Ray Stevens: The Upcoming Comedy Album Excitement...

I come across several websites promoting the upcoming Ray Stevens comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore, and by that I mean I came across a Pre-order product page at Target. I also came across publicity from Ray's official representation, Absolute Publicity, and you can read their commentary by clicking HERE. When you open the link and read the write-up you'll also come across a link where, after you click it, you'll be given three options. You'll have the option to Pre-order from Ray's official webstore, Pre-add through Apple Music, or Pre-Save on Spotify. Keep in mind that you'll only receive an autographed copy of the comedy album if you purchase the compact disc format from Ray's official webstore. The other two options, as you know, are digital download/streaming services which send audio files to your listening device (phone, laptop, etc.). 

A few minutes ago I was attempting to post a comment on a social media site regarding Ray's upcoming comedy album. The site wasn't Facebook or Twitter...it was of lesser known stature but still a highly active site. I've been a member of the site for a lengthy period of time...and while I was able to click a heart symbol to show that I recommended/liked the story I was unable to submit my comments. I kept getting an error message stating that "it looks like you're not signed in", but I was, and so after re-submitting my comment I got the same error message. Instead of attempting a third time to submit my comments I erased them from the message box and left the site. It was an odd experience...signed in to a website and being able to actively recommend the story but unable to leave a comment and getting an error message that I'm not signed in. It had me thinking if this is a common occurrence with other people who attempt to leave comments on websites that they're signed in to but, for whatever reason, the comments aren't being posted due to some sort of malfunction on their end or whatever. The reason it had me wondering is because the story dealt with the upcoming comedy album from Ray Stevens...and if comments aren't able to be easily submitted on that particular site then anyone that comes across the write-up will see is a story with zero comments. It creates the perception that the story hadn't gotten any reaction or views. Anyway, as I've been writing this blog entry, I've changed my mind and will attempt a third time to leave a comment over on that website. 

In the meantime, as the title of this blog entry states, anyone else having any excitement over the upcoming comedy album? The October 8th release date is right around the corner...by the time we make it to this coming Friday we'll only have one more week to go before release day! Will Ray put out anything else from this album prior to it's release? We'll find out one way or another as we get closer to the album's release date!! 

Ray Stevens: "Gas" at 11.4K...

I just took a look at the unique plays for the current novelty song from Ray Stevens, "Gas", and it's risen to 11,410 on YouTube. It's gotten 90 plays in four days to rise from 11,320 back on September 22nd to 11,410 today. "Gas" will be among the 14 songs on the upcoming Ray Stevens comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. As of this writing "Gas" remains the only promotional single from the album. A couple of other songs on the album, "Red Hot Chili Cook Off" and "The Quarantine Song", were both previously issued as music videos...in the case of "The Quarantine Song" it was issued as a single, too, but neither are considered official singles from the album since neither were explicitly promoted as being part of any upcoming album such as the upcoming Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. Now, in that way of looking at it the album can be said to contain 12 all new songs plus those 2 add-ons which give it 14 total. 

Ray Stevens: 1983 salute to Marty Robbins...

Hello to the fans of Ray Stevens!! Earlier today a video was uploaded of Ray Stevens and Tammy Wynette presiding over a tribute to Marty Robbins in 1983. Ray nor Tammy sang any of his songs in this video clip but they shown performance clips of Marty over the years. Marty Robbins passed away, unexpectedly at age 57, on December 8, 1982. He was born September 26, 1925. The grief and heartbreak was massive and numerous tributes in newspapers and magazines filled the retail racks of shopping stores. His having passed away in December 1982 meant that country music awards organizations had to wait until the following calendar year before they could properly pay tribute to him. 

The Music City News organization had annually put together a television special to spotlight the hit songs of the previous year. These specials were almost always produced in December and they would get syndicated all over the country throughout the first half of the following calendar year. The 1983 Music City News Top Country Hits of the Year, reflecting on country music and events of 1982, was hosted by Ray Stevens and Tammy Wynette and the first airtimes were set for January 1983. The two hosts sang solo songs and they opened the show singing "We've Got the Music Here Tonight". The salute to Marty Robbins was part of the 1983 television special. Here's the video clip of Ray and Tammy presenting the tribute...it features performance clips of Marty singing his songs. The somber tone of Ray and Tammy's voices appropriately convey the emotions among the overall country music community during the taping of this program...

Ray Stevens: Comedy album Pre-order Autograph offer...

Yes, there's going to be plenty of time for me to write about this upcoming album once it's released but you know how it goes on this fan created blog page! I can't help myself from promoting and writing about the music of Ray Stevens...and so here I am blogging about Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore! I mainly decided to write another blog entry about the comedy album because I don't want the subject matter to slide too much down into the archives. We're just under 2 weeks from the album's release day, October 8th. I was asked by somebody on a social media site if I happened to know who wrote the songs on this album. I don't have this album yet...but I Pre-ordered the album on September 24th. If you Pre-order the album between September 24th and October 8th you'll get an autographed copy. I don't know if the autograph will be on the cover...or on the jewel case or where it'll be. When Ray released his 2015 comedy album my copy was autographed...the compact disc wasn't inside a jewel case, though. It was inside a cardboard carrying case. In order to get the autograph on the front of the album it was shipped with the carrying case unsealed. When they ship compact discs without an autograph they're sealed in the usual plastic wrap. So, my guess is, those who Pre-ordered the upcoming comedy album as I did will receive a copy of the album in a cardboard carrying case with his autograph on it. In addition to Ray's 2015 Here We Go Again! comedy album using a cardboard carrying case...the same was true for the compilation album Laughter is the Best Medicine and the sampler disc of songs from his 9-CD Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. However, all of his other compact discs are housed inside the standard hard plastic jewel case. 

This comedy album will feature 14 songs. In a couple of my previous blog entries I mentioned the amount of songs that will be on the album and in one blog entry I provided a track list. I'll find out who wrote what when the album is in my possession. A Pre-order doesn't necessarily mean you'll get the album before the October 8th release date. On the product page it has a disclaimer stating that the album ships on October 8th...the reason for the Pre-order is for those wanting an autographed copy of Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. I'll also purchase the digital download when it's released. I will also share numerous songs from the album in future blog entries...Curb Records usually uploads the audio tracks from albums that they release...and so I'll share audio tracks once they become available. I'm really, really intrigued by several of the song titles on the collection. I've included the track list once again and I've placed a symbol next to the song titles that have my curiosity raised...

1. Hoochie Coochie Dancer

2. Coco Cabana Band

3. Gas

4. My Better Half

5. Moonshine*

6. The Gambler and The Octopus*

7. Soap Sally*

8. Down in Mexico*

9. Dis-Connected*

10. The Quarantine Song

11. Old Dog

12. Red Hot Chili Cook Off

13. Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore*

14. Disorder Down at the Border*

My curiosity being raised specifically on the songs with eye catching titles suggesting there will be topical humor abundant...and topical subject matter is something Ray defended in a recent write-up about his current activities and the upcoming comedy album. I'm excited to hear what all of these songs are going to sound like and what the storylines happen to be!! I wonder if "Moonshine" will feature a classic country music arrangement or will it sound bluegrass? It may not even be about alcohol and it might be a comical love song about the moon's light. We'll find out when we hear it! 

