Ray Stevens: New Year's Eve 2021...

Happy New Year's Eve all of the fans of Ray Stevens!! I usually post a prediction blog entry titled 'Ray Stevens and the New Year' and attach the upcoming year at the end of the blog title but the news that was released a couple of days ago took me by surprise...caught us all by surprise, actually, and I didn't think it necessary or proper to post such an upbeat, cheery blog entry with predictions about what 2022 holds in store in Ray's career. I've written one of those kinds of blog entries nearly every year around this time but I decided to hold off. If you're reading this and have no idea the surprising news I was referring to it's that Ray's wife is battling an illness and there was a sudden change in her status. The information was made public a couple of days ago and since that time a number of websites with a large amount of traffic have shared various reports about the news release. 

The carefully worded press release, somehow, got twisted into various shapes due to a phrase in the press release that reads "end-of-life stage". People took this to mean that Ray's wife passed away and thousands of sympathy messages began flooding Ray's social media and there's still words of sympathy coming in due to the confusion. One of Ray's daughters, Suzi, posted on her social media that the reports of her mother passing away were false. She posted a link to one of the internet stories that falsely reported her mother's death. When I relayed the breaking news the other day in my previous blog entry I used the "end-of-life stage" phrase, too, but the difference is I know what that phrase means but apparently a lot of people don't. I know that phrase doesn't mean a person has passed away...it means that they've entered a specific stage of an illness. 

So, then, with the sad news of Ray's wife going through what she's going through and his decision to cancel the New Year's Eve concert/party at the CabaRay tonight I wasn't in the mood to compose a cheery, let's look ahead at 2022 type of blog entry. A few predictions of 2022, though: there was a brief mention in one of his interviews that he wants to make new episodes of his CabaRay Nashville television program. We don't know the specifics of his tenure with Curb Records. He re-joined the record label in the latter half of 2020 and so, technically, he's been on their roster for just over one year. Earlier this year when I asked about his upcoming projects and if he'll be releasing things on his own record label or through Curb Records I was told that Curb will be issuing the bulk of Ray's upcoming releases for awhile. There was no specifics given, obviously, but it carried the same meaning to suggest that Ray will be on Curb Records for a number of years. 

Ray's focus, obviously, is on his wife as it should be. I'll more than likely write blog entries about the happenings in Ray's career from earlier time periods or highlight a song or album if it's reaching an anniversary until Ray decides to resume his career. On January 24, 2022 he reaches 83! 

It's half an hour until Midnight...2022 is nearly here! 

Ray Stevens: Important News Update...

If you're as big a fan of Ray Stevens as I happen to be then you already know what I'm about to blog about. News was released within the last hour on Ray's social media concerning the health of his wife, Penny. Ray has always maintained a private life...choosing to make certain things public when he feels necessary...and today we learned that his wife has had a prolonged illness and that, in their words, her condition has rapidly progressed and she is now in an end-of-life stage. The specific illness she's been dealing with wasn't released and there's no more specific details. On his Facebook page it states that Ray is devastated, as anyone would be given such news about their spouse, and that the upcoming New Year's Eve concert scheduled for Friday at the CabaRay is canceled. My previous blog entry was a promo for the now canceled concert. Ray and Penny married in 1961 and they have two daughters, Timi and Suzi. If you have Ray's memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville, or know Ray's lineage, then you'll know his sister-in-law, Twinkle, was married to record producer Felton Jarvis. Twinkle and Felton were married in 1961 but they later divorced. Penny and Twinkle's maiden name is Jackson. In his memoir Ray has a lot of photos...many of them never seen before from his personal collection. Family photos and other industry event photos. Among the photos are him and Penny in the 1960's and several from the 1970's. One of Penny's recent appearances happened in 2019 during Ray's Country Music Hall of Fame induction. She attended all of the events surrounding the induction. She's kept a low profile throughout her 60 year marriage to Ray. I'll be updating the blog with any further information. In the photo below Ray and Penny watch a performance of Ray's "Everything is Beautiful" in October 2019 during the Country Music Hall of Fame medallion ceremony. 

Ray Stevens: CabaRay New Year's Eve concert...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! This coming Friday is the annual New Year's Eve concert at the CabaRay. Ray has put on a New Year's Eve concert in 2018, 2019, and this will be the third annual event. The 2020 concert didn't take place but we're in a much better frame of mind in 2021 and those who hadn't purchased tickets yet should do so without delay. I am not aware if you can purchase tickets in person/day of concert...so if you're in the area and want a pleasant and festive New Year's Eve celebration to go to my suggestion is the CabaRay showroom just West of downtown Nashville. The New Year's Eve concert follows the abbreviated 2021 season at the CabaRay. I am not aware of the concert dates for 2022...in 2018 and 2019 the season got underway late spring just before summer both years. This year, however, the 2021 season didn't begin until several months ago. I'm sure Ray is hoping to have a full 2022 season of concerts but let's not jump ahead too many months. New Year's Eve this year falls on a Friday...and yes, Ray has his own unique ball drop at midnight when the calendar flips over to 2022. You can read all about the upcoming Ray Stevens CabaRay New Year's Eve concert when you click HERE. I've posted this same link at the end of the blog entry, too.

