Ray Stevens: Goldmine Magazine Write-Up...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! I was browsing the internet late last night and I came across a write-up/promo about Ray that was brand new to me. The publish date shows January 24, 2022 but last night was the first time I'd come across it. The article comes from Goldmine Magazine. If you're not familiar, Goldmine is a music collector organization. They usually publish price guides for vinyl singles and albums. I have one of their price guide books from the 1990s. It was my reference book, prior to the internet, when it came to vinyl single releases in Ray's career. The price guide listed the single releases in his career and which record label released them. I don't know when this write-up was written. The byline states that it was written by a writer named Lee Zimmerman. The writer mentions that Ray is 83 (the age he reached on January 24th) but there's no mention of Ray's wife (who passed away on New Year's Eve) or of the recent passing away of Ray's longtime friend, Ralph Emery. It's a great article, though, touching on Ray's longevity and his Iconic Songs of the 20th Century box set and the individual CD's contained in the box set. There's also mention of the CabaRay and how it re-opened in September 2021 following the lengthy shutdown amidst the pandemic. The write-up, overall, comes across as if it were written either in November 2021 or sometime in early December 2021 with a future publishing date on Ray's birthday, January 24, 2022. The promo appears in the Goldmine Magazine's Where Are They Now? feature which you can read when you click HERE.    

Ray Stevens: Random Vinyl Spotlight...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens! I decided to just randomly pick out an album released on Ray Stevens and spotlight it. This particular vinyl album, released in 1981, is obscure but it shows up on eBay once in awhile. I was looking through eBay and came upon this Oh, Lonesome Me vinyl album and it inspired me to compose this particular blog entry. I had been under the impression that this was an import album...given that it's on a label called Piccadilly Records. Whenever I see the word, Piccadilly, I think of England. I discovered, however, that this 1981 album was manufactured here in the United States. On the back of the album cover there's a small credit that runs along the bottom that reads "Manufactured and Distributed by First American Records" and it shows that their address is in Seattle, Washington. As you can see Ray Stevens doesn't appear on the front of the album. He doesn't appear on the back of the album, either. The album contains 11 tracks...with 9 of them from Ray's 1975 album, Misty. So, yes, one could call this a partial re-issue of the Misty album minus the first two songs from that album, "Misty" and "Indian Love Call". Oh, Lonesome Me kicks off with "Over the Rainbow" and the following 8 songs are in chronological order as to how they appeared on the Misty album. The final 2 tracks on the 1981 Oh, Lonesome Me album are 1968's "Isn't It Lonely Together?" and 1969's "Have a Little Talk With Myself". The 1981 album isn't part of my personal collection and so I don't know if a photo of Ray appears on the paper sleeve inside the album or not. Record companies used to have a photo of the singer on the paper sleeve...as a sort of exclusive...for those that purchased the album. Decades before the internet and photo sharing the allure of it all for the fan was to have a photo of the singer on the paper sleeve that wasn't visible on either the front or back of the album. 

Ray Stevens: CabaRay 2022 Season...

Well, hello all of you Ray Stevens fans!! A social media post, out of the blue, appeared today on Ray's social media pages. It happened to be a promo for the upcoming concert season at the CabaRay showroom. This will be the fourth season of concerts following 2018, 2019, and 2021. I don't count 2020 as a "season of concerts" because there were only a couple of them during the entire calendar year. Ray resumed concert performances at the CabaRay in 2021 and now he's announced the next season of concerts will kick-off on March 19, 2022. There's some changes this season, as in the case of the previous season, no longer will customers have to purchase a dinner in order to sit at the tables down in front of the concert stage. In times past if you purchased a dinner along with the concert you'd automatically be placed in the table seating area or, if you were a family or a group, you'd be placed in one of the red leather booths in the corners of the showroom. If you just wanted to see the concert, and didn't purchase a dinner, you'd be placed up in the balcony area. 

