Ray Stevens: Arrangement, Production, Action...

Hello all Ray Stevens fans!! The title of this blog entry seems quaint but it took me several minutes to come up with a title such as that. I was thinking to myself 'lights, camera, action!' and how could I come up with a similar phrase...and after a couple of minutes I came up with 'arrangement, production, action!'. I title the blog entry as such because I wanted to spotlight Ray Stevens, the music arranger. Music arrangement is something that most recording artists leave to studio musicians or a record producer. When you're Ray Stevens, though, the art of music arranging goes hand in hand with production. The construction of a song begins, usually, with the lyrics and then music comes second. This isn't a set in stone rule, though...sometimes music is written first and lyrics come later. A music arranger determines the instrumentation and tempo of a song...and in the second half of the 20th century most recording artists weren't writers or composers...and so the technical aspects of creating a song went by with little notice. If you happened to purchase sheet music, for example, the composer and lyricist were credited as was the recording artist. Ray happens to his own producer and music arranger...and he wrote most of his songs until the mid 1980s...and so if you purchased sheet music of one of his songs from the late '60s or '70s you'd see him credited as the artist, writer, producer, arranger, and publisher. 

Ray's music arranging talents are on full display on just about everything he's recorded since the mid 1960s. He even worked as a music arranger throughout the 1960s on recordings by other artists. There are numerous songs recorded on Monument Records that feature Ray's arranging skills...but his arranging wasn't limited to just Monument Records. He produced and arranged recordings on Mercury Records, RCA Records, and a variety of low-budget record labels. When Ray was working as an arranger and session musician in Nashville during the 1960s his bosses were: Shelby Singleton (Mercury); Jerry Kennedy (Mercury/Smash); Fred Foster (Monument); and Chet Atkins (RCA). I'm sure Ray did some session work and, or, arranged songs for the recording artists at Columbia (headed up by Don Law) and perhaps Decca (headed up by Owen Bradley) but for the most part whenever I come across a vinyl single online from another recording artist which credits Ray Stevens as the song's writer or music arranger the producer is usually Shelby Singleton, Jerry Kennedy, Fred Foster, or Chet Atkins. There isn't any kind of list that features the songs Ray Stevens has written, produced, or arranged for other recording artists. I'm always coming across songs that Ray participated in throughout the 1960s. 

I've never really set down and tried to compile a list of songs he's written, produced, or arranged for other artists because if I'd attempt to do such a thing I'd obviously not be able to track down each and every recording and so a list like that would always be incomplete. Also, some record companies don't credit the music arrangers. I found out today, for example, that Ray did the arranging on two Willie Nelson recordings in 1968. One of the songs is called "Did I Ever Love You?" and the other is called "Down To Our Last Goodbye". The two songs come from a 1968 Willie Nelson album on RCA called Good Times. The album was produced by Chet Atkins and Felton Jarvis. Since it's the birthday of Willie Nelson today (he reaches 88) Ray posted an audio clip of "Down To Our Last Goodbye". If there wasn't any attention drawn to those songs or that 1968 album I wouldn't have known of Ray's involvement. "Did I Ever Love You?" has a sort of bouncy arrangement with a decidedly Nashville Sound pop flavor. Those two songs are on YouTube...and Ray gave "Down To Our Last Goodbye" a soft arrangement...both of these songs go up against Willie's distinctive vocals as you could imagine. The music, however, isn't up front and so it doesn't drown out his voice...or make it seem like he's having to compete with the instrumentation.

One of the songs on Ray's current digital album, Slow Dance, is his rendition of "Slow Dancing". Ray re-arranged the song to fit his style...now this doesn't mean that he's turned it into a comedy song. There are actually some people online that are assuming that Ray's current recordings are going to be comedy songs. A comment I came across weeks ago from somebody that hadn't purchased the digital album yet had him wondering how funny Ray will make these songs. Although customers can play audio samples of the songs on Amazon so they can hear a snippet of how they'll sound it's clear that some people don't do that and they automatically think 'comedy' when they see Ray Stevens. Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, and Slow Dance are all serious...as is the album he's releasing next month, Nouveau Retro. The albums put his music arranging skills on full display. He doesn't re-create the original performances of the songs he's chosen to record...he creates entirely different performances through his re-arrangements. Here's the Curb Records audio clip of "Slow Dance"...

Ray Stevens: "Rebel Rouser" by Duane Eddy on CabaRay Nashville...

