 1958), "Monster Mash" (originally recorded by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett in 1962), and "Haunted House" (originally recorded by Jumpin' Gene Simmons in 1964). A bit more obscure is Ray's take on "Transfusion"...itself not explicitly a song dealing with monsters and ghouls but, in my mind at least, it's title conjures up imagery of mad scientists. That particular novelty song was originally a hit in 1956 by Nervous Norvus, a pseudonym for Jimmy Drake. Ray uploaded an audio track of his 2012 recording of "Haunted House". Ray's version features vocal effects not heard in the original from Jumpin' Gene Simmons as well as the prominent vocal presence of Ray's female harmony singers (a big part of his sound) but keep in mind this is an audio track and not a music video...



Ray unleashed a couple of Halloween-type novelty singles in 1965. One of those happened to be titled "Rockin' Teenage Mummies". The novelty was written by Ray and produced by Shelby Singleton and Jerry Kennedy. Bill Lowery was the publisher and it was issued on Mercury Records. Recently the audio was uploaded onto YouTube and I've embedded it below. You can hear the profound influence The Coasters had on his earlier novelty songs...he does an impeccable vocal impression of Billy Guy, the lead singer of The Coasters, in the 1960 novelty single, "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon"; you'll hear Ray using a Billy Guy vocalization throughout most of that song. The scat-singing from Ray heard in "Rockin' Teenage Mummies" has the gravelly vocal cadence associated with Coasters classics like "Searchin'" and "Poison Ivy".



The second Halloween-type song from Ray Stevens in 1965, also on Mercury Records, and written by Ray...produced by Shelby Singleton and Jerry Kennedy...and published by Bill Lowery...was "Mr. Baker the Undertaker". This novelty was far less jaunty, if that's the proper description, of "Rockin' Teenage Mummies". The mummies, in my opinion, was satirical but you'll have to dig for examples of it underneath the layers of frenetic vocalization and uptempo delivery. The story about Mr. Baker, on the other hand, maintains the same uptempo delivery but Ray is far less frenetic vocally and the lyrics create a scene of an undertaker and his assistant, an Owl named Al, cheerfully awaiting the next mistake from the hospital. You can hear the audio of the song on a site called 45cat which features an embed originating from YouTube. I'm not embedding the clip due to it not being officially uploaded from Ray but I'll share a link to the 45cat website with the embedded audio clip. The site also contains audio of the novelty song's B-side, too. You can visit the site by clicking HERE.

One of the later recordings from Ray, from 1988, tackles the Halloween concept head on...a bluesy novelty titled "The Booger Man". Ray sings about a fictional monster that could put the classic movie monsters to shame...by song's end the focus shifts to Ray and a nameless woman parked near the woods. Ray uses the story of the previously unseen monster to coax the woman into getting a bit more intimate and cozy...suggesting that he hears something out there and she better slide closer...proclaiming the monster's now sitting on top of the car. A couple of years later, in 1990, Ray released "Sittin' Up with the Dead". This song, also adopted as a Halloween novelty, is about an archaic southern custom of keeping the recently departed company until an undertaker/funeral director is able to get to the residence to retrieve the deceased. A very famous music video from Ray was released on the song in 1990 and it's available for viewing on YouTube (it's received more than two million unique views since being uploaded). It was part of Ray's Multi-Platinum 1992 VHS, Comedy Video Classics, as well. I'm going to embed a performance of the song from CabaRay Nashville, however. The reason being is that it's a song that Ray rarely ever performed on television or even in concerts, even though it was made into a very popular music video, but he performed it once on his television series and here it is...

Ray Stevens CabaRay: November Concerts...

Hello one and all...as we wrap up the month of October it's time to take a look at the upcoming month of November at the CabaRay showroom. The concerts scheduled for the month of November are going to take on a festive mood as Christmas season gets underway at the CabaRay beginning November 1st. This will be the second season of holiday-themed concerts and like last season the concerts will take up the final two months of the year. Also, the emphasis on Christmas will get heavier as the days get closer to December, obviously...but the stage will be decorated for Christmas beginning November 1st.

Last year the Christmas concerts were scheduled for November 2 through December 29...this year the Christmas concerts are November 1 through December 28.

Although the advertisement shows the time range for the Christmas series of concerts at the CabaRay it doesn't go into detail about the  actual concert dates. So, below, is a list of Ray's concerts at the CabaRay for the month of November:

November 1st, 2nd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 29th and 30th. All you need to know about purchasing tickets to the CabaRay can be found HERE. If you look at the numerical pattern for the month of November you'll see a series of three dates in a row. This is because Ray will be appearing on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights during the middle half of the month. There is also going to be a taping of Larry's Country Diner on November 13th. Whenever the series does a taping at the CabaRay it's always on a Wednesday. When you're visiting Music City, U.S.A. during the Christmas season be sure to include the CabaRay on your list of destinations. Oh yes...in case you didn't know you can purchase tickets at the showroom during regular business hours...you don't necessarily have to purchase them on-line or order them well in advance even though purchasing them in advance is my preference. If you're an impulse consumer and decide, at the last minute, to attend one of his concerts be sure to have their phone number saved in your list of contacts so you can inquire about tickets. Their number is 615-327-4630. Their box office, as you'll see when you click the link, is open Monday through Wednesday from 9am to 5pm and during Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (concert days) the box office hours are extended to 7:30pm. So, yes, Ray gives people plenty of opportunity to attend a concert and take in all things CabaRay.

Ray Stevens and the Week that Was...

Ray Stevens: 10-20-19

Has it been a week since Induction Day at the Country Music Hall of Fame? Well, yes, we're a week removed from the day that Ray Stevens, Brooks and Dunn, and Jerry Bradley officially became members of the Country Music Hall of Fame on October 20, 2019. I'm not going to literally recap every single moment of the past week but let me point out that it was a very busy week for each of the inductee's...a very busy lead-up to the inductions, as well. Ray, a busy artist himself regardless of the time of year, had to split his two-day charity golf tournament, which in time's past is scheduled on back-to-back days, by a week. The first round of the charity event took place on October 13th while the second round took place on October 21st. It was the fourth annual charity golf event. The golf game itself was at the Temple Hills Country Club. Video footage surfaced on his Facebook page of the charitable events taking place at Ray's CabaRay showroom on October 13th. In the video clip Ray mentions that the activities were scheduled on back-to-back days as in the past (October 20th and 21st) but this year, due to his formal induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame taking place on October 20th, they had to postpone day one of the event by a week and so those that shown up on the 13th expecting to play golf the next day, Ray remarked, were going to have to wait a week for the actual golf game on the 21st. In keeping with tradition the first day of the charity event takes place on a Sunday with the golf game itself taking place the next day but this time around, as mentioned, the auction and performance from Ray at his CabaRay took place a week ahead of the golf game. It's my guess that the golf course wasn't available on October 14th nor October 28th and so that's why the event this year was split in half by a week. In my last couple of blog entries I provided links and images of Ray from the Country Music Hall of Fame induction. In addition to the formal induction by Ralph Emery there were performances. I touched on this in those blog entries as well but a quick recap: Ricky Skaggs performed "Misty", The McCrary Sisters performed "Everything is Beautiful", while radio/television broadcaster Keith Bilbrey and country comedian, James Gregory, did a version of "The Streak".

Ray Stevens, Jerry Bradley, Ronnie Dunn, and Kix Brooks: 2019

In addition to all of the coverage of the Country Music Hall of Fame inductions Ray also balanced his time performing scheduled concerts at his CabaRay showroom as well as appearing as a guest on the Grand Ole Opry (October 23rd). I provided a recap of his performance in my previous blog entry...the one with the title making reference to his interview with the L.A. Times. On October 25th Ray uploaded the audio track of his 1986 recording, "Southern Air", due to it being the birth date of Minnie Pearl (October 25, 1912 - March 4, 1996). The recording featured a third country comic, Jerry Clower, in the role of the pilot...referred to in the song as Captain Clower. The video clip featured art work from the time period promoting "Southern Air"...the song reached the country chart in the final couple of month of 1986. It placed among the Top 100 songs based on Airplay but the sales enabled it to make an appearance on the Single Sales chart, a concurrent survey of country singles based entirely on sales. When it appeared on the Top-30 country Sales chart it was the only single on that list that wasn't simultaneously in the radio dominated country Top-40...with most of the songs on the Sales list already in the Top-20 or Top-10 portion of the Airplay chart. I point that out just because I think it's a perfect example of the subjective nature of airplay and how the sales popularity of a single, or an album, doesn't necessarily mean airplay will automatically follow. The art work looks as if it was illustrated by those that did the art work for Jerry Clower's 1983 album, Live at Cleburne, Texas but that's only my guess based on visual similarities of Clower's likeness on the 1983 album and the art work surrounding Ray's 1986 single.