Last season the announcement was made that customers could purchase tickets for any seat in the showroom regardless of whether they purchased a dinner (excluding the balcony area...which has always been for customers that purchased concert-only tickets). So, now you'll be able to purchase table seating without having to purchase a dinner. Tickets for the 2022 season are on sale now. 

In the 2022 season Ray plans performing concerts on Thursday and Saturday nights while the Piano Bar will be in service on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The Friday night Piano Bar service is for those that want to go out but not necessarily take in a formal concert. The Piano Bar features a pianist named John Jonethis...as mentioned he'll be in the Piano Bar before and after Ray's concerts on Thursday and Saturday in addition to performing on Friday night during Ray's night off. As I mentioned earlier concert tickets for the CabaRay are on sale now. You can read all about the 2022 season when you click HERE. When you visit the site and check the Events tab you'll be able to see the calendar on the left side of the screen. Click forward on the calendar to March and you'll see that there are concerts scheduled for March 19th and March 26th, both on a Saturday. The first Thursday night concerts according to the calendar are in late April (the 21st and the 28th). From April 21st onward there will be a Ray Stevens concert scheduled on Thursday and Saturday night throughout the remainder of the year...the only changes being the months of November and December around the holidays. 

Ray Stevens: Have a Happy Birthday...

Hello all once again! I was going to title this blog entry "try to have a Happy Birthday, Ray Stevens" but then I decided to title it as it appears. The double whammy of Ray losing his wife on New Year's Eve and then, a few days ago, losing one of his music industry friends, Ralph Emery, plus several other music industry losses...asking Ray to try to have a happy birthday amid all of the tragedy and sadness sounded a bit too much and so, as mentioned, I've decided to title the blog entry with a generic "have a Happy Birthday". Ray Stevens was born January 24, 1939 as Harold Ray Ragsdale in the small town of Clarkdale, Georgia. He reaches 83 years young today. If you're as big a fan of Ray Stevens as I am then you know that he has two daughters and several grandchildren. His brother, John Ragsdale, passed away a couple of years ago after suffering a fall in his island home in Bocas Del Toro. Their mother, Frances, passed away in 1997 and their father, Willis, passed away in 2001. I'm sure that Ray's social media pages will have a birthday post today...but as one could imagine it's probably going to be low-key unlike in past years where there's a festive atmosphere in his office or at the CabaRay with video emerging of him blowing out the candles on a cake. Time is going to tell how or if his birthday is going to be mentioned at some point on his social media pages. Country radio morning shows like to mention who's having a birthday in country music and so word may get out that way...but as I said I'm sure there's going to mention of his birthday on his social media pages. 

In the photo above Ralph Emery and Ray Stevens have a laugh during a 1977 episode of "Pop! Goes the Country". I posted a blog entry about Ralph in another blog series I author. Ralph was one of several major figures that played a role in the success of Ray's career. Although Ralph rarely received much credit it's largely through Ralph that, in my opinion, Ray was able to make a seemingly smooth transition from Pop/Easy-Listening music to Country music. Ralph not only hosted an influential radio program but he also hosted several music programs on television. Ralph often had Ray on his radio and television programs and the exposure it generated for Ray is incalculable...add to that Ralph's stamp of approval which carried a lot of weight in the '60s and '70s for so many country music artists. 

A few years later, in 1983, Ray was part of the launch night of The Nashville Network. Ralph hosted the nightly interview/performance program, "Nashville Now", during the first 10 years of the cable channel's existence, 1983-1993. A common sight whenever the two were together...laughter. So, have a Happy 83rd Birthday, Ray Stevens! Your fans are all still here whenever you decide to return to the public eye.  

