Ray Stevens: 45 at 55...

Hello all Ray Stevens fans!! As the title of this blog entry shows I'm going to spotlight a recording by Ray Stevens from 1965/1966. Technically the single was released commercially in the spring of 1966 and so it's 54 as of this writing but there's a single release of "Make a Few Memories" in the United Kingdom, on the London American Recordings label, that shows 1965 as the year it was issued...even though I'm pretty sure the year credited on the UK single release is meant as a reference to the label design/color scheme of the actual paper sleeve on the vinyl rather than the actual year of commercial release. The song and it's B-side, "Devil May Care", were uploaded onto YouTube today. I've shared these songs on here in blog's past but they're within the archives here. In previous blog entries I shared the imagery associated with their U.S. release on Monument Records but this time around the video clip uses the United Kingdom single release.



The A-side and B-side come from the pen of Joe South. If you know your Ray Stevens history you'll know that Ray was associated with a lot of recording artists within the Bill Lowery umbrella. Ray played on recording sessions, arranged the music heard on those records, and sometimes wrote songs for a number of those recording acts. Joe South was one of those recording artists...as was Billy Joe Royal, Jerry Reed, and Tommy Roe. If you look at the single release you'll see Lowery Music credited as song publisher. I'm somewhat curious as to the upside down number printed above the single's catalog number. When you look at the single the catalog number is HLU-10027 but directly above this, upside down, is: MSCM 7478. I didn't ask about that over on the YouTube page. I may ask about it if I don't find out on my own why it's written upside down.

The B-side I've embedded below...

Ray Stevens: 30 Years and Lend Me Your Ears...

Ray Stevens; 1990

Hello all...no doubt when you're browsing the internet and looking for Ray Stevens images you've come across the album cover of this 1990 release, Lend Me Your Ears. It's a comedy album from Ray Stevens, as if you couldn't tell from the photo, and it turns 30 this year. The photo session took place in Nashville's Centennial Park where there's something of a tourist attraction located there...a large replica of the Parthenon. Ray in Shakespeare attire is seen in front of the Parthenon replica and firmly taking hold of a rabbit. The album's title has various meanings. The most obvious is the request for music consumers to take a listen to the album but another reason for the album's title is tied into the photo and it's recreation of Marc Antony from the Shakespeare play, Julius Caesar. It is in that play where the phrase "...lend me your ears..." comes from. There's probably some people out there that looked at the album's title and seen the photo and thought that Ray was being literal and asking the rabbit to lend him his ears...completely missing the point of the album's photo design and title...but yet that's another interpretation one could take away when looking at the art work and album title. This comedy album was not only his first in a brand new decade (the '90s) but it was his first studio album for Curb Records who, at the time of this album's summer 1990 release, were in a distribution partnership with Capitol Records. This is why this particular studio album from Ray is credited to Curb/Capitol Records. Ironically another 1990 release was credited solely to Curb Records, the Gold selling His All Time Greatest Comic Hits. The new decade and his move to Curb Records after a 5-year stay at MCA (1984-1989) also ushered in new directions for Ray that were bubbling under the surface.

As promotion for Lend Me Your Ears there were two music videos taped. "Sittin' Up With the Dead" is the lead off song from the album and it became a music video. The album's third track was Ray's comical rendition of "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and it was performed very much in the vein of one of Ray's music influences, Spike Jones...the recording featured heavy use of sound effects and vocal mayhem but it remained tightly controlled in the execution of it's music. In television appearances that year he promoted the existence of the music videos and how fans could see them on the various music video programs airing on The Nashville Network. Ray's video for "Help Me Make it Through the Night" became a hit and landed on the network's most-played music video list. In addition to those two notable recordings Ray was also performing "Barbecue" and there's an appearance on Hee Haw where Ray performs "Where Do My Socks Go?". There were promotional vinyl singles issued to radio stations of "Sittin' Up With the Dead" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night". They were never sold in retail stores but every once in awhile copies of those vinyl promo singles come up for sale on eBay. They're really obscure and would be of value to Ray Stevens fans given how the quantity is limited. The 1990 album contains ten comedy songs:

1. Sittin' Up With the Dead (live action music video)
2. Jack Daniels, You Lied To Me Again
3. Help Me Make It Through the Night (live action music video)
4. Used Cars
5. Bwana and the Jungle Girl
6. Barbecue (animated music video)
7. Where Do My Socks Go
8. This Ain't Exactly What I Hand In Mind (animated music video)
9. This is Your Daddy's Oldsmobile
10. Cletus McHicks and His Band from the Sticks

Tracks six and eight were turned into limited animation music videos more than 15 years later. The live action music videos were released in 1990. Now, bubbling under the surface right around the time Lend Me Your Ears hit the market, Ray was in the planning/development stages of building a theater in Branson, Missouri. This theater had it's grand opening in 1991 and Ray performed there for three seasons (1991, 1992, and 1993). The concept of a music video being seen as something of a commercial product, rather than a marketing tool, combined with the proliferation of a commercially viable VHS market in the early '90s enabled Ray's career to take on dramatically different directions as the decade continued...yet the decade started off with Lend Me Your Ears in 1990...and several years later one could say the public was lending their eyes to Ray Stevens, too, during the heyday of televised VHS mail-order advertisements.

Ray Stevens: Three Volume Collection Turns 25...

Me and the 1995 cassettes; circa mid 2000s.

Longtime Ray Stevens fans should be aware of these 1995 releases from Warner Brothers. I've written about them plenty of times over the last 10+ years that I've been writing this fan created blog. Well, 2020 marks the Silver Anniversary of their release. I still have my cassette tapes and but I only have one of those in CD format. I have them in Mp3 format now but I won't toss out my cassettes...or CDs...or my vinyl. I have all of those songs, now, on vinyl on the original studio albums they appeared on. Anyway, in the years prior to these three releases coming along you couldn't find hardly anything in retail stores featuring Ray Stevens from his Warner Brothers years (1976-1979). You would come across compilation albums that featured one or two selections from that time period and that was it. Can you guess the songs from this era in Ray's career that got the most repeated exposure on compilation albums throughout the 1980s and into the mid 1990s? The novelty "In the Mood" late in 1976...released under a pseudonym, Henhouse Five Plus Too. The other song from this time period that's gotten a lot of reissue is 1979's "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow". These 1995 releases went a long way at showcasing the obscurities that weren't kept in print on countless compilation albums. The irony is that these 1995 cassette releases, once they were re-released in CD format, went out print just as quickly as they arrived. A number of years later the releases were digitally uploaded for on-line sale...however, one of those 1995 releases is currently unavailable for digital/Mp3 purchase, but the other two are still available.

The titles of those releases are Cornball, Do You Wanna Dance?, and The Serious Side of Ray Stevens. The material compiled for those releases come from his studio albums for Warner Brothers in the late '70s. Cornball is a misleading album title...there are only three recordings that qualify as comical/novelty but there is a love ballad on there titled "Cornball" from 1976. The CD opens and closes with the chickens: "In the Mood" kicks off the CD and "Classical Cluck" closes out the CD. In between we have track two, "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow" and beyond that the rest of the recordings are serious love ballads and inspirational easy-listening music. I'm aware that there is a segment of music listeners that can't distinguish between Ray's humorous and serious recordings. I say this because there are many that feel his 1975 recording of "Misty" is a comedy song (believe it or not) but it's actually a straight ahead country performance of a jazz/pop standard...to them it's funny when they hear it performed the way that Ray does it. Cornball is not available for digital download at Amazon but the other two collections are. I'm going to list the songs found on each release.