How many of you have a copy of the box set shown above? It's the 4-CD box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, released earlier this year. All of the songs are on YouTube...available as audio tracks...but as a fan of Ray's I prefer to also purchase the CD copies of his songs so I can have them in a separate format from my computer just in case of tech issues that may arise with my personal computer. Now, a lot of people have their music exclusively on their computer or their cell-phone, they don't bother purchasing CD's anymore. If Ray puts out CD copies of his music I buy those. I purchased this 4-CD box set earlier this year and I purchased the CD copy of his Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore comedy album. I also purchased the digital download of that album, too. The 4-CD box set wasn't as heavily promoted as I had hoped...perhaps he's waiting for 2022 to shine the spotlight on the box set? He released each CD in the box set, individually, one per month...and then the box set came out. Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, Slow Dance, and Nouveau Retro are the four 12-song compact discs that make up Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. 

There is to be a Volume Two box set released in 2022, I think? It might get pushed to 2023 depending on how 2022 plays out. Ray has said on multiple occasions that he plans on having another 4-CD box set out...so I'm assuming he means in 2022. In the meantime...there's a New Year's Eve concert this coming Friday! Information can be found HERE. 

Ray Stevens: "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" nears 200,000 unique views...

Hello all...we're kind of in limbo as we near the end of 2021 and anticipate 2022...two days since Christmas and I've still got some left-overs from the Christmas feast. In a few minutes I'll be heating up some of those left-overs. On Christmas we have ham instead of turkey. The Christmas menu is just slightly different than Thanksgiving but there's one thing both have in common in our house and it's the feeling of over-eating and eagerness to sleep that occurs several hours later. I was looking at the "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" unique views and they're nearing 200,000! The total as of now is 199,530! If you're a fan of Ray Stevens and you haven't yet seen this music video...which, to me, sounds surprising considering that it made it's debut early in October. Nevertheless, if you hadn't seen the music video or heard the audio track yet it's a song about a guy and some of his friends who go to a carnival. The guy comes across a belly dancer and upon a session with a fortune teller he has it made up in his mind that the belly dancer and he are made for one another. The naïve nature of the guy is the hook of the song...as we hear how he has no idea that he's being used and we're told that he was ultimately taken advantage of by the belly dancer...we're told this bit of news near the end of the song when a policeman shows up. The song is from his current comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore.

Ray Stevens: Christmas Standards and Originals...

Off the top of my head I can only think of five original Christmas songs that come from the pen of Ray Stevens: "Santa Claus is Watching You", "Christmas Bells in the Steeple", "Greatest Little Christmas Ever Wuz", "The Little Drummer Boy Next Door", and "Deck the Halls with Teardrops". Ray is credited as the co-writer, with Paul Alter and Buddy Kalb, of "The Little Drummer Boy Next Door". The other four songs Ray wrote himself. 

When you purchase a recording artist's Christmas album do you prefer standards or do you prefer all original recordings? I don't know of any recording artist that writes or finds nothing but original songs for a Christmas album. Usually there's a certain amount of familiarity that comes into play when a recording artist decides they want to do a Christmas album. What I mean by that is there's often some level of expectation from a consumer that there's going to be a heavy dose of standards either faithfully recorded to mirror the original or there's going to be re-arranged interpretations of standards. Christmas standards, for those unaware, are songs you hear every year at Christmas time by a wide variety of artists. Songs like: "Jingle Bells", "White Christmas", "Blue Christmas", "Holly Jolly Christmas", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Oh, Holy Night", "Jingle Bell Rock", "Silent Night", "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", "Frosty the Snowman", and many, many more. A Christmas original is a song that, to date, had never been recorded by anyone else. It doesn't mean the song is brand new...it just means that it's never been recorded for any commercial release before. Almost all of the Christmas standards at one time, obviously, were original...but decades upon decades have passed by and singers down through those decades took it upon themselves to spotlight many of those particular songs on their Christmas albums. 

Ray Stevens has recorded three Christmas albums...and on each one of them there's at least one original song. 

His first Christmas album in 1997 was actually filled with original songs...2 of the songs were newly recorded renditions of a couple of Christmas songs he'd previously recorded in 1985: "Santa Claus is Watching You" and "Greatest Little Christmas Ever Wuz". The 1997 recording of "Santa Claus is Watching You" was the third time Ray had recorded the song. There's the original in 1962...then there's the lyrically updated version in 1985 which was turned into his first music video...and then there's the 1997 re-recording of the 1985 version of the song. I don't really have an opinion on whether I prefer Christmas standards or Christmas originals. I like that Ray has included several original songs on his Christmas albums...but I'd still like them if all they featured were his renditions of Christmas standards. Some Christmas originals from Ray Stevens that were written by others include: "The King of Christmas", "Claws (A Cat's Letter to Santa)", "Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day", "Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me", and Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You".   

Ray Stevens: Well, it's Christmas Eve...

Yes, it's just after Midnight so it feels a bit bizarre to say it's Christmas Eve. I usually wait until it gets past 6pm before I consider it Christmas Eve. The evening before Christmas Day. Regardless of this it's still the day before Christmas and I'm embedding Ray Stevens Christmas songs...something of an annual tradition on this fan created blog page.