I have a feeling that "Old Dog" is the same song that he performed as a duet with Tanya Tucker on an episode of CabaRay Nashville. Some of my online associates wondered if Tanya will be on the official recording...but there's no indication that she participated in the recording...considering that her name isn't listed on the back of the CD as a duet partner. She could make an uncredited appearance...but I highly doubt she did...my guess is Ray recorded the song solo...if it's even the same song that is! We're just assuming it'll be the same song he and Tanya performed on his television show. 

"My Better Half" following "Gas" had me thinking that it'll be a song about the President...since "Gas" is about him...but then again it could be a totally unrelated song. A number of months ago Ray posted photos of himself in the process of making what were music videos...photos surfaced of him in front of green screens. Now, when he shared those photos I went off-the-wall with excitement thinking there would be some brand new music videos in the not too distant future. Time has passed since those photos emerged...but thinking back to those photos, now, they seem to fit any number of songs on this upcoming comedy album!! 

"Soap Sally" has my mind thinking of all kinds of things...what in the world would a song with that title sound like or be about? We know from the title that it's possibly going to be about someone named Sally and the subject matter of soap...but beyond that I can't think of what the song's story will be about. Pre-order Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore HERE. The autograph offer only lasts for a limited time: September 24th through October 8th. 

Ray Stevens: Upcoming Concerts at the CabaRay...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! Just in case some are new to this fan created blog, I'm a huge fan of Ray Stevens! He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019...many years overdue...but at last he took his place inside the famed rotunda along side some other performers known more for their contributions to country comedy (Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones, Little Jimmy Dickens, The Duke of Paducah, Rod Brasfield, Johnny Bond, Homer and Jethro, and Bill Carlisle). Three of those performers were strictly stand-up comedy acts...the rest were singers with a comical slant. As you can see from what I wrote it isn't such an unprecedented decision to elect performers known for comedy into the Country Music Hall of Fame (seeing that it's happened numerous times in the past). I'll forgive those who threw a tantrum in 2019 when Ray Stevens was announced as one of the newest members. I won't forget their tantrums and their anger but I forgive them for not knowing that Country Music Hall of Fame elections for performers known for comedy inside the umbrella of country music is something that's happened before and it'll likely happen again. Humor and comedy go hand-in-hand in the formation of country music...the Grand Ole Opry was filled with performers of comedy. Country music singers often had a comedian that was part of the road show. It was commonplace. I want to see Archie Campbell as well as Jerry Clower receive election to the Country Music Hall of Fame.    

In the meantime, Ray put the finishing touches on another concert at his CabaRay showroom yesterday night. His concerts are usually 90 minutes in length and so they're typically wrapping up around 9pm Central. He often goes to the Piano Bar after the concert and if last night was like most nights following a concert he was probably at the Piano Bar until sometime after 10pm central time. This was the fourth consecutive Saturday night concert at the CabaRay since having re-opened it on September 4th. Looking ahead to the month of October...Ray will be in concert for five consecutive Saturday performances: October 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30. Those planning on attending a concert in October or any other date in the next several months (November and December are also filled with concert dates) you can purchase your tickets by clicking HERE. 

I don't know if Ray will be doing any Christmas themed concerts or not. If he is they'll most likely be confined during the concert dates late in November and through the month of December. However, Ray may not do any Christmas-themed shows this year. He's having a guest performer put on a Christmas show on Thursday nights at the CabaRay during the months of November and December. Those shows will be headlined by a performer named Mark Milovats. He has five concert dates at the CabaRay...two in November and three in December. New Year's Eve falls on a Thursday this year but as of this writing there isn't any kind of indication that there will be a New Year's Eve concert. He performed on New Year's Eve at the CabaRay in 2018 and 2019. As of this writing the final concert of the 2021 season at the CabaRay will be December 18th. 

I opened the blog entry discussing Ray's election to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019 and how he's known more for comedy releases. Ray sets himself apart from the pack due to his skills outside of being comical. He can sing...but he is also a songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist who can read and write music (he arranges practically everything he records). He is a record producer and a song publisher. He also produces and appears in many, many online video productions that have been uploaded onto YouTube...on top of that he produced and starred in his own television series, CabaRay Nashville, which currently airs in local PBS syndication. 

Anyway, I opened the blog entry focused on Ray's comical image...but I'm closing this blog entry with a video embed of Ray Stevens singing "That's Life" on stage at the CabaRay. Ray had previously recorded an album filled with songs that had previously been recorded by Frank Sinatra...and among the songs on that album is Ray's rendition of "That's Life". That album is titled Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What?!?. When you attend a concert at the CabaRay you'll have an intimate feeling no matter where your seat happens to be...

Ray Stevens: People Magazine online Article...

Hello all you Ray Stevens fans!! I rarely write a blog entry this late in the day but during commercial break from a television show I was watching I decided to check the various social media for anything being written about Ray and I came across a link to an article on People magazine's website. The article was written by Cindy Watts and the time stamp shows it was posted on the internet at 6:20pm. The headline reads: Ray Stevens Declares 'There Ain't Nothing Political About Vaccines'. The article features snippets of a conversation had with Ray about COVID and the vaccines. He relates how much the virus has impacted the entertainment industry and how numerous people within country music have either come down with COVID or have passed away from it or had it in their system at the time they passed away (Charley Pride, Charlie Daniels, John Prine, and Joe Diffie). Ray also mentioned that the virus wasn't taken as seriously in the early months of the pandemic by most. I'd add that a lot of this had to do with the lack of information either being unavailable or being deliberately withheld. I agree with the sentiments expressed in the Ray Stevens article. I myself don't feel that the vaccines themselves are political...if you feel you need a vaccine then get a vaccine...but you should make this decision independent of your political leanings and after consulting with your family doctor or some other healthcare worker. 

Ray comes across as not being in favor of the forced vaccinations...and due to the shaming and mandatory vaccination rules going on in select parts of the country it's caused division, anger, and it's invited the inevitability of politics to completely take over the subject of vaccinations. When you have people in public office, such as those in Government, forcing the issue of vaccinations then it's only a matter of time before the politicization of vaccines comes along. You can read the article HERE. Vaccines aren't political, that's true...but they've become politicized thanks to politicians and data skewing public health officials.  

I've gotten the COVID vaccine. I got my vaccination a couple of months ago. I voluntarily made the choice to get the vaccination...I wasn't forced, bullied, shamed, or mandated to get it.  

When you read that article you'll see publicity for Ray's CabaRay showroom and the impact COVID had in 2020 and much of 2021. There's also mention of the upcoming comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore, which includes "The Quarantine Song" (previously released as a music video in May 2020 and as an audio track the following December). Ray further discusses the comedy album in this write-up and I love what he says about the content of his upcoming album. He's apparently anticipating there will be some people out there who'll frown upon the subject matter of some of the comedy songs. Click the link I provided to see the entire People article. It's great! 