Jerry Clower, Minnie Pearl, Ray Stevens: 1986

An autographed publicity photo from 1986 shows the three legends, in character, for "Southern Air". Ray's character speaks like the by-stander heard in "The Streak". I'll be embedding the audio clip for those that have never heard "Southern Air" before. I'm always amazed whenever I read social media reaction about previous Ray Stevens recordings that I, personally, consider classics of his career but yet have never been heard by a good percentage of people posting on social media sites. It's at that moment when I have to realize not everyone's a Ray Stevens nut/fanatic like myself and that not all of his fans choose to get nearly everything he's recorded. That fact is one of the foundations of this fan-created blog page...covering every aspect of Ray's career from the obscure to the well-known. There's a treasure chest full of Ray Stevens recordings out there yet to be discovered. "Southern Air" originally appeared on Ray's 1986 Top-20 album, Surely You Joust. That particular comedy album was heavy on the rural, southern humor style not only with "Southern Air" but also the tale of a rural couple appearing on "The People's Court", a southern man "Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation", a rural couple visiting a "Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat", a rural family on a "Camping Trip", and an overly anxious and viscous southern policeman, "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol". Here is the "Southern Air" audio clip with art work...

Ray Stevens: L.A. Times Interview...

Hello all once again!! First off I wanted to provide a quick re-cap of Wednesday night's Grand Ole Opry broadcast...well, the portion that featured a guest appearance from Ray Stevens. The show being live meant that some segments would run longer than expected...the segment that featured Ray got underway on time. The opening performance was by a singer named Jimmy Allen. He performed three songs and by the time his portion wrapped up it was almost 10 minutes til 9pm Eastern time. Ray was introduced by Bill Cody and it was made mentioned that Ray was one of the newest member's of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ray performed three songs during his guest appearance.

He spoke about how Nashville wasn't always known as Music City, U.S.A. and that a certain song helped lead the way into turning Nashville into Music City. The song being "Please Help Me I'm Falling", a massive 14 week number one country hit in 1960 for Hank Locklin and produced by Chet Atkins for RCA. It also crossed over and became a Top-10 pop hit. Ray performed his version as a soulful ballad with a different arrangement than heard in the classic 1960 recording. Ray had performed this on one of his previous Opry guest appearances which led me to think, at that time, he may have recorded it but had yet to release it on any CD. I still think it's a song he's recorded but hasn't released. Afterward he performed "It's Me Again, Margaret" to a rousing audience...as I've often remarked in other blog entries he always has the audience in his hands every time he performs this particular song. He closed his portion of the show with "The Streak" and he changed things just a little bit...he had the audience participating by yelling one of the song's catchphrases, 'yeah, I did!'. It was the first I'd heard of him injecting audience participation into the performance. In between the songs he told some jokes.  I wasn't looking at the clock but I have a feeling that his portion ran past the top of the hour cut-off but, as I said, it being a live show anything can happen.

Bill Cody, Ray, Ronnie Dunn, Kix Brooks, Jerry Bradley: September 2019

In the photo above, as captioned, it's Bill Cody, Ray Stevens, Ronnie Dunn, Kix Brooks, and Jerry Bradley. The event took place last month (September 17th) at Ray's CabaRay showroom. Bill hosted an interview show featuring the Class of 2019. I was in the middle of my mini-blog series chronicling Ray's road to the Country Music Hall of Fame when this luncheon took place and so I didn't make mention of it in any detail at the time due to my not wanting to mix current news with my history-filled blog entries. It was officially known as The 16th Annual CMA Artist Luncheon. As you can see Ray is giving Bill Cody fits of laughter while the other three are enjoying the remarks, too.

I come home from work this morning and did my usual on-line searches for Ray happenings and came across an article published on the L.A. Times website...it's an interview with Ray Stevens about his Country Music Hall of Fame induction and his career in general. The author highlighted aspects of Ray's career that seldom others bring up...providing examples of Ray's talents and pointing out that Ray's recorded a wide variety of music styles...even though the comedy is what often draws the attention. He also pointed out that Ray has long been his own artist...doing things his way...yet never gained a reputation as a rebel or Outlaw in country music. You can read the article by clicking HERE. Another link I came across is from a country radio station in Michigan in which provides a brief article on Ray becoming a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. You can read that article by clicking HERE. I'm sure you've seen a full sized image of Ray's Country Music Hall of Fame plaque on other websites by now!! This being a fan created blog page devoted to Ray Stevens I'm going to add an image of that plaque to this blog right now...ain't it awesome??

Inducted 10-20-19

Ray Stevens: Wednesday Night Opry 10-23-2019

Hello one and all...and in the world of Ray Stevens there's a guest appearance tonight on the Wednesday night broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry. Ray will appear during the 7:30pm half hour segment. The segment is shared with an artist named Jimmy Allen. This will be Ray's first public performance since his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame this past Sunday. I am sure the news of his induction will be included in the introduction...but it's anyone's guess what he'll perform. You can purchase tickets to the Opry by clicking HERE. I'll be listening, or trying to listen, on my car radio as I drive to work tonight. Nashville being in the Central time zone means Ray's segment of the Opry will be broadcast here beginning at 8:30pm. Those of you that don't work nights and are home can always listen, static free, on your computer by visiting WSM radio's website and clicking the Listen Live button. Perhaps Ray will make some sort of announcement of upcoming music to be released?

Speaking of performances...there are three more concerts scheduled for the month of October at the CabaRay showroom: October 24th, October 25th, and October 26th. The Thursday night concert will be his first at the CabaRay since his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. You can purchase tickets by clicking HERE. Since the concert dates are quickly approaching, obviously, take advantage of their Will Call service. On the day of the concert, as soon as the box office opens, retrieve your tickets at the venue. The October concerts will wrap up the regular season and once the calendar hits November the showroom will gradually transform into a Christmas wonderland. The first Christmas-themed concert will be November 1st (which falls on a Friday).

As was the case last year the Christmas mood is subtle at the showroom until later in the month...once December arrives the Christmas spirit is in full gear. When purchasing tickets to the CabaRay try their vacation packages. I don't know if this is limited to the regular season or not...information can be found HERE...and there is a phone number you can call for detailed information if you're planning on attending any of the remaining October concerts at the CabaRay.

Don't forget to tune into the Wednesday night Grand Ole Opry tonight...Ray Stevens is scheduled to appear during the 7:30pm Central/8:30pm Eastern half hour segment. The link to the website is posted in the first paragraph above.

Ray Stevens: Country Music Hall of Fame photos...

Once again I'm coming up with another fan created blog entry...centering around newly inducted Country Music Hall of Fame member, Ray Stevens. I made mention that Ray was officially inducted into the Hall of Fame by Ralph Emery. The legendary broadcaster is a member of several Halls of Fame, as is Ray Stevens, but the Country Music Hall of Fame is kind of like the grandfather of them all when it comes to country music...and induction has always been, as Ray put it in his speech, made possible by those who choose to honor you...meaning that it isn't guaranteed simply based on longevity or because the fans demand your enshrinement. Ralph Emery was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. One of the requirements is that a current Hall of Fame member formally inducts a new member and so Ralph was either selected or chosen to formally induct Ray Stevens into the Hall of Fame.

Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery: 10-20-19

The collage above is something I put together prior to writing this blog entry. It's a collection of photo's from Ray's induction: From the moment Ralph placed the medallion on Ray's shoulders to their emotional hug prior to Ray's acceptance speech. Since I haven't seen the speech in it's entirety it looks as if Ralph is getting choked up in photo three. I've posted photo number four already but decided to include it in the collage because it shows Ray, wearing his partially concealed medallion, pointing to his Country Music Hall of Fame plaque.

There are several photo's of Ray on-line prior to the medallion ceremony posing with numerous country artists including a photo of Ray along side Ralph and his wife, Joy. Here's a photo of Ray posing with Hall of Fame members, Charley Pride (inducted in 2000) and Randy Travis (inducted in 2016), prior to the Medallion Ceremony...