"Winter Wonderland" is a Christmas classic that Ray recorded for his 2009 album, Ray Stevens Christmas. As you can see the album's cover photo appears on the YouTube video screen as the audio plays. When you Google search the song, for whatever reason, a YouTube audio clip of another recording artist shows up first in the search results. I'm assuming the artist or his management is paying for the immediate search result considering the song goes back decades but yet a YouTube audio of his recording shows up first. The song goes back to 1934 and was written by Felix Bernard and Richard Bernhard Smith. Originally written as a romantic love song...a couple walking along in the winter landscape. They decide to build a snowman and call it Parson Brown. In research several years ago I found out that more than a decade after the song was written additional lyrics were added to align the song with Christmas and children. So, when you hear the song, you'll hear it go from a romantic date between a couple in the winter landscape to a childlike frolic with the mentioning of building a snowman and pretending it's a circus clown. 

Building upon the Christmas mood we have a song Ray wrote titled "Deck the Halls With Teardrops". It uses a familiar riff to tell a lonesome story and it's one of my favorite songs on the Ray Stevens Christmas album.

The song "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" is another Christmas standard that Ray Stevens recorded. The song, written in 1945 by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styn, was reportedly written during a heatwave in California as the writers were thinking of colder weather...and I imagine one of the writers exclaiming in frustration "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" when thinking of the heatwave. It's probably why the song is titled the way it is. Even if it turned out at some point that the story behind the song's creation isn't true it's nevertheless still a good story. This song nor "Winter Wonderland" ever explicitly state that it's Christmas nor is there any mention of Santa Claus, sleighs, bells, or any other Christmas description. 

There are a lot of songs that weren't originally intended to be Christmas songs but because they fit the wintertime mood and explicitly describe snow and cold temperatures in the lyrics they've become synonymous with Christmas and they're played every season. In this area we're not going to have cold weather or snow on Christmas...one of the very few times Christmas Day will be in the low 60's. Due to the warmer weather our part of the United States, this year, is more in line with Bing Crosby's 1950 recording about Hawaiian Christmas, "Mele Kalikimaka". But I'd rather have the warmer weather than icy, snowy roads and freezing temperatures...even though, deep down, everyone wants snow on Christmas...so "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"...

Ray Stevens: Current Comedy Album Update...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! We're now 3 days away until Christmas. I've purchased just about everything I planned on purchasing...and this is new for me because I'm usually part of the crowd that waits until the last minute. I was over on Amazon looking up information about the current comedy album from Ray Stevens, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. The product page for the CD copy over on Amazon can be found HERE. When you're there you'll see a link to the digital download/Mp3 of the album just in case you prefer the Mp3 over the compact disc.

Three days from Christmas and we find Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore continues to appear on Amazon's New Releases Top-100. In this hour the comedy CD is ranked 68. The music video release of "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" is nearing 200,000 unique views. I was going to write a blog entry promoting the fact of the music video nearing 200,000 but I decided I'd hold off and write a blog entry about it reaching 200,000...and this may be in the next few days or in the final days of 2021. The music video peaked in social media sharing by early November. The video had made it's debut on October 8th...the day the comedy album was released. The song that I'll continue to advocate to be his next single/video release is "Dis-Connected". Who says a person has to be 19 or 20 to feel the negative impact of social media in a person's life? Ray name dropping various social media platforms and inserting online jargon within the performance of the song are the hooks which create potential interest and attention. I'm hoping "Dis-Connected" gets more and more publicity in the new year.  

If you've been a fan of Ray Stevens or have known of him for only the last 10 to 12 years you'll know how much attention he gives to social media and YouTube in particular. He has his music and his music videos available for all to see so he's very much aware of the main social media sites and online music companies that are out there. It's true that he's entrusted a few close associates to run his social media (most often it's his grandson) but obviously Ray's aware of the power of social media and he's used the various opportunities the internet provides to reach audiences he ordinarily wouldn't be reaching. Radio and television stations cater to specific age groups whereas the internet is open to all age groups...meaning that your product is likely to be found/discovered on the internet a whole lot quicker than it would be if you waited around for radio or television to accept your product. "Dis-Connected" comes from the pen of Bryan Kennedy. The writer previously recorded the song and put it out and Ray delivers his rendition of the song on Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. I've shared "Dis-Connected" in the past but I'm sharing it again... 

Ray Stevens audio track: "Christmas Bells in the Steeple"...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! Well, we're now 5 days until Christmas and here I am spotlighting one of the songs on his 2016 Christmas album, Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me. This time around it's his rendition of "Christmas Bells in the Steeple". This song is something I was not aware of until Ray recorded it...and after he recorded it and the Christmas album was made available he informed a lot of us that he wrote the song and that Perry Como originally recorded it in 1967. It's a mystery as to why Ray had never thought to record it decades earlier but in 2016 he recorded the song he'd written nearly 50 years earlier. 

I've come across copies of Perry Como's recording...the label he recorded it on, RCA, featured Chet Atkins as the record producer. Since Ray wrote the song he was also the publisher. Perry's 1967 recording featured "Love is a Christmas Rose" as the B-side. As far as Christmas songs are concerned the two strongly associated with Perry Como are "There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays" and "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas". Those two songs are among the most well known sing-a-long Christmas records of all-time. By contrast "Christmas Bells in the Steeple" deal with a much more somber situation and it's a ballad.  

Ray Stevens: Christmas Season 2021...