      

Ray Stevens: The Penny Ragsdale Tribute...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! As you may have heard by now Ray's wife of 61 years, Penny Ragsdale, passed away back on New Year's Eve and since that time Ray has understandably kept his social media presence at a much lower profile than usual as he copes with the loss. There has only been a couple of posts on his social media pages since the New Year got underway on January 1st. A collage memorial was uploaded onto his social media pages back on January 21st. The memorial features photos of Penny as well as photos of Ray, Penny, and their kids. The song that plays in the memorial is "Written Down in My Heart". Ray had recorded the song in 1982 and it became a hit single for him from the Don't Laugh Now album. He re-recorded the song in 2011 for an album titled Bozo's Back Again. The 2011 recording is what's played during the collage memorial. The song's writer is credited as W.T. Davidson. On the 1982 single release the music publisher is Grand Avenue Music, one of Ray's song publishing companies, and so the writer was somebody that either Ray discovered or who voluntarily sought out Ray's company to write for. It's the only song that Ray's recorded that was credited to that particular writer. The YouTube video doesn't feature Ray's name in the title but it, of course, credits his YouTube username (raystevensmusic) and so it's being discovered on YouTube through his username. Some of the photos have been posted online and some are from his memoir. You're going to like the video tribute and the song.

Ray Stevens: "Feel the Music" now Sapphire...

The 45th anniversary is represented by the gemstone, sapphire. So, with the Ray Stevens 1977 album, Feel the Music, reaching 45 this year it's now sapphire. If I were in charge of marketing I'd re-issue the album on sapphire vinyl (the color of sapphire is blue). The album comes from the time period in which Ray recorded for Warner Brothers records. He joined the label in 1976 and stayed there until the mid-point of 1979 before moving on to RCA later in the year. His output on Warner Brothers was eclectic and fun...he did a lot of experimentation with his overall sound while at the label. The Feel the Music album was written almost entirely by Ray Stevens. There are 10 songs on the album and 9 of them were written by Ray...the only song that wasn't happened to be from the pen of Buddy Kalb, "Set The Children Free". You'll hear a wide range of styles on this album and with that wide range of styles you'll hear a wide range of vocalization from Ray, too. The title track features a forceful vocalization...inspirational with a church choir overtone when he reaches the chorus of the song. The harmony singers on this album were: Ray Stevens, Toni Wine, Prissy Reed, and the Mt. Pisgah Young People's Chorus. It's my assumption that "Feel the Music" features the Mt. Pisgah group singing harmony while the remainder of the album features Ray, Toni, and Prissy as the primary harmony vocals. 

If you're a collector of Ray Stevens then you're probably always going to be on the hunt for cassette tapes of his vinyl albums...simply for the sake of adding them to your collection...and when I seen an image of the cassette copy of Feel the Music I added it to my online image library. It's such a rare item and even more rare to see it with your own eyes. Cassette tapes of 1970's Ray Stevens vinyl albums just aren't in abundance...and the rare moments one comes up for sale on eBay or elsewhere the price is outrageous. I have the vinyl copy of Feel the Music but not the cassette tape. The cover art for the 1977 album is a stereo speaker. On the back of the album there's a photo of Ray and detailed art work of what the back of a stereo speaker looks like. The artist included a lot of detail! Ray's photo is depicted as if it's sticking to the back of the stereo speaker with a couple pieces of tape. So, yes, when I got the vinyl album and added it to my personal collection I looked at the back cover...which is rarely seen online. I sat there for several minutes looking at the art work and the songwriter credits, producer credits, etc. etc. The first single release from the album happened to be the adventurous "Get Crazy With Me". Ray remarked in a print interview in 1977 that he had a lot of fun in the studio while recording the song and made mention of the unusual audio hook found within the music itself. It's a crazy, memorable sound effect unlike anything heard before or since. The single, apparently, was a bit too out of left field because it charted for a total of 4 weeks on the Cashbox country chart...entering March 5, 1977 and exiting at the end of the month on March 26th. 

