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.