Hello all of you Ray Stevens fans! In a bit of a break from promoting Ray's digital albums I'm embedding a brief interview Ray conducted with Duane Eddy and a performance by him from an episode of CabaRay Nashville. If you're familiar with Ray's television series you'll know that the guests sing two songs. In between the two performances from the guest is an interview portion. Ray previously uploaded Duane Eddy performing "Forty Miles of Bad Road" from this episode and just recently the performance of "Rebel Rouser" was uploaded onto YouTube. Duane is a year older than Ray and celebrated a birthday yesterday which is why the video clip of "Rebel Rouser" was uploaded. In the interview Ray and Duane speak of record producer Lee Hazlewood. Duane is joined in the performance by Ray's resident saxophonist, Denis Solee. Just in case you don't know...Duane is known for a distinctive, twangy sound on the guitar. This sound set him apart from other guitarists. If you're familiar with Ray's earlier recordings on Mercury Records then you might recall his 1962 novelty song entitled "The Rock and Roll Show". One of the fictional rock artists in that recording was a guitarist named Wayne Twang...an obvious parody of Duane Eddy's guitar style.

Ray Stevens audio clip: "Dream"...

Well, as mentioned in my previous blog entry, I'm back with another audio clip from the current Ray Stevens digital album, Slow Dance. This time around I'm spotlighting "Dream". When I was looking over my review of the digital album I noticed that I never even made mention of "Dream" at all. Instead of going in and editing my review I've decided to just compose a blog entry with an audio clip of the song. "Dream" goes back to 1944 and it's from the pen of Johnny Mercer. Research shows that the song was written as a theme song for a radio program starring the songwriter. It was a summer replacement program for Bob Hope's radio show. Frank Sinatra recorded the song as did a series of other pop artists of the time period (mid to late 1940s). A group called The Pied Pipers issued a recording of "Dream" in 1945. Frank Sinatra recorded it a second time in 1960. Ella Fitzgerald recorded a version in 1964 with a jazzy flavor underneath Nelson Riddle orchestrations. Numerous other crooner-style pop singers did renditions of the song...songwriter Johnny Mercer is synonymous with The Great American Songbook. Now, in April 2021, it's Ray Stevens turn with "Dream". I've only heard the renditions of "Dream" from Frank Sinatra and the recording by Ella Fitzgerald...I wanted to hear how their version of the song sounded. Ray's rendition benefits from modern technology and his arranging style...the kinds of instruments heard in his recording are vastly different from the Sinatra and Ella recordings and his has a more urgent vocalization compared to the more softer Frank Sinatra 1940's vocal delivery. 

Ray Stevens audio clip: "Stardust"...

Hello all the fans of Ray Stevens!! Some of you no doubt have purchased Slow Dance or have listened to the audio clips on YouTube. I'm embedding Ray's rendition of "Stardust" in this blog entry. In some of my previous blog entries I wrote about the history of "Stardust" and mentioned the music was composed by Hoagy Carmichael in 1927. Lyrics for the song came from Mitchell Parish a couple of years later. I'm sure some of you have heard bits and pieces of "Stardust" all your lives...the melody is very familiar so I'm certain once you hear it you'll say to yourselves 'oh, that's Stardust!!!'. As I remarked in my review of Slow Dance this is one of the songs that Ray lets loose with a high note and it'll arrive when you're not expecting it, perhaps. Ray puts everything into this song and to all of the songs on this digital album.    

Slow Dance, at this hour, is still among the Top-100 digital albums on the Country New Releases list over on Amazon. Great Country Ballads also remains in the same Top-100 as Slow Dance. I'll be sharing more audio clips as the days go by. I, along with the rest of you, don't know if Ray will be doing anymore interviews...he could hold off on doing them until June when the CD box set is released but then again he could participate in an interview next week and we'll all love to hear what he has to say. Some of the interviews that I recently shared in my blog entries were mostly about his digital album released last month, Melancholy Fescue.   

Ray Stevens: My Review of "Slow Dance"...

This is such a grand album and right off the bat we're treated to the swaying rendition of "Only You", a former hit for The Platters. Ray hits similar notes in this recording that rival his 1975 recording of "Indian Love Call", for example. This opening track sets the stage for the entire digital album. Track two, "Unforgettable", has Ray bringing in his famed harmony singers to repeat numerous passages but it isn't in the vein of a Gladys Knight and the Pips style. Ray continues the soft sounds and lush arrangements heard in "Only You" in his rendition of the "Unforgettable" Nat King Cole classic. Ray, no stranger to vocal over-dubbing, creates harmony vocals in his own voice and it shows up near the end of the recording...and this is in addition to the harmony from the female back-up. On Track three Ray combines the song, "Make Believe", with the Conway Twitty hit "It's Only Make Believe". The first half of the medley originated in the musical, Showboat. Ray doesn't attempt to match Conway or keep the same arrangement...Ray interprets the song, vocally, like any number of pop music crooners and the music is in line with the sound heard in the first two tracks. Ray does, however, conclude the medley with a dramatic finish. The arrangement and instrumentation heard in the first two tracks of the digital album, as mentioned, sets the stage for Slow Dance. There are solos of the saxophone in several recordings. The arrangements found on this digital album aren't in the same manner heard in Great Country Ballads but they're of the same family...if that makes any sense. Ray covers The Platters a second time on this digital album with "The Great Pretender". He re-arranged the song...from the instrumentation and the phrasing...so there isn't any vocal gymnastics that were found in the original. Ray croons the song and so the performance matches the feel that Ray is going for. 

