Ray Stevens: Joust at 35...

We're almost finished with the first month of 2021 and one of the milestones happening this year is the 35th anniversary of Surely You Joust. The comedy album from Ray Stevens was released in 1986...it was his third studio album for MCA Records and it became another top selling album for him. Earlier in 1986 he had the honor of hitting number one on the Billboard Country Album chart with I Have Returned, a comedy album released in the latter half of 1985. Ray's comedy albums were like mountain climbers...they would make their debut midway on the album chart or somewhere near the bottom of the chart and then climb up to their peak position. After the creation of SoundScan in 1991 where point of sale documentation became computerized, and immediate, it ushered in the era of albums peaking on the charts within their first or second week of availability. Ray's 1984 and 1985 albums made their debuts on the Country Album chart in the final months of those years but neither album reached their peak until several months into the next year. Surely You Joust came along in the fall of 1986 and reached it's peak within the same calendar year...peaking just outside the Top-10. Surely You Joust made it's debut on the Billboard Country Album chart for the week ending September 13, 1986 and then the following week it was among the Top-40 best selling country albums...knocking on the door at the Top-20 on the September 20, 1986 chart. "The People's Court", one of the comedy songs from the album, reached it's peak on the Billboard Country Singles chart in the very same September 20th issue. Surely You Joust made it into the Top-20 the week ending September 27, 1986. It remained in the Top-20 for several weeks...reaching it's peak in late October 1986. When Surely You Joust made it's debut on the country album chart on September 13, 1986 Ray's previous album from 1985, I Have Returned, was still on the album chart...at that time it was in it's 46th chart week. Something of note about 1986 is it was the first year that the readers of Music City News magazine voted Ray Stevens as Comedian of the Year. He would repeat that win throughout the rest of the decade and into the next. He won the award 9 consecutive years (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994). 

The album's second single release was the most commercially successful of the three that were issued from the album. "Southern Air" is a trio recording featuring Ray, Jerry Clower, and Minnie Pearl. The three country comics are on a flight, "Southern Air", going from Hahira, Georgia to Yazoo City, Mississippi. In the recording Ray plays the part of the story-teller/narrator/singer while Jerry Clower plays the role of the pilot and Minnie Pearl plays the role of the stewardess. The lyrics of the song feature all sorts of southern culture, deliberately, and several characters and expressions from the stories of Jerry Clower are woven into the storyline. "Southern Air" made it's debut on Billboard's Country Singles chart on November 1, 1986 and it peaked the following week...spending two weeks in it's peak position on the Country Singles chart on the charts published the week ending November 8, 1986 and November 15, 1986. It's short-lived appearance wasn't the end of the single, however. "Southern Air" appeared on Billboard's Country Single Sales chart on November 29, 1986. The album's third single, "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?", didn't make the Country Singles chart when it was issued early in 1987. MCA Records, the label he was with beginning in 1984, featured "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" on a couple of further compilation releases and Ray kept the song in concert set-list and over the course of time it became just as popular with his fans as anything else he's recorded. The ironic thing about that song is not only didn't it reach the singles charts but it's appeared on more compilation albums representing 1986 in the career of Ray Stevens...instead of either of the two singles that reached the chart from the 1986 album: "The People's Court" and "Southern Air". Ray made a music video for "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?" in 1995 and then produced a limited animation music video of the song the following decade. Surely You Joust is one of the classic albums in Ray's career...so Happy 35th Anniversary!

Ray Stevens audio clip: "The Weekend"...

A song making it's first appearance on a Ray Stevens album released in 1963, This is Ray Stevens, is "The Weekend". Ray performs the song in an exaggerated country music style. When I first heard the song a number of years ago (more than 10 years ago) I thought he was doing a wild impression of Buck Owens given the phrasing of a lot of the words. I've never found out if that's who he was channeling or if Ray was simply performing with an overly southern enunciation because it's suppose to be a country song he's singing. The music uses some country-pop elements but then there's a rousing, almost blistering horn solo that comes in after each singing of the song's chorus. 

It's a cheating song...Ray's singing about a guy who's frustrated that  he has to wait until "The Weekend" before he can meet up with the one he's having an affair with. Ray, artistically/commercially, was not part of the country music world in 1963 even though he played on a lot of recording sessions in Nashville with the likes of Shelby Singleton, Jerry Kennedy, Chet Atkins, and Fred Foster working as record producer. Ray played on recording sessions, did the music arranging on a lot of recordings, and produced numerous recording sessions throughout the 1960's for other artists. 

"The Weekend" is sort of what 'country music' may have sounded like to listeners not too familiar with it, or, for those who use generalities when they think of 'country music'. A generality when it comes to country music is "Oh, that's the music that glorifies drinking" or "Country music?? That's the music that glorifies adultery and then causes you to cry in your beer.". Those types of ignorant statements still manage to find themselves on message boards on social media sites to this day. Drinking, alcoholism, adultery, truck driving, doing time in jail/prison, trying to pay the bills, falling in love but breaking up, etc. are all things that happen in real life which is why country music, overall, lacks the sort of pretension you get with other forms of music. It's down to Earth. I love "The Weekend" (no surprise there!). I love how Ray sings it and I love the music accompaniment and I'm sure you all are going to love listening to it, too!  

  

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" nearing 3,000,000 unique views...

Hello one and all to this latest blog entry spotlighting the music and career of Ray Stevens!! As the title of this blog entry states "The Quarantine Song" music video is nearing 3,000,000 unique views. The specific numbers as of this writing are 2,857,241. I was going to title this blog entry with a reference to the music video reaching 2.8 million unique views but since it's nearing 2.9 I decided to just round it up to 3,000,000. Have you been vaccinated? 

Are you in a State where the vaccines are being rolled out based on seniority or are you in a State where vaccines are being given to "essential workers". Did you hear the news that the Federal Government is going to vaccinate the thugs, killers, and terrorists at Guantanamo Bay before most of the nation gets their vaccination? Prioritizing the criminal element over law abiding citizens is how I see it regardless of the justification/explanation that's being spread around throughout the media. You don't put criminals above law abiding citizens...that's just a common sense rule. 

However, common sense has long since disappeared in this pandemic-crazed America we find ourselves in. Remember how 2 weeks of being "Quarantined" was good enough if you came down with the virus? Now, if you get it, not only do you have stay "Quarantined" for 2 weeks but chances are you're not going to be able to get the vaccine if your State doesn't have an adequate supply. What's the probability if you catch the virus but you're in that 'non-essential' category...meaning you're not a so-called 'essential worker' and you're under 70 or under 65 years of age? Will there be States out there who will not give people the vaccine shot if the patient is under a certain age or isn't part of some ethnic group? Rationing of vaccinations is what it seems like is happening and it's inexcusable if that were to be what's going on. 

There hasn't been much news surface surrounding what Ray plans on doing as 2021 progresses. An announcement not long ago suggested there would be new music arriving but no specific date was announced as to when it would be unleashed. I'm assuming the CabaRay showroom will not be re-opened until it's able to do so at full capacity or somewhere close to it. He attempted a re-opening in October 2020 but the restrictions put in place by the local and State health departments altered the live show experience Ray wants his guests and fans to have and so he closed it down again. I don't think he wants to re-open and then close things down again for a second time...so we'll have to remain patient in a point in time where impatience is everywhere.    