Ray Stevens, Charley Pride, Randy Travis: 10-20-19

I touched on this in a couple of my recent blog entries and I'll bring it up again in case you hadn't read those, yet. Ray Stevens has long been overdue for this Country Music Hall of Fame induction. The rules for election are divided into categories: Veteran's Era, Modern Era, and a third category which is rotated each year. This time around the third category was Producer/Executive. Ray was first eligible for election in 2002 based on the current rules and criteria of Country Music Hall of Fame membership regarding the Veteran's Era category. Ray brought up how his fans and his peers in the business commented on how long it took for him to be chosen to be a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ray commented that "anytime is the right time to become a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame" but then he comically remarked that had he been chosen as a member sooner he could've perhaps negotiated for higher appearance fees and bookings.

Ray Stevens, Charlie Daniels, Duane Allen: 10-20-19

The above photo, also taken inside the Country Music Hall of Fame prior to the Medallion Ceremony, features Ray posing with Charlie Daniels (inducted in 2016) and lead singer of the Oak Ridge Boys, Duane Allen (the group was inducted in 2015). In the photo below we have Ray wearing his medallion standing next to his unveiled plaque. Kyle Young, the CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and Ralph Emery round out the photo.

Ray Stevens, Kyle Young, Ralph Emery: 10-20-19

Ray Stevens: Country Music Hall of Fame coverage...

Hello once again!! There's been a lot of on-line coverage of Sunday night's Medallion Ceremony with photo's and sound-bytes...some of the websites I visited over the last few hours gave my computer fits and so I'm hesitant to share those links. Ray posted numerous photo's on his social media sites from the weekend...originally I was going to wait until photo's arrived from the Hall of Fame staff but considering one of the newest members, Ray Stevens, has shared photo's from the ceremony then I'll share some of those in this blog entry. Yes, I'm always hesitant to share things unless they've officially been released...and the photo's that were posted on-line the other day weren't necessarily from Ray's social media sites or from the Country Music Hall of Fame website and so I didn't share them...except a teaser...but now I'll post more...but first...

This is an article posted on television station WXIA in Atlanta, Georgia. You can read the article by clicking HERE. The same article was also posted on this news site found HERE. The Country Note website posted an article highlighting Ray's induction including a photo of Ray, Kyle Young, and Ralph Emery. It was Ralph who presented Ray with the medallion at the ceremony. In the realm of country music one of the biggest supporters of Ray's happened to be Ralph Emery and it was clearly an emotional day as the photo's that have surfaced on-line shown. If I'm not mistaken Ray made appearances on just about every radio and television program Ralph presided over...and Ralph has often shown up for various events that Ray presided over. You can read that article by clicking HERE. I left a comment over there...it's pending 'approval' and so it hasn't appeared on their site yet. I'm sure it'll be published and so in the coming hours or days when this blog entry is visited and you click the above link you should be able to see my comment. I also encourage anyone else to leave comments showing your support of Ray's music and career.

Those are just three websites that I chose to highlight...there are plenty more that reported on the events that took place on Sunday. A lot of the websites offer the same text, actually...but some websites have better reception than other sites...and so I decided to provide a link to the same article but on different websites. On Ray's official website they provided the text from the article that appeared in The Tennessean...the site that gave my computer a lot of fits earlier this morning. Thankfully the text from the site is now on Ray's official website and you can read the article by clicking HERE. The report found in the Tennessean had the most detail although any publicity for the event is certainly welcome.

Ray Stevens: 10-20-19

Here is another photo from the medallion ceremony at the Country Music Hall of Fame this past Sunday. I've captioned these photo's with their date. The election of Ray Stevens into the Country Music Hall of Fame was announced March 18, 2019 and the induction of Ray Stevens into the Country Music Hall of Fame happened October 20, 2019. As noted already I haven't heard or read a transcript of Ray's entire acceptance speech...I've only seen and heard bits and pieces. One of the things that Ray said in his speech was referencing his years playing sock hops in gym's throughout the southern Georgia area. In the earliest parts of my mini-blog series centering around Ray's upcoming induction I mentioned several key figures in his career: Chet Atkins, Ralph Emery, Andy Williams, and Bill Lowery. There are plenty of others, too: Mike Sheppard, Don Light, Shelby Singleton, Fred Foster, Jerry Kennedy...and numerous others. Andy's brother, Don, was a manger of Ray's for many years. As a session musician Ray worked with hundreds of musicians...in addition to that he often was a music arranger during those sessions and I'd read articles in which Ray was referred to as a session leader. There are dozens upon dozens of untold stories out there relating to recording sessions of yesteryear. Ray's pretty much seen it all...and he still has a hearty appetite to continue making music and entertaining...and this is evident in his CabaRay performances. Now, in addition to the photo's from the Medallion Ceremony, there have been photo's posted from Ray's own celebration with family. There's a photo showing Ray, his wife, their daughters, and grandchildren...and there is also a photo of Ray and his wife inside the Country Music Hall of Fame standing near Ray's plaque.

Ray Stevens: 10-20-19

Ray Stevens proudly shows his plaque inside the Country Music Hall of Fame. His gold medallion is partially concealed. The newly inducted members have their plaque's on prominent display inside the Hall of Fame before they're added to the rotunda along side the rest of the plaques. The plaque shown next to Ray is the one for record producer/executive, Jerry Bradley. In the background is the mural that should be familiar by now. The March 18, 2019 press conference took place revealing the newest member's of the Country Music Hall of Fame in front of that mural.

What we have below is a performance from Ray Stevens going back to 1979. The clip appeared on a 1984 television special hosted by Jim Stafford and Tanya Tucker titled Concert of the Stars. However, that special was a clip-fest which included performances from various country artists from selected past television appearances interspersed with newly recorded footage from the show's hosts. So, it's a 1984 television special but it featured clips from the past. The clip shown of Ray has him singing a medley of songs: "Turn Your Radio On", "Beautiful", "You Are So Beautiful", "Everything is Beautiful", and "America the Beautiful". If you're familiar with the clip of Ray performing "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow", well, that performance is from a 1979 television special hosted by Jerry Reed called Nashville Salutes America. Ray is shown in the same wardrobe, playing with the same musicians, and on the same stage in this medley, too. Although it's credited to a 1984 television special the footage is actually from 1979...

Ray Stevens: Welcome to the Country Music Hall of Fame!!

As I take in everything that went on yesterday surrounding the Medallion Ceremony which formally inducted Ray Stevens, Jerry Bradley, and Brooks and Dunn, into the Country Music Hall of Fame let me state the obvious for those that have visited this fan-created blog page over the years: I've been a fan of Ray Stevens for many, many, many years...going to back to the late 1980s when my grandfather and I found one of his songs on a jukebox in a local pizza restaurant. That song, "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", introduced me to Ray's music/career. My grandfather had known of Ray's music for a much longer period of time but it wasn't until that song came along did I know of Ray Stevens. We went out to a local K-Mart store and he purchased four of your cassettes: He Thinks He's Ray Stevens, Surely You Joust, Greatest Hits, and Crackin' Up. A lot of my teen years were spent listening to those four albums and others from Ray that I came across as the years went by.

I started a blog page devoted to your career and music back in 2008 and even prior to that I posted on message boards and other social media outlets championing for your election into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In every passing year I became more and more disheartened as you were overlooked by the CMA Hall of Fame voters...and just this past year, 2018, I thought you'd be in that class of inductee's but your name wasn't called. Then, in March of 2019, a surreal moment arrived as I was listening to WSM radio personality Bill Cody make the announcement of the Class of 2019 and when he said "born in Clarkdale, Georgia..." I immediately knew who he was referencing.

Ray Stevens! You've long deserved induction...your fans and those in the business that appreciate your contributions to Music City, U.S.A. over the decades know you deserve to be in the Country Music Hall of Fame and at long last it's happened. I know it drives your critics absolutely insane...believe me, I've seen several tasteless, cynical, and ignorant reactions to your election and ultimate induction into the Hall of Fame throughout this calendar year. What those critics will probably never understand are the intangibles that come along with that relationship between artist and fan. To the critics of your induction, apparently, the Hall of Fame is to represent a shrine to the most popular, largest selling artists to perform country music and they fail to respect or acknowledge creative intangible contributions both on stage and behind the scenes which, I think, go a long way in determining who gets into the Hall of Fame year after year. Your plaque will be on display in the Hall of Fame forever.