"I'll See You In My Dreams" had previously been recorded by Doris Day and then Pat Boone...and that slow ballad leads into Ray's equally wonderful rendition of "Slow Dancing". That song became popular through a recording by Johnny Rivers but as a child in the 1980's and in a family that listened to country music I was way more familiar of "Slow Dancing" by Johnny Duncan. Ray sings "Slow Dancing" as a straight ahead love ballad...he doesn't do the narration that Johnny Duncan has on his recording...but Ray does a great job on it, I think. "Slow Dancing" ties into the album's title, Slow Dance.

If you're a longtime fan of Ray Stevens, as I am, or if you've followed his career since the 1960s then you may be aware of a 1967 recording on Monument Records called "Answer Me, My Love". The song was only released on a single-only and didn't appear anywhere until a mid 1990's CD release of his 1968 studio album, Even Stevens. The track on this digital album called "Answer Me" is the same song that Ray recorded in 1967. Now, given that we're in 2021, this updated "Answer Me" features entirely new instrumentation and a slightly different phrasing and tempo than his 1967 recording did. 

If you're a recording artist and are wanting to cover songs from a certain time period in pop music or you are doing an album filled with songs from what's called The Great American Songbook chances are you'll do a version of "Stardust". That particular ballad originated in 1927 from Hoagy Carmichael...lyrics written by Mitchell Parish. The song had been recorded by numerous artists throughout the late '20s and into the '50s. The song was revived several more times in the 1960s but then country singer Willie Nelson recorded it and named one of his albums after the song. That 1978 album of pop standards from Willie would spend 10 years on the country album chart. "Stardust" has been recorded several more times since then by other recording artists and with Slow Dance we have Ray Stevens adding his rendition of "Stardust" to the long list of versions that have come before. 

Ray follows "Stardust" with his rendition of "As Usual" which had been a hit for one of his long-time friends, Brenda Lee, in 1964.

Ray had previously released a salute to Frank Sinatra in 2008. I bring this up because track eleven on Slow Dance is "This Is All I Ask" which Frank Sinatra previously recorded...from the pen of Gordon Jenkins...and Ray packs it with an almost power ballad approach...pushing all the right emotive buttons you could think of. Now, not to be outdone, is the closing song...the iconic "What a Wonderful World". Ray keeps the soft, lush arrangement throughout. In the back of my mind, before I'd heard Ray's version, I thought that he might slip in a brief vocal impression of Louis Armstrong but he kept it straight and didn't veer off into doing that. Slow Dance is everything I had hoped it would be. I wasn't sure how he was going to arrange most of these songs but he updated them considerably and changed the phrasing on several so as to not be a carbon copy of the originals. When I'd found out that "Slow Dancing" was among the songs on this album I tried to hear Ray narrate parts of the song the way Johnny Duncan did but, as mentioned, Ray by-passed that technique and sang the song without including narration. The album's photo ties into his television series, CabaRay Nashville. Ray always asks someone in the audience to dance with him as an instrumental of "Everything is Beautiful" plays in the background as the credits roll. 

I can't wait to hear the fourth digital album Ray Stevens is scheduled to release...that one will hit in late May. I'll be adding YouTube video content of audio clips from Slow Dance in the hours and days ahead.   

Ray Stevens: Slow Dance on Amazon's Top-100...

I did a quick look over on Amazon's New Releases list and seen that Slow Dance from Ray Stevens is, at this hour, sitting in the Top-20. It's a list of the Top-100 best selling New Releases in the digital Country format. Ray's first digital album this year, Great Country Ballads, also remains on the Top-100 over there on Amazon. When I was writing my previous blog entry about Slow Dance I had Amazon's Top-100 list open in another tab and had seen that it was in the Country Top-20 but rather than make mention of it in passing in my previous blog entry I decided to write a new blog entry spotlighting it's appearance on the New Releases list. Why? Well, it's newsworthy/noteworthy in my opinion, and this is a fan created blog entry all about Ray Stevens and so why not provide that sort of information? In my previous blog entry I mentioned Ray offered commentary about this digital album. It's over on his Facebook page. He also posted it on his other social media pages. I haven't pasted the commentaries here. I'll probably wait until the CD copies are released in the box set in June and in my review/overview of that release I'll paste all of his commentaries in that blog entry. Have you purchased Slow Dance yet? Have you listened to any of the audio clips on YouTube? Some of my favorites from that album are "Only You", "Stardust", and "Slow Dancing".