Ray Stevens: 1986 "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" performance...

Hello all once again!! Earlier today Ray Stevens uploaded a 1986 performance of "Mississippi Squirrel Revival". It's from one of the various country music programs from the 1980s...I'll say it's from the Music City News Top Hits of the Year gala. The upload states that it's from 1986 and that particular awards organization always handed out their awards in recognition of the previous year. "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" made it's debut on the country chart in January 1985...having been released as a single late in December 1984. The song comes from Ray's first album for MCA Records in 1984, He Thinks He's Ray Stevens. MCA had previously issued "I'm Kissin' You Goodbye" as a single but then word got back to Ray that "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" was being played as an album track on some country radio stations. That meant that disc jockeys, on their own, were playing the song from the album...no 45 single had been issued. When the song started to spread around MCA issued a commercial single late in December 1984 and by the middle part of January 1985 it was well on it's way to becoming a hit. 

In performance Ray tells us how the squirrel run up the pants leg of Harv Newland and in the screen cap on the left he visually acts out the lyrics. Ray looks as if a squirrel has just run up his pants leg during the performance and it's that sort of thing that endears Ray Stevens to his many fans, myself included. The song, written by Buddy and Carlene Kalb, would eventually peak in the Top-20 on the country charts. The song caused the album to attract sales...unheard of kinds of sales for a 'novelty album'. "It's Me Again, Margaret", released not too long after "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" peaked, added to the sales success...eventually He Thinks He's Ray Stevens climbed into the Top-10 of the Country Album chart was certified Gold and later, Platinum. "It's Me Again, Margaret", also on that album, wasn't a massive airplay hit and it didn't crack the country Top-50 but it's become a classic in Ray's career and along with "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" it's one of the reasons why He Thinks He's Ray Stevens (1984), Greatest Hits (1987), Get The Best of Ray Stevens (1987), His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits (1990), and the VHS Comedy Video Classics (1992), became enormous sales successes in their day. Those two songs appear on each of those projects. The song's writers appear in the "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" music video. The video emerged in 1992 along side several other music videos from Ray in the VHS Comedy Video Classics. The inspiration behind the video album came from his concerts in Branson, Missouri. Whenever he performed certain songs he'd have a big video screen hanging overhead with comical scenes airing as he was singing. The audiences responded favorably to seeing these video sequences and so he decided to put out a VHS of music videos and sell them. 

The purchasing of music videos was not the norm...music videos were only seen as promotional items to entice consumers into purchasing the album containing the song being promoted in the music video. There was never a thought that fans would actually purchase a music video...but yet Ray proved the experts wrong. When no major record label expressed any interest in releasing the VHS to retail stores in 1992 Ray decided to sell them on television and the rest is history. The VHS became hugely successful and Ray released numerous VHS and later, DVD products, consistently over the next 5 years. He continued issuing music video DVDs into the 2000's through his website. Since the creation of video hosting websites on the internet, specifically YouTube, Ray puts out his video content on his YouTube channel...millions upon millions of people have seen his video uploads since the channel began in 2009. The screen shot for the video clip below has Ray acting out the part where Harv shouts that something's got a hold of him... 

Ray Stevens: Tracy Lawrence sings "Time Marches On"...

One of the hit makers of the 1990s in country music happened to be Tracy Lawrence. He fell into the honky-tonk, traditional country music category...music critics at the time created a new title for these type of singers: New Traditionalists. That particular phrase wasn't adopted as much as Neo-Country happened to be. Tracy Lawrence emerged with a single called "Somebody Paints the Wall"...a song that I was very familiar with because several years earlier, in 1990, it appeared on a George Jones album titled You Oughta Be Here With Me with a slightly different title, "Somebody Always Paints the Wall". I liked Tracy's songs but I wasn't a devoted/dedicated fan...meaning that I didn't purchase his albums or buy whatever magazine he may have appeared on...but I liked hearing his songs. In this video clip from the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville television series he's singing "Time Marches On". In Tracy's guest appearance on Ray's show he sang two songs: "Time Marches On" and "Texas Tornado". The guest who appears on Ray's television show sing two songs unless there happens to be two guests, which is rare, and in that case each guest sings one song...but here we have Tracy Lawrence singing "Time Marches On"...a song from the pen of Bobby Braddock. The single spent three weeks at number one on the country music charts for Tracy in 1996...the longest time spent at number one for any of his singles and therefore it's become recognized as the biggest hit of his career...   

Ray Stevens: "Misty" performance from 1999...

Hello one and all!! One of the recent YouTube uploads from Ray Stevens is a 1999 performance of "Misty" that he did for a television show Ralph Emery was hosting. The concept of the specials was to gather together country music performers, seemingly at random, and have them discuss their careers and swap stories with one another...and some of them would often perform. It was meant to be come off like a family reunion (minus the food). The 1999 television special was taped at the Ryman Auditorium. Ralph hosted a couple of additional country music reunion gatherings titled Ralph Emery's Country Homecoming and later on Larry Black, the host of Larry's Country Diner on RFD-TV, began hosting a similar series several years later. The television special is titled Ryman Country Homecoming and Ray was a guest. In this appearance, as mentioned, he tells the backstory of "Misty" and performs it. The steel guitar player for this rendition is Weldon Myrick...which, during his playing, he's complimented and told how great and 'well done' it happens to be. It's a wordplay joke on the steel guitarist's name, Weldon, as in: "well done, Weldon". 

Everyone in attendance was thrilled by Ray's performance...especially those certain high notes Ray hits if you're familiar with the song and if you're a longtime fan of Ray Stevens you should be extremely familiar with "Misty". If you're a new fan and only know of Ray through some of his on-line video uploads you're in for a treat. The song was originally recorded by Ray in 1975 and early in 1976 he won a Grammy for 'Best Arrangement of the Year' for the song. The performance from 1999...let's see...it's 2021 now...so this means that it this performance was recorded nearly 22 years ago. It's mind numbing to realize this performance is from nearly 22 years ago. I watched it when it first aired on The Nashville Network. In 2008 when I started this fan created blog page, 22 years earlier it was 1986, and in 2008 I was calling things from the mid '80s 'classic' and so now here we are in 2021 and 22 years earlier it was 1999...and even though it feels odd to put the over-used label of 'classic' on something from 1999 this performance, mathematically, is from 22 years ago...oh, it's definitely a wonderful performance from Ray Stevens but, nevertheless, I'll call it a classic since there's been a significant passage of time since it originally aired. Who knew the decade of the '90s would get the 'classic' treatment? In a lot of ways the 1990s feel too recent in my mind! I like the black jacket and shirt that Ray's wearing!

 

Ray Stevens: 2021 Birthday Photos...