"Dixie Hummingbird" was the most commercially successful single release from the album. I have yet to see any video footage of Ray singing the song on television, though. The single hit in June of 1977 and reached the Top-30 in the Cashbox Country chart in late July. It flew up the 100 position Cashbox Country chart and was in the Top-30 in it's 7th week. It reached it's peak within the Top-30 the following week on July 30, 1977. Ray performed "Feel the Music" and "Get Crazy With Me" on a couple of television shows of the era but never performed "Dixie Hummingbird". The bluesy "Junkie For You", "Blues Love Affair", and "Road Widow" are a trio of songs that I'd have loved to have seen Ray sing on television. You can also add "Alone With You" to that list. Ray Stevens is always striving to sing, write, arrange, and produce music that is uniquely his own. He has often said that he doesn't concern himself too much, now, if he's the writer or if someone else writes the songs he sings. The main writer of songs for Ray Stevens is Buddy Kalb. In interviews Buddy has remarked that he writes lyrics and a melody but once he turns the lyrics over to Ray then it's turned into a song that sounds as if Ray wrote it. It's a personalization talent that Ray has with the songs that he sings...it's in the vocal delivery, the production, the music arrangements. The track list on the Feel the Music album is below...

1. Feel the Music

2. Daydream Romance

3. Blues Love Affair

4. Alone With You

5. Junkie For You

6. Get Crazy With Me

7. Save Me From Myself

8. Road Widow

9. Set The Children Free

10. Dixie Hummingbird  

Ray Stevens: Don't Laugh at 40...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! The year 2022 brings with it numerous anniversaries for Ray Stevens. I'll be highlighting some of those milestone anniversaries this year starting with this one...turning 40 is the wonderful 1982 album from Ray Stevens titled Don't Laugh Now. This album was Ray's third studio album for RCA Records. He joined the label in the latter half of 1979 and he remained part of the RCA roster until the second half of 1983 before returning to the Mercury Records label. Ray had previously recorded for Mercury Records during the 1961-1966 time frame.  

In Ray's RCA tenure he recorded three studio albums (1980, 1981, and 1982) and RCA issued a compilation album on him in 1983 prior to his departure from the label. 

Don't Laugh Now, Ray's third studio album with RCA, features 10 recordings. The flow of the album is mostly mid-tempo and up-tempo during the first 5 tracks on Side One of the vinyl album. The only ballad on the first side of the album is "Written Down In My Heart", which was released as a single. Ray performed this song on a couple of television appearances in 1982. On Side Two of album we have mostly slow ballads...the one recording with a somewhat mid-tempo delivery on Side Two is "Country Boy, Country Club Girl". In addition to "Written Down in My Heart" the other single release from the album is the comical "Where the Sun Don't Shine" which is arranged in a traditional Southern Gospel flavor. One of the slower songs on this album is "This Old Piano" but "Why Don't We Go Somewhere and Make Love" is just as slow but the sing-a-long chorus picks up the pace. Ray had never sounded so plaintive than he did while singing "This Old Piano". I consider it an experimental song for him. Ray hardly ever records what are commonly called tearjerker songs and that song could qualify as one. The album's title track takes on the longstanding frustrations most guys go through when it comes to relationships. Men who are upbeat or like to tell jokes, whether they're funny or not, get a reputation as being silly, goofy, immature, and non-serious...and because of that reputation it's a hindrance when it comes to trying to be romantic. When Ray sings the phrase, "Don't Laugh Now", in the context of the song, it's meant to be his way of telling the person "take the things I'm saying to you seriously". 

"Oh, Leo Lady" opens up Side Two and it's a clever song mixing astrology and romance. The song tells of a man who loves a woman in spite of what his horoscope told him. It's a cute love song dealing with hopeless devotion. 

Ray's RCA recordings are not in print. In this era of online music I guess the terminology to use is the music isn't available online. However, long before the internet Ray's recordings for RCA still weren't in abundant supply. The 1983 Greatest Hits album that the label issued contained only two recordings Ray did while at the label and both of those come from 1980. 