Do You Wanna Dance?:
1. Feel the Music; 1977
2. Dance Trilogy- Do You Wanna Dance/When You Dance/Save the Last Dance for Me; 1978
3. Blues Love Affair; 1977
4. Country Licks; 1976
5. Honky Tonk Waltz; 1976
6. One Man Band; 1976
7. Can't Stop Dancin'; 1976
8. Old Faithful Trilogy- Shake a Hand/Since I Met You Baby/Always; 1978
9. You've Got the Music Inside; 1978

Cornball:
1. In the Mood; 1976
2. I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow; 1979
3. You Are So Beautiful; 1976
4. Money Honey; 1978
5. Cornball; 1976
6. Dixie Hummingbird; 1977
7. One Mint Julep; 1978
8. Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash; 1978
9. Save Me From Myself; 1977
10. Classical Cluck; 1976

The Serious Side of Ray Stevens:
1. One and Only You; 1976
2. Talk to Me; 1978
3. Alone With You; 1977
4. Daydream Romance; 1977
5. Once in Awhile; 1976
6. Set The Children Free; 1977
7. The Feeling's Not Right Again; 1978
8. Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right; 1978
9. L'amour; 1978
10. Be Your Own Best Friend; 1978

Ray issued two studio albums in 1978. In the first half of the year he released a covers project called There Is Something On Your Mind. This eight song album features Ray's renditions of rhythm and blues classics...and some obscurities that weren't heard on mainstream Top-40 pop radio. That album features commentary on both the front and back of the album by Ray where he discusses his desire to record this kind of an album and how that music was a big influence in his youth. If you have those 1995 releases the person that compiled the songs lists the material from that 1978 album as previously unreleased. I have no idea why those songs are noted as being previously unreleased when they appeared on that 1978 album. I've gotten some replies over the years that perhaps the reason they're noted as previously unreleased is because the 1978 album may have only been released in Canada and other predominantly English-speaking countries. It's possible...but it makes no sense, to me, why it wouldn't get issued in the United States as well.

Ray Stevens; 1978

The songs on these 1995 releases that come from that 1978 covers album are: "Talk to Me", "Money Honey", "Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash", "One Mint Julep", "Old Faithful Trilogy", and "Dance Trilogy". The two recordings from that 1978 album that didn't get spotlighted in those 1995 releases were "Banned in Boston Trilogy" and the title track, "There is Something On Your Mind". The second studio album from Ray in 1978 was Be Your Own Best Friend. An abundance of songs from that album feature heavily on the 1995 CD titled The Serious Side of Ray Stevens. I don't think it will ever happen but nevertheless I still wish that Ray's studio albums for the label would get issued digitally.

In a 1977 video clip from an episode of Marty Robbins Spotlight here's Ray performing "Feel the Music". It's an even more soulful performance than the studio recording if that's even possible. You'll hear Ralph Emery provide the introduction...

Ray Stevens sings Bagpipes, That's My Bag

Are you a dedicated fan of the legendary Ray Stevens? By this I mean do you know a lot of songs that he's recorded that a general audience would have no clue about? Do you happen to know of songs that even some of his fans aren't aware of due to the song appearing on an album rather than on a single release? No matter what level of fan you happen to be this fan created blog entry serves as a way of celebrating the career and music of Ray Stevens while at the same time educating people on his diverse career. I go from time period to time period at random. Earlier this morning an audio clip emerged on YouTube of a 1969 Ray Stevens recording, "Bagpipes, That's My Bag". If you're familiar with slang expressions then you'll know the word 'bag' is slang for occupation or it can be used to describe one's hobby or interest. Therefore, bagpipes is the hobby/interest of the character Ray is singing about.



The song was released as the B-side of "Gitarzan" but over the decades it's gotten the B-side treatment. What do I mean by that? Well, as I started off this blog entry, I mentioned the level of fans that exist. Whether we're talking about music, movies, sports, history...whatever the topic...there are passive, casual, ardent, dedicated, loyal, and other adjectives that can describe a 'fan'. When record companies issued a single they wanted the hype and attention centered around whatever recording happened to be on the A-side...and music consumers, in general, only played the A-side of a single because that's the recording they were hearing or reading about. In other words they'd look for the single in stores, take it home, play it...but often never bother to play the B-side...some may have out of curiosity...but by and large a song appearing as a B-side unfortunately gained the reputation of being inferior. This was far from the truth, of course. The B-side was simply thought to be less commercial...it wasn't meant to be taken that the recording itself was inferior and no good. It's very possible that you can have a wonderful recording or a great story idea that lacks commercial appeal and as a result it was placed on the B-side of a single or it remained an album track and only heard by those that purchased an singer's entire album which back then was extremely rare as singles outsold albums. "Bagpipes, That's My Bag", a novelty song if ever there was one, was placed on the B-side of "Gitarzan" and therefore a lot of people never really heard it because the A-side dominated the airwaves. If you never turned the single over or if you never purchased the Gitarzan album then "Bagpipes, That's My Bag", from 1969, is brand new to you!

Ray Stevens and Dolly Parton in 1977...

Hello all...as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and with the announcement yesterday that the Federal guidelines for combating the virus will remain intact for the month of April (no large gatherings; dine-in restaurants closed; limited retail purchases; etc.) it's obviously caused a chain reaction of events throughout the economy. Some may think it cynical or crass to even think of the economy when human lives are at risk but at some point those economical concerns will have to be addressed. The passage of the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill is a giant first step but we'll see if even that jaw dropping amount is enough. I don't know if any State Governor is going to be defiant and "re-open" their State in April and go against the Federal guidelines. Also, on the flip-side, if the Federal Government would decide to "re-open" the country I don't know if any State Governor would take the chance of COVID-19 cases skyrocketing without a vaccine at people's fingertips. Either way, without a definitive vaccine available, it's a no-win situation for either a State Government or the Federal Government.

To offer an escape, though, I came across a recently uploaded 1977 episode of Dolly, the variety show hosted by Dolly Parton in 1977, guest starring Ray Stevens. There had been a video of Ray and Dolly uploaded from this episode in the past...a clip of the two of them performing "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby" and "Searchin'". Ray's other footage from that episode had never been uploaded, to my knowledge, until recently. The video statistics show it was uploaded on March 28th but yet this is the first time I'd seen it posted on YouTube. I don't know why videos are slow to appear in YouTube search results nowadays. I've come across other video clips that are new to me but the stats for the video show that the video clips were uploaded days earlier.



The quality of the tape isn't top notch but that's to be expected...it's from 1977...and it isn't the master copy of the episode; but, in general, the episodes haven't been well preserved. The reason being is that the owners/distributors of these kind of television shows never had the slightest idea that there would be appreciation or an audience for 'retro' programming as they call it now. Back then I suspect the feeling was "who in the world would want to watch reruns?!?". In spite of the visual quality it's still fun to hear and watch...particularly Ray and Dolly performing "Sir Thanks-a-Lot". Ray performs one of his singles at the time, "Get Crazy With Me". Ironically there's an issue of Country Song Roundup from 1977 in which Dolly is on the cover. One of the articles in that issue is about Ray Stevens...and it's headline is Get Crazy with Ray Stevens.

The album from Ray Stevens in 1977 was a marvelous collection called Feel the Music. In a previous blog entry I wrote about Ray's 1976 appearance on Hee Haw. In that episode he sang "Honky Tonk Waltz" and "You Are So Beautiful", both songs from his 1976 album, Just for the Record. His performance was taped in the summer of 1976 during one of the marathon recording sessions for Hee Haw. The series taped their episodes twice per year: 13 episodes were taped in the summer and 13 episodes were taped in the fall. Ray's summer 1976 taping session appeared on an episode that aired on October 23, 1976.

Ray Stevens on Hee Haw: 1977...