Ray Stevens: The new Comedy Album available for Pre-order...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!!! Today is the day that Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore becomes available for Pre-order at Ray's website. I already placed my order. If you place a Pre-order starting today you'll receive an autographed copy of the CD. This autographed time frame runs from today until October 8th. I don't know if they'll extend the autograph time frame to beyond October 8th or not but for now it's a limited offer. My assumption is he may sign autographs at his CabaRay showroom after concerts, too, in case you miss out on the limited time offer in place now until October 8th. However, those are only my assumptions! It's best to simply Pre-order now to ensure you'll get an autographed copy of the album. You can Pre-order your copy of the comedy album HERE. When you click that link you'll see the message about the limited time autographs and a description of the album and of course the cover art (seen below) and the place order button. If you're not already a customer of his online store you'll have to register, just as you would any online store, and once you've been registered you'll be able to place your order. 

The upcoming comedy album has 14 songs on it. A few of the songs have previously been released as audio tracks and as music videos on YouTube. The oldest of the previously released happens to be "Red Hot Chili Cook-Off". The music video's gotten over 1.8 million unique views on YouTube since it's debut back in March 2013. "The Quarantine Song" will be on this comedy album. Ray released this, originally, last year. The music video's gotten more than 3.5 million unique views since debuting on YouTube in May 2020. The audio track, released by Curb Records in December 2020, has over 11,000 plays on YouTube. The final previously released song is "Gas", a comedy song from several months ago, which has over 11,000 plays on YouTube as well. Those three songs make their album debut with the release of Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. In case you hadn't seen some of my recently published blog entries and aren't aware of the track list of this album let me say, as far as song titles go, this sounds as if it'll be one of his wildest comedy albums. Some of the songs on this album are: "Hoochie Coochie Dancer", "The Gambler and The Octopus", "Coco Cabana Band", "Soap Sally", and "Dis-Connected". In case you're wondering there is a song on there called "Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore"...it's track 13. When the track list was released I was surprised to find out that the album's title track was further down the list. If an album is named for one of the songs, usually, the title track is within the first 3 or 4 songs. So I was surprised to see it at 13...the next to last song. I don't know if it was placed there and then picked at a later date to be the album's title or if it's intentionally placed at 13 because of it fitting some sort of thematic pattern of the songs surrounding it. 

Ray is scheduled to make a guest appearance at The Grand Ole Opry on October 12th...an installment of what's known as the Tuesday Night Opry. I ask around frequently and based on what I've found out Ray will perform several songs during his guest appearance...including a couple of songs from Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore.

Ray Stevens audio track: "Meanwhile"...

Hello all...one of the things I do and have always done when it comes to this fan created Ray Stevens blog is give spotlight to album tracks from a variety of albums recorded by Ray. In this blog entry I'm spotlighting a love ballad called "Meanwhile". It's actually a combination love ballad, up-tempo sing-a-long. "Meanwhile" is on the 1993 studio album, Classic Ray Stevens. The song comes from the pens of country singer Billy Dean and radio personalities Devon O' Day and Gerry House. If you find yourself searching online stores for Ray Stevens albums you will likely find this album misplaced in a greatest hits category because of the album title. After all of these years music sites still mistakenly refer to this 1993 album as a greatest hits release. 

Classic Ray Stevens features what was, at the time, Ray's familiar line-up of musicians with a couple of add-on musicians recruited specifically for the album. The musicians on this 1993 album included: Ray Stevens (electric piano, synthesizer); Steve Gibson (electric guitar, dobro, and mandolin); Weldon Myrick (steel guitar); Tommy Wells (drums); Mark Casstevens (rhythm guitar and banjo); Gary Prim (piano); Terry McMillan (harmonica); and Stuart Keathley (bass). Stuart also performed the function of the studio engineer. Ray produced and arranged the album. The harmony singers were Lisa Silver, Judy Rodman, and Bergen White. 

The 1993 album's main attraction was it's lead-off song, "If Ten Percent Is Good Enough for Jesus". Ray also performed "The Motel Song" and "Super Cop" frequently to promote the album. On the Classic Ray Stevens studio album "Meanwhile" appears as track five. The production is 1950's country...popularly called traditional country today...it opens with Weldon Myrick's steel guitar and the country flavor is heard throughout even during the up-tempo passages.

Ray Stevens: All New Comedy Album Available Soon...

Well, here I am again, as I promised in my previous blog entry. I was going to write a blog entry this coming Friday about how we're now 2 weeks away from release day of the Ray Stevens comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore, when I discovered that this coming Friday (September 24th) the comedy album will be available for Pre-order. This is great news to hear...and the fact that the Pre-order will be 2 weeks before release day (October 8th) has me thinking there's been such a demand brewing that they don't want to wait until a few days before October 8th to make it available for Pre-order...they've decided to make it available for Pre-order a full 2 weeks ahead of release day. I came across a promotional write-up for the comedy album which appeared in two separate websites. One promo appeared in the Broadway World website and the other site happened to be Music Row. The link to the Broadway World promo is HERE. The Music Row promo can be found HERE. The promo articles are different from one another in terms of the text that each author uses but both promo articles feature the same quotes from Ray. The article from Nashville's Broadway World has a date stamp of September 20th but it wasn't online on September 20th...if it was online I would've certainly seen it and shared it in a blog entry. My guess is the promo was written on September 20th and uploaded on Tuesday (September 21st)...which coincided with the Music Row promo which, interestingly enough, also contains a September 20th date but wasn't available online until Tuesday the 21st. The Music Row promo contains a track list of the 14 songs on the upcoming album. I have a photo of what the back of the comedy album looks like, too, and I'll post that in an upcoming blog entry. 

I led off the blog entry writing about the comedy album being available for Pre-order this coming Friday. Now, something else I want to emphasize, is that if you Pre-order the comedy album at Ray's website beginning on September 24th and lasting through October 8th you'll receive it autographed. I mentioned this in my previous blog entry, too, but I wanted to highlight it once again. I'll likely continue to make mention of this in future blog entries I'll be writing during the Pre-order time frame. Ray already has a product page up and running for the comedy album but it's not available for Pre-order until September 24th. Once you click the link to Ray's webstore you'll be on the product page for Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore...and you'll see, for now, the information about the autographed copies being available for a limited time. If you come across this blog entry after October 8th chances are you won't be seeing the information about the autographed copies. The link to Ray's online store is HERE. The image being used at Ray's online store is a re-sized banner copy that appears on his main page and on his Facebook page...it has the date available written underneath the album title. Of course, the actual CD won't have the release date written underneath the album title. Now then...this comedy album contains 14 songs...and here is the track list. Take a look at some of those wild, eye catching song titles!!

