Ray Stevens: New Year's Eve 2019...

Hello all...a couple of video clips surfaced of Ray Stevens and I've decided to embed them in what more than likely will be my last blog entry of the year. The video clips are of Ray performing some festive songs on his CabaRay Nashville television series...first up we have "Let's Have a Party", a lively performance with members of the audience and the band wearing party hats. The song goes back to the late 1950s as research shown. The hit version was recorded by Wanda Jackson but it had previously been recorded by Elvis and has since been recorded by others. The performance from Ray Stevens displays the kind of music variety that you'll hear at the CabaRay and on his television program. Interesting bit of trivia is the Wanda Jackson recording was produced by Ken Nelson...the guy responsible for getting Ray Stevens on records. Ken signed Ray to Prep Records in 1957, a subsidiary of Capitol Records. Ray's first series of single releases during 1957-1958 were on the Prep and Capitol labels and they were all produced by Ken Nelson...but here is Ray Stevens reaching into his Rhythm and Blues vein...



In this second video clip you'll see Ray perform a song that's long become a standard called "What Are You Doing New Years Eve?"...from the pen of Frank Loesser. I did some research and found out it was first recorded in 1947 as a non-charted song for Margaret Whiting..it's first chart appearance arrived two years later, 1949, for the rhythm and blues group The Orioles. Their recording hit the Top-10 on the Rhythm and Blues chart. Nancy Wilson recorded a version and that rendition hit the Top-10 in 1965 and 1967 on Billboard's Christmas singles chart. It's been recorded by numerous artists over the decades. By pure coincidence 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the song's debut on a weekly music chart and here's Ray Stevens performing it...

Ray Stevens: Overseas LP...

It's me once more...earlier I posted my sometimes annual blog entry looking back at the current year and speculating on the upcoming new year in the career of Ray Stevens. In this blog entry the heading surrounds a vinyl album I came across on eBay about an hour ago while doing a product search. The art/design and lettering is definitely an eye catch and the photo of Ray that's used is the one that appears on his 1973 album, Nashville. I'm not posting an image of that album because it's covered with watermarks but I'll provide a LINK to the product. The seller is overseas and the bulk of the information is written in their language for those of you that may wish to bid or purchase the vinyl album. It's a Greatest Hits release in which the seller states was released in 1971 but, of course, that's not accurate considering the album cover features titles of some of the songs...among those listed on the front side of the album is "The Streak"...a massive hit for Ray in 1974. "Misty" isn't listed on front and so I'm guessing that vinyl album was issued at some point late in 1974 or early in 1975 prior to the release of "Misty".

I say this because if the album came along midway through 1975 or by the end of that year "Misty" and "Indian Love Call" would be on that Greatest Hits album, too. Those two songs have appeared on countless compilation albums on Ray Stevens over the decades and considering that neither song title appear in spotlight fashion on the front side of the vinyl album I provided a link to indicates, to me at least, the album hit at some point early in 1975 or in the latter half of 1974. I wish I could find an image of that vinyl album without the watermarks. I may do an internet search for that vinyl album and see if I come across any images without the watermarks. If I come across such an image I'll post it in a future blog entry.

I wasn't keeping track but today is the day, back in 1987, that Ray Stevens performed at the halftime show during the Liberty Bowl. The game pitted the Georgia Bulldogs against the Arkansas Razorbacks. I came across a video clip posted within the last hour featuring a portion of Ray's halftime performance. The clip is a little more than five minutes. The halftime show, of course, was originally much longer but this edited clip captures the footage of Ray on camera. The performance took place on December 29, 1987 and the complete halftime show was posted on YouTube by Ray back in August of 2014 but this new upload from this morning edits out the performances from the other acts. If you know your Ray Stevens history you'll immediately connect 1987 with televangelist scandals and Ray's hit, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?".

As you'll see in the screen capture located in the video embed below he's wearing a luxurious fur coat...this is the only time I'd ever seen him perform in this coat. The theme of that year's halftime show was We The People...celebrating the 200th year of the Constitution's creation (September 17, 1787). The Constitution became legally effective on March 4, 1789. If you search on-line auction sites for any souvenir programs of that Liberty Bowl you'll see that the cover features the authors/framers of the Constitution. Here is the video clip of Ray's appearance at the 1987 Liberty Bowl halftime show...