Ray Stevens: "Slow Dance" on sale now...

Well now, all of the fans of Ray Stevens, we've reached release day of Slow Dance!! I purchased my copy real early this morning...some point before 1am. Since it's only available as an Mp3 digital download I can't pose with a photo of the actual album which is why I've been posting the promotional images in these blog entries. However, in June, the box set Iconic Songs of the 20th Century will be released. This box set will contain CD copies of the digital albums that Ray has been releasing during the first half of the year. Once I get the CD copies of these albums I'll be placing them in a blog entry review of the box set when it arrives in June.

I purchased my copy of the digital album over on Amazon. I've listened to the 12 songs twice...once in my Amazon music library and a second time over on YouTube. Curb Records, as they did with the previous two digital albums, have uploaded all 12 songs onto YouTube. Also, as he did with the previous two digital albums, he's provided some commentary about the release and why he wanted to record the songs. The promotional photo, as you see, has Ray dancing with an unidentified partner with a rose in their hand. As I pointed out in a previous blog entry this photo likely comes from one of the closing scenes from his television series, CabaRay Nashville. Ray asks an audience member to dance with him to close out each episode while an instrumental of "Everything is Beautiful" plays in the background. I don't know if the partner in that photo is an actual audience member from the television show or if she's part of Ray's music company and was asked to pose with him for the album cover. Once I listen to Slow Dance a couple more times I'll be writing a review. I will say that based on listening to the album twice the songs I'll be highlighting are "This Is All I Ask", "Stardust", "Slow Dancing", and a couple of others. You can purchase your copy of Slow Dance over on Amazon by clicking HERE. If you'd rather listen to them on YouTube simply search for 'Ray Stevens + Slow Dance' and all of the uploads from the digital album will show up in the search results.

Ray Stevens: "Great Country Ballads" returns to Amazon's Top-100...

Hello all once again! As I've mentioned several times this year I'm not keeping day-to-day track of where Ray's digital albums are placing among Amazon's Top-100. Those lists are updated every hour. Every so often I'll go and look and make a note of it...and today is one of those days. Ray's previous digital album, Great Country Ballads, as you can see, has returned to the Top-100 on Amazon's best selling New Releases list. I don't know how long a CD or digital album has to be available before it's no longer called a New Release...but having said that I was surprised to see Great Country Ballads make such a return considering Melancholy Fescue is the one that's been on and off the Amazon Top-100 lately. Great Country Ballads was the first of four digital albums being released this year by Ray Stevens on Curb Records. It was released late in February. Last month Melancholy Fescue arrived and in a couple of days the third digital album, Slow Dance, will make it's online debut. A lot of you already know most of the things I blog about but there's always going to be some segment of any recording artist's fanbase who are much more reactive than pro-active. By this I mean some fans wait until their favorite singer puts out new songs or makes an announcement of an upcoming album on the way...and then there's the pro-active fans who initiate contact with a singer's social media pages and ask questions about this or that...hoping to get a heads up on future activity/releases long before there's any sort of announcement made to the general public. I wouldn't consider myself any kind of insider but I do attempt to be pro-active and promote Ray's music and career in my own kind of way. I often don't wait until a press release hits the internet...if I'm curious about something I'll send messages to his official website or social media accounts rather than wait around and be reactive. Since I write a fan created blog about the music and career of Ray Stevens you pretty much can't be reactive...you prefer to be pro-active...and blog about the latest happenings, in real time, rather than blog about it half a week, or, two weeks after the news broke. Now that I've given some unsolicited advice here's an audio clip of one of the songs from Great Country Ballads...a country standard called "I Can't Help It If I'm Still in Love With You" done in an entirely different way from the Hank Williams rendition most people are familiar with...

Ray Stevens: Two Days until "Slow Dance"...

As mentioned in my April 15th blog entry, Slow Dance is fast approaching. Now we're just two days until the release of the digital album. This is the third of four new digital albums Ray's been releasing this year and like the previous two this one includes 12 songs. The first release concentrated on country music songs, the second release concentrated mostly on pop/rock and roll songs re-arranged in a bluegrass delivery, this third release will concentrate on pop music standards...and based on a brief audio clip of "Unforgettable" the music arrangement was different but the tempo remained the same...but that's based only on a brief audio clip posted on his Facebook page. The photos of Ray on the previous two releases originated in his CabaRay showroom. The photo that appears on the Slow Dance release resembles the kind of dance that closes out each episode of his CabaRay Nashville television show. It may have been taken during the recording of an episode...with her back to the camera it's hard to tell who it is...it may be the show's syndicator or someone within the show's production staff. The reason the television show closes with Ray dancing with a member of the audience, if I recall correctly, is in reference to his years in high school performing at sock hops and other dances. The concerts would always end with a slow dance and I think that's why he incorporated a slow dance at the end of each episode of his television show...as a way of bringing each episode to a close. Ray often remarked that he and the band would end their high school concerts with the song "Goodnight Sweetheart" during the slow dance. That particular song isn't on this 12 song collection, though. However, these are...