1. Hoochie Coochie Dancer

2. Coco Cabana Band

3. Gas

4. My Better Half

5. Moonshine

6. The Gambler and the Octopus

7. Soap Sally

8. Down in Mexico

9. Dis-Connected

10. The Quarantine Song

11. Old Dog

12. Red Hot Chili Cook-Off

13. Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore

14. Disorder Down on the Border

"Red Hot Chili Cook-Off" has long been available as a music video only!! This marks the first time it's been placed on an album. The music video hit YouTube in 2013. Technically this would make it the first single from the album...however, in 2013, this album wasn't even in the planning stages and so that is why "Gas" has the distinction of being the album's first single release. "The Quarantine Song" was also issued before "Gas"...however, "The Quarantine Song" hit as a music video in 2020...at a time when talk of this upcoming comedy album probably wasn't even being whispered or hinted about...it was released as a music video several months before Ray re-joined Curb Records. "Red Hot Chili Cook-Off" and "The Quarantine Song" were songs that were in search of an album to call home...the rest of the songs, like it's first single release, "Gas", are tied to Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. I predict more publicity this coming Friday when the comedy album becomes available for Pre-order.

Ray Stevens: "Gas" at 11.3K...

Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! Oh there's a lot of excitement in the air as we get closer to the release of the upcoming comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. I'm sure some of you saw the news that hit today...over on Ray's official website in the Store section there's a product page for the upcoming comedy album. The product page not only features a track list of the songs but there's a total of 14 songs that will be on the album. Also, here's even more news from Tuesday, the comedy album will go on pre-order this coming Friday!! Yes...this coming Friday (September 24th) Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore will be available for pre-order. The album will be available in CD format as well as digital download. That's not all...if you pre-order the comedy album at Ray's website from September 24th through October 8th you'll receive an autographed copy of the album. 

One of the comedy songs on that album is "Gas"...the audio track I've been periodically keeping track of on YouTube. The song's crossed into the 11.3K range...specifically 11,320...a pickup of 110 audio plays since September 16th. The opening paragraph of this blog entry is just a teaser of sorts...for as soon as I publish this blog entry I'll be composing a blog entry focusing entirely on the upcoming comedy album. "Gas", just in case you're wondering, is track three on the upcoming comedy album. 

Ray Stevens: Cass Elliot summer 1970 performance...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! A video upload surfaced on Ray's social media earlier today...a performance of Cass Elliot singing "New World Coming". This performance comes from the summer 1970 television show that Ray hosted for Andy Williams on NBC. The show opened with a line from Ray's "Everything is Beautiful"...the show always closed with an instrumental of the song as the credits rolled. It was this summer show that inspired the need for a theme song...and Ray come up with "Everything is Beautiful". Cass Elliot, of the disbanded The Mamas and the Papas super-group, was a cast member of Ray's 1970 summer show. As a result of being a regular cast member and the fact that she had a lengthy history as a vocalist meant that she would likely get recurring singing spots on the show...as did another cast member of the show, British performer, Lulu. 

Ray has uploaded video of Cass Elliot on previous occasions...video of her from the 1970 summer show singing "One Way Ticket" emerged last year and prior to that a compilation of sketches and performances by her on Ray's 1970 summer show hit the internet. That compilation video clip, more than 9 minutes long, has racked up more than 58,000 unique views. "One Way Ticket" has more than 22,000 unique views. This time Ray's uploaded Cass Elliot singing "New World Coming"... 

Ray Stevens: Performance by Jeff Bates on CabaRay Nashville...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! Today the social media of Ray Stevens uploaded a video of Jeff Bates singing "Sleepin' In" from an episode of CabaRay Nashville. Jeff Bates guest starred on Episode 9, Season 1 and shared the episode with John Conlee. It is one of the few episodes of Ray's television series in which two guests appear. The two guests didn't share the same camera time, though. It was evenly split...John Conlee appeared in a segment with Ray and in a separate segment Jeff Bates appeared with Ray. In each segment there was an interview and a performance by the guest. In the video clip below you'll hear Ray mention a Christmas song he recently recorded which Jeff Bates had a hand in writing. The song Ray is referring to is "Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me". 

"Sleepin' In", the song Jeff sings in this video clip, happens to be a song on one of Jeff's albums...the one titled Me and Conway. When Jeff emerged on the music scene as a recording artist in 2002 he made headlines with a recording called "The Love Song". Music reporters and some historians compared his vocalizations to the late Conway Twitty and it's easy to see how they arrived at their conclusions when hearing Jeff sing that particular song. In other recordings Jeff's voice was compared to another country singer, Trace Adkins. So, it's as if Jeff's natural voice is similar to Trace Adkins but the phrasing of words is similar to Conway...anyway, Jeff's Me and Conway album contains original songs alternating with his renditions of Conway songs. "Sleepin' In" is one of those original songs from that tribute album. Jeff delivers the Conway-like phrasing and even throws in a growl or two...

Ray Stevens: Stop in at the CabaRay...

Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! It's another Saturday afternoon and that means the Ray Stevens CabaRay will soon kick off another evening of fun. The doors to the showroom will open in less than an hour from now...as I write this it's after 5pm here in the Eastern time zone...doors open at 5pm Central. The Piano Bar gets underway at 5pm...and dinner seating begins to take place at 5:30pm Central on the main floor which is located nearby the room that The Piano Bar is in. Non-dinner concert seating begins at 6:30pm Central. This is going to be the third Ray Stevens concert of the 2021 season after having re-opened the CabaRay on September 4th; so, just in case you hadn't heard...concerts have returned to the CabaRay. Those of you who plan on attending a concert on some future Saturday evening all you have to do is click this LINK and once the site opens up click the Buy Tickets Now button. It's that simple! While there you should also navigate through the entire site and look at the interior photo's and see what all is there so you'll have some sort of idea of what to expect should you visit in person. You can view the interior photos in the Gallery in the link I provided. As the saying goes you can only tell so much from a photo...there's nothing like being there in person. A photo captures a moment in time...and a photo can convey an ambience but it takes being there to really get that certain feeling that comes over a person. A good way to describe that feeling is awesome. 

The month of September is wrapping up soon...tonight and next Saturday will mark the final concerts for the month of September. The months of October, November and December are packed solid with Saturday evening concerts from Ray Stevens. There will be five concerts from Ray during the month of October. The individual dates are the 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th. In November Ray will perform at the CabaRay on the 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th. Ray will present another performer at the CabaRay in November and December. Mark Milovats will put on a Christmas show at the CabaRay on November 11th and 18th and then on December 2nd, 9th, and 16th. Meanwhile, Ray will perform concerts in December at the CabaRay on the 4th, 10th, 11th, and 18th. Since it's the month of December and Christmas falls on a Saturday this year Ray will make up for that date and appear on a rare Friday night (December 10th). I don't know if they'll add another Friday, such as December 17th, to the calendar but for now the only Friday night concert from Ray Stevens at the CabaRay will be December 10th. In less than half an hour from now the CabaRay will open it's doors for the evening...and John Jonethis will be playing the piano inside the Piano Bar. The headliner, Ray Stevens, will hit the stage at 7:30pm! Have fun if you're heading to the concert!

Ray Stevens: "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century" latest News...