As we're getting closer to Christmas 2021 that's when I begin to heavily populate the bulk of my blog entries with Christmas-themed subject matter. I'm still going through the 2016 Ray Stevens Christmas album, Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me. I bought the CD when it was new but now that we're 5 years from when it was originally released I've decided to spotlight it more than I've previously done. The songs from the album are all available as audio tracks on YouTube. As mentioned in my previous blog entry this 2016 Christmas album ranges from Christmas standards to originals and jumps back and forth from serious to comedy. The album features his topical "Merry Christmas" song...previously available as a music video only.  

Lee Jackson and Patti Seymour wrote one of the songs Ray recorded for the 2016 album. "Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day" had originally been released by Brenda Lee in 1964. Her rendition was produced by Owen Bradley and it was a hit in England. The single came from a Christmas album released on her in 1964 which became a Top-10 hit here in the United States. If you have the vinyl single or if you've looked up images of the single make sure to look at the fine print...the publisher of the song happened to be Ray Stevens! His publishing company, Ahab Music, is credited on the label as the song's publisher. You're going to love the Ray Stevens recording...have a listen...

Ray Stevens: Closer to Christmas...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! We're getting closer to Christmas...we're 6 days and counting until December 25th. In 2016 Ray Stevens released his third Christmas album titled Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me. The title track comes from the pens of Jeff Bates and John Ritter. No, before you get confused, I'm not referring to the late actor with the same name...the John Ritter that co-wrote the song with Jeff Bates happens to be a disc jockey who hosts an inspirational/gospel/country radio show called Rise Up Country. Ray's album was released in November of 2016. A little less than a year later, October 2017, the two writers of the title track of Ray's 2016 Christmas album released a book based on their story. The title track tells the story of Mary and Joseph from the perspective of the donkey. The song features several donkey brays from Ray. If you listen to the song it comes off like a serious Christmas song...but if you watch the music video you'll get a completely different feeling. In the video, as you hear Ray sing, your eyes will naturally focus more attention on the various hand puppets and the bright colors that fill the backgrounds. Ray, in a music video first for him, shares the camera with a hand puppet of a donkey. The whimsical feel of the music video contrasts the serious nature of the lyrics, I think.

As I've written in other blog entries Ray included an array of different types of Christmas songs on this collection. In his first Christmas release in 1997 he filled it with comedy Christmas recordings. In his second Christmas release in 2009 it was mostly Christmas standards but on the third Christmas release in 2016 it was Christmas standards, Christmas comedy, and a couple of original songs. One of the songs Ray included in the 2016 Christmas release was his version of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer". That song was originally recorded by a man named Elmo Shropshire and his wife, Patsy. Their recording became a monster Christmas novelty...growing in popularity each Christmas season throughout the 1980's. I still like hearing the song. A music video was eventually produced and it aired on The Nashville Network numerous times in the 1980s and early 1990s.  

Now, unfortunately, a much younger generation was gaining influence with radio programmers and this forthcoming generation had no sentimentality for this song or any of the classic Christmas novelty songs, in general, and as a result the silly "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" went from being an annual Christmas standard heard at least a hundred times during the Christmas season all over the country to a song that now gets voted as "one of the worst Christmas song of all-time". My question is: who decided comedy Christmas songs were terrible? In fact, who decided comedy songs, in general, are terrible? If one has that mindset then you apparently take yourselves too seriously. When it comes to "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer", Elmo's original and any re-recording by him feature his distinctive voice. Ray sings the song straight...there isn't any exaggerated vocals or wild sound effects...except near the very end of the song when Ray changes his voice to play the role of Grandpa when the harmony singers holler "sing it, Grandpa!!". Grandpa isn't wearing his teeth...and you'll be able to tell...

Ray Stevens sings "Santa Claus is Watching You"...

Hello once again!! Ten days until Christmas and earlier today Ray Stevens uploaded a performance he gave of "Santa Claus is Watching You" on an episode of Nashville Now. There wasn't a specific year given as to when this was recorded. In the beginning of the video, briefly, you'll see the Nashville Now desk and Ralph Emery and what appears to be his frequent puppet sidekick, Shotgun Red. The set is decorated for Christmas and Ralph's desk is from the late 1980's time period. I've seen this performance before...and it was described as a late 1980's performance at that time as well...but it could also come from Christmas time 1990. I wish I knew specific years of what the set looked like on Nashville Now. I only have vague time frames. The desk is gray as are the couches...and so I'd pinpoint this appearance as being December 1989 or December 1990. I know that it's not from the mid 1980s because Ralph's desk and the chairs during that time period were brown. Here's the performance uploaded today from Nashville Now in the late 1980s.

Ray has several video performances on his YouTube channel of "Santa Claus is Watching You" and he also has an audio track of the song. The song has an interesting history. It was written and recorded by Ray in 1962. Mercury Records released it as a single and it became one of the Christmas hits of 1962. That recording was largely aimed at children...and a lot of the lyrics catered to a younger audience. I'm sure parents of children in 1962 got a kick out of the novelty song and would play it so their kids could hear Ray's warning about Santa's watching so be nice to your parents and classmates. In 1985 Ray re-recorded the song. He kept the basic hook lines and imagery of the original (the list of reindeer expanded greatly in the 1985 recording) but he changed nearly all of the lyrics. The song went from being a cute warning for kids to be on their best behavior because Santa's watching to a hilarious song about a wife who better remain faithful and true to her husband because Santa's watching. 

Ray turned the song into his first ever music video in 1985. It became a Christmas music video standard on The Nashville Network...often making their Top-10 most played Christmas music video lists in the late 1980s and into the early 1990s. 