Ray Stevens and the Upcoming New Year...2020

Hello one and all...yes, we're getting ever so close to the closing of 2019 and the entrance of 2020. Now, of course, this not only closes a year but this time around the upcoming New Year also brings to an end another decade of Ray Stevens music and fun...count 'em...10 years (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019). The year, 2019, in the career of Ray Stevens will go down in history as the year he finally made it to the Country Music Hall of Fame. This dominated, pretty much, most of Ray's year. He put on concerts, of course, at the CabaRay but nearly all of his activity away from the showroom was centered around interviews and social functions relating to the Country Music Hall of Fame. In fact, his induction into the Hall of Fame caused his annual charity golf game to get a change of schedule due to the conflict of the Hall of Fame's Medallion Ceremony taking place the same night an event was to take place involving the golf tournament. I'm sure the golf event was a success, as in year's past, but it was definitely overshadowed by the massive publicity surrounding the Country Music Hall of Fame ceremony. It's long been my opinion that had Ray not received election to the Country Music Hall of Fame this year he would've most certainly have also released new music this calendar year...some may wonder why he didn't release new music with all of the publicity his Hall of Fame election brought him this year...but all we can do is guess why new music never arrived in 2019. As mentioned he remained busy/active at his CabaRay showroom...seen below...

The CabaRay is wrapping up it's second season of business. I don't know when the showroom will open for the 2020 season...I hadn't looked ahead to see if the website has concert dates filled out for the next year or not. This year the showroom opened the 2019 season in March. This also means this is Ray's second annual New Year's Eve party at the CabaRay...more on that below...

Ray has an upcoming New Year's Eve concert scheduled at his CabaRay showroom. I'd encourage all of you that are able to attend to call the CabaRay or visit it's website...at this point it would more than likely be wise to order tickets and use their Will Call service (in-person ticket pick-up). Those of you that are locals and live in the vicinity of the CabaRay should also visit the showroom for New Year's Eve...there's a piano bar inside the showroom and so it isn't as if you'll feel 'cheated' from any kind of alcohol consumption when attending a New Year's Eve concert at the CabaRay.



You can visit the New Year's Eve CabaRay concert page by clicking HERE. Now, something to keep in mind, the concert is centered around a New Year's Eve gala...with the main emphasis on dancing. This means that a lot of the tables that are generally placed up near the stage area are going to be rearranged/pushed out further in order to create a dance area in front of the stage for those that choose to participate in the dancing aspect. When you click the link it'll show a diagram of how the seating arrangement will look on New Year's Eve. Since it is a New Year's Eve show it'll run much longer. The piano bar opens at 5pm, the Dinner is served starting at 6pm, and the show begins at 8pm. The show will run past Midnight (obviously). Now, due to this being a special New Year's Eve show, there is no balcony seating.

When you click the link make sure you also click the headline that reads: Ray Stevens New Years Eve Show. Once you click that a pop-up window will appear breaking down the schedule as to what will be taking place that evening at the CabaRay. Ray will still perform his 90 minute concert but on that night it'll be broken in two acts: 8-8:30pm followed by a 15 minute intermission and then a full hour, 8:45-9:45pm. After another intermission a guest performer will begin his part of the show at 10:15pm and this will last until near Midnight...followed by a traditional 'countdown' to the New Year. Afterward the piano bar will re-open and the guests can continue their celebrations for several hours after Midnight. Another thing to keep in mind...the times I'm giving you are Central...Nashville is in the Central time zone. If you live in the Eastern time zone plan accordingly.

So, then, in a couple of days another decade of Ray Stevens music will be in the history books. Ray is also a January baby...he has a birthday coming up on January 24, 2020. Will new music be on the not too distant horizon as the calendar flips to 2020? I'm incredibly anxious to hear all of this music that Ray, for several years, has said in interviews that he's been piling up but hasn't decided on when to release it. In one interview he mentioned that he actually has 4 album's worth of new music recorded...if that doesn't salivate your tongues or at least wet your appetite then you aren't a fan of Country Music Hall of Fame member, Ray Stevens...

Ray Stevens and his Christmas music...

Yes, it's me once again!! I posted an earlier Christmas day blog entry filled with several YouTube clips from Ray Stevens and here I am creating a new blog entry to spotlight the audio of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", a Christmas standard that Ray Stevens recorded in 2009. The song is part of his second Christmas album, Ray Stevens Christmas. I've heard a lot of versions of that song but I'd never heard it performed in the manner in which Ray Stevens delivered it...with a generous helping of echo and vocal over-dubs in addition to the prominent presence of the saxophone. The 2009 Christmas CD was no laughing matter...a completely serious album from beginning to end. The music tilted toward jazz/big-band. You can purchase the Mp3 by clicking this LINK. It's a wonderful collection of Christmas songs done in Ray's own style.