Well, well...the latest news surrounding the Ray Stevens 4-CD box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, is that it's flew up the Country New Releases Top-100 on Amazon. On the Top-100 New Releases, CDs and Vinyl, for country music, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century had been moving it's way back down the Top-100 within the last week after having risen to the Top-40 half of the list. It fell out of the Top-100 the last number of hours but it made quite a comeback, yet again, by ranking this hour among the Top-40 Country New Releases in CDs and Vinyl on Amazon. Although Ray has an upcoming album in three weeks I don't want anyone thinking that I'm going to move on from the box set or from some of his other recent works and concentrate exclusively on the upcoming album. The thing I prefer doing is whenever Ray puts out something new within months of having released something else I pay attention to both releases for awhile...and then I slowly focus my attention on whatever the current release happens to be but I also periodically look at a previous release just in case something noteworthy pops up and I'll share it here on this fan created blog page. Iconic Songs of the 20th Century is also in the Top-40 New Releases in Soundtracks. On that list it's sitting at 32 this hour while, as you can see, it's sitting at 34 among the Top-100 Country CDs and Vinyl New Releases on Amazon. The 4-CD box set contains compact disc versions of Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, Slow Dance, and Nouveau Retro. Each of those albums are available online for downloading/streaming in addition to being available in the box set as compact discs. Ray explains it all in this advertisement uploaded on YouTube back in July...

Ray Stevens: Updated Album Discography...

Hello once more...and in this blog entry, as the title suggests, I'll be providing an updated album discography of Ray Stevens. As I've done in the past I won't be including the many, many compilation albums that have been issued on Ray over the decades. There are just too many and if I were to even attempt to track down each and every release from record labels large and small both here domestically and overseas I know I wouldn't be able to track down all of them. So, whenever I go and provide an album discography I limit it to studio albums and notable compilation albums...but I don't include re-issues of albums in various format. There have been a lot of vinyl albums of Ray, for example, converted into CD format...some have made their way onto the internet as digital downloads. There are also cassette tape and 8-track format that have been home to the music of Ray Stevens. In the discography I'll only list when a studio album was originally released...not when they were re-issued, if applicable, nor will I list the formats they were or are available in. This discography is limited to studio album releases...so it also means that I won't be listing his VHS home videos or DVD releases or any single-only releases. The dominant form of music consumption in 1962, the year the first LP from Ray Stevens was released, was vinyl. The dominant form of music consumption in 2021 is the online download and, or, the online streaming. I know there's little difference between a download and a stream. I think that, with a download, it requires the listener to load the music onto a listening device or in a file somewhere on your device (computer/laptop/phone) whereas a stream simply requires a listener to click a button and listen to the audio track without having to save it to their listening device. I'm not a technical wizard...so I use the phrases "download" and "streaming" interchangeably. We know that vinyl has made a resurgence...but so far Ray hasn't joined the trend of putting out music on vinyl like several other recording artists have done. Now then...here is an updated album discography of Country Music Hall of Fame member, Ray Stevens...

1962: 1,837 Seconds of Humor  (Mercury Records)

1963: This Is Ray Stevens  (Mercury Records)

1968: Even Stevens  (Monument Records)

1969: Gitarzan  (Monument Records)

1969: Have a Little Talk With Myself  (Monument Records)

1970: Everything Is Beautiful  (Barnaby Records)

1970: Unreal  (Barnaby Records)

1972: Turn Your Radio On  (Barnaby Records)

1973: Nashville  (Barnaby Records)

1973: Losin' Streak  (Barnaby Records)

1974: Boogity Boogity  (Barnaby Records)

1975: Misty  (Barnaby Records)

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 Records)

1981: One More Last Chance  (RCA Records)

1982: Don't Laugh Now  (RCA Records)

1983: Me  (Mercury Records)

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

1985: I Have Returned  (MCA Records; Gold)

1986: Surely You Joust  (MCA Records)

1987: Greatest Hits  (MCA Records; Platinum)

1987: Crackin' Up  (MCA Records)

1987: Get The Best of Ray Stevens**  (MCA Records; Television album)

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

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

1989: Beside Myself  (MCA Records)

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

1990: Lend Me Your Ears  (Curb/Capitol Records)

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

1991: Greatest Hits***  (Curb Records)

1993: Classic Ray Stevens  (Curb Records; all-new, original songs)

1997: Hum It  (MCA Records)

1997: Christmas Through a Different Window  (MCA Records)

2000: Ear Candy  (Clyde Records)

2002: Osama Yo' Mama  (Curb Records)

2004: Thank You  (Clyde Records)

2005: Box Set  (Clyde Records; includes a few new recordings)

2007: New Orleans Moon  (Clyde Records)

2008: Hurricane  (Clyde Records)

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

2009: One For the Road  (Clyde Records)

2009: Ray Stevens Christmas  (Clyde Records)

2010: We The People  (Clyde Records)

2011: Spirit of '76  (Clyde Records)

2012: The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music  (9-CD's; Clyde Records)

2014: Gospel Collection  (Clyde Records/Gaither Music)

2015: Here We Go Again!  (Player Records/Clyde Records)

2016: Just a Closer Walk With Thee  (Clyde Records/Green Hill Productions/Gaither)

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

2021: Great Country Ballads  (Curb Records)

2021: Melancholy Fescue  (Curb Records)

2021: Slow Dance  (Curb Records)

2021: Nouveau Retro  (Curb Records)

2021: Iconic Songs of the 20th Century****  (Curb Records)

2021: Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore  (Curb Records)

The 1979 album, The Feeling's Not Right Again, is a compilation album. I always include it an any Ray Stevens album discography because so much was put into the cover art (front and back of the album) and it features what was then an all-new song, "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow", among the previously released songs. 1987's Get The Best of Ray Stevens is included because it was sold through direct marketing...television commercials, newspaper, and magazine advertisements for the double album frequently appeared in the final years of the decade; for Ray it was a successful television commercial reaching audiences outside of country music media...paving the way for further direct marketing experiments in the 1990s. 1991's Greatest Hits features an alternate version of "There's a Star Spangled Banner". The song originally appeared on the 1989 album, Beside Myself, but in 1991 the song was re-recorded and it features newly written lyrics for the opening verse. 2021's Iconic Songs of the 20th Century contains compact disc versions of the first four digital downloads Ray released this year. It hasn't been announced if Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore will only be digitally available or if it'll be available in compact disc format, too. 

Ray Stevens: Three Weeks and Counting...

It's me once more...and time has passed since the news broke yesterday about the release of Ray's upcoming comedy album. The reason why I refer to it as news that broke yesterday, even though a lot of us were aware of the upcoming album, yesterday was the first time that the comedy album was officially declared as an upcoming release to a wider audience. If you're one of the people signed up to receive Ray's free online newsletters, as I am, you were aware of the album's upcoming release and it's title. In the newsletter sent at the time (back on May 28th) the information contained therein stated that the audio track, "Gas", was going to be on an upcoming comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore, in the fall. There wasn't anymore information given as to the release date of the album or the track list...other than "Gas" being one of the songs on it. As of this writing I don't know if the album's title is also a name of one of the songs...it sounds like a good title for a song. I'll contact Ray's people in an e-mail and ask if the album's title is also the name of one of the songs. They may not want to reveal anything...but I'll ask anyway.