Hello all! A couple of days ago a video clip originated on Facebook containing the Ray Stevens performances from an episode of Hee Haw in 1976. The clip didn't originate on YouTube and it's one of those auto-play video clips where it begins playing as soon as it appears on your screen. I don't like embedding those kinds of video clips on my blog page and so I decided to just provide a link to the video clip. You can watch Ray Stevens perform two of his hit songs, "Honky Tonk Waltz" and "You Are So Beautiful", when you click HERE. Those two songs come from his 1976 Warner Brothers album, Just For the Record.

The video clip begins with Ray and Hee Haw cast member Jimmy Riddle. In this brief routine Ray sneaks up and surprises a startled Jimmy...who naturally reacts in hysterics...much to the delight of a laughing Ray Stevens. The two perform the classic eef and hambone routine usually performed on the show by Jimmy and Jackie Phelps who were billed as 'Riddle and Phelps' in the earliest years of Hee Haw.

Ray Stevens and Jimmy Riddle; 1976

Attempting to get a screen cap as Ray and Jimmy are doing the hambone routine can be difficult. Given the tempo of Ray's leg slaps it causes the right hand to look unfocused/blurry. Jimmy is in the process of eefing and making music with his hands. A photo posted further down the blog entry of the two of them from 1980 also features some blurry imagery during the hambone routine.

Ray Stevens; 1976

In the screen cap off to the left we have Ray Stevens immersed into his performance of "Honky Tonk Waltz". The song comes from the pen of songwriter Paul Craft. The Facebook video clip becomes only the second on-line video to feature Ray performing this song. There's another video clip from his appearance on an episode of Pop! Goes the Country and in that performance he plays both a guitar and the piano...and midway through the performance he dances briefly with Donna Fargo before being comically interrupted by host, Ralph Emery. In this performance from Hee Haw it is much more subdued and as you can see it's performed with a more serious flair. The song is a clever blend of two different styles of music. There's the honky tonk aspect and then there's the dance aspect of a waltz. The lead instrument is the mandolin followed closely behind by the fiddle. In the video clip the mandolin player is given screen time along side Ray. I've mentioned on social media sites that I think the mandolin player is Larry Sasser...and my assumption appears to be correct because in the second performance, "You Are So Beautiful", the same musician is playing the steel guitar. If my recollection is correct I believe Larry Sasser was part of Ray's touring band for a number of years...but not a lengthy member of his studio band. I think Larry played on just a couple of Ray's albums and those were in the 1980s. Larry appears as the steel guitar player during a performance of "Sunshine" that Ray taped for the Jerry Reed and Tom Selleck movie, Concrete Cowboys. I'll go back and edit this blog entry if I find out the identity of the mysterious mandolin/steel guitar player from the 1976 episode of Hee Haw...but I say it's Larry Sasser. In the meantime, "Honky Tonk Waltz" hit the Country chart on August 7, 1976 and remained charted for 10 weeks. It reached it's peak position in the Country Top-30 during it's 7th chart week on September 18, 1976. It appeared on the Country chart for it's 10th and final week on October 9, 1976. This episode of Hee Haw originally aired October 23, 1976. The footage was taped in the summer of 1976...right around the time "You Are So Beautiful" was his current release.

Ray Stevens and a couple of his musicians; 1976

"You Are So Beautiful" happened to be the debut single on Warner Brothers from Ray Stevens. He had recently left Barnaby Records after a 5 year run and his first single for Warner Brothers hit the Country chart on May 1, 1976. It reached it's Top-20 peak in it's 9th chart week on June 26, 1976 and remained on the chart until July 24, 1976. The single was arranged in a Bluegrass style similar to "Misty" from a year earlier. Whereas "Misty" was mid-tempo and the steel guitar, banjo, and fiddle were prominent "You Are So Beautiful" pushed for a more up-tempo delivery and an even heavier use of those instruments. In both songs there's an interlude where the musicians take center stage. In the performance of "You Are So Beautiful" both the steel guitar and fiddle player are on screen. The fiddle player is Lisa Silver. There's a brief routine with George Lindsey in this 1976 episode, too.

Author Update: 3/30/2020: ***I titled this blog using the year 1977 because I was using my eyes instead of going through my stats. I thought this episode originally aired in early 1977 and featured footage from a fall 1976 taping session. However, I decided to refresh my memory and I looked through my personal notes regarding Ray's career and found out this episode aired on October 23, 1976. This means the footage was taped in the summer of 1976, rather than the fall of 1976 as I originally thought. I've corrected the year, from 1977 to 1976, within the text of this blog entry and in the photo captions but I'm leaving the title of this blog entry as is. It's episode six of the 1976-1977 season of Hee Haw.***

I created a couple of photo comparisons earlier. Ray Stevens, in a 1980 appearance on Hee Haw, performed a hambone routine with Jimmy Riddle just as they had in the 1976 appearance. By this point Ray had grown a beard once again but unlike in years past he's kept the beard and it's become such a part of his look...I don't believe he's ever been clean shaven since the first half of 1978. In Ray's 1980 appearance on Hee Haw both Lisa Silver and Larry Sasser are part of the band. Here are the photos...

Ray Stevens and Jimmy Riddle; 1976 and 1980

Ray Stevens and Jimmy Riddle; 1980 and 1976

Ray Stevens and Jimmy Riddle; 1980

Ray Stevens and Company sing "Along Came Jones"...

One of the recent YouTube videos from Ray Stevens is a 1969 clip of "Along Came Jones". The performance is done against a backdrop of a refined, classical music performance showing Ray Stevens, Andy Williams, and Danny Thomas standing side by side and looking like a performance of "Along Came Jones" is the farthest thing from their minds.

Ray Stevens, Andy Williams, and Danny Thomas; 1969

Note the studious look of all three legendary entertainers. We see Andy Williams and Danny Thomas, in character, intently looking over their notes while Ray appears eager and ready to get things started. The trio walk out on stage and take their places behind the pedestals. After several seconds of fumbling with their "music sheets" and clearing their throats in a comical fashion there's a fanfare where the trio stand still and then Ray launches into a performance of "Along Came Jones". If you hadn't seen this video clip yet try and guess which one plays Sweet Sue and which one plays Salty Sam. Jimmy Osmond is also part of this video clip, too.

Ray Stevens, Andy Williams, and Danny Thomas; 1969

Ray Stevens sings But You Know I Love You...

Hello all the Ray Stevens fans out there...as all of you know the music world lost a legendary figure, Kenny Rogers. He passed away at age 81 on March 20th but the news wasn't released until Saturday and a flurry of on-line articles flooded social media sites from all over the world. Ray was quoted as saying: "Kenny was a nice man and a great entertainer who had a way of making a song his own. He will be missed.".

1969

Ray Stevens was recording for Monument Records in the late 1960s. The label had issued a series of single releases on Ray during 1966-1967...his first LP for the label didn't arrive until 1968, titled Even Stevens. The following year he issued two albums for Monument. One of those albums was the comical Gitarzan and the other album was this one, Have a Little Talk with Myself. It is on this latter album where Ray demonstrates his mastery of music arrangement. He had produced and arranged a lot of recordings for a whole host of recording acts on Monument Records and other labels...he was also the arranger of his own recordings while production credits were given to Shelby Singleton (Mercury Records) and later on, Fred Foster (Monument Records). The two albums that were issued on Ray in 1969 credit Fred Foster, Jim Malloy, and Ray Stevens as producers on Gitarzan while Ray and Jim Malloy are the credited record producers on Have a Little Talk with Myself. On both albums Ray continued his role as music arranger. The recordings on this 1969 album are mostly cover songs of contemporary pop music hits for other artists...all done with Ray Stevens arrangements. There are several songs that were originals at the time and those were the title track, "Have a Little Talk with Myself", as well as "The Little Woman" and "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down"...the remainder of the album were his versions of a wide range of pop songs, among them were: "Aquarius", "Help", "Hair", "Spinning Wheel", and this song...