1. Only You and You Alone

2. Unforgettable

3. Make Believe / It's Only Make Believe

4. The Great Pretender

5. I'll See You in My Dreams

6. Slow Dancing

7. Answer Me

8. Stardust

9. As Usual

10. Dream

11. This Is All I Ask

12. What a Wonderful World

In a previous blog entry I wondered if "Answer Me" is the same song as "Answer Me, My Love" or if it'll be an entirely different song. Ray recorded a song called "Answer Me, My Love" in 1967 and it remained as a single-only until the mid 1990s when it appeared on a CD release from Varese Sarabande. I'm almost certain that "Answer Me" on this upcoming digital album will be the same song Ray recorded back then...but modernized. I'm anxious to hear how he'll sing "It's Only Make Believe" which will be part of a medley, Track 3 on the album. I'm also curious if he'll attempt a Louis Armstrong impression for "What a Wonderful World" or if he'll sing it in his own voice. It'll be around this time two days from now I'll more than likely be listening to Slow Dance in my online music library. 

Ray Stevens: "Oh, Pretty Woman" audio clip...

Hello all...as we inch closer to the Friday release of the Ray Stevens digital album, Slow Dance, the week begins with an audio clip of "Oh, Pretty Woman" from the current digital album from Ray Stevens, Melancholy Fescue. Coincidentally, this song was played over the weekend during the syndicated Country Gold radio program hosted by Terri Clark. A podcast of her interview with Ray hasn't become available online, yet, but I'll continue to keep track and see if one emerges. The song, for those that don't know, was originally recorded by Roy Orbison. In fact, when it was originally released in 1964, Ray and Roy were label mates on Monument Records. Ray signed to Monument Records in 1963 and while there he worked as a session musician, producer, music arranger, and was part of the Artists and Repertoire department of Monument Records. Ray was still a recording artist for Mercury Records until 1965...which is why he never began to put out any of his own recordings on Monument Records until the very end of 1965 and into 1966. Roy Orbison co-wrote "Oh, Pretty Woman" and Fred Foster produced it. Ray arranged this updated version in a bluegrass flavor for Melancholy Fescue. 

Ray Stevens: WSMV-TV interview...

Hello all once again!! I came across an interview Ray Stevens gave back on April 15th with WSMV-TV and I'm going to share the link. I was able to get some small screen caps from the interview...the full-screen of the interview took away my ability to open up my snipping tool program and so I could only get a couple of thumbnail size images of Ray inside his recording studio at the CabaRay showroom. The interview comes from a series called Today In Nashville. It was a zoom-style interview...the host was inside her home while Ray was in his recording studio. Ray speaks about all of the digital albums he's in the middle of releasing and explains that in June there will be a Volume One box set with the first four digital albums in CD format. The over-arching project is called Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. There will be four more albums released later this year or perhaps early next year and a Volume Two box set to go along with Volume One. So, altogether, there will be 8 albums...each one featuring 12 songs. I, for one, can't wait to hear all of this upcoming Ray Stevens music. This coming Friday will be the release of digital album three, Slow Dance. To watch the interview you can click the WSMV link HERE. The interviewer is a woman named Carole Sullivan. There are various clips on YouTube of the Today in Nashville feature but, as of this writing, the Ray Stevens interview isn't on YouTube yet so that link I provided is to the WSMV webpage. 

Earlier today I was listening to a radio program hosted by Terri Clark called Country Gold. The program is 4 hours in length but at various moments throughout the show she played snippets of an interview with Ray Stevens. I knew of this radio program from years earlier...but it was hosted by somebody else. I came upon this Terri Clark version by way of a link posted on Ray's Facebook page. Terri is a country music singer originating from Canada and not being a follower of her music career, I know who she is, but not being a follower I didn't know she's been the host of this syndicated country music radio program for several years. Usually the special guests on this show are spoken to several times for roughly half a minute throughout the course of the 4 hour radio show. There's a feature called Country Gold Backstage which features the full interviews Terri has with the special guests...what's heard on the syndicated radio show are snippets.

Terri played Ray's bluegrass version of "Oh, Pretty Woman" on the show, from Melancholy Fescue, while some of his comments led into songs by other artists. Terri asked him about Waylon Jennings and he told her about singing harmony on "Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line", for example, followed by the playing of Waylon's recording. I was listening to the show through a Listen Live feature on a radio station in Kentucky. The 4 hour show airs at various times throughout the weekend and so I'm assuming a podcast will emerge sometime this week once this weekend's show has aired on all of it's affiliates. I'll keep checking Terri's webpage and see if a podcast becomes available. It may only be available for subscribers only. If it becomes available I'll embed the link in a future blog. 

