May 2, 2021

Ray Stevens audio clip: "As Usual"...

As we experience the second day of May 2021 I'm going to embed an audio clip of one of the songs from the current digital album from Ray Stevens, Slow Dance. The audio clip this time around is his rendition of "As Usual" which had been previously released in 1964 by one of Ray's long-time friends, Brenda Lee. 


Ray's professional friendship with Brenda Lee goes back decades. She appeared on the Life and Times of Ray Stevens television special that aired on The Nashville Network in 1998 and spoke of how long the two known each other. She mentioned that she first heard of Ray as a music arranger, musician, and songwriter but then discovered his comedic abilities. Brenda, as mentioned, recorded her rendition of "As Usual" in 1964...and just as ironic is the fact that on her Christmas album that year it included a song that Ray published called "Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day". It became a Top-20 hit in the United Kingdom. Some single releases credit the song publisher and on those single releases it'll show Ahab Music Company. Ray recorded his version of the song on his 2016 Christmas album. 

In the collage we have a photo from 1976 next to a photo from 2018. In the 1976 photo we see Chet Atkins, Ray Stevens, Brenda Lee, and Roy Acuff. In the 2018 photo we see Ray Stevens, Brenda Lee, Jeannie Seely, and Ben Folds. In the 1976 photo the group was backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, I think. In 2018 the group seen in the photo were the recipients of Star plaques on the Music City Walk of Fame that year. 

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