Another performance by Ray of "Santa Claus is Watching You" on YouTube is from 1989...on a Christmas special hosted by Ralph Emery. In the performance he's joined by hand puppet, JoJo. You may remember JoJo from Ray's television commercial for Get The Best of Ray Stevens. JoJo appears during the snippet of "Gitarzan". JoJo also appears on Ray's 1995 movie, Get Serious!, as a speed zone informant. Whenever in the movie Ray appeared in his yellow car JoJo often popped out from underneath the dashboard to tell him the speed zone. You'll notice when watching that Ray's performance includes the use of a click track...meaning that someone off stage in the sound department dubbed in Ray's falsetto phrase "He's everywhere! He's everywhere!!" during the live performance to make it look as if JoJo is 'speaking' but there are several camera angles that show Ray's mouth closed when JoJo 'speaks'. 

Ray has, for decades, put lots and lots of sound effects and unusual sounds on the many novelty songs he's recorded...and in order to come as close to possible of matching a studio recording in a live setting is to have some of the sound effects and other voices dubbed into the live performance. Ray uses multi-tracking whenever he makes records...the vocal and every instrument is recorded on separate tracks...and during production everything is mixed. He'd use a click track during live performances of "Sex Symbols", for example. His lines for Julio, which were recorded on a separate track, would be played back in concert as Ray sang his lines live while operating the mouth movements of Julio. Some people, because Ray sang the song in concerts and on television with a dummy at his side, have mistakenly thought Ray to be a legitimate ventriloquist. Here's Ray and JoJo from 1989... 

Ray Stevens: Oh my...it's Raining Cats and Dogs...

It's raining cats and dogs during the writing of this blog entry. That means I'll be spotlighting several Ray Stevens songs that have something to do with cats and dogs. You'd think that Ray would have recorded a comedy song called "Cats and Dogs" at some point but none such a song exists in his vast catalog. I know a lot of you know that Ray has recorded numerous songs about chickens...including a trio of recordings where he clucked out the entire performance as a chicken: "In the Mood" (1976), "Classical Cluck" (1976), and "Thus Cacked Henrietta" (1985). In addition to the chickens Ray has also sang about a wide range of creatures from rattlesnakes, to sidewinders, butterflies, pigs, and octopus...and I'll make the assumption that you also know that Ray has recorded even more songs about cats and dogs. One of his earliest comedy songs about dogs happens to be "Fred", from his 1984 comedy album, He Thinks He's Ray Stevens. From the pen of Lee Cheney "Fred" is about a dog that is described as near human. Ray tells us how the dog often takes turn doing the dishes, driving the truck to the grocery store, and is a master of checkers. One of the lines in the song tells us that Fred loves chasing cars, howling at the moon, and this leads to his hooking up with a female dog. It's got a twist ending so be waiting for it. 

In 1993 for his Classic Ray Stevens comedy album he recorded a song called "The Higher Education of Ole Blue". The story is rooted in southern folklore about how a dog is enrolled into college...and he apparently develops the ability to do extraordinary things...and one of those things is learning how to read and talk. The son of Ole Blue's owner, who's in college, is pulling a prank on his father...who keeps sending his son a lot of money because he thinks there's a college course that'll teach his hunting dog how to speak and read. So, weeks later, the son arrives without Ole Blue...and the son proceeds to tell the father what appears to be a far fetched story of the dog's death on the train ride home...but the father is relieved to hear this. Jerry Clower and other comedians rooted in the South have told stories of this scenario for years...and it was turned into a song by Buddy Kalb...and Ray recorded it in 1993. 

We bring in the cat...and one of Ray's wildest comedy songs starring a feline happens to be 2005's "Kitty Cat's Revenge" found on Box Set. Ray frantically tells the story of a cat that has to be rescued from a drainage pipe. In the song he plays a fireman called to the scene...and once he gets into the sewer pipe that's when the troubles arrive. In a series of unfortunate happenings he forgets how to get out of the pipe and as he's crawling around inside the pipe, in the dark, he makes a turn and slides 30 feet below into an awaiting pool of human waste. I love the frenetic vocal delivery and the banjo plucking away in the background...giving it a downhome, southern vibe. 

Staying with the feline we come across "The Cat Song", also from the 2005 Box Set. In this situation we go from Ray singing frantically about a cat in a sewage system to singing about a woman who talks romantic, sweet, and kind to her cat...infuriating the husband...leaving him to wonder why she doesn't talk to him the way she talks to the cat. Talk show host, Mark Steyn, recorded "The Cat Song" a decade later in 2015. On Mark's album the song has an alternate title, "She Only Talks That Way to the Cat". Another Ray Stevens cat song has a Christmas theme. "Claws (A Cat's Letter to Santa)" arrived in 2016 and it appears on Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me. The song spotlights a cat's letter to Santa and in the letter he wants new claws for Christmas. His owner declawed him...and he wants Santa to bring him some claws for Christmas. The harmony singers provide a lot of meow vocalization against an up-tempo performance.

On Ray's current album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore, Ray adds a new dog song to his catalog with "Old Dog". If you don't feel upbeat and find yourself smiling when you hear this song then I'd say you have no pulse...or you have ice in your veins...one or the other. 