I've come across a couple of television station websites that feature video content from the Medallion Ceremony. A video from a local newscast on Channel 5 in Nashville...



The songs performed during the Ray Stevens portion of the ceremony were "Misty" by Ricky Skaggs, "Everything is Beautiful" by The McCrary Sisters, and based on the photo's I've seen a very memorable take on "The Streak" by broadcaster Keith Bilbrey and country comic, James Gregory. There is another video clip from a local channel in Knoxville, TN featuring footage from the Medallion Ceremony but it's super brief...less than a minute...



There have been a wide variety of photos from the Medallion Ceremony make their way onto the internet. The photo's that have hit the internet weren't issued by the Country Music Hall of Fame but, instead, from other on-line sources. I have saved mostly all of the Ray Stevens photos that I've come across...even his plaque!! Oh yes...I've been able to read the inscription on his Hall of Fame plaque and so obviously I've seen the image of Ray on the plaque and it's a very good likeness. I'm going to hold off on posting the images for a couple of days. I'd prefer the Hall of Fame website release their photo's first and then I'll begin posting what photo's I've come across in future blog entries. As a teaser, though, here's a photo of Ray Stevens during his acceptance speech that I came across while doing image searches for Ray earlier this morning. I will have more to say on Ray's induction and the ceremony in future blog entries, too. Ray Stevens fans need to savor the moment...it's one of the greatest achievements in country music.

Ray Stevens: 10-20-19

Ray Stevens latest On-line video clips...

Hello once again!! I find myself awake and so I decided to put together another blog entry. I'll more than likely take a nap afterward...for today is a huge day in the career of Ray Stevens as all of you should be aware by now. Later today Ray Stevens is formally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Now, as a general public is perhaps aware, Ray has a knack for comedic songs and performances...and as I've mentioned many, many times the comedic aspect of his career will more or less be his lasting legacy in spite of an equal amount of non-comedic work on records.

Ray's YouTube page has seen several additions to it's video list. One of those additions arrived yesterday in the form of "Crook and Who?", a comedic ditty humorously poking fun at Charlie Chase on the event of the 1,000 television broadcast of the country music entertainment hosts, Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase. The footage was taped at some point in the early 1990s during one of the final seasons of Crook and Chase on The Nashville Network prior to the duo moving on as hosts of Music City Tonight in 1993...a series they hosted until 1996. If you listen carefully to the lyrics Ray makes a reference to the thousandth episode and cleverly uses Charlie's last name in the lyrics when asking Lorianne to remove her co-host.



In October of 1979 (October 17, 1979 to be specific) a television movie named Concrete Cowboys hit the airwaves. The film starred Jerry Reed and Tom Selleck but it also featured brief cameo appearances by several country music artists. It inspired a very short-lived television series in 1981 which also co-starred Jerry Reed in the role he played in this movie. Tom Selleck, by this time, had become internationally famous as Magnum, P.I. and so his role of Will Eubanks was re-cast. The 1979 movie was filmed in Nashville and so there are several instances where iconic landmarks of Music City, U.S.A. are worked into the film's plot. I'd seen the movie as well as Ray's involvement in it a number of years ago. Jerry Reed's character is a huge fan of country music and it's on full display in this clip...especially in the scene following Ray's performance. In the film Ray performs an abbreviated version of "Shriner's Convention". The song itself hadn't been released as a single yet but he was performing it nevertheless...not only in this television movie but also in a November taping of Pop! Goes the Country. Here's the clip from Concrete Cowboys...



Back on October 13th Ray uploaded a video of a couple of comedy sketches he did with the equally legendary Ruth Buzzi...known the world over from her legendary performances on Laugh-In. I don't know when this aired or if it aired...my guess is that it was taped in the very late 1980s or very early 1990s at the latest. I'm going with the very early 1990s until I'm corrected. The first sketch has Ruth Buzzi as an insecure woman verbally sparring with her husband, played by Ray. The second sketch takes place inside a bar. Ruth, in a southern vocalization, plays an overly anxious rural woman, Myrtle May, while her potential love interest, Billy Bob, is portrayed with a heavier southern accent by Ray (similar to the Jim Nabors vocalization of Gomer Pyle). The bartender, named Jake, apparently acted as the host of this special and I'd seen that face on other television programs but I can't place the name.

The brief sketches come from a television special called The Country Comedy Hour. I don't even know if this aired or if it was an unaired pilot of some kind due to my not being able to find anything about it on-line...nothing whatsoever comes up in any search result for the television special beyond this recently uploaded video clip...



Those kind of whimsical, lighthearted, up-tempo performances are what Ray Stevens is most likely known for...but it's just one side of his musical talent. He's equally at home discussing the music industry with pop music artist Gary Puckett from an episode of CabaRay Nashville...



My next blog entry will no doubt be on-line much later today after the red carpet event takes place at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Is it finally Induction Day?? If I come across any images or video/audio links in the hours after the Medallion Ceremony I'll most certainly be adding those to this fan created blog! The red carpet event can be seen on-line by clicking this LINK. Keep in mind that once you click the link and the page loads scroll down to the video stream of the Red Carpet event. It airs from 4:30pm to 5:30pm Eastern/3:30pm to 4:30pm Central.

Ray Stevens and the Country Music Hall of Fame: Day of Induction...

Oh you can probably tell that I'm incredibly anxious to start watching the red carpet live stream from the Country Music Hall of Fame later today! Here I am more than 12 hours before the festivities get underway typing a fan created blog entry at a little past 2:30am...I'm writing this blog entry now because later today I'll be dividing my time between my usual Sunday routine this time of year (NFL viewing) and watching the live stream.

Based on the information at the Country Music Hall of Fame website the interactive party begins at 4:30pm Eastern and lasts an hour...concluding around 5:30pm Eastern. The medallion ceremony will take place inside the CMA Theater. This LINK will take you to the Hall of Fame's live streaming page. Once there you'll see a promo for an upcoming program in early November but below that is the live stream for the red carpet show later today. The event is officially titled The 2019 Medallion Ceremony Red Carpet Fan Experience.

If you're in the area or traveled to attend one of his concerts at the CabaRay showroom this past Friday or Saturday and don't have to be on the road back to your home's too quickly I'd suggest you hang around and attend the red carpet event later today...it's free to the public...but as a fan of Ray Stevens I'd encourage all of you in the Nashville area show up and applaud Ray's monumental career achievement. Here is a direct LINK to the upcoming live-stream podcast...the previous link is to the collection of live-streams both upcoming and past. Bill Cody will host the red carpet event and interview those going into the Hall of Fame...so, yes, this is your chance to see/hear Ray on the red carpet prior to being formally inducted. Of course if you plan on visiting Nashville in the future stop by and see Ray at his CabaRay showroom...this is in addition to visiting the other sites of Music City, U.S.A. Now, upon the conclusion of the medallion ceremony, the plaques are put on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame. When my brother and I visited Nashville in March of last year, in addition to going to the CabaRay, we visited the Hall of Fame and at that time the Class of 2017 plaques were still under the spotlight. The newest member's plaques are put on display after their formal induction whereas the other plaques are mounted on circular walls in no particular order. Once the year long display of the new member plaques end they're placed on the wall along with the rest of the plaques while the next class of new inductee's have their plaques put on display.

I've known a little bit about what goes on at the actual medallion ceremony by reading the Hall of Fame's webpage and seeing on-line footage of previous ceremonies. All members of the Hall of Fame (if able) attend the event...each one wears their medallion, too. Each new member is inducted by a current Hall of Fame member...the current member places a medallion around the new member and then their plaque is revealed. This is followed by an acceptance speech of some kind. In addition to the formalities of being inducted there are moments where fellow artists perform some of the songs associated with the inductee's and in producer Jerry Bradley's case I'm assuming Hall of Fame member Charley Pride, if able to attend, will sing a couple of his hits considering nearly all of his hits were produced by Jerry Bradley. This aspect had me wondering who would be brave enough to tackle some of Ray's songs?!? One of the great but overlooked facts of Ray's career is that he chooses songs or write songs that are uniquely his own...once you hear it you can't imagine someone else recording it...and so it had me thinking of the unintended comical possibilities of a George Strait, for example, crooning "It's Me Again, Margaret". Wouldn't we love to hear George Strait let go with a dirty laugh? No? Well...how about Vince Gill singing "The Streak"? Of course I'm exaggerating. I'm sure if any of Ray's hits are performed they'll stick with the non-comical songs like "Misty", "Everything is Beautiful", "Turn Your Radio On", or "Mr. Businessman"...but it would be neat if The Statler Brothers, also known for comedy, would perform a version of "Along Came Jones", which was a hit for Ray in 1969. Harold Reid could do a perfect enunciation of 'slow talkin' Jones...'.