In 1985 RCA released a series of albums on everyone that had recorded for the label. The series featured both past and present RCA recording artists. Ray Stevens, being a former RCA recording artist by 1985, was part of this retrospective series and his Collector's Series emerged. RCA released the series on vinyl and in cassette tape format. The art work and design on the vinyl album cover was the same for every recording artist in the series. The compilation features 8 recordings. Collector's Series, to date, remains the only compilation album of Ray's RCA recordings. In 1987 RCA re-issued the title in cassette tape format only...and in that 1987 re-issue they replaced the ballad, "One More Last Chance", with the comedy song "Put It In Your Ear". As you can see "One More Last Chance" is track number 7 on the 1985 Collector's Series. The 1987 re-issue was released in CD format in 1992. Some of the other RCA recordings on that compilation is his biggest single release for the label, "Shriner's Convention". Track 5 is "The Dooright Family"...that comedy song and "Shriner's Convention" are usually the only two recordings to appear on Ray Stevens compilation albums to represent his RCA years. Those two songs come from his debut album for RCA, Shriner's Convention, seen in panel one in the collage above. "You're Never Goin' To Tampa With Me", track 2, is also from his 1980 Shriner's Convention comedy album. The 1985 Collector's Series features 3 tracks from Shriner's Convention, 3 tracks from Don't Laugh Now, and 2 tracks from One More Last Chance. 

As a long time Ray Stevens fan, and having these two compilations in my personal collection, it had me salivating for more Ray Stevens RCA songs. I didn't start building my vinyl album collection of Ray Stevens until the mid 2000's and so as a teenager and young adult these 8 recordings were the only Ray Stevens RCA songs I was familiar with until I was able to get the actual vinyl albums. "Let's Do It Right This Time" is a great sing-a-long...a love ballad, actually, but it isn't a slow ballad. It's a song that goes hand in hand with the title track of his 1981 album, One More Last Chance. A song of reconciliation and promises of a better future. The 1987 re-issue that you see off to the right features "Put It In Your Ear" as track 8. As mentioned earlier "One More Last Chance" was removed to make room for "Put It In Your Ear". This meant that the year, 1981, was represented on the 1987 Collector's Series with only one song, "Let's Do It Right This Time". Ray had, by 1987, become so popular with a string of comedy albums and had won two consecutive Comedian of the Year trophies at the fan voted Music City News awards that, in hindsight, explains why RCA removed a love ballad for an additional comedy song. In doing so the 1987 Collector's Series features 4 songs from 1980...half of the 1987 album comes from Shriner's Convention. 

A rarity but it does exist. Don't Laugh Now was available in cassette tape format. In addition to vinyl I also have a cassette tape of the 1982 album. Like stickers on the shrink wrap of vinyl albums that promoted song selections this cassette tape features a trio of songs promoted by RCA: "Such a Night", "Written Down In My Heart", and "Oh, Leo Lady". This promo appears directly on the cassette tape cover. RCA, as you can see, appears in big block letters near the bottom. That big bar code is unusual in that it appears on the front of the cassette tape rather than on the back. However, I have to remind myself that in 1982 vinyl singles and vinyl albums still largely outsold cassette tape...the cassette didn't start to really take off in sales until the middle part of the 1980's and into the 1990's before the CD became dominant. The ten songs on Don't Laugh Now are: "Such a Night", "Written Down in My Heart", "Take That Girl Away", "Always There", "Where the Sun Don't Shine", "Oh, Leo Lady", "Don't Laugh Now", "This Old Piano", "Country Boy, Country Club Girl", and "Why Don't We Go Somewhere and Make Love". When Ray is in concert he usually opens the show with "Such a Night".  

Ray Stevens: The Outpouring of Sympathy Continues...