The album was not heavily promoted during Christmas 2009 due to other recordings from Ray over-shadowing it. Check the blog archives in November/December 2009 and the entirety of 2010 for what was going on in his career. The album wasn't promoted in 2011, either...but eventually Ray made a music video in 2012 for a song from this album, his Drifters-inspired version of "White Christmas". This was the year he also released music videos for "Redneck Christmas", "Merry Christmas", and his take on the stuttering version of "Blue Christmas"...a novelty single that had been an annual staple on AM and FM radio stations for a number of years at Christmas time. The stuttering rendition had originally been recorded by a fictional group billed as Seymour Swine and the Squealers. Ray had recorded a serious version of "Blue Christmas" for the 2009 CD...but when he decided to record his version of Seymour Swine's rendition in 2012 Ray issued it as a CD single accompanied with the serious rendition...as well as it's debut as a music video on YouTube.

The latest upload...the audio clip of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"...



This audio was uploaded back on December 18th and it's for his clever "Greatest Little Christmas Ever Wuz". A little bit of history surrounding this song is that Ray had originally written and recorded it for a various artists compilation album MCA released in 1985 called Tennessee Christmas. Ray re-recorded the song in 1997 for his first Christmas album, Christmas Through a Different Window. The 1985 recording of the song occasionally popped up on AM radio stations during Christmas season when I was a kid and teenager but I'd never owned a copy of it. I'd always remembered bits and pieces of it, though. Anyway, once it became available on his 1997 Christmas album I felt a sense of euphoria...at long last I had that song in my possession!! It's a very clever song...blending catchphrases and traditions of every major holiday and rolling them up into one. If you don't find yourself grinning or feeling happy when listening to this song then you've got ice in your veins and perhaps resemble the Grinch or Ebeneezer Scrooge when looking in the mirror.

Ray Stevens: Christmas 2019...

Hello one and all and Merry Christmas!! Ray Stevens wrote this song and taped a video for it in 2012 and it immediately struck a chord with the on-line community...the song, "Merry Christmas". It debuted as a music video and wasn't found on any CD until several years later in 2016 when Ray issued his third Christmas album, Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me. It's a powerful song in a lot of ways...some may find it too strong for the overall season...but it's a song that cuts through a lot of the glib chatter that comes with festive holidays and addresses the decades long verbal assault from varying sectors of society when it comes to using the phrase 'merry Christmas' rather than 'Happy Holidays' or 'Seasons Greetings'.



Now, staying with this same 2016 album, we have an audio upload from Ray of his sensational version of "All I Want For Christmas Is You", previously a massive hit for one of it's writers, Mariah Carey. When Ray's 2016 Christmas CD was released and I heard his version of that song I instantly made it among my all-time favorite Ray Stevens recordings of any season. Ray uploaded this audio clip a couple days ago back on December 23rd.



Wasn't that fabulous?? An upload arrived yesterday in the form of a performance by Ray Stevens on his CabaRay Nashville television series. It comes from one his Christmas episodes (he taped two separate Christmas episodes) and he's singing the title track of his third Christmas album in this video clip...here's Ray singing "Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me"...



As many of you should know there is an official music video of that song, too. In it Ray shares the spotlight with a group of puppets and stuffed animals. It's a cute music video that I've shared in previous Christmas themed blog entries I've written but this is the first time his performance of the song from his television series has become available on-line. If I were to rate the official video and the CabaRay Nashville performance as to which one I preferred I'd rate the television performance first and the official music video second...even though I love both. The television performance doesn't include the donkey braying heard in the studio recording nor does it contain the harmony vocals and over-dubs from Ray. The trio of back-up singers on Ray's television show handle most of the vocals that, in the studio recording, were performed by Ray.

Ray Stevens sings his Christmas Classic...

Hello one and all...in this particular blog entry I'm embedding a recent video upload from Ray Stevens. This time around it's a video of him singing his Christmas classic, "Santa Claus is Watching You". This song, as long time Ray Stevens fans should already know, originated in 1962 and was issued as a single on Mercury Records. In that recording Ray sings about how children across the world better behave and do well in school because Santa's watching...he knows who's naughty and nice. The 1962 recording hit the Hot 100 that Christmas season. Ray wrote the song and in it's original lyrics he came up with the catchphrase "he's everywhere, he's everywhere!" and the inclusion of additional reindeer during the roll call. Aside from those two instances the rest of the song is aimed pretty much at children. Yes, as I've mentioned before, I like the 1962 recording but then Ray, several decades later, reworked the song into a tale of a relationship between two people in which the man warns his wife not to cheat on him because Santa's watching. This rendition hit in 1985...and in a pretty big way, too. It was featured on his MCA album that year, I Have Returned, and not only that it holds the distinction of being his very first music video. The 1985 version retained the "he's everywhere, he's everywhere!" catchphrase but hilariously added even more reindeer to the roll call. In the 1962 recording Rudolph was missing due to a dislocated hip he suffered in a Twist contest...in the 1985 version the missing Rudolph is said to be staking out a house at the order of Santa who's revealed to be working for the C.I.A. and attempting to catch adultery being committed. 