"But You Know I Love You" comes from the pen of Mike Settle who, at the time, was a member of the pop/rock group, The First Edition, whose lead singer happened to be Kenny Rogers. Their recording of the song was issued late in 1968 and it hit the Top-20 on the pop chart in the first half of 1969...also hitting the Top-10 in Canada. In this time period most recording artists filled out their albums with cover songs and once this song had become a hit then it was recorded by a lot of artists in various formats. Bill Anderson had a huge hit with it on the country chart in 1969...Dolly Parton hit number one on the country chart with her rendition in 1981. A bit of trivia is Dolly's rendition of "But You Know I Love You" took over the number one spot on the country chart from a Kenny Rogers and Dottie West duet, "What Are We Doing In Love?". Kenny and Dottie hit number one the week ending June 13, 1981 and the very next week Dolly was at number one with "But You Know I Love You" on June 20, 1981. That trivial tidbit is made even more ironic given that several years after Dolly's recording hit number one she and Kenny would become frequent duet partners.

In between 1969 and 1981 it was covered by numerous artists, as mentioned, and Ray Stevens was no exception as you can hear when you play the embedded audio clip above. A couple of decades later Ray performed "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" on an episode of his CabaRay Nashville television show. In the context of this performance it was as a salute to the song's writer, Mel Tillis. Ray's performance is on the episode, Tribute Show. In this episode Ray performs songs made famous by others and tells stories behind the songs and the artists that recorded them. The song was a huge hit for Kenny and The First Edition in 1969 but the first commercially successful rendition arrived in 1967 on the country chart by recording artist Johnny Darrell...a singer that recorded a number of songs first which eventually became iconic or country music standards by other artists that were more well known. He was the first to record "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" in addition to being the first to record "The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp" and "Green, Green Grass of Home"...the latter becoming more well known as a Porter Waggoner classic. Ray Stevens, for example, was the first to commercially release "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" and it's on his 1969 album shown near the top of this blog entry...but the song itself is more well known as a Johnny Cash hit.

Here's Ray performing "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town"...a song closely identified with Kenny Rogers and the First Edition...

Ray Stevens: The Ralph Emery Show Interviews, June 1975...

Hello all!! Earlier today the remaining episodes of the Ralph Emery Show from June 1975 featuring Ray Stevens were uploaded onto YouTube. In a couple of previous blog entries I mentioned that once all the episodes make it on-line I'd put together a blog entry containing all five episodes.

June 23, 1975

June 24, 1975

June 25, 1975

June 26, 1975

June 27, 1975

I've listened to the June 25th episode and as soon as I publish this post I'll be listening to the June 26th and June 27th episodes. In the June 25th episode Ray speaks about the Misty album and throughout the hour Ralph plays Ray's recordings of "Young Love", "Indian Love Call", and "Lady of Spain". The first song of the hour is Donna Fargo's recording, "Hello Little Bluebird". Ralph mentions that the song was recorded at Ray's studio. Ralph and Ray get into a comical argument regarding the year Sonny James recorded "Young Love". Ralph says it's 1955 and Ray says 1957. The answer is in the middle...the song originated in 1956 and was first recorded by one of it's writers, Ric Cartey. Sonny James recorded his version in the latter half of 1956 and it became a hit in 1957 followed by the Tab Hunter version. Throughout the hour show from June 25th you'll hear recordings by the likes of Charley Pride, Connie Smith, Billy Walker, Johnny Carver, and even an instrumental by Sonny James. The final song of the June 25th episode is Ray's version of "Lady of Spain". Ray mentions the instrumentation used for the recording and how he excitedly hollers out the name of the saxophone player, Norman Ray, in the recording...

International single release, 1975

Ray Stevens: Charley Pride CabaRay Nashville performance...

A follow-up blog entry on the heels of my previous blog entry from about 20 minutes ago. In this one I'm embedding a video clip of Charley Pride performing "Kiss An Angel Good Morning" on CabaRay Nashville. He happened to have celebrated a birthday yesterday.



This video clip, like the one featuring Paul Overstreet, at the moment doesn't appear on YouTube searches for 'Ray Stevens' because his name isn't in the official video title. If you search 'Ray Stevens and Charley Pride' this video will show up in the results...but not it you search 'Ray Stevens'. Of course, if you regularly visit Ray's YouTube channel and look at the video upload section you're going to find these video clips. I point all of this out because if you don't frequent Ray's other social media sites and just rely on YouTube to search for video clips of Ray then chances are you're not going to easily find this video clip or the one with Paul Overstreet in a basic search for 'Ray Stevens'.

"Kiss An Angel Good Morning" is referred to as Charley's signature hit and in terms of longevity at number one and the fact that it crossed over into the Top-40 on pop radio it's inarguable that it's his signature song in spite of the fact that he'd go on to have incredibly popular hit songs for 15 or so more years after "Kiss An Angel Good Morning" reached it's peak.

Ray Stevens: Paul Overstreet CabaRay Nashville performance...

Hello all...in the social media world of the legendary Ray Stevens there have been a couple of video clips uploaded to celebrate the birthday's of a couple of legendary figures in country music. In this blog entry I'll be embedding a video clip of Paul Overstreet from his appearance on CabaRay Nashville. This performance by the songwriter-singer is of "Diggin' Up Bones", one of the songs that put Randy Travis on the national map. In fact, Paul was a co-writer of several songs on the massively popular Randy Travis album, Storms of Life, where "Diggin' Up Bones" originated. Paul also contributed "No Place Like Home" and he co-wrote "On the Other Hand".



This video clip from CabaRay Nashville isn't showing up in YouTube searches if you happen to look for video clips of Ray Stevens. The reason for this is because Ray's name isn't part of the video clip's official title. In order for the video to appear when one searches for Ray Stevens the video title will have to be edited to read: Paul Overstreet- "Diggin' Up Bones" (Live on Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville). As of this writing the official title of the YouTube clip is: Paul Overstreet- "Diggin' Up Bones" (Live on CabaRay Nashville). Eventually, I think, the video clip will begin appearing among YouTube search results for Ray Stevens. Ironically, though, if you do a video search for Ray Stevens through Google you'll see this video among the search results. I'm sure that has to do with the username for the clip being raystevensmusic. Isn't it funny how search results work based upon which site you're viewing?

Ray Stevens: The Ralph Emery Show, June 1975...

Ray Stevens, 1975

It's me once again!! Yesterday afternoon I wrote a blog entry where I posted a link to a 1975 interview that Ray Stevens gave on The Ralph Emery Show. When listening to it, near the end, Ralph reminded listeners that Ray would return tomorrow. This syndicated radio program that Ralph hosted would feature a special guest for an entire week of shows. As of this writing the June 23rd and June 24th episodes are available on YouTube. The one that uploaded these left a comment when I inquired if more would appear. He said that he'd be uploading the rest of that week's episodes and to be on the lookout for them. I posted a link to the June 23rd episode and I'll be posting a link to the June 24th episode as well. Once all five episodes from that week are available I'll write a blog entry with links to all five episodes. I'm not embedding the videos because the photo's used can be confusing to some. The June 23rd episode has a photo of Ralph and Ray from 1979/1980 while the June 24th episode features a photo of Ray and Ralph from 2015. I'm sure the one uploading these interviews is using those photos because they feature Ray and Ralph...even though the photos chosen don't match the year in which the interviews took place. I understand this...there are photos of Ray and Ralph available on-line but to try and find one from a particular year, like 1975, is almost impossible. Ray's beard throws off a lot of people...not many fans recall that for a period of time in the early and mid 1970s he had a beard...the album covers of Losin' Streak (1973) and The Very Best of Ray Stevens (1975) show this as does the photo above...in addition to some of his television appearances from this era...but by and large he was clean shaven throughout the decade. The album cover of Misty (1975) has him clean shaven in contrast to his bearded look on The Very Best of Ray Stevens (1975).