Ray Stevens: 12 Days till Christmas...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! You may have guessed by now that the title of this blog entry is tied to the Christmas novelty song, "The 12 Days of Christmas". I was listening to a version of that song while I was at the store this morning. The store was playing Christmas songs on the speaker all over the store. Yes, there's 12 days until Christmas...this being December 13th and with Christmas Day on December 25th...two weeks until Christmas. This also means that you have one more opportunity to see Christmas at the CabaRay. Ray will put on his final Christmas-themed concert of the season this coming Saturday, December 18th. Last week he put on a rare Friday evening concert in addition to his usual Saturday evening concert. There won't be any concert at the CabaRay next week so this coming Saturday is the last chance to see a Christmas-themed concert at Ray's CabaRay showroom this 2021 season. As most of you know Ray has three Christmas albums. He recorded them sporadically throughout his career. His first Christmas album didn't emerge until 1997. His second Christmas album arrived in 2009 and his third Christmas album arrived in 2016. So, as you can see, the three Christmas albums were spread out over a nearly 20 year time period (1997-2016). His first Christmas album was all-comedy, Christmas Through a Different Window. The second one titled Ray Stevens Christmas, from 2009, was traditional non-comedy renditions of Christmas standards and one brand new song. The third Christmas album in 2016, Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me, included both comical and non-comical recordings. Some of the songs on the 2016 album were Christmas standards while others were more contemporary. A track list of each Christmas album is below...

Christmas Through a Different Window: 

1. Guilt For Christmas**

2. I Won't Be Home For Christmas

3. Greatest Little Christmas Ever Wuz

4. Home For the Holidays

5. Redneck Christmas**

6. Xerox Xmas Letter

7. Nightmare Before Christmas**

8. Annual Office Christmas Party

9. Little Drummer Boy - Next Door

10. Bad Little Boy

11. Santa Claus is Watching You**

Ray Stevens Christmas:

1. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

2. White Christmas**

3. Winter Wonderland

4. Silent Night

5. The Christmas Song

6. Blue Christmas

7. I'll Be Home For Christmas

8. Deck the Halls With Teardrops

9. Jingle Bells

10. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me:

1. Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me**

2. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

3. Frosty the Snowman

4. All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth (2012)

5. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer (2012)

6. Claws (A Cat's Letter to Santa)

7. All I Want For Christmas Is You

8. Merry Christmas**

9. Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day

10. Christmas Bells in the Steeple

**- Notes: The symbols that you see following some of the songs indicate that there's a music video of those songs. "Blue Christmas" was recorded twice by Ray Stevens in 2009. He recorded a serious version which is on the 2009 Christmas album but he also recorded a comical version, where he stutters the lyrics, and that stuttering rendition was made into a music video and released as a separate CD single. "Bad Little Boy" was never made into an official music video but Ray uploaded onto YouTube a performance of the song from his appearance on The Statler Brothers Show. Two of the songs on the 2016 album come from his 9-CD album from 2012, Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. "Merry Christmas" was available as a music video first...then it appeared on the 2016 album. The rendition of "Santa Claus is Watching You" on the 1997 album is a re-recording. A music video exists from 1985...the first music video in Ray's career...and because a music video exists of the song I made note of it's video availability. The 1985 recording of the song originally appeared on his comedy album that year, I Have Returned. The song itself goes back to 1962...when Ray put out the first "Santa Claus is Watching You"...that rendition is geared more toward children whereas the 1985 partial re-write is geared more toward adults. The Christmas music can be purchased at Ray's online store along with a whole lot of other items. The online store is HERE.   

Ray Stevens: "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" reaches 190,000 unique views...

Hello once more all of you fans of Ray Stevens!! Some of you probably won't be able to see the fine print in the image off to the right. I had to make the image small so it wouldn't take up too much text space. It's the most recent Amazon placement for Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore, the current comedy album from Ray Stevens. The CD is ranked at number 88 this hour on Amazon's list of Top-100 New Releases in CD/Vinyl in the Country music format. I often check this Top-100 list to see where Amazon's placed the CD...sometimes when I check it's up near, or among, the Top-50 and sometimes it's in the bottom 20 of the Top-100 like it currently is. There are days when the CD isn't even in the Top-100 but then it shows up for multiple week appearances. The first single release from the album happened to arrive in June...a novelty song called "Gas". It has never been made into a music video but it was released as an audio track by Curb Records...and that particular audio track received more than 12,000 plays on YouTube. When the comedy album was released in October, "Gas" was issued as an audio track on YouTube for a second time. The audio track released in June features, as a promo photo, a fictional gas station with a line of cars waiting to fill up. The audio track of "Gas" that was released in October features the cover art from Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore as a promo. The October audio track has a little over 2,000 YouTube plays compared to the more than 12,000 plays of the June audio track. They're the same recording. I say that just in case anyone was wondering if there's a difference between the audio track that shown up in June and the audio featured on the album. 

When the comedy album was released in October several online music sites promoted a couple of songs. One of the online sites promoted the audio track, "Coco Cabana Band". Elsewhere on the internet were music sites promoting the music video of "Hoochie Coochie Dancer". Now, it shouldn't come as a surprise, but a music video or any type of visual content is going to gain a whole lot more attention and it's potentially going to lead to a lot more online sharing than an audio track will. The "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" music video has 192,140 unique views. In the song Ray and a few of his friends are at a carnival where he meets up with a belly dancer. The two visit a fortune teller/gypsy who, predictably, tells Ray that he's found his soul mate. He proposes marriage...even going so far as to give her his high school ring. As the song progresses we're told that one day behind a tent spelled the end of Ray's one-sided romance as he tells us that he can't recall much of what went on except that he woke up and saw a policeman returning him his billfold and high school ring.   