The single release featured a picture sleeve of Ray, as Santa, peaking out from behind a Christmas tree next to a chimney. The 1962 recording also came with a picture sleeve in which Ray is shown with his hand above his eyes as if he's looking into the distance at Santa. An illustration of Santa appears on the picture sleeve, too. Ray re-recorded the song in 1997 for his first ever Christmas album, Christmas Through a Different Window. It was a re-recording of the 1985 version...the rendition containing the most familiar set of lyrics. In the more familiar recording of the song there's a segment that features an extensive display of scat singing. You'll see this in the video clip below. Now, whenever the 1962 recording is made mention of on social media sites, a lot of people have a stunning reaction which, after all, is rather normal given how obscure the 1962 recording had become and how massively popular the 1985 reworked version became. I, too, immediately think of the 1985 version of the song whenever I think of "Santa Claus is Watching You" even though I know the 1962 recording with different lyrics exists. Ray, as far as I know, has never performed the lyrics contained in the 1962 recording on any television show. A performance from Ray on a Christmas episode of his television series, CabaRay Nashville, was uploaded onto YouTube yesterday. This joins another performance of the song that Ray uploaded several days prior from 30 years ago in 1989...but below is a performance of the song by Ray in 2017...to date his most recent video upload...

Ray Stevens: Vintage Christmas Commercial...

It's nearing Christmas time...oh yes...hard to believe it'll be here in just five days from now! I guess the main reason why it seems as if it's sneaked up on so many is perhaps due to the unseasonable weather in most of the country. We've had our share of bitterly cold days but the lack of snow...and the fact that for the next several days it'll be in the upper 40s and low 50s...now, I'm not one to wish upon having snow and all of that simply because I'll have to drive in it to and from work...but getting to the reason for this blog entry in particular...

An upload in the form of a vintage Christmas commercial from Ray Stevens has emerged. The product advertised is Flav-O-Rich and in the commercial he's playing the role of Santa Claus.



Don't you just love those Flav-O-Rich commercials that Ray starred in?? If you're a frequent reader of this blog you'll know that I had no idea that Ray did commercials for that company until I stumbled across an advertisement in a vintage newspaper dated 1981 several years ago. I had been looking up vintage newspapers on-line and I was skimming through one and came across a photo of Ray pointing to a carton of milk. The photo included a quoted testimonial from Ray along with the catchphrase heard in the closing of the television commercials "freshness from our family to yours". However, at the time, I didn't know that Ray had been a spokesman for the company for a number of years and had recorded dozens of television commercials for them. Anyway...it wasn't too long ago that Ray's social media sites began uploading the regional commercials he did for the Flav-O-Rich company. I don't know when his involvement with the company began nor do I know when it ended. I know he was doing commercials for the company when it was called Farm Best and the relationship continued through the name change to Flav-O-Rich and through the very limited information available on-line it looks as if the relationship lasted at least a decade. If I had to put a time-line on it I'd say anywhere between the years 1976 through 1986...and that's an estimated guess.

Along the Christmas vein we also have a very lively performance of "Redneck Christmas" from Ray Stevens on an episode of CabaRay Nashville. There's a very popular music video of the song which has gotten millions of unique views since it's debut on YouTube in 2012 but this is a performance of the song from his television series and it's gotten over six thousand unique views in three days time...

Ray Stevens: One on One Interview...

Hello all...and yes, if you read my previous fan created blog entry, I mentioned that it would probably be the last one to appear until I compose a blog entry re-capping 2019 in the career of Ray Stevens but I looked on the lower right hand side of my computer and seen that today's date is December 15th and I wouldn't...more precisely I couldn't...dare to bring myself to not write any blog entries until after Christmas. I did mention that I'd probably write a blog entry if breaking news happens or if Ray uploads an audio track of one of his Christmas songs. In addition to not wanting to create a long drought of no new blog entries I decided to create a blog entry that specifically gave his television interview on WCTE proper attention. I provided links and discussed facts surrounding the interview but it's among a lot of Christmas themed writings in my previous blog post and so the link to the WCTE television series could easily get overlooked. A promo article published on December 5th by the Upper Cumberland Business Journal centering around Ray's December 12th WCTE appearance can be found HERE. I post that link because it's sort of like an appetizer for the main dish of Ray Stevens. Located below is a screen cap of Ray seated in the balcony area of his CabaRay showroom. The interview on WCTE, as you can tell, takes place inside the showroom.