I have returned!! That's the name of a Ray Stevens album come to think of it...but I have returned to post some of the birthday photos of Ray Stevens that were posted on his social media sites earlier today. Ray's birthday is today...born January 24, 1939 in Clarkdale, Georgia. This is just one of the pictures...from the looks of the background it resembles the kind of interior of his CabaRay showroom. I'm assuming that's where the photos originated since his base of operations is at the CabaRay. I know the image of the cake isn't a close-up and so I'll be posting another photo later in the blog. The candles are on what looks like a toy carousel...the lit candles are mounted and spin around in circles, like a merry-go-round, while the one having the birthday attempts to blow out the candles as they spin around in a circle. I don't know if Ray blew out each candle as it passed by or if he, in one large exhale, blew out all the candles at once. The cake appeared as if it were a homemade whipped cream parfait cake...with caramel and walnuts drizzled on top. The legendary Ray Stevens turns 82 today...with absolutely no signs of slowing down...and why should he? His dedicated fans (myself included) anticipate each new on-line video release and each new music project. He's currently signed with major label, Curb Records, and if it weren't for the pandemic he'd be holding concerts at his wonderful CabaRay showroom. It's hard to believe that it's almost a year since everyone felt free to go wherever they wanted and do whatever they wanted without having to wear face masks or be at the mercy of local, State, and Federal mandates and edicts surrounding the pandemic. 

Ray Stevens Birthday Cake; 2021

Will you take a look at the Ray Stevens birthday cake!! It looks so scrumptious you want to eat it right off the screen don't you! I don't exactly know what type of cake/pastry it is but it reminds me of those whipped cream parfait treats but that one looks homemade. It looks like bits of chocolate, caramel, walnuts, and a heavy dose of cool whip. I jokingly asked if Margaret helped make that cake...given that it has so much whipped cream. In case you're new to the career and music of Ray Stevens the 1984 Ray Stevens song, "It's Me Again, Margaret", there's reference to cool whip. January 24th is winding down now but here's another photo from Ray's birthday...

In the photo off to the right we see that Ray is closer to the spinning wheel of candles. Yes, there is a photo of that candle device over on Ray's social media sites, but I never saved it to my personal collection. In my earlier blog entry today, the official Happy Birthday celebration post, I mentioned that I can't wait to hear some new recordings from Ray as we get more into 2021. Although there hasn't been any official word released as to when new songs from Ray are to become available it was encouraging to read the message on his social media pages: "Thank you to all of the fans for your support and love. Ray is incredibly excited to share all of the music he'll be releasing this year. It's going to be an amazing 82!". I, for one, can hardly wait to hear whatever is going to be released!! Does the birthday cake make anyone hungry? My stomach's growling...or it could be my nerves...eagerly anticipated new music from Ray Stevens!! In the meantime I snapped an updated photo of myself spotlighting the Ray Stevens memoir from 2014, Ray Stevens' Nashville. I have several photos of myself and Ray's memoir...one of those photos appears in the picture time-line that runs along the right side of the page. If you don't have a copy of his memoir you can get it at Ray's on-line store when you click HERE. 

Ray Stevens: Happy Birthday to the Legend...

The one and only...the legendary Ray Stevens celebrates a birthday today!! The Living Legend, born January 24th 1939 reaches 82 today! I find myself having to correct my words as I type because I'm so anxious...typing errors that I have to backtrack and correct due to my excitement. Some of you reading this are no doubt wondering if I'm in need of observation...you're probably thinking: "What in the world?? How can anyone get so excited over someone's birthday...especially when it's not even a family member??". I'm not excited in a familial way...but I do get excited because we're celebrating the birth of Ray Stevens and his music's meant a lot to me and I'm sure it's meant a lot to so many other people over the decades in some way or another. Ray's music provided me something of an escape from reality...even if he happened to be singing a topical song or social commentary I was always in another world when listening to Ray Stevens songs. I loved comedy movies and sitcoms as a kid and so I naturally gravitated toward comedy songs, too. I like my share of non-comedy, too...but Ray was the first singer I'd ever heard that sang songs that were funny and that plays a part in why I'm such a big fan. I like listening to his songs...all of the songs he's recorded...some only know of him for a couple of songs or some know of him as a 'comedy singer' but they couldn't tell you anything he's recorded...they're missing out on so much more by limiting Ray to just comedy. I've got every studio album Ray Stevens has ever released. 

Some may ask what's a studio album?? A studio album is a collection of songs that haven't appeared anywhere else. A studio album is different than a compilation album. A compilation album will contain songs from the artist that's previously been released on other albums. A studio album is meant to be a collection of songs exclusive to that release...but songs from the studio album later on may appear on a Greatest Hits or Very Best Of collection in the future. I have Ray's first studio album, released in 1962 on Mercury Records, on the CD in the photo above. That 1962 album, titled 1,837 Seconds of Humor, is paired with his second Mercury Records album from 1963, This is Ray Stevens. Ray wouldn't have another studio album available until 1968 on Monument Records. That album is titled Even Stevens. Some of the early Ray Stevens songs on Mercury and Monument include "Ahab the Arab", "Jeremiah Peabody's Green and Purple Pills", "Rockin' Teenage Mummies", "Mr. Baker the Undertaker", "Make a Few Memories", "Mr. Businessman", "Gitarzan", "Have a Little Talk With Myself", and "Sir Thanks a Lot".

Do you have any Ray Stevens songs in your personal collection? Do you have any of his vinyl albums, cassette tapes, CDs, or Mp3 downloads? Did you know he's been in the music industry since 1957? The record labels he recorded for prior to joining Mercury in 1961 were Prep (1957), Capitol (1958), and NRC (1959-1960). Some of his songs from that late '50s time period are "My Heart Cries For You", "That's What She Means to Me", "Rang Tang Ding Dong I'm the Japanese Sandman", "Cat Pants", "Silver Bracelet", "School", and "What Would I Do Without You?". That's a whole lot of music to take in...but to document it is very simple. His single discography is much longer than his album discography. When I look over his album discography I don't factor in compilation albums that weren't contractually released. Import albums from overseas, for example, that get a release in America aren't contractually obligated projects and so I omit those collections...unless it's a collection that features something obscure/rare from the vaults. Ray comes from an era where recording artists released singles...an album would come along only if a single release became a hit...either on the radio or through sales generated by advertisements or word of mouth. Now, this wasn't a written in stone rule. Some artists preferred to release singles rather than long-playing albums. The thinking being that an album's worth of songs by the same singer would only appeal to the most rabid of fans and not a general audience. Record companies tended to prefer album releases because they cost more...singles cost less from a consumer. That's quite a cynical statement wasn't it? I'm sure not all record companies had that intention but I'd say the majority of record companies gladly welcomed in the money generated from album sales rather than single sales. Also, albums featured a bulk of non-commercial recordings by an artist...and there happened to be a rise in radio stations that specialized in playing album songs rather than single releases. So, in theory, a listener would hear a song and may want to buy it...but since it wasn't available on a single a consumer would have to buy the entire album for just one song. In the course of time this practice backfired...which is why music consumers reverted back to purchasing singles again...this time Mp3 singles...rather than entire Mp3 albums.    

I've always seen things from a different perspective. If Ray Stevens issues an Mp3 single I'll purchase it and then, once the Mp3 album featuring that single is released, I'll purchase that too!! That's how much I like the songs of Ray Stevens!! In the photo above it's me, showing off not only the CAT hat, but the 1976 Ray Stevens album, Just for the Record. I was thinking about posting a photo of myself with all of my Ray Stevens vinyl studio albums and put them in this birthday blog entry but then I decided not to do such a thing. I didn't want to drag out all of the vinyl albums...even though they're four or five steps away from me...I decided to just post a couple of randomly chosen photos of myself and some of my vinyl Ray Stevens albums from my collection. I'm sure on Ray's social media sites there will be birthday commentary. In previous birthday posts there's a photo of him and the birthday cake...sometimes it's one piece on a saucer with a lit candle. If there's any such photo or video posted I'll save it for a future blog entry. Since it's Ray Stevens birthday here's a check-list of studio albums from Ray that have been issued since 1962. If you don't have any of these Ray Stevens studio albums in your personal collection do yourselves a favor and purchase whatever's available and give them a listen.

1962: 1,837 Seconds of Humor (Mercury)

1963: This is Ray Stevens (Mercury)

1968: Even Stevens (Monument)

1969: Gitarzan (Monument)

1969: Have a Little Talk With Myself (Monument)

1970: Everything is Beautiful (Barnaby)

1970: Unreal (Barnaby)

1972: Turn Your Radio On (Barnaby)

1973: Nashville (Barnaby)

1973: Losin' Streak (Barnaby)

1974: Boogity-Boogity (Barnaby)

1975: Misty (Barnaby)

1976: Just for the Record (Warner Brothers)

1977: Feel the Music (Warner Brothers)

1978: There is Something On Your Mind (Warner Brothers)

1978: Be Your Own Best Friend (Warner Brothers)

1979: The Feeling's Not Right Again* (Warner Brothers)

1980: Shriner's Convention (RCA)

1981: One More Last Chance (RCA)

1982: Don't Laugh Now (RCA)

1983: Me (Mercury)

1984: He Thinks He's Ray Stevens (MCA; Platinum certification)

1985: I Have Returned (MCA; Gold certification)

1986: Surely You Joust (MCA)

1987: Greatest Hits (MCA; Platinum certification)

1987: Crackin' Up (MCA)

1987: Get The Best of Ray Stevens (MCA; 2-LP television album)

1987: Greatest Hits, Volume Two (MCA; Gold certification)

1988: I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like (MCA)

1989: Beside Myself (MCA)

1990: His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits (Curb; Gold certification)

1990: Lend Me Your Ears (Curb/Capitol)

1991: Number One with a Bullet (Curb/Capitol)

1991: Greatest Hits (Curb; contains "There's a Star Spangled Banner" with new lyrics)

1993: Classic Ray Stevens (Curb; all-new songs in spite of the album title)

1997: Hum It (MCA)

1997: Christmas Through a Different Window (MCA)

2000: Ear Candy (Clyde)

2002: Osama Yo' Mama (Curb; most of the tracks previously released on 'Ear Candy')

2004: Thank You (Clyde)

2005: Box Set** (Clyde)

2007: New Orleans Moon (Clyde)

2008: Hurricane (Clyde)

2008: Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What?!? (Clyde)

2009: One for the Road (Clyde)

2009: Ray Stevens Christmas (Clyde)

2010: We The People (Clyde)

2011: Spirit of '76 (Clyde)

2012: Such a Night...50 Years of Hits and Hilarity (Clyde; CD version of DVD concert)

2012: Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music (Clyde)

2014: Gospel Collection, Volume One (Gaither Productions)

2015: Here We Go Again! (Player Records)

2016: Just a Closer Walk With Thee/Gospel Favorites (Green Hill Productions)

2016: Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me (CabaRay Entertainment)

The 1979 album is a compilation album with, at the time, one new song. I listed it in the discography because the new song, "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow", played a factor in the album's cover design and the album's title. The 1987 greatest hits collections are featured because they were certified for Gold and Platinum sales as was the 1990 release, His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits. I highlighted the compilation release in 1991 because it features a newly recorded and largely re-written version of "There's a Star Spangled Banner" that was exclusive, at the time, to that collection. The song had previously appeared on his 1989 MCA studio album with a different storyline. The 2005 album contained several never before available recordings from Ray among the collection. "Kitty Cat's Revenge", "Driver's Education", "Family Funeral Fight", "The Cat Song", and two single-only recordings making their debut on an album release: "When The Kids Are Gone" and "We're Havin' a Baby The Natural Way". 

Ray hasn't released a studio album since 2016 even though he's been active with video content on-line and he keeps his name out there through his social media sites. In the period between mid 2015 and 2020, a big amount of his time was devoted, at first, to the production of his CabaRay Nashville television series. The show was originally titled Ray Stevens' Nashville until it's title was changed to Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. Ray was also promoting his 2014 memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville. He was incredibly busy to put it mildly. Ray also had his upcoming showroom under construction throughout 2016 and 2017. The CabaRay showroom opened up for concerts in January 2018. In 2019 Ray was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. He signed with Curb Records a couple of months ago (late 2020) and his first release was a 50th anniversary rendition of "Everything is Beautiful" (an Mp3 single release and a music video) and then the record label issued an Mp3 single of "The Quarantine Song" last month (a music video had previously been released in May 2020). On this Ray Stevens birthday we all wish him a Happy Birthday! We also hope to hear some brand new Ray Stevens songs in 2021. An interview Ray gave with the Musicians Hall of Fame last year featured some news about a massive box set-type of project that Ray is finished with but it hasn't been given a release date. Curb Records will handle the release and distribution of the project. I can't wait to listen to it!!  

Ray Stevens: Kung Fu Chickens at 30...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! We're one day from the birthday of Ray Stevens...and yes I'll be posting a birthday blog entry tomorrow on the 24th to celebrate. In today's blog entry, though, it's time to take a look back to a comedy album released 30 years ago in 1991. Ray was incredibly busy in 1991...he had a theater built in Branson, Missouri and it opened to the public in the summer of 1991. Ray spent the summer months (tourist season) in Branson and spent the off-season in Nashville, Tennessee. The comedy album he released in 1991 was titled Number One with a Bullet. 

The album contains 10 songs with 9 of those songs written or co-written by Buddy Kalb. This is the comedy album that contained the first appearances of "Power Tools", "You Gotta Have a Hat", "Teenage Mutant Kung Fu Chickens", and "Workin' for the Japanese". The album also contains "Tabloid News" which bits of that song found it's way onto an unsold television pilot Ray taped in 1991 called Amazing Rolling Revue. This pilot was issued on VHS in 1992. The pilot contained a sketch that spotlighted the alien character, Zoltar, from "Tabloid News". "You Gotta Have a Hat" is a song commenting on the trend in country music where almost all new country singers wore cowboy hats. There were so many new country singers popping up in the late '80s and early '90s, some wearing cowboy hats and some not, that a phrase was coined in the early '90s called 'Hat Acts'. A couple of country singers that didn't wear cowboy hats actually went out on tour together as 'The No Hats Tour'. Ray's song exaggerated the hat trend as he sang of finding instant fame and wealth simply by wearing a hat while he sang. In concert he would wear a big foam cowboy hat while he sang that particular song. If you'd ever seen Ray Stevens in concert or if he's on a television show and he happens to sing "The Streak" one of the recurring sight gags is his wearing of a yellow CAT hat. This was the first Ray Stevens album to feature Ray wearing a CAT hat on the cover even though his wearing of that style of hat goes back to the 1970s. Ray performed "Power Tools" on an episode of The Statler Brothers Show and during that performance a pre-recorded clip of Ray acting out a portion of the song, in music video fashion, was aired. In that performance he's wearing a CAT hat. In 1992 the familiar photo on his Comedy Video Classics VHS shows Ray in a CAT hat as well. The performance from The Statler Brothers Show was uploaded onto YouTube in 2014 and I've embedded that performance below... 

Ray also has a limited animation music video of "Power Tools" available on YouTube. It's purely a coincidence that Ray's 1991 comedy album contains a song called "Power Tools"...in the fall of 1991 the sitcom, Home Improvement, debuted. That series was basically a spoof of the do-it-yourself home construction show, This Old House. The connecting theme in those two television shows and Ray's "Power Tools" is exaggerated machismo and do-it-yourself pride. Even though it's coincidental that "Power Tools" appears on Ray's 1991 comedy album it probably wasn't coincidental when Curb Records issued it as a single early in 1992 due to Home Improvement becoming wildly popular. The most eye-catching song on the 1991 comedy album is "Teenage Mutant Kung Fu Chickens". The song, just in case you didn't know, is a spoof of the animated cartoon series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Ray's song, however, tells the story of four chickens that grow up to become crime fighters after having gained super strength from drinking contaminated water near a nuclear power plant and watching Kung Fu movies most of their lives. Ray sang this song during an appearance on a Salute to the Troops special on CBS in 1991. An animated music video of that song is on YouTube, too, and I've embedded it below...

In the photo below I'm emulating the Ray Stevens pose, obviously. The album's closing song, "Workin' for the Japanese", was actually the first single release in 1991. In a move that can only be described as a cave-in to political correctness on the part of country radio programmers Ray's single was striking a chord with the public but because of the popularity that the song was obtaining it made advertisers nervous...fearing that some of the public would boycott products being sold on country radio stations if they played "Workin' for the Japanese"...and so the song was removed from playlists and pretty much unofficially banned from airplay. I refer to it as 'unofficially' because there wasn't any kind of official statement regarding the song from any country radio representative...it was simply a case of the song not getting anymore airplay...and as far as the singles charts go it was in the middle of the country chart at the time of it's abrupt removal from playlists. The song is quite harmless...it's about economics and how the American economy had become too dependent on the Japanese and how the American economy was growing more and more in danger of being overtaken, globally, by the Japanese when it came to manufacturing, technology, and education. In hindsight it's a song that addressed an uncomfortable truth, in 1991, but a truth that wasn't ready to be confronted/acknowledged by the political and economic leaders in place back then. I would also like to mention that the 1991 comedy album also features the debut of "Juanita and the Kids" which, years later, become a very popular music video on YouTube. A re-recorded rendition of "The Pirate Song" is on the 1991 album, too. 30 years later Ray Stevens is still number one to a lot of us. 

My Ray Stevens birthday post will be arriving tomorrow!! I'll likely begin writing it at some point after 11pm tonight...and then publish it after midnight when it turns January 24th.  

Ray Stevens audio clip: "Splish Splash"

Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! Yes, it's me once more and I'm going to be embedding Ray's 2012 recording of "Splish Splash". The song originated in 1958 and was a monster hit for a newcomer to pop music, Bobby Darin. The song was written by Bobby with a phrase suggested to him by radio disc jockey, Murray the K, which the disc jockey himself had gotten the phrase, 'Splish, Splash...I was takin' a bath...", from his mother. Bobby wrote the song and, as mentioned, it became a big hit in 1958. The novelty song had even crossed over and became a Top-10 Rhythm and Blues hit as well as a Country music hit. Ray recorded his version of the song for his Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. He performed it on an episode of his CabaRay Nashville television series...but that performance has yet to surface on YouTube. Ray does a great rendition of this classic Bobby Darin hit...and he even throws in a throaty, urgent vocal near the beginning of the song...reminiscent of numerous pop music artists of that era...and later on, Billy 'Crash' Craddock. So, now, get ready to "Splish Splash" as you've never splashed before...and make sure there's no soap on the floor!! 

Ray Stevens: September 1978 concert review...

Oh hello...I'm writing a second blog entry of the day and in this one I'm focusing on a September 1978 concert review that appeared in a publication called The Chattahoochee Magazine. The article/review, specifically, appeared on September 3, 1978 and it was written by an author named Whit Perry. The magazine, I assume, was sold as an extra feature within the newspaper being sold in Columbus, Georgia at the time. Regional TV Guides used to accompany the newspaper in this area and so I'm thinking The Chattahoochee Magazine was one of those kinds of publications. In case you're wondering I hadn't found out any information about the publication on-line so it must've been the kind of publication that I'm assuming it to be. I wouldn't have known of this publication's existence had it not been for a 1978 Ray Stevens concert review being shared on-line today through his social media sites. The review singles out a lot of things that took place during Ray's concert and the author shares some quotes from the stand-up comedy Ray interspersed into the concert. He notes how some of the lyrics are changed in the "Misty" performance. The author also provides a backstory of Ray's rise to fame and how "Ahab the Arab" made him a nationally known performer. The author writes of Ray's parents and brother greeting Ray once he walks off-stage and into the media area. The article, as mentioned, comes from a September 1978 publication and the thing that caught my eye is the caricatured illustration of Ray has him clean shaven. One would think the bearded look of Ray, as you see on the 1978 album Be Your Own Best Friend, would've been the most familiar Ray Stevens image when this article was published...but the artist chose a clean shaven depiction of Ray Stevens to accompany the article... 

The signature of the caricaturist is scribbled underneath the image and I can't figure out the artist's name...but the caricature of Ray Stevens sitting on Clyde the camel accompanies the concert review from September 1978. You can read the 1978 article/review when you visit Ray's Facebook PAGE. If you're reading this blog entry after January 14th then, of course, once you open Ray's Facebook page search for his January 14th posts and you'll come across The Chattahoochee Magazine images. When you click on the Facebook image, right click, and then select 'open image in new tab'. Once you do that you can magnify/enlarge the article and you can read what Whit Perry wrote. He dissects the entire concert and mentions that during a gospel music segment of the concert Ray makes mention of church groups he used to listen to and he spoke of people named Thurman and Virgil. This review coming in September 1978 that means it's several years before Ray recorded "The Dooright Family", in 1980, a satiric spoof of southern gospel performers. Yes, in that song, for those that haven't heard it, two of the characters are named Brother Thurman and Brother Virgil. So, for me, reading the concert review was a revelation. Also, the author mentions several songs Ray performed...including the elaborate performances of "Ahab the Arab" and "The Streak". The author mentions that Ray got the audience into fits of laughter at one point in the concert before turning abruptly serious with a performance of "Mr. Businessman". Interestingly the author never made mention of "Everything is Beautiful" being performed. He writes that Ray opened the show with "Can't Stop Dancin'" and closed the show with "Goodnight, Sweetheart" as an encore but didn't mention whether or not Ray sang "Everything is Beautiful". I'm sure Ray included it in his concerts at that time...but to not see it mentioned in a concert review is odd. Something else that caught my attention is there isn't any reference to Ray's 1976 Top-20 hit, "You Are So Beautiful", which I thought would've been part of the concert set-list during that period of Ray's career.

Ray was signed to Warner Brothers at the time of this concert...and within the concert review it was mentioned that Ray spoke of Flav-O-Rich, a dairy company that he was a spokesman for from the mid 1970s into the mid 1980s. Meanwhile, the caricature of Ray is very good in case I hadn't mentioned so already. It's difficult to find concert reviews of Ray from this period of his career. I've done all kinds of on-line searches during the last 10 plus years and occasionally I'll come across a stray concert review in the on-line archives of newspapers from the early or mid '70s or the mid '80s but that's about it. I rarely find a thorough concert review like the one Whit Perry authored in September 1978. 

Ray Stevens audio clip: "Cool Down Willard"...

One of the various comedy albums from Ray Stevens during the 1980's is an album called Crackin' Up. It's one of many entertaining comedy albums released by Ray and it's a song that should have been more well known considering the subject matter. The album, released in 1987, came on the heels of a single release earlier in the year, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?". The single became a hit as it tapped into the televangelist scandals going on...but music industry stories of that time period, however, feature interviews with Ray where he notes that the song's writers, Chet Atkins and Margaret Archer, had been writing the song months before the televangelist scandals started popping up all over the country. The single's B-side, "Cool Down Willard", focuses on Willard Scott. When the song was recorded Willard was almost exclusively known as the weatherman on The Today Show. In addition to Willard's on-air banter with the show's hosts or the average people he seemingly picked at random to speak on television he was also known for wishing people aged 100 and older a happy birthday. 

Willard became popular, nationally, through these appearances. He'd been a local radio personality for more than a decade prior to joining The Today Show in 1980. He co-hosted a radio comedy series with Ed Walker called The Jolly Boys before becoming involved with The Today Show. "Cool Down Willard" highlights Willard's personality and the things that made him popular as seen through the eyes of a man who's fed up with the way Willard has disrupted his family life. In the song Ray plays the role of a man who feels threatened and he feels that Willard comes on too strong, is overly flirtatious, and has all the women in a heated frenzy. The family apparently lives on a farm...considering in one part of the song Ray lashes out at Willard because instead of the women helping out with the chores in the morning they're glued to the television waiting on the weather reports. It's a hilarious song...and since it's about Willard Scott one would think it would've found an audience on it's own in 1987 given that it was the B-side of "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" but it never did. "Cool Down Willard" may find a much larger audience now...some 34 years later...since the audio's been uploaded onto Ray's official YouTube channel. 

Ray Stevens sings "Such a Night"...

Well, here I am once again and I'm writing a blog entry about Ray Stevens. Are you a serious collector of Ray Stevens music? I have a lot of vinyl albums, vinyl singles, cassette tapes, CDs, and digital downloads of Ray Stevens in my personal music collection. I also have several trinkets and memorabilia. I asked that question because the main topic of this blog entry is the Ray Stevens recording of "Such a Night". I should be a little more technical...it's a performance of "Such a Night". The recording happened in 1982 and it's on his studio album, Don't Laugh Now. The album came at a time when Ray was intentionally focusing on the serious, ballad side of his recording career. It's something he had always focused on during the majority of his recording career...but he would eventually market himself comedy beginning in 1984. He would continue, every so often, to release serious recordings...he even does so to this day...but from 1984 onward the comedy aspect of his recording career has dominated. 

The video comes from a concert he gave in 2015 during what was billed as the Here We Go Again! tour. He had released his memoir the previous year and if I recall correctly you could have your book autographed after the concert during the photograph/autograph session. The tour was named after his comedy album that year...the one that features "Taylor Swift is Stalking Me" on it. "Such a Night" is typically what Ray opens his concerts with. I don't know how long it's been his opening number...he performed it at the couple of concerts I've been fortunate enough to attend. The song goes back to the rock and roll sounds of the 1950s...and when you hear the music arrangement you'll discover it immediately. One of Ray's favorite rhythm and blues groups, The Drifters, recorded the song in 1953 and that's the rendition Ray likely became familiar with. Their rendition was issued in January 1954 and it eventually climbed into the Top-10 of the Rhythm and Blues chart. Ray often makes a point to specify that he was influenced by The Drifters when the lead singer was Clyde McPhatter, a singer who also previously recorded with another rhythm and blues group, The Dominoes, that Ray has previously cited as an influence (along side Ray Charles, Hank Williams, Spike Jones, and The Coasters). Johnny Ray had a number one with "Such a Night" in England in 1954. Elvis Presley recorded his version of the song in 1960 and had a hit with it, too. The song's been recorded by numerous recording artists over the years. Ray titled one of his DVD releases, Such a Night: 50 Years of Hits and Hilarity. Yes, the opening number of the concert was "Such a Night". 

The concert footage was taped at The Welk Theater in Branson, Missouri in 2010. The title of the DVD was in reference to 2010 being the 50th anniversary of the Ray Stevens novelty single, "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon", which had become the first single of Ray's to attract national attention. He had been recording since 1957 but in 1960 "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" had began gaining traction as a regional hit...and as it gained national momentum it also attracted the lawyers of King Features Syndicate, the company that owned the rights to the character 'Sgt. Preston', and they threatened a lawsuit if the record company, NRC, didn't pull all copies of the song off the market. The single was charting nationally just below Billboard magazine's Hot 100...there used to be a 25 position chart filled with songs that hadn't broken into the national music scene, yet, and the songs were said to be Bubbling Under the Hot 100 if they made an appearance there...the near-hit in 1960 inspired him to focus on novelty material to gain national attention and so he did! However, as the video above demonstrates, Ray Stevens sings any type of music. 

Ray Stevens audio clip: "She Loves Elvis Better Than Me"...

Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! I know it's been several days since I'd written a fan created blog entry but I've been on-line...like most of the country I've been emotionally sorting through the aftermath of what took place this past Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol and all of the images that surfaced and all of the talk and chatter that's surfaced on television and on-line since then. In my previous blog entry I shared the video clip of Ray Stevens singing "Nashville" on his locally syndicated PBS series. Since that time Ray has uploaded several video clips on his YouTube channel. He uploaded a video clip of Deanna Carter singing "You and Tequila" as well as a clip of John Rich singing "The Good Lord and the Man". I'll be embedding those video clips in future blog entries. The one I'm embedding in this entry is an audio clip of Ray's 1997 recording, "She Loves Elvis Better Than Me". Ray has recorded several songs featuring Elvis as a subject such as "I Saw Elvis in a U.F.O.", "Mama's in the Sky With Elvis", and an audio I shared recently called "King of Christmas". In a 1962 recording called "The Rock and Roll Show" Ray gives an exaggerated Elvis-type vocalization to a rocker called Tommy Jimmy. In the 1997 recording Ray plays the role of a husband who has to resort to becoming Elvis Presley, literally, in order to have any kind of a relationship with his own wife. The song, as you can see, comes from his 1997 comedy album, Hum It. This is the album that also features "Virgil and the Moonshot" and "Too Drunk To Fish"...two songs whose music videos have been seen on-line by millions. It also contains the marvelous "I'll Be in Atlanta", "R.V.", and a duet with J.D. Sumner, "Mama Sang Bass". Comedy and humor is perfect for some mental escape from the seemingly bleak day-to-day happenings...

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville performance: "Nashville"...

Hello all...uploaded a couple of days ago on the Ray Stevens YouTube channel was his performance of the song, "Nashville". Ray wrote this song in the early '70s and according to interviews he'd written it while on something of an extensive tour overseas and he'd become homesick. When you listen to the song you'll hear how the lyrics point out all the marvels in the world and the places he's seen but his heart keeps going back home to "Nashville". The song was a Country Top-40 hit for Ray in 1973 and there was an album released the same year from Ray by that name. Ray performed the song on national television, at least once, during this early '70s time period when he guest starred on a show called Dean Martin Presents Music: Country. Fast-forward 40 years...in 2013 Ray releases a music video of "Nashville" with updated lyrics to reflect modern-day Music City, U.S.A. and then the following year his memoir, titled Ray Stevens' Nashville, is released. After the release of the book in 2014 and following the subsequent book signing tour Ray informed the fans that there would soon be a television show in the works called Ray Stevens' Nashville. This series made it's debut in November 2015. The theme song includes lyrics from "Nashville" while Bill Cody can be heard announcing who that episode's guest star happens to be. Bill appears on camera at the start of each episode to introduce Ray Stevens...usually with a one-liner added in to keep the atmosphere of the show upbeat. Here's Ray performing "Nashville" in an episode of the television show...

The show aired on RFD-TV from November 2015 until December 2016. Earlier in March of 2016 ground was broken in West Nashville...news surfaced that Ray was building a brand new music venue at that property. The early reports indicated that it would be a showroom that would contain an intimate concert setting, dinner service, a piano bar, gift shop, and photos and awards from Ray's lengthy career would fill the walls. It was reportedly going to be called CabaRay, deliberately spelled like that as a reference to Ray's name. The construction faced a lengthy delay from a local zoning department and a building permit wasn't granted until midway through 2016. Ray was hoping to have the showroom built and ready to go by early 2017. Meanwhile, in January 2017, the television series began airing on local PBS affiliates nationwide and it's title changed to Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. The CabaRay showroom had it's grand opening early in 2018.

The original package of PBS shows consisted of the 26 episodes that had previously aired on RFD-TV and then after those had aired then the local PBS affiliates would start airing brand-new episodes in June 2017. There had been 26 episodes produced throughout 2016-2017 and then additional episodes were taped in separate recording sessions in 2017 and early 2018. In total there were 52 half hour episodes produced for local PBS affiliates. In January 2019 RFD-TV brought back Ray's television show, in addition to a separate sketch-driven series called Rayality TV, to the airwaves. Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville continued airing on local PBS affiliates during this time. In early November of 2019 RFD-TV abruptly removed Ray's television show from it's Saturday primetime line-up followed soon after by the removal of Rayality TV, which had been airing on Friday in a late afternoon timeslot. Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville continues airing on local PBS affiliates scattered across the country but Rayality TV hadn't been seen since late 2019. If you're a television programmer for a local PBS station and you're wanting or looking for some wholesome, non-threatening entertainment to fill the airwaves add his half hour television show to your line-up in 2021! 

Ray Stevens: Freddie's still Funky at 55...

Well, hello once more...in this blog entry we take a look at a novelty song from Ray Stevens that was released 55 years ago in 1966. If you notice I always select even numbered years whenever I go to write a blog entry spotlighting an anniversary of a song or an album. This time around it's even number 55 as in 55 years. "Freddie Feelgood" is one of those songs that I routinely abbreviate it's title. Ray has several novelty songs with extra long titles and so I typically shorten the titles when I'm writing. This time around the full length song title is "Freddie Feelgood and His Funky Little Five Piece Band". I feel that there's no need in writing the song title in it's entirety...those of you that are longtime fans of Ray Stevens oughta know the song I'm referring to and you don't necessarily need to see the song's lengthy title written out. Those of you that are newcomers to Ray's music you'll be able to find video content here or on YouTube by simply searching 'Freddie Feelgood' or 'Ray Stevens + Freddie Feelgood' in the search results. The novelty song is all about a rhythm and blues combo and with the exception of the piano playing Ray vocally mimics all the other instruments in Freddie's band: drums, bass guitar, trombone, and trumpet. The scat singing of Yum-Yum is a highlight as is Ray's vocalization of the trumpet (the instrument Freddie plays). The single made it onto the pop Hot 100 in June of 1966 for a very brief appearance...and it wasn't heard from again until 1969 when it was placed on Ray's Gitarzan comedy album. That particular album had audience laughter and as a result of this the 1966 recording had laughter added to it so it would fit in with the rest of the recordings on that 1969 album. The same was true for another 1966 novelty single from Ray titled "Bagpipes That's My Bag"...it had laughter added to it when it appeared on the 1969 Gitarzan album. Since the early '70s when Barnaby Records purchased the master copies of Ray's Monument recordings nearly all future compilation albums released on Ray Stevens have included the 1969 copy of "Freddie Feelgood" with the laughter. I was raised hearing the copy from Gitarzan and so years later when I heard the single release from 1966 and heard no laughter at all, well, it felt strange not hearing the laughter/applause. 

Ray performed the song on his 1970 summer show and with the help of camera tricks and post-production special effects magic he was able to appear multiple times on the television screen. I'll be embedding the 1970 television performance and the official music video from 1999...

In the screen cap below Ray is seated at one of his various red pianos. The red piano became something of an identity for Ray going back to his years in Branson, Missouri. In fact, 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of his former music theater's grand opening. He performed at the theater for three seasons (1991, 1992, and 1993) and then he rented the theater to a production called Country Tonight. This production remained at Ray's theater throughout the rest of the 1990s and into the mid 2000s. The executives at Country Tonight shut down their program in 2003. Ray spent the remainder of 2003 and 2004 overseeing the theater as construction crews set about removing signage and logo's affiliated with the Country Tonight program. The interior was renovated and, according to Ray's memoir, new carpet was laid down with the goal to have it feel like the The Ray Stevens Theater of the early 1990s with some added features (like a huge remote control gorilla that would raise from the floor).  

Ray's grand re-opening of his Branson theater took place in 2005 and he remained a concert attraction there until the end of the 2006 tourist season...upon which he sold the property to RFD-TV. A decade later, 2016, the property was purchased from RFD-TV by businessmen from Pigeon Forge...but getting back to "Freddie Feelgood" and his funky little 55th anniversary...

Unlike the performance of "Freddie Feelgood" on the 1970 summer show which no doubt tested the abilities of the computer graphics department this 1999 music video was probably a whole lot more easier to make by comparison...but this music video features a lot of neat special effects and quick edits. Ray, for example, appears in front of five differently dressed versions of himself. Even after all this time I still have no idea how they put this music video together. I've never bothered to ask but I'm sure computer whiz's out there no doubt know how the video was put together. Here we have five versions of Ray Stevens dressed in red, side by side, and then in the foreground we have a sixth Ray Stevens in a suit singing the song to us. It's a hilarious music video as one could imagine so I know you're going to enjoy it as you did the summer 1970 video clip!    

Ray Stevens: Last Chance at 40...