When Ray received a star on the Music City Walk of Fame last year the presentation was performed by Ricky Skaggs. Now, last year, Ricky himself became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, so wouldn't it be neat if Ricky performed the formal induction of Ray Stevens into the Country Music Hall of Fame?! If you've read some of my mini-blog series leading up to this weekend you'll know that I'm also anxious to see the plaque and what's written on it...in addition to hearing what Ray has to say. It'll be a busy Sunday but I'm going to try and get some sleep, too. I've been awake since Saturday evening and if I don't try and sleep I'll be fighting to stay awake when the red carpet event begins later this afternoon at 4:30pm Eastern! I want to be wide awake for that!!

Ray Stevens and the Country Music Hall of Fame: Eve of Induction...

I've patiently awaited for this weekend to arrive since this past March...for tomorrow, Sunday, October 20th, Ray Stevens will formally become one of the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame. He goes into the Hall of Fame along side Jerry Bradley and the duo, Brooks and Dunn. The Medallion Ceremony is scheduled to get underway tomorrow evening. A red carpet event will be streaming on-line prior to the ceremony and I'll create another blog entry later and provide a link. I don't know the order of induction. I don't know if they go by seniority or reverse seniority. The Class of 2019 in order of seniority are Ray Stevens, Jerry Bradley, and the youngest of the inductee's, Brooks and Dunn. In this blog entry I thought it would be fitting to embed Ray's speech back in March of this year upon hearing the shocking news that he'd be going into the Country Music Hall of Fame this year...



The ceremony itself isn't streamed...based on the information I've been reading...but the lead-up to the formal ceremony is streamed and I'll provide a link in my upcoming blog. What I do know is that the red carpet event is scheduled to begin at 4:30pm Eastern...and so tomorrow around that time click on the link I provide in my next blog entry to watch the Class of 2019 make their way along the red carpet and into the Country Music Hall of Fame. It's obviously similar to the Oscar's and other awards that have a red carpet extravaganza before the ceremony...only this time it's the Country Music Hall of Fame's Class of 2019 walking the red carpet. The ceremony is usually uploaded on the Hall of Fame's website in the hours after it wraps up. Once the footage becomes available I'll be embedding it, of course!!!

Ray Stevens: 2019 Charity Golf Classic Is underway...

Hello all...for those that attended the charitable events that took place yesterday (October 13th) at the CabaRay then you're all aware that the second half of Ray's annual charity event will take place a week from today on October 21st. Yesterday marked the first half of the Ray Stevens Charity Golf Classic...it took place at the CabaRay showroom. Things got underway at 5pm with a 2 hour silent auction. This was followed by a half hour live auction. The evening of events concluded with a 90 minute concert from Ray at the showroom. Yesterday evening live footage was uploaded onto his Facebook page of the first 6 minutes of the concert. He performed a version of "C.C. Rider"...and then went on to explain how this concert was originally scheduled to take place the following Sunday but a conflict got in the way: his formal induction on October 20th into the Country Music Hall of Fame...which drew applause from the audience. I posted a blog entry early in September promoting the upcoming charity golf event...it's among the various blog entries I posted surrounding Ray's upcoming Hall of Fame induction.

Next Monday the golf game will take place at the Temple Hills Country Club in Franklin, Tennessee. The pre-game activities get underway at 9am (checking in, practicing, etc.). The National Anthem is scheduled to be performed at 11:45am and the game itself will begin at 12noon. All of the information surrounding the event can be found HERE. The site features a disclaimer that registration for the event has closed...considering it takes place a week from today...but you can still donate to the charitable causes by clicking the red Donate button in the link provided. There's a number to call for the golf tournament itself and there's a number for the Temple Hills facility. There's also a number to reach a person with questions about the CabaRay but since the first half of the charity event took place yesterday evening and it has since ended you're more than likely going to place a call with one of the other two numbers provided. The charities include Augie's Quest (ALS), ClubCorp Employee Partners Care Foundation, and Shriner's Hospitals for Children.

Ray Stevens: The Road to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Part Twenty-Eight...

It has now come to this...the final installment of this mini-blog series chronicling the career path of Ray Stevens as he made his way to the Country Music Hall of Fame. I have reached January 2018 and this is another busy month for Ray...the opening of his long-anticipated venue, CabaRay, dominated the local headlines. The showroom, located on River Road in West Nashville, had a VIP opening on January 10, 2018. The audience make-up consisted of family and friends...and some of the footage and interviews made their way onto the internet in addition to being featured on local television news outlets.

1/10/18: Ray Stevens Day

This photo of Ray circulated on the internet back on January 10th and in the next few days which declared January 10, 2018 to be Ray Stevens Day. The official declaration, signed by Nashville mayor, Megan Barry, is on display in the photo. The grand opening of the CabaRay to the general public came more than a week later. The overall layout of the interior, according to numerous interviews from Ray, was inspired by a venue he used to appear in numerous times in the past...a Las Vegas attraction called The Desert Inn. Ray commented that he wanted this to be a showroom...an intimate supper club kind of venue...and there's dinner served to those that choose that option. The floor level seats are actually tables...where you eat before the concert. Those that choose balcony seats are provided the opportunity for drink service but if you want the dinner option you'll have to purchase floor level tickets. There are booth's located on the floor level, too. The booth's are named after several record producers. Oh yes, the CabaRay also contains a piano bar...the official name is the Bill Lowery High Spirits Emporium. The walls are lined with photo's of numerous musicians, record producers, recording artists, as well as photo's, of course, of Ray. The gift shop is located just inside the main entrance. CDs, T-shirts, and trinkets of all kinds are offered...a lot of these trinkets aren't sold in his on-line store and so the only way to get these gifts is by visiting the gift shop. Large photo's of his album covers line the walls of the gift shop but those aren't for sale. The gift shop generally opens 1 hour before the dinner...the Piano Bar opens 2 hours ahead of the dinner. The piano playing can be heard throughout the showroom...so you don't necessarily have to literally be inside the bar to hear it. The piano player/singer wraps up several minutes before Ray comes out on stage. After the concert Ray usually appears in the Piano Bar to sign autographs or sing songs accompanied by the bar's piano player. The upstairs area contains trophy cases lined with his awards. How do I know all of this?? Well, I attended a concert at the CabaRay a couple of months after it opened...oh how I'd love to get back there one day!!

The performance schedule at the showroom is typically confined to Friday and Saturday nights. There are times when a Thursday night concert is added in addition to Friday and Saturday. Ray made it perfectly clear in those grand opening interviews that he didn't want this to turn into another Branson-type of arrangement. If you're not familiar or are unsure of what he was referring to he was referring back to his early '90s run at the theater he headlined for three seasons, 1991-1993, and how at that time he did two shows a day, six days a week with very little downtime. So, this time around, the CabaRay, unlike The Ray Stevens Theatre, features one concert per night from Ray on Friday and Saturday and occasionally Thursday. In his memoir Ray remarks that the 2 shows a day, 6 days a week Branson schedule left him physically and mentally exhausted...so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the CabaRay would have a far less physically demanding pace. On the music front he had previously issued three CD's in 2016: Just a Closer Walk With Thee/Gospel Favorites, Love Lifted Me, and the holiday release, Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me, in addition to the music video/single only, "Dear America". The first gospel release was the second volume of gospel songs released through Bill Gaither's record company while Love Lifted Me was a re-issue of Ray's early '70s gospel album with a unique twist: The music tracks were from the 1972 studio album but the audio tracks were re-recordings, except for one song, "Let Our Love Be a Light Unto the People". The Christmas CD, to date, remains the last CD project he's released.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville continued airing in local syndication on PBS television stations across the country throughout 2018. In August of 2018 the city of Nashville selected Ray as one of that year's recipient's for the Music City Walk of Fame. The attraction is located across the street from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum...recording artists of all music genres have received Stars on this cemented row of musicians. It's kind of like the Hollywood Walk of Fame...but without the massive hype/attention.