Ray Stevens: Christmas Discount Sale...

Hello once again Ray Stevens fans!! The photo over on the right is an image of the Star located in downtown Nashville, Tennessee at the Music City Walk of Fame. The location is just outside of the Country Music Hall of Fame. The official address is Demonbreun Street in between 4th and 5th Avenue. The Country Music Hall of Fame is right across from the Music City Walk of Fame. Next door to the Walk of Fame is the Bridgestone Arena. It's a massively congested area of traffic and one way streets. Ray received his Star on August 21, 2018. Ricky Skaggs was on hand to do the official presentation and unveil Ray's Star. The Music City Walk of Fame has a website and there's a page for each inductee. Here's the Ray Stevens PAGE over on the Walk of Fame website. Once there you'll see a few photos from that August 2018 day. The following year, as almost all of you should know by now, Ray Stevens was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Now then...to the focal point of this particular blog entry. There will be a discount sale at the Ray Stevens webstore for two days only. The sale begins tomorrow (Saturday) and it's for two days...tomorrow and Sunday. The sale is for everything in the webstore. All items are going to be marked down 20 percent. Ray's webstore has a lot of CD's, T-shirts, coffee mugs, and an assortment of trinkets featuring Ray's name or his face. There are DVD's full of music videos as well as the two DVD releases containing episodes of his CabaRay Nashville television program. Everything will be discounted in time for Christmas. The webstore, at the moment, doesn't reflect the discount sale since it doesn't begin until tomorrow but here's the LINK to the Ray Stevens webstore. Browse through the online store and take note of what you'll be ordering during the next two days during the discount sale.    

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Christmas 2021...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! If you've seen recent photos of concerts at the CabaRay you'll know that the stage has Christmas decorations but there wasn't any announcement of Christmas concerts at the CabaRay but that all changed yesterday with the YouTube upload of an advertisement for a CabaRay Christmas 2021. In my mind I think the reason why there wasn't a big promotional campaign for Christmas concerts this year is due to the uncertainty of the times we find ourselves in. I can understand the reason to not make a big promotional effort for Christmas concerts without knowing, well in advance, if some sort of Government mandated shut down isn't on the horizon. In the back of my mind I feel that's the reason for the low-key nature surrounding the concerts in the latter part of November and this month. When there's always the possibility of some sort of Government mandated shut-down it can impact how a business is run. In 2018 and 2019 Ray promoted the Christmas-themed concerts online with a large banner...featuring a photo of himself in a Santa Claus suit. This year there wasn't an appearance of any large advertisement but rather a 30 second video. 

The great thing about these kinds of video uploads is that the screen cap is always selected to not only promote the CabaRay but also provide the number you call for concert tickets and other information. You can always order your tickets online, too, which is why the webpage is also shown in the screen cap. There are only three more concerts left for the month of December!! He will put on a rare Friday night concert on December 10th and then there's the Saturday night concert on December 11th. His next Christmas concert will be December 18th...and he won't be in concert again until December 31st for the New Year's Eve concert and party. I've embedded the following video in a previous blog entry but it seems natural to include it in this blog entry, too...

Ray Stevens audio track: "Moonshine"...

I know most of you that come upon this blog entry probably have the current Ray Stevens comedy album in your collection by now. Released on October 8th, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore continues to chart on the Amazon New Releases Country CD's Hot 100. I've shared numerous audio tracks from the album in previous blog entries and this time around I'm embedding the audio track, "Moonshine", from the pen of Buddy Kalb. Ray posted a link to the YouTube audio track of "Moonshine" on his Facebook page earlier today and so I decided to embed the audio track in this blog entry. It's a novelty song that manages to name drop just about every slang expression for homemade liquor and by song's end Ray's vocals have comedically gone from well enunciated to slurred...garbling his words as the song comes to it's conclusion.  

It's a brand new week and the first full week of December. Last Thursday happened to be my birthday...and Christmas is in the air. I wrote a blog entry recently about the latest DVD from Ray Stevens arriving in the mail. A Merry Video Christmas from Ray Stevens...it features 6 Christmas music videos. It's part of a current webstore sale at the moment...which lasts until December 18th. It's being marketed as the Ray Stevens Christmas Bundle. You can read all about the sale when you click HERE. Now, for those who already have two of the three items in the sale you can still purchase the Christmas DVD separately. These online bundle sales are usually for people that don't purchase merchandise, individually, throughout any given year but prefer to wait until Christmas time. There are other bundle offers within the online store. The Volume One and Volume Two DVD packages containing episodes of his CabaRay Nashville television show are still for sale. Those of you who love his political comedy there's a bundle offered at his webstore titled the Patriots and Politics Package. This bundle contains his 2010 We The People album, his 2011 Spirit of '76 album, and the Patriots and Politics DVD. The ultimate product is the offer titled Video Collector's Set. That bundle features 6 DVD's altogether!! There's a lot of items at the webstore...CDs, DVDs, T-shirts, hats, his memoir, stuffed animals, coffee mugs, keychains, and other trinkets. 