Hello once again all you fans of Ray Stevens!! I'm spotlighting an album that Ray Stevens released in 1981 which reaches 40 this year. That year in country music was dominated by the Urban Cowboy influence...the Urban Cowboy movie had been released in 1980 and it set off a massive explosion of country music appeal to a wider pop audience. Country music had adopted pop sensibilities prior to 1980 when you consider the fact that the concept of the syndicated television show, Pop! Goes the Country, was centered around the pop influences in country music...and that series debuted in 1974...so by 1981 there had been a gradual shift in how the music was being marketed. Pop! Goes the Country, by the way, was hosted by Ralph Emery (1974-1980) and then Tom T. Hall (1980-1982). The Urban Cowboy movie and everything that followed was in it's prime, you might say, into 1981. A lot of country music artists were going places that country singers hadn't been before...it catapulted Mickey Gilley, a country singer who'd had a string of hits since the early '70s, into super-star status. His honky-tonk bar, Gilley's, was the main setting for the Urban Cowboy movie and he had several scenes in the film as did Johnny Lee and other country music artists. The album cover can be found in my pictorial time-line off to the side of the blog page.   

Ray Stevens adapted to the Urban Cowboy craze, a little bit, and this album is one that I've always referred to as his contribution to early '80s Urban Cowboy sentiments. The music is wonderful but so is the photography on the album and the design. The visuals, as you can see, fit in perfectly with the honky-tonk, cowboy, bar room romanticism that was taking place in the aftermath of the Urban Cowboy film. Although this fine, ballad heavy album emerged in 1981 it included a song that had already been released as a single by Ray in the fall of 1980...a single that climbed into the Country Top-20 in the latter half of 1980, "Night Games". The hit song is all about a couple who meet in a single's bar and decide to have a one-night stand...but there's no love or passion between the two come the dawn. Ray tells us that in spite of the couple having fun, and being lost in the thrill of what the night would bring, we're told it's simply part of the routine...the couple go their separate ways with the hope of finding the right person back inside the bar where all the 'grown-up kids' play their "Night Games". The steel guitar players on this 1981 album are Larry Sasser and Hal Rugg. However, the two legendary steel guitarists aren't specified as to which songs they played the steel guitar on...the mystery thickens as this album included a lot more steel guitar than any previous or any upcoming Ray Stevens album. "Night Games" featured steel guitar as did the title track, "One More Last Chance", and "Let's Do It Right This Time". The love ballad title track features a great combination of steel guitar and electric guitar taking turns with lengthy instrumentation. 

That's the photo of Ray Stevens that appears on the back of the album for those that aren't familiar with this 1981 release. I've often half-jokingly suggested that Ray's plea for "One More Last Chance" must've been rewarded because he's giving us a big grin and he's wearing the cowboy hat that the woman was wearing on the front of the album. Did you know that Ray recorded his version of a pop classic for this album? The song, "Pretend", had previously been recorded by a whole host of recording artists. Nat King Cole had a big hit with it as a ballad. Carl Mann had a hit with a rock and roll version. Ray's take on the song is partially up-tempo like Carl Mann's but instead of having a distinctive rock and roll sound to it, like Carl's, the Ray Stevens arrangement features a lot of trumpets...a whole lot of trumpets. Ray put a lot of life into his rendition of the song. Once "Pretend" reaches it's end you'll think you just left the bullfights in Madrid, Spain. I wish there was an audio clip of Ray's version of the song on-line so I could share the great rendition with those that more than likely haven't heard it. This 1981 album was issued on RCA Records. "Night Games" closes out the album while the title track, "One More Last Chance", opens the album. The title track hit the Country Top-40 early in 1981...but for the rest of the year no other songs from the album were issued as singles. Ray was keeping busy as a touring artist and appearing on numerous television shows. It was in 1981 that Ray guest starred in several episodes of the soap opera, Texas. He played himself and in one of the episodes he sang "One More Last Chance". The video footage of his soap opera appearance used to be on-line in the mid 2000's but it's long since been taken off-line. I used to have screen-caps but those were on a different computer. I think his Texas guest appearance was the only time Ray Stevens sang "One More Last Chance" on television. In addition to his guest appearance on the soap opera he also lent his talents to the movie, Cannonball Run. Ray wrote and sang two songs for the movie: "Cannonball", the movie's theme song, and the love ballad, "Just For the Hell Of It". The 1981 One More Last Chance album contains 10 songs...as mentioned earlier it's a ballad heavy album. There is only one song that would qualify as legitimately up-tempo. There are a couple mid-tempo songs but the rest are ballads. The album is outstanding but it remains only available on eBay in vinyl format and once in awhile it'll become available in cassette format on eBay but it's never been issued on CD or on any on-line digital music store: 

1. One More Last Chance

2. Just About Love

3. Certain Songs

4. Melissa

5. I Believe You Love Me

6. Pretend

7. It's Not All Over

8. Let's Do It Right This Time

9. Take Your Love

10. Night Games

Ray Stevens: Hello 2021...

Oh let me be among the many that have said hello 2021 and goodbye 2020!! My first blog entry of the New Year finds me browsing over my on-line collection of Ray Stevens photos. I'd also like to take a moment to make it clear that this is a fan created blog page devoted to all things Ray Stevens. I write it and put it all together. I am not affiliated with Ray's inner circle even though you'll find my commentary on several social media sites that the Ray Stevens staff operate. I'd also like to mention that this is a blog page with a appreciation for the music of Ray Stevens. Some sites out there may feature a song or two from Ray that they found on YouTube but no blog out there is this detailed or this specific. Also, if you're new to this blog, if you read my other blog entries over the years you'll come to the realization rather quickly that this isn't a critical blog page. Appreciation, respect, love, admiration, and enthusiasm for Ray's music is a top priority here...as is my desire to provide detailed, accurate information about his career and music. If you're wanting to read hateful and horrible things directed at Ray or if you're wanting to make fun of his music, show him disrespect and be dismissive, and, or, engage in troll-like behavior then this blog isn't for you! On the other hand...if you love the music of Ray Stevens and are entertained by his choice of songs and his folksy, down-home demeanor then this blog is for you! If you only know the names of a couple of songs or have heard things about Ray but you want to find out more information then this blog is for you! 

The pictorial time-line that runs along side the blog page features years I've chosen at random. There are a lot of gaps between years...I decided to compile the time-line in that fashion, deliberately, because I didn't want every single year represented by a photo. Search the archives (dating back to 2008) and you're bound to find everything you ever wanted to know about the legendary Ray Stevens. I have zero patience with those who dislike Ray Stevens. I'm sure anyone reading this isn't surprised by that statement. He's a very good entertainer, most definitely you know him as a singer but yet he's also a highly skilled musician, a music arranger, record producer, music publisher, and comedian...and after reading all of that if you still don't think he is versatile then you don't know the definition of versatile.

I don't think Ray will make any kind of announcement of new music on the way, yet. It's January 1, 2021 and so I think whatever project he'll be putting out this year will turn up in the not too distant future. I think he might issue something new...either an album or a music video...no later than spring. Like a lot of you I get excited about every new release from Ray Stevens...and once official word comes along that something's going to get released the excitement turns into desire.  

The pandemic defined 2020...and nearly 2.7 million have seen "The Quarantine Song" music video that Ray Stevens released on YouTube. The exact unique view count is 2,691,121. The Country Music Hall of Fame member later issued an Mp3 of the song through Curb Records. In 1974 a lot of historians like to say that was the year of streaking. "The Streak" sold five million copies for Ray Stevens worldwide...and the streaking fad is forever linked to Ray's 1974 song. On a more serious note a global pandemic created it's share of pop-culture reaction in 2020 and at the center of it, as far as this blog is concerned, is the one and only Ray Stevens with "The Quarantine Song"...