August 21, 2018

The sixth season of Ray's television series wrapped up in the summer of 2018...a little more than a month prior to the Music City Walk of Fame honor. The series, as of this writing, has a total of 78 half hour episodes. The show's title, CabaRay Nashville, was used as a tie-in to the showroom even though almost all of the episodes were taped at a recording studio on Music Row. The last ten episodes of Season Six originated at the CabaRay, though. In the last couple of months in 2018 Ray put on a Christmas series of concerts at the CabaRay showroom before closing things down for the year.

The venue closed down for a couple of months but re-opened for it's second season of concerts in early March 2019. By this time Ray had reached age 80 (back on January 24th) and his CabaRay Nashville television series was returning to the RFD-TV airwaves in addition to a second series, Rayality TV, making it's RFD-TV debut...all of these happenings arrived during the month of January but the biggest news of all arrived on the morning of March 18, 2019. It was on this day that WSM radio personality, Bill Cody, in a news conference, delivered the latest list of inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame. I was watching the news coverage that morning and it was surreal...as soon as Bill began reading about the inductee being from the small cotton mill town of Clarkdale, Georgia I couldn't believe my ears!!! Ray's election/induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame is something I had championed for years and years. I have always felt that his lack of presence in the Hall of Fame among those he worked with or worked for over the decades was a shame...but beyond that just his talents alone and the impact he had with songs, albums, home videos, and on-line music videos provides a perfect display of his artistic range and why he belongs in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

His talents as a singer/songwriter/musician/producer/arranger/publisher touch every facet of the music industry. For some country music fans they feel election to the Country Music Hall of Fame is more or less a prestigious popularity award. In this mindset they feel that Hall of Fame members need millions upon millions of album sales and dozens of Top-10 and number one hits to qualify. You can have a very successful career without being the dominant headliner or without being known all over the country. Anyway, Ray continued on with his CabaRay concerts, of course. Wednesday nights saw the addition of taping sessions for Larry's Country Diner, a series that airs on RFD-TV. I suspect that Ray had plans for new music to be released this year but the March announcement of his election to the Country Music Hall of Fame perhaps blindsided him so much that everything he had planned was put on hold. There are still several months left in 2019 so it's possible he'll issue something by year's end. In the summer of 2019 Ray appeared on the Close-Up Stage at CMA Fest...being interviewed about his career and recent election to the Hall of Fame. He served as Grand Marshal of an area Shriner's parade in June and held a private concert at the CabaRay for the Shriner's...photo's surfaced which looked as if they came right out of his 1980 "Shriner's Convention" song...but for the record there were no Shriner's in the photos wearing a Fez with a propeller on top.

I have this photo posted along the right hand side of the blog page. It's a photo of Ray inside the rotunda at the Country Music Hall of Fame during the morning of March 18, 2019 after being named one of the 2019 inductees into the Hall of Fame. His plaque will be unveiled this coming October 20th at the private Medallion Ceremony. The gala is a private function but photos, video, and audio from the event show up on-line almost immediately afterward. I felt this was a perfect photo of Ray to use as publicity for his upcoming induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and so I also have it posted on the photo time line off to the right. Ray gave an acceptance speech back on March 18th when the news broke that he was one of the artists going into the Hall of Fame this year and it's available to see and hear on YouTube. The big speech won't take place until October 20th when the formal induction takes place. I, like so many of his fans, are eager to hear what he has to say and if it's going to be full of laughs or if it'll be serious and dare I say, tear-jerking. Ray isn't known as an artist that shows those kinds of emotions publicly...and so I'm anxious to see/hear Ray's speech once his plaque is revealed for all to see. This mini-blog series was designed not to be an in-depth career history (although that's probably how it turned out) but more or less an overview of his career with some emphasis placed on things that elevate his career as something other than 'novelty singer' which is how he's viewed and it's what his reputation is even though you and I know Ray Stevens is much more than a 'novelty singer'.

In this mini-blog series I attempted to show his skills as producer, music arranger, and his role as music publisher...and the many styles of music he's recorded over the decades. While it's true that the comedy songs and the equally comedic music videos are tough to overcome in the overall legacy of Ray Stevens this mini-blog series gave equal time, in some cases more, to his serious recordings and to more serious aspects of his recording career...at least I happen to think it did. "Don't look, Ethel" is a very popular catchphrase associated with Ray Stevens...but don't let that catchphrase dictate your opinion regarding Ray's overall career. His serious recordings from the late '50s to the present time are definitely worth looking at and discovering if all you know about Ray Stevens is a comedy song or two from the '70s or '80s.

Tune into CabaRay Nashville every Saturday night on RFD-TV at 8pm Eastern or if you don't have the channel look for the show on your local PBS stations. When you watch his television show you'll know exactly why Ray Stevens belongs in the Country Music Hall of Fame and formal induction takes place in six days...October 20, 2019.

Ray Stevens: The Road to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Part Twenty-Seven...

Is it a mere week before the official inductions of the Class of 2019 into the Country Music Hall of Fame?? Oh yes...official inductions take place on October 20th...seven days from now!! The years discussed in this installment feel like a blur to me because they're so recent yet when you do the math it's within the last four years. In my previous installment I hinted at the activity ready to take place in the latter half of 2015...four years ago...time flies...

Ray had been taping episodes of an as yet to air television series in the late summer of 2015. When word was released that the shows were in the process of being taped and tickets were made available to the taping sessions I didn't know what to make of it because Ray had attempted television programs in the past...a pilot in 1992 titled Amazing Rolling Revue ended up being issued on VHS. In the next decade and a half he created a couple of other television series that played on digital television when that format was in it's infancy and then those subsequent shows were transferred as on-line only exclusives before eventually going out of production. This as yet to be named 2015 series was different in that it would play like a talk-show/music program and include special guests and an intimate, small audience. The satellite/cable channel, RFD-TV, would air this series. The program came into being the night of November 7, 2015 as Ray Stevens' Nashville...the name of his memoir. The show's first guest was Steve Wariner. The program ran half an hour and it combined the elements of a talk show with a music-driven show.

The first episode set the pattern for the rest of the episodes in that Ray opens the show with a performance of a song he's either recorded or a song he likes that someone else has recorded...then makes his way over to his red piano (which acts as his 'desk') and then introduces the special guest. Ray sometimes provides a brief overview of the guests' accomplishments...the guest walks out and sits on a chair or a stool next to the piano...almost always a stool...and then engages in the conversation/interview prior to performing their song. Upon the conclusion of the interview segment the guest will perform a song or sometimes a medley of songs...and then Ray will insert a vintage music video or performance video of himself in what's called The Video Jukebox. There was also a segment called The Ray Stevens Comedy Theater which was mostly sketches he'd taped at some point in his career. Don Cusic was on hand as Professor of Music. In his sketch he sat at a table in graduate attire and provided introduction/information about a novelty song from Ray's 2012 Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music prior to Ray's performance of the song. If Ray closed a show with something other than what's in the 9-CD Encyclopedia box set then the Professor's segment, obviously, wouldn't air. The show was pretty much an immediate hit...and it pretty much defined the direction of Ray's career for the foreseeable future. There were 13 half hour episodes taped for the show's First Season...and then production got underway for a second season of 13 half hour episodes.

The production cycle/air-date cycle for most cable television series is 13 first run/13 rerun and then 13 first run/13 rerun after which all 26 episodes are repeated to make up a calendar year. On network television all 26 first run episodes air and then they're reran during the spring and summer months until the upcoming Fall season. Also, on cable TV, 13 episodes is defined as a 'season' whereas on network TV 13 episodes is defined as 'half a season'.

If the success of the television series wasn't enough...on top of that the comedy CD from earlier in the year and the two recent music videos of songs from that CD (the two on-line videos being "Taylor Swift is Stalking Me" and "You Didn't Build That")...if all of that wasn't proof enough of Ray's tireless energies at making music and being in top creative form then the groundbreaking in early March 2016 of his music venue in West Nashville stunned whatever critics may have been lingering around with their belief that Ray's career was over and finished years ago. It's been said that everyone has a critic and Ray is no exception. I believe there are people that simply thrive on criticizing just to be criticizing without any real need for it.