The link to the June 23rd episode that I posted in a previous blog entry I'm going to post again. That episode can be heard when you click HERE. When you're over on YouTube you may see the June 24th interview posted, too. If not, return to this blog and click HERE. The June 25th, 26th, and 27th episodes I'll be on the lookout for. The interviews are uptempo...a lot of laughs...and you'll hear original commercials and you'll hear songs from other artists, since it's a radio show after all, and you'll get to hear Ray's reaction to some of the songs played. In one of those interviews there's an extremely rare audio of Dolly Parton and Ronnie Milsap singing a duet. Ray is also heard mentioning that he's working on a very, very weird recording...no more details are given...but it has me thinking he was making a reference to something that wouldn't hit, commercially, until more than a year later at the end of 1976, "In the Mood". When you listen to the interview see if you don't come to the same conclusion.

I created a collage and placed two 1975 Ray Stevens albums side by side. I captioned the collage but don't take it seriously. It doesn't really matter if he's clean shaven or bearded, does it? I like to highlight it nevertheless...but clean shaven or bearded it's Ray Stevens...and that's all that matters.

Ray Stevens: Clean Shaven or Bearded? That is the Question!

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Concerts Canceled Temporarily...

I knew it would be a matter of time before I'd be writing a blog entry dealing with this inevitable decision regarding future concerts at the Ray Stevens CabaRay showroom. The announcement was made on Ray's social media sites a couple of hours ago and so any of you reading this and are dedicated fans of Ray Stevens should already be aware of this by now. Since I'm a night owl and sleep most of the late afternoon and evening hours I was not awake when Ray's message was posted earlier this evening. The message was posted this evening and according to the time stamp it hit Ray's Facebook page at 5:35pm. The announcement, which I've copied and pasted, can be seen in bold print to better draw a reader's attention to it: "Friends, after much consideration we have made the decision to temporarily close the doors to the CabaRay. Ray wants to say thank you to everyone for being understanding with the changes to the show schedule in light of worldwide COVID-19 precautions. On March 15, 2020, the Metro Public Health Department of Nashville and Davidson County declared a public health emergency due to the coronavirus, and issued guidance to help mitigate the spread of the disease. Therefore, the Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom, to protect the health and well-being of our guests and staff, is closing and cancelling all shows and other events until and including April 7, 2020. At this time, all shows and events after that date will proceed as planned, but we will vigilantly monitor all guidance, advice and direction from health and government officials, and will re-evaluate that decision on April 1st. Over the next several days, we will contact all guests who have purchased tickets to the affected shows and issue refunds. If you call and get routed to voice mail, please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you for your understanding; we look forward to seeing you when this crisis is over. Stay safe.". This announcement also includes the taping of Larry's Country Diner episodes. I know there were several more episodes scheduled to be taped at the showroom next week. This decision will undoubtedly cause all sorts of emotional reactions simply because the pandemic itself has already caused a lot of emotional reactions. The reaction from fans, so far, has been one of understanding although there's naturally going to be some disappointment. Those that purchased tickets to the canceled March concerts will receive refunds as you read in the statement posted above. 

I hope that Ray continues to keep himself busy on social media, though, during this time. Although this virus is disrupting normalcy and has caused the CabaRay showroom to temporarily close here's hoping the social media aspects of Ray's career remain intact and that his presence on social media won't come to a close, too. Now, in addition to the CabaRay temporarily closing down, the scheduled benefit that was to take place in Cookeville, Tennessee later this month has also been impacted. The message posted on the WCTE website regarding their Annual Dinner, in which Ray is to be the featured performer, states that it's been rescheduled for June 16th (a Tuesday). The website still shows an image of Ray and still has him being promoted as the featured artist at their Annual Dinner and that has me thinking he'll make his appearance on the rescheduled date and that there aren't any scheduling conflicts that'll prevent him from appearing several months from now. WCTE is the distributing PBS station of his CabaRay Nashville television series. The thing that this Coronavirus has done is it's completely caused the devastating tornado that swept through Nashville and the surrounding area to be wiped from the front page of the news headlines...and with the outbreak of the virus causing so much social disruption there won't be any benefit concerts or any other public fundraisers, in the immediate future, to raise money for the victims.

Ray Stevens: 1975 interview with Ralph Emery...

A bearded Ray Stevens; 1975

Hello one and all! I came across this 1975 interview of Ray Stevens by mistake, actually. I was looking on YouTube and seen that a video clip had been uploaded and it was referred to by the one that uploaded it as The Ralph Emery Show with Ray Stevens - June 23, 1975. The photo used happens to be of Ray and Ralph from 1980...and when I seen the photo I thought that it was another upload of the Ray Stevens 1980 episode of Pop! Goes the Country and so I didn't bother to click the video. Anyway, I decided to click that video about 10 minutes ago. I have it on pause as I type up this blog entry. The video clip is actually an audio of a 1975 interview that Ralph did with Ray Stevens. The show, based on what I've heard so far, includes the original commercials that aired. Ralph begins things by asking Ray about "The Streak" and that was the single of his out at the time of his previous appearance. After a few jokes about the song Ralph brings up 'another million seller' from 1970 named "Everything is Beautiful" and gets clarification from Ray that it was a worldwide hit before offering a disclaimer that it came out when he was singing a different kind of way. You'll have to hear his commentary to truly appreciate the humor. "Everything is Beautiful" is played as is a commercial the two of them do on the air for Music City News magazine. I'm not going to embed the video but I'll provide a link. I'm doing that because the photo used, as mentioned earlier, is of Ralph and Ray from 1980 and it'll cause some, like myself, to think it's something they've already seen. You can listen to the clip by clicking HERE. I'm going to go and listen to it completely. I'm sure Ralph will play "The Streak" at some point and no doubt Ray's current single at that time, "Misty". I can't wait to hear the rest of the interview! I hope this interview remains on-line so more and more people will be able to hear it.

Ray Stevens: I Have Returned...this week in 1986...

One of the funniest Ray Stevens recordings, "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone", was part of an album that was released in the latter half of 1985. I Have Returned hit late in the year on the heels of He Thinks He's Ray Stevens, which had seen it's release hit the Country Top-10 and eventually receive Gold certification (half a million in sales). The bulk of that 1984 album's success took up most of 1985 and so in the fall of 1985 along came the follow-up, I Have Returned. The novelty album began a slow climb up the Billboard Country chart and peaked at Number One for the week ending March 15, 1986. It, too, would eventually become a Gold record. Earlier today on Ray's social media sites an audio of the full version of "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone" emerged. An edited copy of this song appears on the MCA 1987 album, Greatest Hits, Volume Two. It's the single release, radio edit of the song. The album version is broken in two parts and that is what you'll hear below...



I Have Returned:
1. Thus Cacked Henrietta
2. Hugo the Human Cannonball
3. Vacation Bible School
4. Armchair Quarterback
5. The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone, Part One
6. The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone, Part Two
7. Kiss a Pig
8. The Haircut Song
9. The Pirate Song
10. Punk Country Love
11. Santa Claus is Watching You

Ray Stevens: March CabaRay Concerts...

Hello all...looking at the March 2020 calendar of events at the CabaRay showroom I see that there are three concerts from Ray scheduled to take place: March 21st, 26th, and 28th. The Larry's Country Diner series will be taping at the showroom on March 25th. I don't know the reason for there not being a concert taking place on March 19th but I'm guessing it's tied into the COVID-19 a/k/a Coronavirus pandemic. When you visit the CabaRay WEBPAGE you'll see the message that I linked to in a previous blog entry. The message is about the virus and how, for now, concerts will continue to take place at the CabaRay but if you've purchased tickets but have symptoms of the virus then, of course, do not attend the concert. They ask you contact the showroom if you're not able to attend a concert that you've purchased tickets to. All of this may change within the upcoming week, however, given how rapid the virus outbreak has become. In the message posted on Ray's social media pages about the virus it sounds like he's leaving open the possibility that if State officials mandate or Federal health organizations suggest the closing of venues where large amounts of people gather then the CabaRay would have to comply. This is the line that got me thinking that Ray may, at a future date, decide to shut things down temporarily: "At this time, we are continuing with performances and monitoring the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local health officials". As of this writing CabaRay concerts are still going to take place until further notice.

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Contest...

Hello all...in my previous blog entry I made mention of a current contest taking place on a couple of Ray's social media sites. There is a contest being held for two free tickets to an upcoming concert at the CabaRay. The way you participate is to Like and Share a specific post from Ray Stevens that appeared on his Facebook and Instagram pages. The contest is confined to liking and sharing the post within whichever social media site the contest is posted. You can't share the post on other social media sites and expect to be entered into the contest. If, for example, you see his contest post on Facebook then it has to be Liked and Shared exclusively on that social media site. The same goes for Instagram. When you come across the contest post on that social media site then it'll have to be Liked and Shared exclusively on Instagram. So far there have been 465 Likes and 403 Shares on the social media site, Facebook. I guess 62 of those 465 people forgot to also share the post in addition to liking it. The contest began at 1pm on March 12th (yesterday) and it concludes on March 16th (Monday).

He posted this video clip on his Facebook page and later added it to his YouTube page. As mentioned the contest ends on Monday (March 16th). The CabaRay is located on River Road in West Nashville. You take the Charlotte Pike exit on I-40 and then travel to River Road. Tourists/travelers will obviously be using their GPS devices or printed off directions from on-line mapping sites. Once you take the Charlotte Pike exit and head toward River Road you'll see the CabaRay long before you arrive there due to it sitting high atop a hill.



Back on March 8th Ray uploaded a video clip of Micky Dolenz performing "Last Train to Clarksville" on an episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. In that same episode Ray opened the show singing "Too Much Monkey Business", by the way! His performance of that song is on YouTube as well. March 8th happened to be the birthday of Micky Dolenz. If you're not as familiar with his performance of this song, as I clearly was not, then you'll be in for a surprise. It's nothing like the recorded version, as far as delivery goes, from the mid 1960s. Micky adds a lot of rock inflection to the vocals not present in the original but the music arrangement pretty much remains the same.



On March 9th a commercial for the Complete Comedy Video Collection was uploaded onto YouTube. It's a DVD from a number of years ago and it's being advertised as the Product of the Month at the on-line Ray Stevens web-store. Any item that becomes a 'Product of the Month' at his web-store will not have any shipping and handling charges tacked onto the order. The DVD is one of his top-selling items and it appeared in countless print advertisements over the years.



The following day, March 10th, on the birthday of Ralph Emery, this video clip emerged on YouTube of Ralph asking Ray to demonstrate the piano styles of several iconic piano players in the world of music. The clip is from a 1979 episode of Pop! Goes the Country according to information found on-line. It may have aired in 1980, though, but production notes made available on several on-line sites state that it was taped in December 1979.



That video was followed by a clip of Jimmy Fortune, celebrating a birthday on March 11th, singing "Elizabeth" from an episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...



Coming full circle this brings us to March 12th and the CabaRay contest video as well as the third season opening night concert at the showroom. I was wondering if photos from last nights opening would surface on-line. I'll periodically check the various social media sites to see if anyone has shared anything. I'm certain something will become available on-line as the day progresses from last night's third season opening. I know Deborah Allen posted a photo of her husband, Raymond Hicks, at the CabaRay. She referred to him in the photo she posted as the Ambassador of the CabaRay. When you go to a concert at the showroom you'll see Raymond Hicks once you enter the building. He's the greeter and often answers questions concerning the showroom. When my brother and I were there in March of 2018 he told us about the trophy case upstairs and said to take the elevator and see the awards and honors on display up there. I make mention of him in my CabaRay review which you can find in the archives here. Search the year 2018 and the month of March.

Ray Stevens: CabaRay opening Night...Season Three...

Hello all...March 12th is upon us and it's opening night of Season Three at the Ray Stevens CabaRay in West Nashville. The showroom opens at 5pm Central...those in attendance will be able to take in the sights of the showroom's interior and visit the Piano Bar and the gift shop prior to the main doors to the performance area opening. The concert itself begins at 7:30pm Central which takes place after the Dinner is served. Those who purchase Dinner and Concert tickets are seated at tables or in the red leather booths situated in the corners of the main performance area. Those who purchase only concert tickets can still sit at the tables and can order water or soft drinks but there's no dinner, obviously, brought to your table. The balcony seats are also given beverages but no dinner option is available up there for obvious reasons. There is a contest going on, too. There's a post on Ray's Facebook page in which Ray and the staff will select a winner for two free tickets to a future CabaRay concert. The rules of the contest are simple: Like and Share the post. You can find that post HERE. As of this writing there have been more than 200 likes and shares in a span of 4 hours. The contest ends next Monday March 16th. If, for some reason, that link doesn't work you can always visit Ray's Facebook page on your own and search for the 1pm March 12th post. He also posted some photo's of himself and his stage band in the studio rehearsing for opening night. The trio of back-up harmony singers were photographed as well.

Earlier this afternoon around 3pm on Ray's CabaRay Facebook page there was a message posted related to the Corona virus outbreak. This virus, several days ago, was officially determined to be a pandemic and even though there's been a lot of educational information spread throughout the world from health professionals on how to take precautions or how to keep yourself in the best case scenario of not contracting it the point of there not being a vaccine or medication for it has more or less caused a panic I've not seen take place...ever. Not in the hours, days, and weeks after other viruses that have come along in years past have I seen the kind of fear and panic this particular one has spawned. I'm not going to get into a lengthy political or social rant here...I leave whatever rants I may have for the proper outlets on social media...but in the message posted on Ray's social media sites he asked those that have purchased tickets to opening night but feel that there may be anything going on with you, as in, you feel as if you may have this virus...then the best thing is to not attend the concert. It's best to remain home to prevent a potential spread of the virus to someone else...and I think this is the correct message to send to a general public...but if you feel perfectly fine then you should go ahead and attend the concert as planned.

Ray Stevens CabaRay; Season Three kicks off today, March 12th

I don't know why other events aren't also being conducted like that...instead, for example, college basketball games are going to be played in arena's with no spectators...the NBA has canceled the remainder of their season...the college basketball conference championships are being canceled and so for the first time in history there will be no March Madness or an NCAA College Basketball champion for the 2019-2020 season. This is irrational fear/panic as far as I'm concerned. It tells me the organizers of the events that are being canceled have no faith in the intelligence of their customers. I assume they're thinking that people will attend a public event if they seriously feel as though they have the Corona virus rather than stay home as all health professionals have urged. Ray, on the other hand, based upon his message has made it clear that the show will go on for those that feel perfectly fine. So, then, if you have tickets to opening night at the CabaRay and you feel perfectly fine then go ahead and enjoy your night at the CabaRay. It's nearing 6pm Eastern here...so things should be getting underway at the CabaRay within the next several minutes with the opening of the Piano Bar!! I hope photo's from opening night are posted on-line. When you're on I-40 take Exit 201...it's Charlotte Pike...from there you'll be on the hunt for River Road. You'll actually see the CabaRay before you even get to the showroom because it's sitting on top of a hill...you can't miss it.