Ray Stevens: Bluegrass Today interview...

Hello all of you fans of Ray Stevens!! Yesterday I wrote a blog entry where I spotlighted an upcoming digital album from Ray set to be released next Friday. In the meantime his current digital album, Melancholy Fescue, and his latest happenings were recently chronicled in an interview for the Bluegrass Today website. The interview/article was written and posted online yesterday. You can read the interview by clicking HERE. Earlier today an audio interview with Ray appeared online...conducted by Matt Bailey and posted on the Music Universe website. The interview discusses with Ray the 4 digital albums and a look ahead to the additional albums he plans on releasing later this year or in early 2022. You can listen to the audio interview by clicking HERE. The audio's length is 21 minutes...Ray begins his part of the interview around the 5 minute, 22 second mark. 

How many of you have the 2012 DVD called Such a Night: 50 Years of Hits and Hilarity? A performance of "Gitarzan" by Ray from that DVD was uploaded onto YouTube earlier this afternoon. The concert footage comes from October 2010 when Ray was doing a series of concerts at The Welk Theatre and Resort in Branson, Missouri. 

Ray Stevens: "Slow Dance" is fast approaching...

Hello all of you Ray Stevens fans!! As you can see from my blog entry title we're fast approaching the release of Slow Dance...the upcoming digital album from Ray Stevens where he offers his renditions of numerous pop music standards and love songs. Among the songs Ray selected to cover are: "Unforgettable", "Stardust", "I'll See You In My Dreams", "The Great Pretender", and "What a Wonderful World". The album title is in reference to the song, "Slow Dancing", which had been a hit for Johnny Rivers and later on a country hit for Johnny Duncan. I'm anxious to hear the way Ray Stevens arranges these songs. I'm sure he'll re-arrange them...someway.

When looking over the song titles they range from early pop to mid '70s pop...with the album's opening number his rendition of "Only You and You Alone", originally a massive hit in 1955 for The Platters. "As Usual", originally a hit in 1964 for Brenda Lee, is also covered by Ray on this digital album. There is a medley consisting of "Make Believe / It's Only Make Believe". I know very well the second half of the medley..."It's Only Make Believe" was a huge pop hit for Conway Twitty in 1958. The first half of the medley, "Make Believe", is a mystery for now. There's a 1927 pop song from the Show Boat musical with that title and there's a 1982 pop hit by the group, Toto, plus there's numerous other songs called "Make Believe". 

The renditions that will be the most eye-catching for the curious will likely be: "Only You and You Alone", "What a Wonderful World", "Slow Dancing", and "The Great Pretender" but for us Ray Stevens fans we'll be anxious and excited to hear all of the songs. The digital album will be released next Friday (April 23). I'm assuming that there will be a sneak peek audio of one of the songs from the album prior to it's April 23rd release. If this happens I'll, of course, embed the audio clip in a future blog entry.

Ray Stevens audio clip: "Sophisticated Lady"...

A great big hello to all of the Ray Stevens fans who might find my fan created blog page. Yes, this is of my own creation and I provide this blog for other Ray Stevens fans to read and find out things from a fan's perspective. A lot of Ray Stevens activity kicked off 2021...earlier in the year we learned that Ray was going to release four albums this year. We learned that he would issue them as digital downloads, at first, one album per month beginning in February and then, in June, he would release a Box Set collection of the four digital download albums in CD format. Each album features 12 songs.  

The digital album currently being promoted was released late last month, Melancholy Fescue. This symphonic Bluegrass album is wonderful...and I've said that numerous times since the day the collection became available in late March. In this blog entry I'm focusing on a song called "Sophisticated Lady" which originated as an instrumental by it's composer, Duke Ellington. A Jazz instrumental hit, originally, it later received lyrics credited to Mitchell Parish and Irving Mills. The song originally hit in 1933. It's inclusion on Melancholy Fescue, like all the songs on this digital album, is out of left field when it comes to arrangement in a Bluegrass flavor and that's why we love the album. You'll hear the banjo, fiddle, and dobro out front throughout the song but it kicks off with a guitar. Here's "Sophisticated Lady"...

Ray Stevens audio clip: "MacArthur Park"...

The song that closes the Ray Stevens Melancholy Fescue album is his awesome take on the pop music classic, "MacArthur Park". The song comes from the pen of Jimmy Webb and it goes back to the mid '60s. Well, technically, the late '60s. The one who put it on the map was actor/singer, Richard Harris. He recorded the song in 1968 and it became an international hit...reaching number one in numerous countries and selling millions of copies. The recording was known for it's unique music structure, lyrical acrobatics, and it's length. The song ran more than 7 minutes! 