Hello all of you fans of Ray Stevens!! The outpouring of sympathy continues on various social media sites in the days following his wife, Penny Ragsdale, passing away on December 31st. I'm going by the numbers on his Facebook page alone and ever since it was posted at 2:25pm on January 1st that Ray's wife passed away on New Year's Eve it has generated 45,678 reactions, so far. In total there are over 15,000 comments. A reply left by Ray's social media staff at 2:50pm on January 1st which features a collage of Ray, Penny, and family has gotten 140 replies. Those 140 replies are part of the 15,000+ comments. I made a couple of early comments on January 1st. The visitation, in case you didn't see my previous blog entry, will be on January 11th from 1:30pm to 2:30pm Central time. Afterward there will be a Celebration of Life conducted at 2:30pm Central. It's such a terrible loss. I didn't personally know Penny or do I personally know Ray but as a long time fan of Ray Stevens (more than 30 years and counting) and as a blogger of his music career I've known of them for many, many years even though Penny herself kept out of the spotlight. 

I was at a loss for words when the news broke on January 1st that she had passed away. When you've spent so many years as a fan of Ray Stevens you sort of condition yourself to be light-hearted and in an up-tempo mood most of the time. Yes, I know Ray has a very serious side and he's put it on display on many albums, but nearly all of the time whenever I see Ray he's always smiling and upbeat, and so when things like this happen I struggle to find the right things to say because it's so sad and devastating. I'm hoping everyone impacted, on a much more personal level, will be able to grieve in peace. As fans of Ray Stevens we can feel sad and feel sympathy for what he's going through. There hasn't been any official message posted on any of his social media since January 1st. I'm making an assumption that we probably won't hear anything from Ray or see any updates on his social media until January 11th or a day or two afterward.   

Ray Stevens: Penny's Funeral Information...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens! The internet, if you do a search for 'Ray Stevens', has reacted strongly to the news of his wife, Penny, passing away on New Year's Eve. There are hundreds upon hundreds of online sites with headlines about her passing away...nearly all of those sites most likely will direct you to the official announcement on Ray's Facebook page from January 1st since that happens to be the only official statement that's been released...but the fact that hundreds and possibly thousands of online sites have picked up on the story is nice. I came across an article that has specifics about the funeral arrangements and I'm going to share it with you all in this blog entry. The information comes from the online site, Music Row, which is also the name of a magazine that heavily circulates within the music industry. Here's the LINK. If for whatever reason the link doesn't work here's the information: The funeral will take place on January 11 at 2:30pm Central time. The visitation will take place at 1:30pm Central. The funeral will be at the Harpeth Hills Funeral Home. There is no information about burial/cemetery and so I'm making the assumption that this part of the process will be closed to just Ray, his two daughters, and his grandchildren. Ray's parents, Willis and Frances Ragsdale, are buried in Georgia. Ray's brother, John, who passed away at age 75 in 2020 after an accidental fall at his house, is buried in Tennessee.    

Ray Stevens loses his Wife...

I was not online much at all on New Year's Day...I was watching numerous college football bowl games. I came online in the late afternoon and checked a couple of Ray Stevens social media pages and discovered that his wife, Penny, had passed away a few hours before the New Year. The social media post appeared on several sites around 3pm Saturday...and from there it was shared by the hundreds from that point forward. At the time of this writing, if you search 'Ray Stevens' on Twitter, you'll find that the news of his wife passing away is still being shared, re-shared, etc. In Ray's social media message there wasn't a time given it only stated that it was shortly before Midnight. When I read that message I got chills. The New Year's Eve blog post that I'd written on December 31st became available on-line at 11:30pm. I wrote a follow-up post on New Year's Day...featuring Ray singing "Auld Lang Syne" on his CabaRay Nashville television show but the news of Ray's wife passing away on New Year's Eve wasn't made public until almost 3pm on New Year's Day...and I didn't see Ray's social media post until sometime after 10pm Saturday night.