The music venue would be publicized as a dinner theater...with an intimate setting comprised of stage, tables, and theater seating in the balcony. There would be a dinner option (table seats on level one) but for those that wanted to skip the dinner they could sit up in the balcony...which itself is quality seating. The plans for the venue also included an area for a gift shop, a piano bar, and a recording studio for audio and video productions. After breaking ground on the venue the actual construction of the venue was put on delay for almost half a year due to local zoning and political laws...as well as the finalization of receiving a building permit. The land had already been purchased by Ray...but the application for the building permit is what took so long. Once the permit was okayed then real construction started taking place...but due to the long delay it meant the announced grand opening would also be delayed. Ray, initially, was aiming for a Christmas season opening in the latter half of 2016...but approval to construct didn't arrive until midway through 2016. The name of the upcoming venue had officially been announced as CabaRay...a pun of cabaret, of course, but using Ray's name.

The 13 episode second season of Ray Stevens' Nashville began airing in the spring/summer of 2016. The show then went into a repeat cycle once the 13 first run episodes concluded that fall. The series was promoted by RFD-TV as it's most-watched original series in the latter half of 2016. It was referenced this way because the most-watched series on the network continues to be the repeats of Hee Haw on Sunday nights.

In the fall of 2016 Ray issued a music video titled "Dear America". The song comes from the pen of Connie Jo Hamrick, the wife of Ray's keyboard player. The website titled The Boot received exclusive rights to premiere the music video on their website and they did so on September 6, 2016. A lot of people loved the song/video and there were comparisons made to it being a reverse of "Everything is Beautiful" in the presentation...for "Dear America" concludes with a choir of children singing whereas in "Everything is Beautiful" the song opens with a choir of children. The video came days before the 15th anniversary of 9/11 and it reminded a lot of people that Ray was very much a patriot and supporter of America's military and core values. The video itself made it's YouTube debut several hours after the exclusive premiere on The Boot website. It's since gotten over 348,000 unique views on YouTube. A brief behind-the-scenes look at the song debuted on YouTube on September 1, 2016...it shows only pieces of the actual music video so it's not the full version from several days later. Ray explains his reasons for recording the song and it shows sheet music and handwritten notations from Ray, too...

 

The full music video is on YouTube, of course. If that promo video stirred up your emotions I recommend you visit YouTube after you've finished reading this blog entry and search for "Dear America" from Ray Stevens.

In November of 2016, a year since the debut of Ray Stevens' Nashville, he issued a Christmas CD titled Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me. A couple of days later, November 16, 2016 a music video of the title track hit YouTube. The title track was co-written by country singer Jeff Bates and had been recorded by him several years before Ray recorded his own version. The music video from Ray features hand puppets accompanying him with the performance. The CD features Ray's take on Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You"...and it also includes the debut of 2012's "Merry Christmas" on CD...previously only available as a music video. A song that Ray wrote decades earlier and had been previously recorded by Perry Como, "Christmas Bells in the Steeple", appears on this CD. "Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day" had previously been recorded by Brenda Lee. Aside from the title track the only other original, recent Christmas offering on this 2016 CD is "Claws (A Cat's Letter to Santa)". The latter a very funny song that I'm surprised was never attempted in music video format...but yet it's a song from a cat's Christmas list and so how could such a thing be attempted unless you try limited animation or video trickery of some sort...or Ray himself could've dressed in a full size cat suit (like Telly Savalas did for his appearance in Alice in Wonderland). Ray's CD was issued on his new label, CabaRay Entertainment.

News reports surfaced in late November 2016 that Ray would part company with RFD-TV upon the conclusion of the repeats of his television series. The satellite/cable channel had been airing the series each Saturday night since it's debut on November 7, 2015. The series was re-launched in January 2017 in local syndication on PBS stations across the country as Ray Stevens' CabaRay Nashville. This slightly altered title was a tie-in to the music venue still under heavy construction in West Nashville. Ray planned on having the venue opened by the spring/summer of 2017. The episodes of Ray's show that were airing on local PBS stations in the first half of 2017 were the RFD episodes. Production on all new episodes were underway, though, and those began airing on local PBS stations in the summer of 2017. The first episode of Season Three (13 episodes total) guest starred Mandy Barnett and Harold Bradley...it hit the air during the weekend of July 7, 2017. Season Three was even more diverse in guest stars than Season One and Season Two. One of the episodes of Season Three guest starred guitarist Duane Eddy...and another guest starred another one of Ray's 1960's contemporaries, Tommy Roe...but, like in Season One and Season Two, there were plenty of country music performers gracing the stage and taking their seat next to Ray's red piano. The CabaRay itself was completed by the latter half of 2017...but a grand opening date wasn't scheduled until the next calendar year. So, in my final installment of this mini-blog series of Ray Stevens' road to the Country Music Hall of Fame, I'll pick up in January 2018.

Ray Stevens: The Road to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Part Twenty-Six...

Hello all...we're heading down the homestretch in this mini-blog series aren't we! We're now into the years 2013, 2014, and 2015. A lot of Ray's activity during these years were tied to the internet with the exception of a much anticipated project...but first of all was the news that the newly re-launched digital television channel version of The Nashville Network had acquired the broadcast rights to a clip-filled television series from Ray Stevens titled Rayality TV. The news was released early in 2013 in Music Row Magazine's website dated February 6, 2013.

"Red Hot Chili Cook-Off" got things underway for Ray, as far as YouTube goes, on March 20, 2013. It's gotten more than 1,000,000 unique views and the same can be said for an abundance of Ray's music video releases as of this writing. Some of the music videos broke a million unique views almost immediately while other videos slowly built accumulated unique views over the years and entered the million unique views club over the course of time.

All of the music videos have gotten even more plays than the totals show but YouTube tracks just the first view of a video on a viewer's device so as to not skew the view totals by adding multiple plays from the same computer/laptop, etc. When you see a video and it has 1,433,098 unique views, for example, that means the video was seen by 1,433,098 individual people even though it may have been played multiple times by those same people...indicating that a video that's gotten more than a million unique views equals at least two million plays if everyone watched the video more than once. If YouTube tracked the amount of plays for video content rather than unique views then the play total for a video with 1,433,098 could potentially be 2,866,196 if everyone played the video an additional time (see how the method of counting only unique views cuts out the practice of skewing the numbers?).

All in all YouTube became a very popular tool to get music to the people and Ray benefited handsomely from the instant exposure...as of this writing his video's have gotten tens of millions of unique views collectively. I'd never attempt to add up every single unique view total for everything he's uploaded so far but let's say, as I already have, the estimated totals are in the ten of millions. Out of the blue Ray, in May of 2013, uploaded a music video of "Guilt For Christmas" onto YouTube. It's one of those kinds of unexplained aspects of his career...unpredictable is the better word. The recording is an update...featuring Ray in his exaggerated Austrian-German accent...delivering the lyrics. The original 1997 recording of the song lacks this. Upon the release of this video clip Ray began uploading practically all of his DVD content onto his YouTube channel as well as a lot of the VHS material that hadn't, to date, been uploaded yet. In addition to the VHS and DVD material making their on-line debut there were the goldmine of vintage clips of Ray in 1970 from his summer television show finally surfacing. The footage on those video clips had not been seen since their original airing on NBC television in the summer of 1970. The clips featured Ray, of course, as well performances from some of his cast-members: Lulu, Mama Cass, and Steve Martin. All of these video clips remain on YouTube for all to see and enjoy.

On September 23, 2013 along came a new music video release in the form of "Nashville". When the music video emerged the song was in it's 40th anniversary...Ray had originally written and recorded the song in 1973...and he had also titled one of his 1973 albums after the song. The music video celebrated the arts and culture of Nashville, TN and includes numerous images of attractions and landmarks in and around the downtown area. The song had long been a favorite of mine so it's anyone's guess as to the reason it was never made into a music video sooner but at long last a video emerged in 2013. Now, given that the original contained dated references, some additional replacement lyrics had to be furnished to keep the song up to date but that's to be expected. I like the footage that shows Ray next to the Chet Atkins statue...but then again I like the entire music video. On the heels of the music video release of "Nashville" come his Bluegrass version of "Unchained Melody"...this video hit YouTube on October 2, 2013. The video was meant to be a hint of an upcoming release and I happen to know the working title of the project as I'm sure a lot of you do, as well, if you've paid attention to Ray's interviews of the last several years. The project has yet to see a release, though. Ray's take on "Unchained Melody" had actually had a try out during one of his guest appearances on the Grand Ole Opry several years earlier...he performed "Unchained Melody" as well as "Pretty Woman"...both in a Bluegrass style. As of this writing only "Unchained Melody" has surfaced in music video format.