Ray Stevens: CabaRay 2020 Season Almost Underway...

Hello all!! Tomorrow is the big opening day of the CabaRay 2020 season. The showroom will actually be open today for a taping of Larry's Country Diner but tomorrow, March 12th, is the day of the first Ray Stevens concert of the season at the showroom. The first concert's proceeds will be donated to the 2020 Nashville Tornado relief fund. The website, CFMT, is in charge of the donations. I came across several promo pieces for Ray's opening night concert tomorrow. One of those articles can be found HERE. The link will take you to the SGN Scoops Digital site. The article being shared throughout the internet features the same text...so there isn't any personalized commentary tacked onto the press release from those sharing the information. You can also read the same press release when you click this LINK which will take you to the Country Music Tattletale site. The differences between the two can be found in photo selection of Ray Stevens and the name of the article. The SGN Scoops headline is: 'Ray Stevens to Donate CabaRay 2020 Season Opening Night Concert Proceeds to Middle Tennessee Tornado Relief Efforts' while the headline on Country Music Tattletale is much shorter: 'Ray Stevens announces Tornado Relief Concert'.

Ray Stevens in performance at the CabaRay

This season, keep in mind, Ray Stevens will be performing at the CabaRay on Thursday and Saturday nights. This is a change from the previous two seasons in which he played Friday and Saturday nights with occasional Thursday night concerts. I hadn't looked too far ahead in the 2020 schedule to see if he's scheduled any Friday night concerts. I'll do that later this morning. It's conceivable that you could spend more than four hours in the showroom. The venue opens for business at 5pm on concert days. The Piano Bar and later, the Gift Shop, are the first things to open to the public after the main doors open. Eventually the CabaRay performance room is opened for the guests. Those that purchased dinner tickets will be served dinner at this time. Those that didn't purchase a dinner option will gain access to the main showroom area an hour later which means non dinner guests most likely will stay in the Piano Bar or visit the Gift Shop or walk around the CabaRay and look at the various photo's and awards lining the walls. The concerts get underway at 7:30pm Central on Thursday and Friday nights and they last 90 minutes. The Piano Bar opens back up once the concert concludes and many times Ray makes an after concert appearance inside the Piano Bar and he has photos taken and signs autographs.

This is the CabaRay website LINK. Once opened you'll see information regarding the 2020 season and you'll see the calendar where you can select a concert well in advance. The Wednesday performances are taping sessions for Larry's Country Diner. The March 12th opening night Ray Stevens CabaRay concert will double as a benefit concert for the 2020 Nashville Tornado victims. The organization in charge of handling the donations is Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, or CFMT, for short. You can find a link to that organization when you click the links to either SGN Scoops Digital or Country Music Tattletale.

Ray Stevens: March 7, 2020

Ray Stevens: A Decades Long Friendship with Ralph Emery...

Hello once again and I'm here putting together an early Happy Birthday blog entry centering around Ralph Emery and the friendship he's had with Ray Stevens for quite a few decades. Since this is my Ray Stevens fan-created blog I'm going to, as mentioned, spotlight Ralph Emery's career as it relates to Ray Stevens. Tomorrow (March 10th) Ralph turns 87. He was born March 10, 1933 in McEwen, Tennessee as Walter Ralph Emery. The album cover you see on the left hand side of the page is a Mercury Records release from 1970. The Best of Ray Stevens features a very obscure performance of "Ahab the Arab" with an introduction by Ralph Emery. Although I've never found out the origin of this recording I've often assumed that it was recorded at some point in the the latter half of the '60s on Ralph's local television program, The Ralph Emery Show, and Mercury placed the audio onto this vinyl album. I've also come across a vinyl album from the mid '60s in which Ralph appears as an emcee at a concert and among the performers is Ray Stevens...and so the opening performance of "Ahab the Arab" heard on this 1970 compilation album could have come from that vinyl album. Ralph hosted a lot of similar programs relating to country music in the 1960s and it's difficult to find an accurate account of the time-line and titles of the programs he hosted. Opry Almanac is listed as a local television show he hosted, beginning in 1963, and some sources on-line state that this show eventually was re-titled The Ralph Emery Show in 1972 but then there are sites that state each was a separate local television show and that the local Ralph Emery Show debuted in 1966 in the late afternoons. There's also a program he hosted called 16th Avenue South in the mid 1960s and sources say it was a local television show that focused on pop music!? If so, that could be the program where this version of "Ahab the Arab" originated because Ray was definitely marketed as a pop artist in the 1960s. Ralph also hosted a syndicated radio show in addition to his television work.

While all of this was going on Ralph was also at the helm of WSM radio's all-night show, Opry Star Spotlight. This program was, in time, referred to as the "all-night show" informally. Ralph hosted this show from 1957 until 1972 and due to it airing in the overnight hours when WSM radio's signal was at it's strongest he was able to be heard in nearly every State in the Midwest and certainly all the Southern states. Remember, too, this was decades before satellite/internet radio became the norm and so it was something to behold that a disc jockey on a local station was being heard well outside of their market. The legend of Ralph Emery's radio years are tied to the "all-night show" but, as mentioned, he hosted a syndicated radio series in addition to other radio programs that aired in syndication...including one titled Take Five for Country Music and an hour long show where he simply played the current records of the day.

Ralph Emery and Ray Stevens, 1979

Upon the retirement of Ralph from the all-night show on WSM radio in 1972 he continued hosting his television show and syndicated radio programs and he maintained a presence on WSM radio in the daytime hours for a number of years following his departure from the overnight shift. He was also one of the Grand Ole Opry staff announcers during the majority of his time at the radio station. He began hosting a nationally syndicated television series in 1974 titled Pop! Goes the Country. This is the show upon which television viewers across the country were introduced to Ralph Emery. Ray made numerous guest appearances on this television show and by the time this episode aired in 1979 Ray had become well established not only as a 'pop' recording artist but he had also crossed over into country music and remained there permanently by decade's end. In Ray's earliest appearances on Ralph's various television and radio programs he was still officially marketed as a pop act even though he had been living and recording in Nashville and had played on hundreds of recording sessions up and down Music Row since the 1960s. Ralph's programs always had the welcome mat open for Ray Stevens. I wish every radio and television appearance from Ray were available. I find his earlier appearances fascinating and I like to compare/contrast the various decades of his career. I also like reading older interviews of him and compare his thoughts in one era with his contemporary thoughts and gauge how much he's changed or remained the same. Oh yes, I also like to see older clips so I can make note of whether Ray's clean shaven or bearded. As you see in the screen cap Ralph is also shown with a beard...and he wore one for a number of years. His entire run on Pop! Goes the Country (1974-1980) has him bearded. Ralph shaved off the beard but kept a mustache at some point in 1986/1987 but by 1991 he was clean shaven and he's remained that way.

Now, in between Ralph's departure as host of Pop! Goes the Country in 1980 and the debut of Nashville Now on TNN in 1983 he hosted a short-lived series on TBS titled Nashville Alive!. Ray appeared on this show...a photo of Ray and Ralph in one of Ralph's books is credited as coming from that TBS series. Also in the photo is Ralph's wife, Joy, in a gorilla suit. Nashville Now introduced Ralph to an even wider national audience. Pop! Goes the Country, syndicated nationally, aired on the weekends in various time-slots depending on which station carried it. The bulk of it's airings took place in the late afternoons on Saturday or Sunday opposite sports programming. However, Nashville Now aired in the same time-slot every weeknight on cable channel TNN for 10 years. The length of the show was 90 minutes for most of it's run and it aired from 7pm to 8:30pm Central/8pm to 9:30pm Eastern for much of it's history. Later it was pushed to 8pm to 9:30pm Central/9pm to 10:30pm Eastern to make clear a place for Crook and Chase and their expanded hour-long program. They had previously aired after Nashville Now but by the early '90s they were scheduled as Ralph's lead-in show. Ralph's main competition was whatever was airing on network television and whatever happened to be airing on cable television...notably CNN...considering almost every other cable channel at that time specialized in repeats of television shows and movies...rarely was there a cable channel that specialized in original programs. Ralph's TNN show was trimmed to an hour for several years before it's eventually end in 1993.