2019

The interview is featured on a television series called One on One, hosted by Becky Magura. It's a local television program and given that I live several states away from Tennessee I don't receive this channel in my area and didn't know of the program's existence given it airing locally. However, the PBS station that carries the interview show, WCTE, is the presenting station for the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville television program and so I knew of that PBS network because the PBS station in my area that carries Ray's show, WCVN, displays an on-screen distribution credit for WCTE prior to the start of each episode. I came across another website which features the Ray Stevens episode of One on One and you can watch the video by clicking HERE. The video itself is rather large...I prefer videos to be a bit more smaller. I clicked the settings for the video while at the website but the video box didn't change it's size but nevertheless it's the full episode and I'm assuming it'll remain on-line. I don't think it's one of those limited availability postings which vanish without warning and so if you come across this blog entry days or weeks from now the link should still take you to the Ray Stevens interview.

Those of you that live in the WCTE area this One on One episode will repeat at 6:30pm today (December 15th) also, for those that get WCTE in your area, the episode of CabaRay Nashville airing today at 3pm will guest star Williams and Ree.

As a reminder, and it's totally your decision, think about making a donation to the PBS stations that air Ray's television program. If your local PBS station carries his television program, regardless of the time of day it airs, as a thank you give a donation to them. On all local PBS websites there's a make a donation link...you don't actually have to wait until a 'pledge break' to make a donation.

Ray Stevens and Christmas Season 2019...

Hello one and all...we're in the middle of Christmas season...well, as I see it...we're here on December 14th and there's just 11 days left until Christmas and so it's fast approaching. In my previous blog entry I made mention of Ray's Christmas CDs and one of his recent YouTube uploads, "Xerox Xmas Letter", and he's since provided audio clips for his versions of "Frosty the Snowman" and "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth". Each of those songs were featured on two of the three Christmas CDs he's released: Christmas Through a Different Window (1997) and Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me (2016). A third Christmas CD, Ray Stevens Christmas (2009), features 10 recordings and one of them, "White Christmas", was made into a music video in 2012. He recorded a comical rendition of "Blue Christmas" in 2012 and made a music video out of it but previously he had recorded a non-comedic rendition of the song for his 2009 CD, too.

I placed two asterisks next to the songs that have become traditional music videos on YouTube; by that I'm referring to the songs were made into music videos rather than those that have been uploaded as audio tracks only. "Santa Claus is Watching You", featured on the 1997 CD, is a re-recording but yet a music video exists of the 1985 recording of the song. "Nightmare Before Christmas" became a music video in 2010. "Redneck Christmas" became a music video in 2012 followed the next year by "Guilt For Christmas".

Christmas Through a Different Window:
1. Guilt For Christmas**
2. I Won't Be Home For Christmas
3. Greatest Little Christmas Ever Wuz
4. Home for the Holidays
5. Redneck Christmas**
6. Xerox Xmas Letter
7. Nightmare Before Christmas**
8. The Annual Office Christmas Party
9. The Little Drummer Boy-Next Door
10. Bad Little Boy
11. Santa Claus is Watching You**

Ray Stevens Christmas:
1. Let it Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
2. White Christmas**
3. Winter Wonderland
4. Silent Night
5. The Christmas Song
6. Blue Christmas
7. I'll Be Home For Christmas
8. Deck the Halls with Teardrops
9. Jingle Bells
10. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me:
1. Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me**
2. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
3. Frosty the Snowman
4. All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
5. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer
6. Claws (A Cat's Letter To Santa)
7. All I Want For Christmas is You
8. Merry Christmas**
9. Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day
10. Christmas Bells in the Steeple

Did you notice that for the 2009 and 2016 CDs Ray took on two different approaches to Christmas music? Now, of course, the 1997 CD is completely comedic but in 2009 he filled the CD, mostly, with traditional, iconic Christmas standards. The Ray Stevens penned, "Deck the Halls with Teardrops", is the lone original on the CD; then, for the 2016 CD, Ray gave us his renditions of several more iconic Christmas songs but by and large it has a completely different feel to it even though, like 2009's CD, the one released in 2016 is completely serious too. I think a lot of that has to do with the presence of several contemporary songs such as the title track as well as "Merry Christmas", Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You", "Claws (A Cat's Letter to Santa)", and his version of a song he wrote, which had been a hit for pop music legend, Perry Como, "Christmas Bells in the Steeple". The presence of those songs gives the 2016 Christmas CD a more contemporary flavor even though, as you can see, there's plenty of Christmas favorites as well. In 2016 Ray uploaded a brief clip where he talks of the song he wrote for Perry Como...