All of this technical information, I hope, will become available in the days leading up to it's release. The comedy album will be released through Curb Records. In case you didn't know, Curb Records took over distribution of Ray's 2015 comedy album, Here We Go Again!. If you search for that album on Amazon and look in the product details you'll see Curb Records listed instead of the record label Ray originally released it on. Curb Records also issued a single release of "The Quarantine Song". I'm assuming the song will be on Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore, too, but no official announcement was made. I'm always anxious to see the song titles on any new Ray Stevens comedy album...he's recorded a lot of songs over the decades with eye-catching titles. This upcoming comedy album (release date October 8th) will be his first full-length comedy album in 6 years...going back to 2015's Here We Go Again!. As you know Ray's been busy the last 6 years...with his starring in a television show, CabaRay Nashville, and the construction and ultimate grand opening of the CabaRay in 2018. Then, of course, there was his 2016 Christmas album on his own label, CabaRay Entertainment, and the music he's recorded and released since re-joining Curb Records in 2020. He's coming off of a 4-CD box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, that I've written extensively about...also extensively writing about each of the four albums in that box set...but Here We Go Again! from 2015 was his last comedy album until the announcement of Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. Three weeks and counting...of course this time next Friday (September 24th) we'll be at 2 weeks and counting. Yes, I'll more than likely write a blog entry next Friday about it being 2 weeks and counting until Ray's comedy album become available...of course you all knew I would probably do that kind of thing.

Ray Stevens: New comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore, in October...

Hello all fans of Ray Stevens!!! I've been away from the computer for a number of hours and while I was away I find out that the news broke that the upcoming Ray Stevens comedy album, that I made mention of in my previous blog entry, has taken over Ray's Facebook page. The album's promo banner is on his Facebook page and I obviously saved it to my online photo collection. I've shared the title of the album with you all before...the album is called Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. He visits a similar pose from his 1989 album, Beside Myself, and so look for people to make comparisons between the cover art of the 1989 album and the 2021 album as we get close to the album's release date (October 8th). The album's track list hasn't been released yet...but "Gas" is suppose to be one of the songs on the album. In a previous blog entry about the "Gas" audio track I mentioned that most recording artists ride a song for 2 and a half to 3 months. Now, it feels eerie, but I wrote that in a fairly recent blog entry never knowing that today would be the day that Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore would begin it's publicity phase...but yet here we are and we're turning another page in Ray's on-going career and I'm beginning to countdown the days until the release of the comedy album next month. Take a look at the promo image...

Keep in mind that the image above is only a photo...it isn't a link. Once a link becomes available to either Pre-Order or to download I'll share that link in a future blog entry. However, isn't that cover art fantastic? It's the kind of album cover I've been patiently awaiting for a number of years. Ray's gotten away from wild poses and eye catching cover art on most of his albums in the last 10 years or so...this is a step in that direction. Some may think back to Beside Myself...but on that album's cover art clown Ray was grinning and on here clown Ray is making a frown with a tear drop painted below the eye. Anyone want to guess what will be on this album? Will it be a collection of songs that are funny but society would find them not funny anymore? Will it be a collection of all-new, original songs? "Gas" is an original song (from the pen of Barry Smith) but will the other recordings be brand new? Will it be a collection of songs that didn't make it onto his 9-CD Encyclopedia project in 2012 and so he decided to put them on this release? I'm just as anxious and filled with a lot of questions as you all are!! The announcement and promo on his Facebook page about Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore excites me to no end. Let the countdown begin!!

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Showroom Article...

Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! Yes, if you read my previous blog entry, I failed to open it with a greeting. I say that for those that might be used to a greeting...the greeting's not necessarily something I've had set in stone but I find myself opening blog entries with a greeting out of recent habit. In some of my older blog entries I come off too scholarly and formal...but then again some may prefer my writing to be more scholarly and less formal...the common denominator between the two preferences being you can't please everyone. 

I posted several publicity pieces about the CabaRay showroom re-opening back on September 4th. Ray's third concert of the season is scheduled to take place this coming Saturday at 7:30pm (September 18th). In case you don't know you can enter the CabaRay more than 2 hours ahead of the concert. The Piano Bar, located within the CabaRay, opens it's doors at 5pm. If you ordered a dinner ahead of the concert you'll be able to enter the main floor at 5:30pm and find your seats. If you didn't choose a dinner option you'll be able to enter the main floor an hour later at 6:30pm. Ray doesn't have any kind of opening act beyond the pianist inside the Piano Bar. Ray makes his way to centerstage at 7:30pm and for 90 minutes Ray will sing a lot of his classic songs (comedy and serious) and sometimes he'll add in later recordings but most of the show centers around the songs he feels the people have come to hear in person.

A webpage called Nashville.com posted a publicity piece about the CabaRay and I hadn't, to my knowledge, posted a link to it yet. As mentioned I posted several online articles leading up to the CabaRay re-opening...but I don't recall coming across this article back then...I came across it today. However, the article isn't specifically dated...it just states that the article was posted "1 week ago". I don't know if it means it was posted one week ago last Thursday (September 9th) or if was posted at some other point last week and it's getting closer now to 2 weeks ago...it's hard to tell without a timestamp visible indicating which day in September the article was posted. Anyway, the article was written by Jerry Holthouse and here's the LINK.  

Ray Stevens: "Gas" at 11.2K...

It feels as if we're moving quickly through the month of September...here we are on September 16th...and here I am with a Ray Stevens blog entry which will focus on "Gas" once again. I've contemplated whether or not to continue tracking the unique plays of the audio track on YouTube but I feel drawn to continue doing so because, after all, this is a fan created blog page all about Ray Stevens, and secondly, "Gas" was promoted back in June of this year as the first single from an upcoming comedy album. In the music industry a single release is usually promoted for at least 2 and a half or maybe 3 months. I've often read magazine articles where recording artists refer to this as "riding a song". A performer may say something like "I rode that song for 2 months..." or "we rode that song for all it was worth...a solid half a year...". 

A couple of weeks ago marked the third month since "Gas" became available. In was released as an audio track early in June and as of this writing it's received 11,210 audio plays on YouTube. If this were the old days of radio play, "Gas" would be considered a recurrent. I'm continuing to remain on the lookout for any new releases or any bit of information about what's in store next...the "Gas" song looks as if it'll remain the only thing to come from Ray's upcoming comedy album prior to it's release. Now, after it's release, I hope a new song will emerge! 

Ray Stevens: John Berry CabaRay Nashville appearance...

Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! Yesterday was the birthday of country singer, John Berry. He was one of the vocalists in country music that emerged in the 1990s...the middle part of the decade, more specifically, but it was during the point in time when the country music industry was dropping down their guard and allowing a steady stream of new performers into the country music community. Once upon a time it took awhile before country music would open up it's arms...but by the early 1990s the arms of country music were wide open for anyone who could sell Gold and Platinum immediately. Every once in awhile artistic integrity would surface and an artist's success wasn't simply based on their record sales but actually on the talent of their voice, the kind of songs they wrote or recorded, or their talent with a musical instrument (guitarist, pianist, saxophonist, etc.). Well, John Berry is one of those kind of recording artists. He has a unique voice...something rare in country music sometimes...and he's written a number of songs and has had numerous hit singles and albums but an unfortunate series of health issues cut into his recording career...the health problems impacted his career to such a point that it prevented the release of at least two complete albums. He'd taken ill prior to the release of two different albums, one in 1997 and another in 1998, and to my knowledge neither one have been released. 