Ray Stevens, Boots Randolph, and Ralph Emery; 1990

In the screen cap above, unfortunately a bit blurry, we see Ray Stevens and Boots Randolph in conversation on Nashville Now with Ralph Emery. In this appearance Ralph has his mustache and they're discussing the album that Ray produced on Boots Randolph and released through Clyde Records. This happened to be one of the first projects released through Ray's own label and there's a television commercial for that CD on YouTube from 1990. If you were a member of Ray's fan club at any point in the 1990s, as I was, then you should be familiar with this CD. It was one of the items offered for sale in the Ray Stevens mail order catalog for much of the decade. Unfortunately I don't have any super vintage photo's of Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery, from the '60s, specifically. I know they must exist but they haven't surfaced on-line for public sharing/viewing. Some photos of the two of them can be found in several of Ralph's books and there's a photo of the two of them in a radio studio from the early 1970s in Ray's 2014 memoir. Ray hosted several book signing events throughout 2014 and into 2015...one of those book signings featured Ralph interviewing Ray at the Nashville Public Library.

The Nashville Public Library hosted the special book signing event in 2015 where a set of Nashville Now was recreated and Ralph interviewed Ray Stevens, Barbara Mandrell, Lorrie Morgan, and Con Hunley. It was part of their on-going series, That Nashville Sound. Previously that series hosted an interview by Ralph Emery of Ray Stevens discussing his memoir and career, in general, and later on the library hosted the recreated Nashville Now special event.

Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery, 2015

When Ray made the announcement that he would be opening a showroom in West Nashville titled CabaRay one of the people attending the ground breaking ceremony happened to be Ralph Emery. The groundbreaking took place, ironically enough, in March 2016. On groundbreaking day Ray and several friends were photographed at the site of the soon to be constructed showroom posing with shovels and digging into a mound of dirt. The construction company was also on hand, of course. As we all know a myriad of issues came up along the way...most of it tied into the lengthy approval for a building permit. Once this was obtained...nearly half a year later...construction got underway which pushed a fall 2017 grand opening time table to an early 2018 grand opening (the showroom opened for business in January 2018).

Ralph Emery, Gorilla, and Ray Stevens; 2016

As we see in this photo Ralph is toasting the groundbreaking of the CabaRay along side a gorilla and Ray Stevens in March of 2016. I don't know if this is the same gorilla that met Ray Stevens at the airport in the cover photo of Here We Go Again! in 2015. It might be that gorilla's cousin...it's difficult to tell. Anyway, by the time this photo was taken Ralph had long since retired. After the end of Nashville Now in 1993 he didn't go away...he continued to appear with a recurring interview series called On the Record. That series was based on a highly rated interview Ralph conducted in 1992 with his pop music counterpart, Dick Clark. In fact there was a second program in which Ralph was the subject of an interview from Dick Clark. In the hour long series, airing on TNN, Ralph initially interviewed guests that had also authored books. Ralph had become known for a series of books based on his experiences and memories from his career in country music...the first one was appropriately called, Memories (1991), and this was followed by a series of other books throughout the 1990s: More Memories (1993), The View From Nashville (1998), and 50 Years Down a Country Road (2000). Ralph also interviewed country artists regardless of whether or not they had released a book but the conversation was almost always centered around autobiographical information and life experiences rather than the show turning into an hour long commercial for the book or the guest's latest recording.

In 1995 Ray Stevens appeared during the opening week of Ralph's daytime talk show on TNN. This show aired from the Opryland theme park live at 9am Eastern/8am Central beginning in the latter half of the year. Ray's appearance featured a sight gag in which he walked out on stage screaming in a pseudo-Austrian accent about how hot the cup of chocolate happened to be and he 'tripped' and spilled the contents all over Ralph, seated behind his desk. Ralph was caught off guard because instead of scalding hot chocolate spilling out of the cup it was nothing more than marshmallows. Ralph asked Ray how in the world he happened to make the cup appear to have steam coming from the top of it and he explained the hand trick...covering the powdery marshmallows in the cup for several seconds and then removing your hand from the top of the cup will make it appear as if steam is rising from the cup. I've never attempted the trick but that's the way he explained it. Ray promoted his Get Serious! VHS movie and performed "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?".

The morning show Ralph hosted on TNN was later moved to an early evening time-slot later in 1995 but it was eventually canceled soon after. I don't know if the end of that series was due to any backstage problems or any conflicts with the Opryland management or what...it was certainly a format that Ralph had mastered and so it wasn't like he was attempting something new. It could be a case of lack of enthusiasm from TNN or just a change in viewing habits causing the interview format to have run it's course!?

In the late 1990s Ray taped several new music videos for a collection ultimately released on VHS titled Funniest Video Characters. In this collection was "The Pirate Song"...a music video for a song Ray originally recorded in 1985 but later re-recorded in 1991. It had since became one of those fan favorites. Ralph Emery appears in that music video. Once you know he's in it and you spot him I bet your eyes will be drawn to him every time he's on screen. He plays one of the underlings of the Captain.

Getting back to sight gags...in an episode of Pop! Goes the Country in 1977 Ray performed a sight gag involving a large ceramic chicken mask...while wearing the mask he clucked a piece of "In the Mood". In another interview he was asked to imitate a chicken and so he began flapping his arms and clucking. A clip of this was featured on a 1990 surprise tribute special to Ralph Emery. In that special Ray performed a song he wrote specifically for the special, "Ralph, You Have Embarrassed Us All". He sang it with Roy Clark, Faron Young, and Kathy Mattea. In the video clip the introduction is by Johnny Cash and Barbara Mandrell.



Now, fast forward 24 years from 1990 to 2014 and here we see Buddy Kalb, Ralph Emery, and Ray Stevens during a photo opportunity at the Nashville Public Library. This was taken at some point before or after Ralph's interview of Ray took place.

Buddy Kalb, Ralph Emery, and Ray Stevens; 2014

Ironically enough Ray Stevens wasn't a guest on any On the Record episodes and I suspect the reason for this was there wasn't time to fit in an interview, due to Ray's busy schedule, and the concept of the series emphasizing an introspective, personal interview instead of a breezy, let's have some fun type of interview, perhaps led Ray to avoid appearing on it. It's anyone's guess. In the meantime a peek into Ray's life was on the horizon as TNN was putting together an episode of The Life and Times, a recurring biography series, and the producers decided to tape an episode about the life and career of Ray Stevens. The hour long special featured rare photo's from Ray's personal collection and video clips not seen since their original airing...specifically snippets from his NBC television summer show in 1970. This hour long special features commentary from Ralph Emery, Norro Wilson, George 'Goober' Lindsey, Charlie Chase, Brenda Lee, and Buddy Kalb...in addition to Ray himself.

Last year Ralph Emery officially inducted Ray Stevens into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ralph was elected in 2007 and current members officially induct a new member each year at the Medallion Ceremony. In December of last year the two of them appeared as Guests of Honor at a fundraiser in Dickson, Tennessee at the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum where they had their pictures taken and signed autographs. To date that is the last time the two of them publicly appeared together. I put the two of them together in this collage, though. Happy early Birthday, Ralph Emery!