I hope some of you reading this blog entry had a chance to attend the Christmas concerts at the Ray Stevens CabaRay showroom this year. The Christmas concerts began on November 1st and they wrap up on the 28th. According to his calendar there isn't going to be any concerts scheduled next weekend (December 20th and 21st) but he'll resume the following weekend (December 27th and 28th) and then wrap up the season on December 31st during his second annual New Year's Eve show. You can purchase tickets and read about the final concerts of the year by clicking HERE.

Shifting gears a little...several days ago an interview of Ray Stevens appeared on-line. The clip is from PBS television station, WCTE, the flagship distributor of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville to local PBS stations across the country. I believe this to be his third presenting station during the course of the last several years. OETA and WKNO preceded WCTE. A television series that airs on WCTE, One on One, is hosted by Becky Magura. She interviewed Ray for her television show and the interview appeared on-line a couple of days ago. There isn't any link provided for the actual interview but there's, of course, a link to the show's main page. Once there you'll have to search for Ray's interview. It's a commercial free interview and it's nearly half an hour long. Ray speaks about his career and several of his recordings as well as the CabaRay. He mentions that he's several weeks away from putting the finishing touches on a recording system where he'll be able to tape more television shows from the CabaRay in-house without having to park one of those large trucks outside and string cables all over the place. I took it as a hint that brand new episodes of his television show will soon be in production and if I'm correct that's welcome news to hear! Here's the LINK to the One on One television show.

Now, then, a completely out of left field announcement arrived back on December 12th regarding "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", a classic in the recording career of Ray Stevens, released in 1984. Buddy Kalb, one of the writers of the song, created a full scale musical built around the concept of the song and it'll be performed at Chaffin's Barn Theatre, a venue in Nashville, Tennessee, next summer. As of this writing it'll be hitting the stage beginning May 14, 2020. You can purchase tickets when you click HERE. The production is being billed as a Ray Stevens musical and I'm sure this was done simply for name recognition/publicity purposes...as of now I don't know how involved Ray happens to be in this musical...but because it involves one of Ray's inner circle (Buddy Kalb) and the fact that it deals with a song Ray recorded I feel you should go see the musical when it opens next May. You can also click HERE to see the main page for the musical. The more we get to May 2020 the more I'll blog about the musical. This has certainly been a jam packed blog entry!! In my next blog entry, more than likely, I'll be wrapping up the calendar year unless there's more video uploads or tidbits of information that trickle out into the on-line forum.

Ray Stevens: Spotify Statistics 2019

Hello one and all...yes it's still very early in December and I've not even begun to think of what my last blog entry of the year will feature or what day it'll happen but yet that's the beauty of having a fan created blog...you don't write on demand or on a set schedule...at least I don't. I write blog entries whenever the mood strikes...and yes some of those blog entries I've written when the mood strikes come across as if they were hastily slapped together, perhaps? The blog entry I wrote earlier this morning comes across like that...but then again the main focus was to spotlight the latest social media posts which included several video clips. One thing I know for certain about the final blog entry of 2019 is that it'll be centered around the closing of 2019 and of course I'll feature a heavy dose of promoting the New Year's Eve concert/party at the Ray Stevens CabaRay showroom. I'll more than likely begin posting about the December 31st concert several days in advance...but getting to the topic of this blog entry...

On December 6th the year-end statistics for the music site, Spotify, appeared on the Ray Stevens Facebook page. I should clarify by stating the year-end statistics pertaining to Ray Stevens music on the streaming site. Now, given that the statistics have been posted on a public forum like Facebook and on other social media site, I won't hesitate to share the statistics here, too. As far as streaming goes, for the year 2019, Ray's total at the cut-off date was reported to be 3.3 million Streams. The statistic for number of Hours spent listening to Ray Stevens music was 178.1K. The Listeners statistic happened to be 709.7K and 79 Countries were reported to have listened to something from Ray Stevens during the 2019 calendar year. I know a lot of people are into statistics and all things on-line and Spotify isn't a new site but for many, many, MANY years I paid it little attention because I thought it was one of those free music sites where the recording artists/writers/record labels/publishers, etc. etc. didn't receive any sort of compensation but to show that I've still got a whole lot more to learn about internet music I discovered that Spotify greatly promotes the music, which in turns creates publicity for the artist, much in the same manner YouTube does.