The photo above is Ray and Penny at the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019. It was in the hours after he was formally inducted during the medallion ceremony...as you can see from the Golden Medallion partially concealed by his suit. In Ray's social media posts he included photos of himself and Penny. Some of the photo's have been online for a number of years while some are from his Ray Stevens' Nashville memoir. There were also several photos brand new to my eyes. In his memoir all of the photos are in black and white although nearly all of them are in color in his personal collection. One of the photo's in his memoir that was shared online yesterday is a New Year's photo from 1971...

In the photo above, New Year's Eve 1971, Ray and Penny make faces for the camera. I am guessing, based on the ribbons and decorations, that this is right as the clock struck Midnight as the year changed to 1972...but it could've been at any moment New Year's Eve or in the early morning hours of 1972.  Ray and Penny were married in 1961. In Ray's social media post it was shared that Penny had been dealing with cancer for an extended period of time. She was 78...born in 1943. I mentioned in a previous blog entry that her sister, Twinkle, had been married to record producer Felton Jarvis. Twinkle passed away at age 60 in 1997. Here's something eerie: Twinkle happened to be born December 31, 1936...so Penny passed away on her sister's birthday. 

There hasn't been any funeral announcement/arrangements but as soon as I find out anything I'll make mention of it in a future blog entry. As all of us are fans of Ray Stevens or at least you are aware of his music then you may feel the way I do. Are you at a loss for words? I find myself thinking about Ray and how he's handling it all...the grieving process that'll occur is only natural and I also think of how it'll impact him going forward. Time will tell, of course. When you start off the New Year in the way Ray has you can't help but mourn with him. I've been at a loss for words when it comes to what Ray is going through. I don't want to come off sounding too much like I'm writing a sympathy card but I also don't want to come off callous, neither. We all know that Ray treasures his privacy...and so, as I alluded to in a previous blog entry, I'm going to scale back on the blog entries until Ray's made the decision to re-emerge into the spotlight and resume his day to day activities. I think I can speak for all fans of Ray Stevens when I say we all mourn with him. 

Rest in Peace Penny Jackson Ragsdale.     

Ray Stevens sings "Auld Lang Syne"...

Hello all once again! In the Central time zone, where Ray Stevens lives, it struck Midnight and the New Year began about an hour ago. Their time zone is an hour behind my time zone. Once it hit 2022 in Nashville a video appeared on Ray's social media of him singing "Auld Lang Syne" during the New Year's Eve episode of his syndicated CabaRay Nashville television show. The song is a traditional part of New Year's. Bandleader Guy Lombardo is credited with popularizing the song in the United States. He starred in an annual New Year's Eve program from 1929 until 1976...on radio, at first, and then on television. His annual specials were popular and beloved by older audiences. 

Dick Clark of American Bandstand fame eventually come up with an alternative geared toward the audience that appeared on as well as watched his rock and roll dance program. His New Year's Rockin' Eve debuted December 31, 1972...and it eventually became an institution much like Guy Lombardo's annual program had become. Dick Clark, at first, was the producer of the Rockin' Eve program but became the host several years later. The Rockin' Eve events are always named for the upcoming year. Their first show on New Year's Eve in 1972 was called Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 1973.

After the Times Square ball drop ringing in the new year there's still an audio played of "Auld Lang Syne" in it's traditional Guy Lombardo arrangement. I don't know if it's an official Guy Lombardo recording or not. There are up-tempo and synthesizer heavy renditions of "Auld Lang Syne" that are also heard at various moments after the ball drops depending on which television network you're watching. The thing about modern day television is that there isn't just one New Year's Eve program airing. Guy Lombardo and later, Dick Clark, benefitted heavily from the lack of major competition. It wasn't until perhaps 10 or 15 years ago that practically every cable channel decided they wanted their own New Year's Eve program. All New Year's Eve telecasts however, no matter which broadcast or cable channel they air, feature a live feed from Times Square in New York for the ball drop. 

So, now, here's legendary Ray Stevens singing his arrangement of "Auld Lang Syne"...