In this clip from Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville television series we'll see Ray interview John Berry and then John will sing one of his signature songs, "Standing on the Edge of Goodbye". John co-wrote the song and it was produced by Jimmy Bowen and Chuck Howard. It peaked in the runner-up position on the Billboard country chart in the spring of 1995. He puts a lot of soul and emotion into his performances and you'll see this right away when he begins singing.

Last week at Ray's CabaRay, if you recall, Paul Overstreet hosted a flood relief benefit concert. The show had a lot of special guests...and John Berry was among them. After the show it was photo time...and a photo was snapped of John, Lee Greenwood, Ronnie McDowell, and the focal point of this blog, the legendary Ray Stevens. The photo of Ray and John that I led the blog entry with was also from the flood relief benefit at the CabaRay. 

Ray Stevens: The guest appearance on The George Jones Show...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens! A couple of days ago, on what would have been the 90th birthday of country music legend George Jones, Ray uploaded his appearances from The George Jones Show. George once hosted a television show on The Nashville Network for a season...it began airing in February 1998. The show's theme song was the title track of his 1997 album, It Don't Get Any Better Than This. George had a wide variety of country music artists on the show per episode...it was an informal gathering as you'll see in a screen cap I posted below...and in one of those episodes Ray Stevens was a special guest. Ray was on the same episode featuring T. Graham Brown and Allison Moorer. In the episode Ray speaks of his experiences getting into the music business. George spotlights a video clip from the early '60s of Ray singing "Ahab the Arab"...after at least half a minute Ray asks how much longer we're going to have to endure watching that. For the record, though, practically all recording artists in any form of music tend to not enjoy seeing themselves during earlier phases of their career and it can be for any number of reasons. Some tend to cringe at the fashions they wore, the hairstyle they had, or the performance itself. Some performers don't like to watch themselves no matter the time period...whether it be a performance from decades ago or just the other day. As a fan, I don't share the same sentiment as a lot of recording artists. I love seeing performances of my favorite singers from all time periods. I have a feeling most of you share the same feeling as I do...we love watching Ray Stevens no matter if it's a performance from 1961 or 2021. Ray sings "Too Drunk To Fish" on this episode of George's show and video clips from Ray's music video are inserted into the performance. The song is from Ray's 1997 album, Hum It. 

George's television show, as mentioned, began airing on TNN in February 1998...it was not a full length season of shows, however. It was on a trial run basis. I don't have the number of episodes available...but it was less than the usual 16 episodes or 26 episodes per season norm when it comes to television programming. There may have been 13 episodes produced for airing in 1998. Strangely enough there isn't any definitive information about George's television show online. There are video clips but I haven't come across any website that has a complete episode guide and airdates. Ray Stevens taped his appearance in the latter half of 1998 and it aired in the spring of 1999. I did find out that there were 11 episodes produced in the latter part of 1998 for airing early in 1999...and Ray Stevens was among the guests during the 1998 taping session. When I seen this episode of the show for the first time I was ecstatic and it was thrilling to see two of my all time favorites, Ray Stevens and George Jones, not only on screen together but actually conversing with one another!! Here's a screen cap of Ray and George...and from this screen cap as well as from the video you'll see how informal the conversation part of the show happened to be. The conversation part of the show, where the guests sat on couches, was always taped separately...without an audience. 

Ray Stevens: Slow Dance YouTube playlist...

It's me once again!! In this blog entry I'll be embedding a YouTube link to the Slow Dance playlist. I've previously provided links to the YouTube playlists of three Ray Stevens albums that were released earlier in the year: Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, and Nouveau Retro. This one, Slow Dance, was released in between Melancholy Fescue and Nouveau Retro. Ray released the albums, in digital download format, one per month: February, March, April, and May. In July all four digital downloads were issued in CD format and packaged in a box set titled Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. The Slow Dance album was the one that could easily be described as collection of Ray Stevens singing romantic ballads. As you can tell from the album cover the emphasis on romance, love, and all that comes with it would be the focal point throughout. The title track refers to the song "Slow Dancing", a song that that was a pop hit for Johnny Rivers and a country hit for Johnny Duncan. The song's subtitle is "Swaying to the Music". If you're familiar with my blog entries you'll know that I don't include subtitles when it comes to song titles or album titles. I use the main title almost always. Anyway, in addition to Ray's rendition of "Slow Dancing" you'll also hear his renditions of songs as diverse as "Stardust" and "Only You and You Alone" to "Unforgettable" and "What a Wonderful World". Ray also gives us his take on "The Great Pretender". You can listen to all of the audio tracks from Slow Dance on it's YouTube playlist, provided by Curb Records, located HERE. 

Ray uploaded some brief promo videos for each of the four releases. This promo for Slow Dance arrived on YouTube in July...

Ray Stevens: Nouveau Retro YouTube Playlist...

Hello all of you fans of Ray Stevens once again!! In keeping with my previous two blog entries I'm going to be embedding a link to the YouTube playlist of the Ray Stevens album, Nouveau Retro. This particular 12 song album was the final in a series of albums Ray released in the first half of the year. I'm composing these YouTube playlist blog entries out of order, as you probably noticed, based on my personal preferences. Melancholy Fescue was the first one to receive a blog entry with a YouTube playlist link because that's my favorite of the four albums Ray released earlier in the year. It's a Bluegrass-flavored album and if you know your Bluegrass then you'll know that the music is meant to be fast-paced, musically tight...and up-tempo music will most often always out perform ballads if a music listener had their choice of what kind of songs they want to hear. So, Ray's Bluegrass album was the first that received a YouTube playlist blog entry. Second was Great Country Ballads...and being a fan of country music, specifically classic country, I was very familiar with the songs that Ray covered on that album. Ray put a lot of brass into these country music standards and gave them entirely new arrangements. So, today, I'm embedding the YouTube playlist of Nouveau Retro. I'll be composing a blog entry later today sometime of the YouTube playlist of Slow Dance. After I finish that blog entry I'll have written a blog entry spotlighting the YouTube playlists of the previous four online Ray Stevens albums which appear, in compact disc form, on the box set Iconic Songs of the 20th Century.

The reason I'm seemingly all of the sudden providing YouTube playlist links to Ray's albums is because that's my way of continuing to promote his latest recordings without having to write a blog entry for every song on the four albums. There are 12 songs per compact disc...that's a total of 48 songs! Also, there is to be a brand new album from Ray Stevens soon...and once this upcoming album gets released, and as if I need to remind any of you this, I'll be shifting my focus onto this upcoming album and promoting it as heavily as I've been promoting all of the albums he's released this year. In the meantime, though, the YouTube playlist for Nouveau Retro can be found HERE. This is the album that features Ray bringing back songs such as "Cry Me a River", "Blue Moon", "Mountain of Love", "You Don't Know Me", and "April in Paris". Once you watch the video don't forget to click the above link and hear the audio tracks from Nouveau Retro. 

Ray Stevens: Great Country Ballads YouTube Playlist...

When Ray Stevens began releasing digital albums earlier this year the first one to become available was Great Country Ballads. The album contains 12 country music classics with different music arrangements, different vocal phrasing from Ray Stevens, and new life. The album was released in February...and for the next three months Ray issued one digital album per month culminating in July with the release of the 4-CD box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. That box set features the four previously released digital downloads in compact disc format. Ray issued Great Country Ballads first...followed in March with Melancholy Fescue. In the month of April he issued Slow Dance and in May came Nouveau Retro. Curb Records is the label upon which Ray recorded these albums and they have made them available in a variety of music platforms and formats. The most convenient format is the digital download...simply click and download the music to your listening device or your computer's music library. If you want to have something much more convenient than that simply visit YouTube and search for Ray Stevens and whichever album you're wanting to look up. Once you submit your search a playlist of the album will become available...and from there you can listen to all of the audio tracks from an album. It's that simple! Also, you can purchase the digital downloads through Curb Records website or from Amazon and other online music stores. Each release is available in digital download format but the box set collection is only available in compact disc. So, if you're wanting compact discs and such things as cover art, liner notes, musician credit information, etc. etc. then you should purchase the 4-CD box set. It's available on Amazon and at the Ray Stevens webstore. 

This blog entry, though, is about the playlist. I'm going to embed the playlist for Great Country Ballads within this paragraph. On this album, in case you don't have it, Ray does his versions of "Crying Time", "Please Help Me, I'm Falling", "City Lights", "Room Full of Roses", and "Till I Get It Right" just to name several. There are 12 songs on each of the four compact discs. The YouTube playlist for Great Country Ballads can be found HERE. 

Ray Stevens: Melancholy Fescue YouTube Playlist...

Well, yes, it's me once again!! I find myself unable to stop writing blog entries about Ray Stevens all of the sudden! Isn't this like my third or fourth blog entry today?? I predict, though, this will indeed be my final blog entry of the day...on Saturday nights I'm typically in front of the television. I DVR Ray's television show, CabaRay Nashville, and watch it at a later date. It airs at 8pm Eastern on a local PBS channel on Saturday nights. Now, of course, as I type this the Piano Bar inside the CabaRay showroom is just getting underway...the pianist John Johnethis is the resident pianist there. Nashville is in the Central time zone...so it's just a little bit past 5pm there. Those attending the Ray Stevens concert tonight seating will begin at 5:30pm if you've chosen a dinner option. Then, at 6:30pm, seating begins for those who purchased concert-only tickets. Ray Stevens will hit the stage an hour later at 7:30pm. 

In a lot of my blog entries this year I've advertised the various albums Ray has issued. Ray issued four digital download albums earlier in the year and then, in late July, he packaged all of those albums together in compact disc format for the 4-CD box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. The individual albums, in case you're not familiar, are: Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, Slow Dance, and Nouveau Retro. In this blog entry I'm embedding the Melancholy Fescue playlist from YouTube. Once you click the link you'll be taken to the playlist...there, if you're not familiar with a playlist, you'll see all 11 audio tracks from the album and 1 music video. Each of the tracks are available to play in their entirety. The music video of "Unchained Melody" is part of the playlist...for whatever reason the audio track for that particular song wasn't made part of the audio playlist. You can play songs out of order by selecting which ones you want to hear or you can click the Play All button and hear the entire album from beginning to end. To hear the audio tracks click HERE. I will more than likely post the playlists of the other three albums in future blog entries. As you can see this particular album features songs in a bluegrass flavor...but there's a deliberate symphonic presence mixed in.

Ray Stevens: "Gas" at 11.1K

Hello all you Ray Stevens fans!! I took a look at the unique views/plays of the Ray Stevens audio track, "Gas", over on YouTube. The audio track has 11,128 plays as of this writing. In my previous blog entry about the audio clip it has just gotten into the 11,000 play range...and based on my incremental reporting it's now at 11,128. I wrote down the play totals back on September 8th and it was 11,055 and so the audio track's received 73 plays during the last couple of days. Now, over the course of the last 6 days going back to September 5th when the play count was 10,992...the audio track has gained 136 plays. If everything remains on schedule "Gas" should be part of a comedy album released next month. There hasn't been any publicity for this comedy album for several months...back in June was the last time anything was written about the upcoming comedy album...and at the time the news release stated an October release. I've been anticipating this comedy album ever since I learned of it...and perhaps by the end of this month or early next month we'll have heard more and more about it. Until then...enjoy the first release from this upcoming comedy album...a song called "Gas"...

Ray Stevens: The 2021 CabaRay Season...

It's me once more...and later tonight Ray Stevens will be in concert once again at his CabaRay showroom. The 2021 CabaRay season got underway last Saturday and tonight is the second concert of the season. Ray plans on having concerts at the CabaRay every Saturday night at 7:30pm. However, the fun begins more than 2 hours prior to the concert. The doors open at 5pm to the Piano Bar. When you attend a concert you'll be able to visit the Piano Bar and hear John Jonethis. You will also be able to freely walk around within the CabaRay and look around at the art work and photography that's hanging along the walls. Since you'll be in ear shot of the Piano Bar no matter where you happen to be inside the CabaRay you can walk around and still hear the piano playing and singing. There's an upstairs area...I call it a balcony area...but it's the size of your typical hallway. You can sit up there and look over top of the Piano Bar. There's also an area upstairs, right in front of the elevator doors, housing a lot of Ray's awards...a trophy case. Now, I'm going by my memory of the time I was at the CabaRay in 2018. I don't know if the trophy case is still in that location or if they moved it downstairs. The trophy case looked packed to us but we were told that there were still a lot more certificates and plaques that had yet to be put on display and they were in the process of doing that. My guess is they brought in a second trophy case. Anyway, whenever photos show up of Ray signing autographs the trophy case is always behind him...so I don't know if everybody who wants their photo taken with Ray or have something autographed by him all have to go upstairs. That's what has me thinking that at some point a trophy case was installed downstairs...but yet there could be two...one upstairs and one downstairs. For all things CabaRay visit the website HERE.

Given that today is the 20th anniversary of 9/11 I will make an assumption and say that he will sing several songs with a patriotic overtone at tonight's concert: "Thank You", "Dear America", perhaps the medley rendition of "Everything is Beautiful / United We Stand", or he could sing each song in their entirety. Music videos were made of each of those recordings. "Dear America" came along in September of 2016...at that time, if you do the math, we were looking back on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. On this 20th anniversary let's all take a listen to "Dear America". The video, from September 6, 2016, was filmed in widescreen format...unlike any of his other music videos. Since the video is in widescreen and the embed isn't you'll have two areas of space above and below due to the video not being in it's proper size. It appears letterbox. When you watch the video on YouTube it'll be in it's proper widescreen format...but when you embed widescreen/letterbox video content from there and onto a blog the video box will appear in the standard square shape...as seen below. The wife of Ray's keyboard player wrote this song. His name is Jon Hamrick and her name happens to be Connie Jo Hamrick.