Ray continued issuing vintage video clips onto YouTube...including the 1987 television commercial he did for The Best of Ray Stevens. He also uploaded news clips surrounding the so-called controversy with "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" in 1987...including footage of him in the studio recording/rehearsing the song and discussing his reasons for recording it. A regional commercial he did for Toyota in the mid 1980's emerged on YouTube as well. In March of 2014 Ray re-launched Rayality TV as an on-line series. This clip-filled program had recently wrapped up a year long run on digital television in January 2014 and so the series was repackaged, edited, and presented as an on-line series. A lot of the scenes that take place inside a retirement home called The Encore had been filmed in 2009/2010 for a similar series Ray produced called We Ain't Dead Yet!. I didn't make mention of this back in the installments of this mini-blog series where I was focusing on 2009 and 2010 because it was overshadowed by the meteoric rise of the political music videos he was issuing and I wanted to keep the focus explicitly on the YouTube music videos of that time period from Ray.

In the summer of 2014 Ray issued his memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville. He went on a book signing tour throughout the second half of the year and did radio station interviews. In a lot of the media coverage Ray pointed out the reason for the apostrophe after his last name. He wanted to make sure that readers were aware that this book happened to be a memoir...not a soul bearing autobiography...and that it's the view of Music City, U.S.A. as seen through his eyes and through his personal experiences.

The memoir, although not a soul bearing life story, does feature a lot of commentary about the music industry from Ray's perspective and how he points out all of the changes that have taken place since he arrived in Nashville back in January 1961. Ray points out that there have been a lot of changes, both good and bad, over the course of his time in Music City and unlike a lot of his peers/contemporaries he embraces technological advancement and welcomes new sounds and whatever else comes along to keep the music industry fresh and innovative. There are moments in the memoir where he laments some of the policies of the music industry and how personal bias can get in the way of recognizing achievement or ignoring achievement. He discusses this sort of thing in the memoir when he relates how, in 1974, the awards shows failed to recognize the popularity of "The Streak" when it was by far the largest selling single of the year. He embraces the influence of computers and how easier it is to multi-track...but he misses the days of where everyone was in the recording studio during the making of an album...and so he acknowledges a down-side to all of this advanced computer technology, too. Along side the personal commentary there's photos of Ray from all decades sprinkled throughout...a lot of the images are exclusive to the memoir and hadn't been shared on the internet. One of the first major events scheduled for the book arrived at the Nashville Public Library in late June of 2014. Ralph Emery, one of Ray's longtime friends, interviewed Ray at the library in which a book signing by Ray took place following the interview.

In the fall of 2014, specifically August 19th, Ray released a brand new CD titled Gospel Collection on the Bill Gaither record label. The publicity/promotion was handled by the Gaither's while Ray made some appearances on southern Gospel programs. The song being spotlighted from the CD was "If Jesus Is a Stranger" from the pen of Don Cusic. Ray performed this song at almost all of his appearances for the remainder of the year and beyond. As Ray had two projects going at the same time (the memoir and the gospel CD) he added a third release on September 22, 2014 in the form of the politically charged music video, "If You Like Your Plan". This was Ray's first political music video since "Grandpa Voted Democrat" hit YouTube back on November 3, 2012.

The 2014 video dealt with the realization that the publicly promised 'if you like your plan, you can keep it' from Obama had become blatantly false. If you recall the Obamacare legislation from 2009/2010 and passed into law wasn't to start to really take effect until several years later...and the promise made that people would not have to drop their chosen healthcare coverage if they liked it proved false...and one of the main headlines in 2014 were stories of people having to drop the healthcare they've had for years because the private healthcare companies weren't meeting the new Federally mandated rules set up through the IRS. "If You Like Your Plan" is one of the few politically themed music videos from Ray to remain a music video...the audio has not been made available on any CD release. When you watch the music video keep notice of Ray, as a fictional Obama, you'll see Ray's Obama become more and more of a clown as the video makes it's way toward the end. A very funny running gag that one way or another wasn't appreciated or it wasn't caught, in my opinion, by those that viewed the video at the time. The backdrop also changes scenes based on fictional Obama's appearance.

Not too long after the on-line release of "If You Like Your Plan" came another new music video from Ray titled "Nero Fiddled" on October 10, 2014 (nearly five years ago). This particular video is unique in that Ray appears with his back to the camera throughout the video...sawing away on a fiddle in the role of Emperor Nero. The song is also one of his more darker offerings in comparison to his other music videos criticizing Obama's policies. The music video begins with a Viewer Discretion disclaimer and then the song begins...a narrative that takes Obama to task for misplaced priorities, misguided strategies, and a general lack of concern when it comes to the movement of the country's enemies. The "Nero Fiddled" music video coming so soon after the release of "If You Like Your Plan" mirrors the events that took place a year earlier when the music video for "Nashville" hit on September 23, 2013 and then "Unchained Melody" hit on October 2, 2013. When two music videos are released back to back like that it's almost as if Ray was asking viewers to take their pick. "Nero Fiddled", just as "If You Like Your Plan", hasn't made it's way onto CD. The two songs remain music videos on YouTube. Ray's on-line series, Rayality TV, came to a conclusion in October 2014 but this wasn't the end of this particular series.

As the calendar flipped to 2015 one of the first things Ray did in the new year was issue a brand new music video, "Taylor Swift is Stalking Me". The song hit YouTube on February 24th and it's from the point of view of a deranged man in an asylum...something that's visually made reference to in the video but if you're listening to the audio track then it comes off as a novelty song from a man that's slightly senile and thinks the country/pop singer is watching his every move. Taylor appears, if you hadn't seen the video, in photographs and there's video trickery at play in which we see a photo shopped Taylor appearing as if she's looking through binoculars at Ray. She has famous facial expressions...particularly her eyes...and pay attention to who turns out to have been 'watching' Ray the entire time. The song was written by Ray, Buddy Kalb, and Chuck Redden. A couple of weeks after the debut of "Taylor Swift is Stalking Me", which to date has gotten 2.4 million unique views on YouTube, came the release of a brand new album...the comical Here We Go Again!. There were a couple of serious songs on this album but by and large it was filled with comedy. The project was issued on Player Records...rather than the usual Clyde Records...on March 15, 2015. The serious performances include his cover of "What'd I Say" (written and made famous by Ray Charles), "Little By Little", and a very rousing cover of "Hearts Made of Stone", a rhythm and blues song from the mid 1950s.

Don Cusic provided "There Must Be a Pill For This" whereas Ray, Buddy Kalb, and Chuck Redden wrote a second song contained on the album...this song, "You Didn't Build That", became a music video on YouTube on May 19, 2015. This song ventures into politics once again as it's title references an expression Obama coined during one of his many speeches where he was criticizing local businesses and laborers, in general, for taking credit for the work they did but in Obama's mind the real thanks should go to Government because, in his mind, if not for the Federal Government and Local Government, construction workers, for example, wouldn't have received their building permits. If not for Government approval radio and TV stations wouldn't exist due to the presence of the FCC. It's a bizarre point of view and it became the focal point for "You Didn't Build That".

The Nashville Public Library, in late May, presented That Nashville Music...a salute to the Nashville Now television series that Ralph Emery hosted for a decade (1983-1993) on TNN. Ray appeared at this special event along side Con Hunley, Lorrie Morgan, and Barbara Mandrell. Gary Beatty was recruited to reprise his role as announcer and it come off as a typical episode of Nashville Now albeit as a very loose and casual production considering it was taking place inside a library and it wasn't being broadcast all over the country.

Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery: 2015

Now then...by the summer of 2015 Ray was still very active as he promoted his memoir, his new CD, and he even found time to begin planning and pre-production on a very ambitious project...a kind of project that had been tried several times throughout his career and even though the saying goes "third time's the charm" this project was more like the fifth or sixth time's the charm...and I'll pick things up in the late summer/early fall of 2015 in my next installment on the road to the Country Music Hall of Fame in the career of Ray Stevens!!