Richard Harris won a Grammy in 1968 for his recording of the song. Waylon Jennings recorded a version of "MacArthur Park" with The Kimberlys in 1969 and they won a Grammy in 1970 for their recording. The third most notable recording of the song arrived in a Disco flavor by Donna Summer in 1978. The album version lasted more than 8 minutes whereas the single release ran a little under 4 minutes. Glen Campbell, known for recording songs written by Jimmy Webb, also recorded a version of the song but it wasn't released as a single. 

Ray Stevens, as mentioned, does an awesome job with his rendition of "MacArthur Park". He combines elements of Bluegrass with symphonic pop orchestration...some of the music breaks in the song feature some of the fastest mandolin and banjo picking heard throughout the entire album. It's a vivid picture song as Ray tells us about the park and everything taking place there...which includes telling us about a home-made cake that's gotten rained on. Ray's rendition of "MacArthur Park" is a little more than 6 minutes...but it features quite an arrangement...and a grandiose finish. It's wonderful. 

Ray Stevens: "Lend Me Your Ears", Easter Rabbit...

Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! It's Easter Sunday and usually when it's Easter Sunday I post a blog entry referencing Ray's 1990 comedy album, Lend Me Your Ears. I may have posted an Easter-themed blog entry every year but I'd have to look in the archives...but I can't resist spotlighting this particular comedy album on Easter. Why? It's because the album photo has Ray holding a rabbit...and as a tie-in with the Easter Bunny I like spotlighting Lend Me Your Ears. 

The comedy album came along in the summer of 1990 on Curb Records. The label, at this point in time, was partnered with Capitol Records and so Lend Me Your Ears has a Curb/Capitol imprint. Ray had signed with Curb in the latter half of 1989 and their first release on him happened to be a compilation, His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits, which was released early in 1990 on the Curb Records imprint. That compilation was eventually certified Gold for selling more than 500,000 copies. Lend Me Your Ears, meanwhile, shows Ray on the cover as Shakespearian character Marc Antony who spoke the phrase '...Friends, Romans, countrymen Lend Me Your Ears...' in the play, Julius Caesar. The album title has several different meanings, though. The first being a reference to the Shakespeare play. The second being the inclusion of a rabbit in the photo and the concept of Antony asking the rabbit to lend him his ears. Third, the album's title is a reference to the public in general. Ray's literally asking consumers to take a listen to the album. It's a great album title and the cover art is wonderful...the Parthenon in the background adds to the Greek mythology design. The Parthenon in the background is the replica that sits on the grounds of Nashville's Centennial Park. There used to be a website that featured Ray's day at the park during photo sessions for the album...you might be able to find those images if you search in-depth but they're not easily found if you do a simple image search. Some of the songs on this comedy album are: "Sittin' Up With the Dead", "Barbeque", "This Ain't Exactly What I Had in Mind", "Bwana and the Jungle Girl", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night". 

This was Ray's first studio album for Curb Records. He's currently on Curb Records but there have been record label stops along the way from 1990 to 2021. I thought, for an Easter Sunday treat, it would be fun to list the various record labels Ray's recorded for throughout his entire career to date and provide an essay, of sorts, as well. I'm not including record labels, international or domestic, that have issued compilation albums on him. I'm only listing the record labels that he recorded singles or studio albums for.

Prep: 1957

Capitol: 1958-1959

NRC: 1959-1960

Mercury: 1961-1965

Monument: 1966-1970

Barnaby: 1970-1976

Warner Brothers: 1976-1979

RCA: 1979-1983

Mercury: 1983-1984

MCA: 1984-1989

Curb: 1990-1994

MCA: 1996-1998

Curb: 2001-2003

Clyde: 2004-2020

Curb: 2020-

As you look at the record label timeline it should be pointed out that in 1988 Ray started up his own record label, Clyde Records. The first release was a collection of songs by his daughter, Suzi. Clyde's biggest impact came with direct-mail in the early to mid 1990s. Ray issued his VHS tapes through his own record label and sold them through the mail and over television. Curb Records distributed two of his VHS tapes to retail stores (1992's Comedy Video Classics and 1993's Ray Stevens Live!) and MCA distributed one of the VHS tapes (1995's Get Serious!) in 1996. Ray released two albums while at MCA before later re-joining Curb in 2001. While at Curb they issued his Gold selling 9/11 novelty single, "Osama Yo' Mama", and the follow-up album in 2002, also called Osama Yo' Mama. 

Curb Records, in the meantime, continued to distribute some of Ray's music video content. For example they released DVD's of some of Ray's limited animation music videos in 2006. A year earlier, 2005, Curb had re-issued Ray's 1990 and 1991 studio albums...plus they issued a single-only from Ray called "The New Battle of New Orleans". In 2006 they distributed a 3-CD collection called Box Set which Ray had previously released through his Clyde Records a year earlier. In 2009 Curb distributed Ray's salute to Frank Sinatra, Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What?!?. The CD had previously been released in 2008 on Ray's Clyde Records label. Curb Records continued to have a business relationship with Ray when it came to retail distribution of most of his mail-order Clyde Records projects. 

Ray recorded two gospel albums in collaboration with Bill Gaither's record companies. 2014's Gospel Collection, Volume One was on the Spring House Records label and 2016's Just a Closer Walk With Thee was on the Green Hill Productions label. In 2015 Ray came up with a subsidiary record label, Player Records, under the Clyde Records umbrella. On this imprint Ray issued the Here We Go Again! comedy CD in 2015. The following year another subsidiary debuted called CabaRay Entertainment. On this imprint Ray issued the patriotic single, "Dear America", in the fall of 2016. This was followed by the Christmas collection, Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me. Ray, concentrating more on taping and producing his television show and the on-going construction of his CabaRay showroom, he didn't put out any albums during 2017 through mid 2020. The CabaRay showroom opened up in 2018. In 2019 Ray was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

In the summer of 2020 Jeannie Seely released a duets album on Curb Records...among the duets was "Dance Tonight" which she recorded with Ray Stevens. This recording took place at some point in 2018/2019 during production of Jeannie's album and it became available in June of 2020. In the fall of 2020 Ray returned to Curb Records as a recording artist. Their first release on him happened to be a 50th anniversary newly recorded version of "Everything is Beautiful" as well as a production of an "Everything Is Beautiful" / "United We Stand" medley. These recordings became available in October. A music video of each recording hit YouTube. In December 2020 Curb Records issued a newly recorded version of Ray's video hit, "The Quarantine Song". The original recording, from the Larry's Country Diner television series, accompanied the YouTube video, which hit in May 2020. The Curb Records recording has more production. 

In an interview at the Musicians Hall of Fame, a video can be viewed on YouTube, Ray broke the news that he'd be releasing a large project in 2021 on Curb Records. The details, at the time, made mention of a project titled Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. A press release in January 2021 had more information. Curb Records would be issuing one digital download album per month beginning late February and running through May. Each month a new digital album would become available and then, in June, a box set would emerge with CD copies of those four digital albums. Great Country Ballads and Melancholy Fescue have already been digitally released. In an interview posted several days ago Ray gave even more information and said that once those four albums are issued in a box set in June he'll wait awhile and then start releasing even more new music!!  

Ray Stevens: Tony Orlando sings "Knock Three Times"...

Hello all!! Earlier today Ray Stevens uploaded a performance of "Knock Three Times" by Tony Orlando given it's Tony's birthday today. Prior to the performance Tony speaks of his interactions with Ray in the early '60s and tells a story about Ray wanting to sleep on the luggage rack of the bus they were in since he got tired of sleeping in a chair and what happened when the bus came upon a steep hill. The full episode is part of the syndicated package of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville which airs in local television markets on PBS stations nationwide. Tony often credits Ray for the success he had in Branson, Missouri. In 1993 Tony opened what he called The Yellow Ribbon Music Theater and he owned and operated the venue, and performed there, for 20 years until 2013. The irony being that Tony's Branson debut came the year Ray closed down his own theater. Ray opened his theater in the summer of 1991 and performed there until the fall of 1993. Afterward he loaned it out to a production staff who put together a show called Country Tonite which remained in production at Ray's theater for 10 years. Tony's theater opened up in July of 1993 and remained in business until he closed it down in 2013. Ray, however, returned to his theater for two additional seasons (2005 and 2006) after production of Country Tonite came to an end...but Ray would eventually sell the property to RFD-TV in 2007 and they remained owners of the property for nearly 10 years. As you can see in the video still Tony has just said something that Ray finds hilarious.

Ray Stevens: September 4th CabaRay Re-opening...

The news was released earlier this morning that the CabaRay showroom is, finally, going to re-open for concerts on September 4th. There will be concerts on Saturday evening only...and then Ray hopes to go back to having the showroom open on Friday and Saturday. I'm being cautiously optimistic because there was a re-opening before (October 2020) but within a week the showroom closed down again. Tickets for the concerts are already on sale. I've read comments on Ray's social media sites from those who say that they've already purchased tickets. You can read about the showroom by clicking HERE. There will be a red box that reads 'Buy Tickets Now'. 

When you click the link it'll take you to the ticket purchase area and there's a calendar where you can select which month and date you want to attend. The piano bar will also be opened. When the CabaRay re-opened briefly in October 2020 the piano bar wasn't part of the show. In fact, it was because of the restrictions, that Ray felt the fans wouldn't have much of an experience to remember if dinner couldn't be served, the piano bar and gift shop closed, and everyone's movement under control...and so he closed it down in October. By the looks of the promotion it appears that when the CabaRay re-opens this September everything will be accessible as before.