Now, having said that, there may be some out there that do not know what 'stream' means. I don't know the origins of that word, as it pertains to digital music, but it's more or less another way of saying 'airplay' or 'plays'. The number of plays, or streams, that a song receives the better...and on the Spotify site you have unlimited access to whatever songs have been loaded. Ray became more visible on social media earlier in the decade. He launched his YouTube channel in 2009 but he'd had his own website for more than a decade prior to that. His music can be found on practically all the major digital music outlets...whether it's a site where you purchase the music or whether it's available for free. His on-line activities continue even as I type. An audio of "Xerox Christmas Letter", a Christmas novelty song from his 1997 Christmas Through a Different Window album, was uploaded onto his social media sites within the last hour.



As mentioned in some previous blog entries Ray Stevens has three Christmas albums available at his on-line store and you can visit the CD area of his store by clicking HERE...and if you're in the Christmas mood look for the following releases once you arrive:

1997- Ray Stevens Christmas: Through a Different Window
2009- Ray Stevens Christmas
2016- Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me

Ray Stevens: His latest social media contributions...

In the world of social media Ray Stevens has recently been a bit more active. There is almost always a new post on his Facebook page everyday or every other day but here recently there have been a couple of video clips that have been added to the social media contributions. On December 3rd Ray and Ralph Emery attended a 2 hour event in Dickson, Tennessee at Clement County's railroad museum. WSMV, a local television station in Nashville, aired brief footage of the two at the museum but unfortunately there wasn't any audio clips of either Ray Stevens or Ralph Emery but they appear several times in the camera footage. The anchor of the news not only referred to both of them as musicians but also said the two were "from Tennessee's past" but in reality only Ray is a musician...Ralph happened to be a radio broadcaster and television host...but I'd like to clarify that Ray is very active and performs concerts at his CabaRay showroom in West Nashville...and he's very modern and contemporary with his music productions. So, in my opinion, Ray is very much a part of Tennessee's present. Here is the video clip...



A couple of photos emerged on-line of Ray Stevens attending a cake cutting party backstage at the Grand Ole Opry celebrating the 5th anniversary membership of the group, Little Big Town. I'm not posting the photos but you can find the photos by searching Ray Stevens + Little Big Town + Instagram. Ray made a guest appearance at the Opry during the same night that the group was also appearing.

A new upload of a vintage television commercial for Flav-O-Rich that Ray Stevens did in the late 1970s appeared on-line several days ago. I don't know the year of this commercial but someone that replied to the video on YouTube guessed it had to have been taped at some point in 1977. I'd have to look up the specifics of when the Flav-O-Rich name came into existence. The company used to go by the name of Farm Best but the name was changed to Flav-O-Rich at some point in the late 1970s. Anyway, in this commercial Ray, clean-shaven, is shown exiting through a front door and onto a porch and then down to the yard where a dairy case filled with Flav-O-Rich products are on display. It's Christmas themed.



Speaking of Christmas...a video clip from 1989 surfaced on YouTube of Ray Stevens performing "Santa Claus is Watching You" and aided by a simian puppet. The performance comes from an episode of Nashville Now and at various moments within the performance it looks as if the simian comes alive and tugging at Ray's neck ferociously...it's a cute performance...



Staying in the Christmas vein...it's Christmas at the Ray Stevens CabaRay showroom all this month. A video clip promoting this came along on YouTube not too long ago. The number to call for tickets, of course, can be seen in the video clip as well as the website if you prefer to purchase tickets on the internet...

Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery...a Follow-up...

Oh wow how time flies!! I wrote a blog entry back on November 4th focusing on an event that's quickly approaching and it's going to take place tomorrow. Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery are going to be attending an event together in Dickson, Tennessee at the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum. It's a limited capacity event and it's free to the public...so if you want something to do December 3rd at 5pm Central the two legends will be taking photographs, signing autographs, and no doubt be speaking of their careers during a 2 hour window tomorrow evening. I've often said many, many times that if you're a fan of Ray Stevens then it's more or less automatic that you also appreciate the career of Ralph Emery...especially the support he's shown to Ray for decades. Although the advertisement below gives the information necessary here's a LINK to the website just in case you want more detailed information such as phone numbers, actual street address, etc.

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I think that Ray appeared as a guest, at least once, on every type of radio and television series that Ralph hosted. You can hear Ralph, for example, introduce Ray to a crowd of spectators in one of the various recordings of "Ahab the Arab". If you're curious it's the one found on the 1970 Mercury release, The Best of Ray Stevens. The liner notes for the album do not specify when the recording took place but I've long since declared that it had to have been recorded on a television series Ralph hosted at some point in the mid '60s and what we're hearing is an audio track of the television performance. The photo below, of course, is from October 20th during the Medallion Ceremony. Ralph formally inducted Ray into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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Ray Stevens: Cyber-Monday Sale...

It's early Monday morning...those of you that are fans of Ray Stevens, as I am, are aware that he's having a discount sale at his on-line store. The sale is half over, though. There was a Black Friday sale and today it's a Cyber Monday sale. The advertisement for the sale is posted on his social media sites and I've decided to place the advertisement here as well...

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Keep in mind the above image is just an image...it isn't a link to his on-line store. You can visit his on-line store and take part in the Cyber Monday forty percent off sale by clicking HERE. One of the items you should look at, if you don't already have it in your personal collection of Ray Stevens items, is the combo pack of the First and Second season of his CabaRay Nashville television series. The price of the item regularly sells for $34.99 and with the forty percent discount it'll cost $20.99 and that's a huge discount on 26 half hour television programs. There's 13 episodes per Season. The T-shirts regularly sell for $20.00 and with the discount they'll cost $12.00. These discounted prices aren't factoring in the shipping/handling charge. I'm basing 'my' math skills, by the way, on a website that does percentages/discounts and so I'm pretty sure the discount prices I'm mentioning are accurate. The 9-CD box set is something every Ray Stevens fan should have and it sells for $40.00 but with the discount it'll be $24.00 plus shipping/handling and that is a deal nobody should pass up if you don't own this massive collection.

Given that this is the Christmas season there's the three Christmas albums that Ray's recorded and they're available for purchase at Ray's on-line store. The 1997 release, Christmas Through a Different Window, was Ray's first ever Christmas album and it sells for $9.95 whereas the 2009 release, Ray Stevens Christmas, sells for $10.95, and then there's the more recent Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me from 2016 and that one sells for $9.99. All of these are forty percent off today. I'm guessing the reason the 2009 release has a higher selling price is due to the music being completely serious!? The 1997 release is all comedy while the 2016 release mixes both comical and serious Christmas recordings in one collection.

In the collage below, which I've posted before, I have the three Ray Stevens Christmas CDs displayed in chronological order (1997, 2009, 2016) and a photo of Ray from inside his CabaRay showroom in West Nashville. The second Christmas album from 2009 wasn't promoted nearly as much as the 1997 and 2016 CDs happened to be. However, the 2009 release had it's share of publicity when his rendition of "White Christmas" hit YouTube as a music video in 2013. Ray recorded a serious version of "Blue Christmas" for that 2009 CD but then, without warning, issued his version of a comical rendition of the song originally made famous by a fictional band called Seymour Swine and the Squealers. Ray would make a music video of the comical version of "Blue Christmas" and issue it as a CD single, too. The 2009 CD featured a Ray Stevens original titled "Deck the Halls with Teardrops".

Here's a link to the Ray Stevens on-line store once again...click HERE and shop for whatever interests you in the career of Ray Stevens...40 percent discount on all items today only...it's Cyber Monday after all.

Ray Stevens CabaRay: December Concerts...

Hello once again!! We made it beyond Thanksgiving and we're in the early stages of the Christmas season as well as entering a new month. It's December and I'm going to take a look at the Ray Stevens concerts scheduled at the CabaRay this month. The Christmas series of concerts have been underway since early November but now that we're in the month of December it takes a turn toward a more detailed sampling of the season...at least for me it does.

This month at the CabaRay you'll be able to catch a Christmas themed Ray Stevens concert on December 5th, 6th, 7th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 27th, and 28th. The calendar for the month of December doesn't show any concerts scheduled on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday prior to Christmas (December 19th, 20th, and 21st). I don't know if Ray is considering December 15th through the 26th as his Christmas break but he returns on December 27th and 28th to officially wrap up the Christmas season. On December 31st, just like last year, the CabaRay will host a New Year's Eve celebration and ring in the New Year.

You can read all about the Christmas concerts and the ticket information HERE. In the meantime did you see the video clip of Ray Stevens performing "Cadillac Style"? It's from one of his episodes of CabaRay Nashville. The series is still missing from the RFD-TV airwaves and here locally it's on a 2 week hiatus as the local PBS stations are on their pledge breaks. Last night and this coming Saturday it'll not air but it will return to the local PBS station the following Saturday. So I've been on a Ray Stevens television withdraw...fortunately there's the internet and we can see his music videos and the video clips he's uploaded from his television series! "Cadillac Style" is a song that was a hit for Sammy Kershaw but it was published by Ray's company. It was the first of two Sammy Kershaw hits that Ray Stevens would publish. The second arrived a couple of years later, "I Can't Reach Her Anymore"...but here is Ray Stevens performing "Cadillac Style" in his own style...