Ray Stevens sings "The King is Gone and So Are You"...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! The latest performance video from Ray Stevens appeared on his social media Saturday morning in the form of "The King is Gone and So Are You". This humorous song originated in 1989 when it was released as a single by George Jones. I can't exactly say it originated in 1989 since I don't know when the song was written...but it was popularized by George Jones in 1989. The song's original title was "Ya Ba Da Ba Doo" but threats of a lawsuit from the owners of the Flintstone characters caused the song to receive a new title, "The King is Gone and So Are You". I've seen copies of the single with it's original name come up for sale online. 

Ray Stevens recorded his version of the song in 2012 for his 9-CD release, The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. The song's lyrics are humorous but the song itself is delivered seriously. George Jones recorded it seriously though at times he'd chuckle in certain moments in the song...and the music was traditional country. Ray sings it as a ballad, as George did, with a heavy use of country instrumentation. The main difference is the phrasing of the lyrics. Ray has a pop/crooning vocal delivery which influences his phrasing whereas George's voice and phrasing has country written all over the performance. 

The song is about a guy, upset about a woman having left him, spending the night drinking whiskey from a decanter that looks like Elvis. The guy pours his whiskey into a Flintstone jellybean jar. The absurdity of the scenario was intended to categorize it as a novelty song yet those that hear the song don't necessarily laugh...they usually shrug and think to themselves "Oh, I know a guy like that!!". This performance from Ray's CabaRay Nashville television series. One of Ray's harmony singers, Sheri Copeland Smith, previously worked for the George Jones team. She and her husband, Barry Smith, toured with George for numerous years prior to her joining Ray's team.  

Ray Stevens: Merry Video Christmas has Arrived...

Hello all of you fans of Ray Stevens!! I had been awaiting the latest DVD release from Ray and it arrived earlier than expected. Originally A Merry Video Christmas from Ray Stevens was to arrive in the mail tomorrow but in the late evening hours yesterday I decided to check the tracking update on the USPS website and discovered that the DVD was nearby and would arrive December 3rd instead of December 4th. I went to the post office earlier today and got the DVD...opening the envelope it was shipped in once I returned home. Sometimes I open packages in the post office lobby but today I decided to wait until returning home. I purchased my copy of the DVD on the day after Thanksgiving when Ray was having the one day only Black Friday sale. The DVD was the brand new item in the webstore. Several days later a new sale was unveiled and this DVD is among the items being offered in the current webstore sale. That sale, marketed as the Ray Stevens Christmas Bundle, will run until December 18th. You can get a copy of this Christmas music video DVD at Ray's webstore when you click HERE. 

One of the things you'll love when you get this DVD are the graphics. Ray seems to always use unique fonts and letter sizes on the packaging of his products. On the back of the DVD there's commentary from Ray at the top of the page followed by the listing of the 6 Christmas music videos. Ray shares a comment or two about each music video. His commentaries are posted underneath the title of each music video. Now, unlike previous DVD releases, this one doesn't feature any songwriter or publisher credits. The label upon which this was released is CabaRay Records. This imprint is also shown on the back of his Iconic Songs of the 20th Century box set and his current comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. Those two products were released by Curb Records but the CabaRay Records logo/imprint was visible as well. However, for this DVD release, there's only CabaRay Records listed. As you might guess, this means that the DVD is being released exclusively on Ray's own record label rather than through Curb Records. It also means that the DVD is likely not going to become available all over the internet but will remain inside Ray's webstore and in his CabaRay gift shop. This isn't to say that a third party won't offer it for sale. I've seen a lot of sellers on Amazon and it's marketplace and on eBay that sell items often only found on Ray's webstore. As of this writing A Merry Video Christmas from Ray Stevens isn't listed anywhere on Amazon nor eBay...so, for now, the only place you can get it are the two places I mentioned...at Ray's webstore and in his CabaRay gift shop. 

The 6 music videos on the DVD are: 

1. Santa Claus is Watching You

2. Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me

3. Redneck Christmas

4. Nightmare Before Christmas

5. Guilt for Christmas

6. Merry Christmas

Ray Stevens: "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" nears 190,000 unique views...

We've made it to December!! Hello the last month of the year...and as I looked upon the unique view totals of "Hoochie Coochie Dancer" I seen that it's nearing 190,000 unique views. The specific number is 187,687. In a couple of previous blog entries I made mention of the music video having peaked...but it isn't a word meant to be taken literally. An online music video will continue to obtain unique views as long as it's online and attached to a popular recording artist which Ray Stevens happens to be. However, as far as pulling in tens of thousands of unique views per day as it was doing in the days and weeks after October 8th, I don't believe the video will see those kinds of numbers on a daily basis again and so when this phase of a video happens I tend to say that it's peaked. 

During a 7 day period from November 22 to November 29 the video had gained 3,531 unique views. Compare this to the amount of unique views racked up between November 14 and November 18. In that four day span the video had gotten 11,521 unique views. Now, from November 18 to November 22 the video had gotten 6,441 unique views. Prior to today the last time I looked in to see the YouTube numbers for the video was November 29 and it was sitting at 186,973...and two days later, December 1st, it's sitting at 187,687. I could've held off looking at the video's numbers for another day or two but I wanted to have a blog entry published on the first day of the month and it's still too early to starting embedding Christmas music video content. Those will begin to appear mid-December and lead into Christmas Day. The song comes from his current comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore.