Hello Ray Stevens fans!! We're heading into the holiday weekend...this year July 4th falls on a Monday and because of that some people tend to start celebrating on Friday and it lasts all weekend long. A few minutes ago on Ray Stevens social media it was announced that starting tomorrow (July 1st) there will be a 4th of July discount sale on Ray's website in the online store. Everything in the online store will be 20 percent off...and there are a whole lot of diverse items in the store...it's more than just music. Ray knows that there are a lot of fans of his that more than likely won't be able to personally attend a concert at the CabaRay in west Nashville. His fans are scattered around the country...some of his fans that are concentrated in States directly bordering Tennessee, I'd like to think, have attended at least one concert at the CabaRay by now. The showroom opened in 2018. However, Ray knows not everyone can make a trip to Nashville and so the items sold inside the CabaRay gift shop started to appear online, at some point last year, in Ray's webstore. Starting tomorrow and running through July 4th everything that you see for sale on his webstore will be 20 percent off. When you visit his webstore you'll see the bobblehead figurine...that's one of the recent items available. I'd have to say that music is the most purchased thing at his webstore but I've read commentary from other fans who have mentioned that they've purchased hats, shirts, and other items from the online store.
His webstore remains the only place you can order his 9-CD Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music...a box set he released in 2012. The price of the box set isn't listed at his store...but it's still in stock and whatever the price currently is it'll be 20 percent off starting tomorrow. For this box set he recorded his versions of novelty songs from the last several decades...some going back to the 1930s. The box set comes with a book. Ray was largely assisted in this box set by Buddy Kalb and Don Cusic but there were all kinds of other people that also contributed and they're all credited within the book. Ray promoted the box set several times throughout 2012...creating several online video advertisements...and a brief documentary-style video featuring an appearance from him inside his former headquarters on Grand Avenue in Nashville. Ray did a few television appearances on the local FOX 17 station. In one appearance the station aired a segment about his quest to save comedy recordings from fading away. This segment featured Ray inside the recording studio. In a later in-person appearance following the Encyclopedia's release Ray discussed in detail the reason behind the 9-CD box set and his love for all kinds of songs...but he told the viewers that he has always had a special place in his heart for novelty/comedy recordings. A couple of the advertisements that were uploaded onto YouTube were produced as television commercials. One upload played out like the kind of television commercial he did for his VHS tapes in the early to mid 1990s...featuring snippets of songs with on screen visual re-enactments.
That particular clip, uploaded originally in 2012 and re-uploaded in 2019, confused a number of people on YouTube...some of the comments that were left in 2012 apparently had some people thinking that Ray was advertising a box set of music videos on DVD even though the voice over from Charlie Chase points out that these are compact discs. Those comments showing the confusion of some accompanied the 2012 upload which was removed from his channel at some point...and the video was re-uploaded in 2019. There's a 4 minute video upload promoting the Encyclopedia, too. When you watch that 2019 video upload the price shown at the end isn't the current price, as far as I know. It cost higher when it was brand new which is when I purchased my copy and by 2019 the price had dropped. As albums get older their price comes down...and this is the 10th anniversary year of the 9-CD box set's release (which is why I'm discussing this particular release).
Another upload advertising the box set featured Buddy Kalb displaying the box set, opening it up, and discussing the contents inside. Buddy made it a point to bring up that this box set wasn't a collection of oldies from various artists but rather it's a box set featuring Ray Stevens singing his versions of legendary comedy and novelty songs made famous by other recording acts...using contemporary music technology that didn't exist when a lot of those recordings were made. Ray re-created a lot of the arrangements heard in the original recordings. His version of the Spike Jones classic, "William Tell Overture", just one example, is incredible in it's accuracy and faithfulness to the original.
In the online store you'll find books, music, CD's, DVD's, T-shirts, hats, stuffed animals, key chains, and various trinkets. You can visit Ray's online store by clicking HERE. Remember, the sale starts tomorrow (July 1st). Oh, it's perfectly fine if you'd prefer to not wait for a sale to take place and order whatever you want today...but just in case you're anticipating a sale you'll need to be patient...it'll begin tomorrow (July 1st) and last through July 4th. The four CD's being advertised in the screen cap below are part of the 4-CD box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. That box set, released in the summer of 2021, will also be 20 percent off beginning tomorrow (July 1st).
Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! Curb Records quietly uploaded the 1995 soundtrack album of "Get Serious!" onto YouTube a couple of days ago. This CD was originally issued on Ray's own record label, Clyde, as was the direct-to-VHS movie. The soundtrack is notable for the inclusion of the full-length recording of "We Don't Take Nuthin' Off Nobody". In the movie the song was partially performed. In the movie Ray's been thrown into a dungeon by Dudley Dorite. Ray encounters a family of prisoners hanging on a wall in the dungeon...and the father, Luther, is asked how he and the family have kept their positive attitude in light of the dreary dungeon that they've supposedly been locked up in for years. Luther tells Ray that he and his family have perseverance and are filled with family pride. Luther and his wife talk about their pride...sentiments echoed by his parents who are ALSO prisoner in the dungeon. Luther explains it in more detail with the song "We Don't Take Nuthin' Off Nobody". Now, as mentioned, in the VHS movie the song is only partially performed and there's a music video of it on YouTube. However, the full length recording has rarely become available on YouTube...until now. When you listen to the song you'll hear Ray, in character, as Luther...which, in case you've never seen the Get Serious! movie, will explain the reason why Ray is singing the song in the thick southern accent.
Ray's Get Serious! movie was filmed on location in various areas in Tennessee. Ray, in an interview, made mention that most of the footage was filmed in a town called Burns, Tennessee. The movie, 1 hour and 50 minutes, was called a comedy video movie...it's a movie with 10 music videos interwoven into the story...leading some fans to also consider it a new version of a musical. The official description of the VHS in fan club newsletters of the time, when the VHS was still untitled, was Long-Form Story-Driven Music Comedy Video. The VHS received a lot of publicity on The Nashville Network...commercials for the VHS aired many times in the latter half of 1995 following a national preview of the movie on the Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase hosted Music City Tonight. The episode was subtitled 'Get Serious Night' and it featured Ray and a list of people who had cameo roles in the movie. Ray sang several songs that appear in the movie...opening the show with a performance of "Gitarzan"...Ray swings in from the side of the stage in his Tarzan outfit. The part of Jane in this television appearance was played by Buddy Kalb...who appeared in the audience singing with a prop bone as if it were a microphone. Some of the songs Ray performed on that Music City Tonight episode were "I Used To Be Crazy" and "Ahab the Arab". Now, off the top of my head, the guests that appeared and participated in discussions about their cameo appearances in the movie were Chet Atkins, Jerry Clower, Johnny Russell, Williams and Ree, George Lindsey, and James Gregory. If you've seen the movie you'll be aware that Jerry Clower had more of a supporting role rather than a brief cameo appearance. A running joke as to why the appearances were so brief is because Johnny Russell's presence demanded more camera and it reduced everyone's camera time. Now, of course, that was a joke...because it was soon revealed that Johnny had less camera time in the movie than anyone. In the first part of the Music City Tonight episode the camera would pan over to Johnny, seated in the audience, and he'd give a peculiar wave to the camera. Little did we viewers know but that wave was the only thing Johnny did in the movie...and he was on camera less than 5 seconds.
In the 1995 television appearance Ray didn't sing "We Don't Take Nuthin' Off Nobody" nor did he sing the other original song he wrote for the movie... "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens". Now, for that song, he sang it as a duet with Connie Freeman, his co-star in the movie. Connie played the role of partially deaf Charlene MacKenzie. The music video from the movie was uploaded onto YouTube awhile ago but since half of this blog entry is about the movie's soundtrack I'm going to embed the audio track of Ray and Connie's duet below...
Hello Ray Stevens fans!! Yesterday an audio track of "I'm Kissin' You Goodbye" appeared on Ray's YouTube channel...and most of you should be aware of this comical love song. Ray wrote the song and it's track one of his 1984 comedy album, He Thinks He's Ray Stevens. Ray had been recording non-comedy albums for several years prior to this album. 1981, 1982, and 1983 all found Ray promoting his serious side with a wide range of love ballads, up-tempo songs, and other romantic crooning...but when he joined the MCA record company in the latter half of 1984 he specifically signed on as a 'country comedy' performer.
What I'd call the johnny-come-lately music critics and journalists, late in 1984, suddenly re-discovered Ray Stevens after a lot of them hadn't given much coverage to his work since the early spring of 1980 when "Shriner's Convention", not surprisingly a comedy release, was relatively brand new. Ray's long-standing fans, however, appreciated the non-comedy albums and enjoyed watching him, in concert, or on television, sing ballads as well as perform his comedy songs.
A test single was released in the fall of 1984...a comical love song called "I'm Kissin' You Goodbye". The single, briefly, got a mention in a couple of the music trade magazines in September 1984 as something to be on the lookout for. It was in one of those weekly features that spotlight up and coming single releases or those that have been released but hadn't been added to any radio stations yet. After several weeks it was decided that there was no enthusiasm for that single but MCA went ahead and released the comedy album in October. The album cover was part of an advertisement, along side other MCA recording artists, in the October 6, 1984 issue of Billboard. In the October 27th issue the album, in the country album reviews section, it was picked as 'recommended' listening. It wasn't a conventional album review, though. What next happened is that numerous country music disc jockeys, once they got their hands on the album, all seemed to gravitate toward "Mississippi Squirrel Revival"...and the reaction from disc jockeys was so positive that MCA put that song out as a single in December 1984 and it kicked off 1985 in a grand fashion...but let's back up to the fall of 1984 and "I'm Kissin' You Goodbye"...technically the first single release from the album. As mentioned the song was written by Ray. It's a traditional country arrangement with a tinge of bluegrass...some of the instrumentation that accompanies Ray's vocalization are the fiddle, dobro, and an ear catching guitar lick which is either accomplished with the rhythm guitar or Ray is using a synthesizer to create a mandolin sound. When you hear the song you'll catch this guitar lick right away. For years I've felt it come from a mandolin because it sounds like someone plucking the strings really fast and in the upper part of the instrument where the tone is lighter. I was glancing over the musician credits on the back of the album and there's no mention of a mandolin...but there's credit for the dobro and a banjo. Well, anyway, you'll hear this guitar lick...achieved either by a rhythm guitar, banjo, or synthesizer...when you listen to the 1984 recording of "I'm Kissin' You Goodbye".
One of the things that comes up from time to time among fans of Ray Stevens is his extensive album discography. I've written blog entries in the past where I've included lists of his studio albums and lists of some notable compilation albums. However, if you gaze at a Ray Stevens album discography and you're a brand new fan or a long time fan that's decided to look at the amount of albums available...well, it can be a daunting task. There's official studio release albums, there's official compilation albums, there's a wide variety of compilation albums on Ray Stevens featuring songs licensed from multiple record companies, and then there are albums that are re-releases but have different cover art and often times a different album title. Those kinds of re-releases aren't proper re-releases or proper re-issues (a subject of a previous, recent blog entry) because they contain new cover art and almost always different sequential order of the track list. If you're curious there happened to have been less than a dozen of these album re-releases with different title and cover art. The most earliest is a vinyl album originally called Ray 'Ahab the Arab' Stevens and Hal Winters. The original release featured an image of Ray from one of his early photo sessions at Mercury Records. The album itself is a compilation released on Crown Records and it contains songs from Ray Stevens and instrumentals by an act named Hal Winters. It's a 10-track album...and the recordings featured on Ray are from the late '50s.
Those are the same albums but have slightly different titles. As you can tell from the second image the re-issue originated in the mid 1970s because that's, to the best of my knowledge, an artist rendering of Ray with longer hair and modeled after the photo that appears on the back of his 1975 album, Misty. That's just my own assumption. What are the songs by Ray which appear on both albums? Well, there's 5 songs: "Truly Truly", "Nothing But Gold", "Who Do You Love?", "Always On My Mind", and "Cholly Wolly Chang". If you're familiar with the first title then you'll know that Ray doesn't actually say the phrase, 'Truly Truly'. He actually sings the phrase "Truly True". These recordings come from Ray's years at NRC Records. This company was owned and operated by Bill Lowery and Ray was on this label for nearly 2 years give or take a few months short of being a full 2 years (1959-1961). On the single release NRC used the title "Truly True"...so that's why I consider the NRC title official. You can look up the songs from this collection on YouTube. "Nothin' But Gold" never appeared on an NRC vinyl single.
Some other albums that have been re-issued but with different cover photos are 1972's Turn Your Radio On. It was re-issued in 1982. On the re-issue, on CBS Records, they used a current photo of Ray...a reverse image if you can believe it. Since they used a reverse image I'm not posting it in this blog. Barnaby Records originally released the album in 1972. CBS Records handled distribution at the time...so when it came time for a re-issue, 10 years later, CBS Records handled it. In 1992 Arrival Records, an affiliate of K-Tel Records, re-issued the 1972 gospel album. The re-issue featured new cover art and a new title, The Gospel Side of Ray Stevens. In 1996 Curb Records re-issued Turn Your Radio On as Great Gospel Songs...and in this re-issue, as had happened in 1992, they included a couple of additional songs in addition to different cover art. The songs added were "Everything is Beautiful" and "A Brighter Day". The 1996 re-issue also featured the full length recording of "All My Trials". Great Gospel Songs had the same 12 songs as The Gospel Side of Ray Stevens.
Ray's 1984 album, He Thinks He's Ray Stevens, was re-issued in 1992 under the new title, Mississippi Squirrel Revival. I have no idea for the different title and cover art. MCA released both the 1984 album and the 1992 re-issue...so it's a bit odd that the record company chose to issue it with a different title and cover art. Some have suggested MCA re-titled the re-issue because of that song's familiarity...that might be true...but, still, it should've been re-issued with original cover art and original title.
A few years later Ray Stevens issued the album, Beside Myself, in 1989. That particular album would see a re-issue twice. The first re-issue contained 8 songs and titled At His Best. Then, for the CD copy, all 10 songs from Beside Myself were included but it still retained it's At His Best title and different cover art. It makes no sense as to why the album was re-issued with a different title and cover art...but whenever you see Beside Myself or At His Best keep in mind they're the same album. On the cover of the re-issue they promote three of the songs: "Marion Michael Morrison", "I Saw Elvis in a U.F.O.", and "Your Bozo's Back Again".
Hello Ray Stevens fans!! Yesterday being Friday that meant that another complete episode of CabaRay Nashville was uploaded onto YouTube. If this is your first time coming across this fan created blog I am a long-time fan of Ray Stevens. I chronicle just about everything that goes on in his career or has gone on in his career. I keep three blog entries available on the main page and all of my other blog entries are over in the archives. If you read the introduction underneath my profile picture over on the right hand side of the screen you'll find out why I created this blog back in 2008. Every Friday at 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern CabaRay Nashville premiers on YouTube. This week it's Episode 5, Season 1 and the special guest is Charlie McCoy with an appearance by Lori Stegner.
Ray opens the show singing "I'm My Own Grandpaw", a classic novelty originally popularized by Lonzo and Oscar. Grandpa Jones even recorded a version of the song. Ray remarks that the genesis of the song may have been inspired from Mark Twain. The song's writers are Dwight Latham and Moe Jaffe. I was watching the show as it played and was posting on the chat screen. I also posted a comment in the comments section. Whenever the video performance of his TV show is airing live on YouTube each Friday evening there's an option to post messages in the chat area on the right hand side of the screen. Once the live time frame expires, roughly after 22 or 23 minutes, the chat session is unable to be accessed.
Charlie performs the "Orange Blossom Special" on the harmonica and afterward talks with Ray about their years playing on recording sessions. Charlie speaks of the time he and Ray played twin trumpets on several Elvis Presley recordings in the mid 1960s. I'm so glad this particular episode become available in it's entirety on YouTube because it verifies a lot of my commentary in the past. Whenever I'd make posts on social media sites that Ray played trumpet on several Elvis recording sessions I'd get the 'yeah, right' reply from people who had no idea how extensive the career of Ray Stevens happens to be. So it was fun to see Charlie McCoy validate my prior comments from years ago.
After a lengthy interview segment with Charlie, Ray had his band perform the classic instrumental, "Sugarfoot Rag". Lori Stegner, the comic/impressionist who appeared in Ray's 2010 music video, "Caribou Barbie", appears on this episode as the character, Cinderella G. Stump. Ray and Lori/Cinderella sing their version of a novelty song from the 1950s called "Tim-Tay-Shun". The novelty was originally recorded by Red Ingle and Jo Stafford...however, on the recording, Jo used the obviously phony name, Cinderella G. Stump. She did this because, at the time, she was known as a very fashionable, sophisticated pop singer. She perhaps felt that her peers would tease her for performing 'a novelty song' and so she used the alias. Ray and Lori recorded their duet for Ray's 9-CD box set, The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. Don Cusic appears as the music professor. Don, in reality, is a real music professor currently at Belmont College in Nashville...but of course, he doesn't dress in a graduate's uniform when he's teaching his classes. He's also a music historian and has written dozens upon dozens of liner notes. He helped with the research and text that appears in the Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. He was the editor of Ray's 2014 memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville. Don wrote a couple of songs that Ray recorded for a couple of gospel albums. Don's song, "If Jesus Is a Stranger", become one of Ray's most-performed songs for several years from 2014's Gospel Collection, Volume One. Don and Buddy Kalb co-wrote "Just a Touch of Jesus" which is found on Ray's 2016 release, Just a Closer Walk With Thee.
In the meantime enjoy Episode 5, Season 1 of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...
Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! As Ray continues to take a hiatus from performances due to vocal issues I wanted to take a minute or two to point out something that continues to remain a pet peeve of mine. What is it? It's the lack of proper re-issues of many Ray Stevens vinyl albums over the decades. If you search various online music sites and specifically search CD or Digital Downloads, and look in the traditional country or classic country format, you're going to come across re-issues of albums that were originally recorded 40 to 50 years ago and were only available on vinyl, 8-track, or cassette tape but have been re-issued on CD or Digital Download. There still remains a market for CD just as there remains a market for vinyl...but my point is a lot of recording artists have had their catalog of music brought into the digital age with proper re-issues of albums. Now, I'm not saying that audio tracks from older albums aren't available online...they certainly are...if you search YouTube for anything specific you're going to find audio recordings from the 1930s or earlier if you do to search for them. The thing that baffles me, though, is the lack of Ray Stevens albums that have been properly re-issued. Just in case anyone's confused by my choice of words, 'properly re-issued' means an album is re-issued on CD or as a Digital download intact and with the exact same information, front cover art and if applicable back cover art, and the songs are presented in their original chronological order. Also, as a plus, if we're talking about CD's, I like to read liner notes and musician credits. There are all kinds of album re-issues on all kinds of recording artists...but there's never been a focused effort to properly re-issue any of Ray's long out of print vinyl albums.
In 2005 there was a series of re-issues in CD format of several Ray Stevens albums from the early to mid 1970s. A company called Collectible's Records issued 3 CD's on Ray in 2005...each compact disc contained 2 complete albums. I appreciate the fact that six of Ray's studio albums for Barnaby Records saw the light of day in CD re-issue back in 2005...but the track lists of each re-issue was largely out of order from how they appeared on the original vinyl and there were no liner notes promoting the songs or documenting the career of Ray Stevens to date. In other words, the 2005 releases wouldn't be considered proper re-issues even though I appreciated their availability. I had not yet completed my vinyl collection of Ray Stevens albums and so any CD on Ray that shown up with vinyl-only recordings I didn't hesitate to purchase it. 10 years earlier, in 1995, Warner Brothers went through their archives and released 3 cassette and CD compilation albums on Ray Stevens. These were like a random selection of songs Ray recorded for Warner Brothers in the late 1970s and placed on three compilation albums. Now, to their credit, the songs followed a particular overall theme in line with each album's title...but by no means were those compilation releases a proper re-issue of Ray's studio albums for the label. The same story holds true for the vinyl albums Ray recorded for RCA in the early 1980s and the album he recorded in 1983 for Mercury Records.
At the beginning of this blog entry I included a photo of Ray's 1969 album, Have a Little Talk With Myself. This album, comprised mostly of Ray's versions of contemporary songs, features liner notes written on the back of the album. It also features an in-depth musician list. This may be the only album in Ray's career to feature so many musicians. This 1969 album has never been re-issued. You can find the audio tracks on YouTube...uploaded by a fellow fan of Ray Stevens...but it's never been properly re-issued. I wrote a blog entry about Ray's 1973 Losin' Streak album a few blog entries ago...it's an album Collectible's Records skipped over in 2005 when they were re-releasing Ray's studio albums for Barnaby Records. To this day it's not been properly re-issued. Audio tracks from the album are on YouTube, again, thanks to a fellow Ray Stevens fan. I feel that there needs to be proper re-issues of Ray's vinyl albums for two obvious reasons...it introduces the music to newer fans, first of all, and it enables his catalog of recordings to be easily accessible online. If you visit his Spotify channel or look up his recordings on any streaming service or digital music platform you're not going to find songs like "Oh, Leo Lady", "Junkie For You", "Road Widow", "Such a Night", "Melissa", "I Believe You Love Me", "You're Magic", "Take That Girl Away", "Banned in Boston Trilogy", "OM", or "Take Your Love". Those are just some of the songs that come from his late 1970s/early 1980s albums. There needs to be proper re-issues of Ray Stevens albums!!
Hello Ray Stevens fans!! One of the albums that Ray Stevens released in the decade known as the Aughts (January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2009) was New Orleans Moon in 2007. The album come along in the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Katrina. Ray performed several charitable concerts in 2005 and 2006 when he was performing concerts at his Branson, Missouri theater. He had returned to the theater in 2005 following a 12 year absence. According to Ray's 2014 memoir, he had rented/leased out the theater to an organization that put on a production called Country Tonite. This show, beginning in 1994, occupied Ray's theater under the name 'Country Tonite Theater' until 2003. The executives that ran the Country Tonite show wanted to move on to other things and so Ray took back the theater and returned to performing concerts there on a regular basis in 2005 following a year and a half renovation, remodeling, and other cosmetic changes. It was during this time period in Ray's career that he had significantly scaled back on his recordings. In his memoir, when it reaches this era in his career, he reveals that for a few months he felt like retiring. He said that the thoughts of retirement were centered around the fact that he'd recently turned 65 and "isn't that the age you're suppose to retire?" he asked himself. He didn't retire, of course, he returned to Branson for two seasons (2005 and 2006) and in 2007 he emerged with this New Orleans Moon album. If you know your Ray Stevens history then you'll know that while Ray was not born in Louisiana he definitely comes from the Southern culture...born and raised in Georgia. He was born in Clarkdale, Georgia but the family eventually moved to Albany, Georgia and then he ventured into Atlanta, Georgia by the late 1950s. The album kicks off with a brief instrumental performance called "Prelude to Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" (composed by Ray) which leads into "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans".
The album's title track, "New Orleans Moon", comes from the pens of Ray Stevens and Chuck Redden. Chuck, being a resident/native of the area, become associated with Ray in 2005 when Ray and Buddy Kalb partially re-wrote Chuck's song, "The New Battle of New Orleans". When the song was released as a CD single by Curb Records in 2005 Chuck, Ray, and Buddy were the credited songwriters. That song was a topical song aimed at the political figures in office at the time of Hurricane Katrina. Ray and Buddy changed some of the lyrics and added additional lyrics so it would fit Ray's style. Ray does a brief vocal impression of Louis Armstrong in "New Orleans Moon"...it'll sneak up on you so anticipate it. The song closes with a Dixieland Jazz instrumental solo. The trumpet player on the album is George Tidwell. Ray plays the piano/keyboards and Bass. Songwriter Chuck Redden has since provided Ray with several other songs over the years. In case you're wondering...no, 2005's "The New Battle of New Orleans" isn't featured on 2007's New Orleans Moon.
Since the CD is a salute/tribute to New Orleans and Louisiana, in general, there are a lot of cover songs on here that are iconic to that region. "Louisiana Man", from the pen of Doug Kershaw, is a classic romp first popularized by The Kershaw Brothers and then recorded by Connie Smith...George Jones and Gene Pitney recorded a duet version of the song...other recording artists of the time period took their turn at recording the Cajun-flavored swamp romp. Ray gives us his renditions of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya", a cover of the up-tempo pop song, "New Orleans", Jimmy Driftwood's "The Battle of New Orleans", popularized by Johnny Horton, Ray gives "When The Saints Go Marching In" a new arrangement, Ray covers Randy Newman's "Louisiana", and there's also "Basin Street Blues"...
The album was originally released on Ray's Clyde Records label in 2007. Curb Records took over distribution of the album not long afterward. The audio tracks were uploaded onto YouTube a number of years ago but Curb Records uploaded the audio tracks on YouTube yesterday. I don't know if Curb had previously uploaded the existing audio tracks or not...but I do know they uploaded the audio tracks yesterday and I'm embedding a couple of them in this blog entry. Here's his take on "The Battle of New Orleans"...he did the song his way...it's not a carbon copy of Johnny Horton's rendition...
I'm closing the blog entry with Ray's rendition of "Louisiana". Now, this song comes from the 1970s and it's from the pen of Randy Newman. The song was originally written about the Louisiana flood of 1927. The song's official title was "Louisiana 1927". However, the song was more or less re-introduced to the public in 2005 in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. Ray's rendition is stellar in my opinion. The entire New Orleans Moon 2007 album is fabulous, by the way. Visit YouTube and listen to it for yourselves.
Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! As I type this I've just come off of watching this week's episode of CabaRay Nashville on YouTube. This episode guest stars songwriter Don Schlitz. The songwriter's been in the country music industry for more than 40 years...and he's recently been in the news as one of the upcoming new members of the Grand Ole Opry. Don Schlitz and another legendary music figure, Charlie McCoy, were both invited to be the newest members of the Grand Ole Opry last week. I do not know when their formal induction will be. Don has written or co-written many, many songs and several of them won high profile music industry awards: "Forever and Ever, Amen" was a blockbuster for Randy Travis. Don's songs, at one point in time, seemed to be exclusively recorded by Randy Travis but that's just my way of saying that Randy loved recording songs from the pen of Don Schlitz.
In this episode (Episode 4, Season 1) Don speaks of his decision to move to Nashville and to become a songwriter. He's self-effacing which you will notice right away. The majority of the conversation centered around the songs that Don had written or co-written...and Don sang a medley of songs that become hits for Randy Travis (such as "On the Other Hand", "Deeper Than the Holler", and "Forever and Ever, Amen"). He spoke about Bobby Bare being the first artist to record "The Gambler" before Kenny Rogers. A good portion of Don's mid '80s to early '90s songs were usually written with Paul Overstreet.
Don made an observation in the episode that the business end of country music tends to frown on multiple singers recording the same song. He mentioned this when he brought up Bobby Bare having recorded "The Gambler" before Kenny Rogers did. Once upon a time a song could be recorded by a singer and it remain an album song...not released as a single...but then another singer would hear the song and decide to record the same song and put their spin on it and release it as a single. Also, other recording artists would take notice of a hit song and would decide that they, too, wanted to record the song for themselves and maybe have a hit with it. This is why, in country music's past, you'd have 3 or 4 versions of the same song by different artists out at the same time...and you'd have other versions of the same song as album cuts, too. Today, the record labels have the attitude of "no...so and so just had a hit with that song...you can't record it...not even as an album track.".
Ray Stevens opens the show with "The Streak" and closes with "Everything is Beautiful"...
If you're familiar with this fan created blog or if you're familiar with all of the studio albums released by Ray Stevens then you probably know about this 1973 vinyl LP, Losin' Streak. It remains a rare item in that it's never been made available on CD format nor has it officially been uploaded as a digital album on any online music site. This is notable due to the fact that Ray's other studio albums released on Barnaby Records have been issued in CD format and they're available at online music stores and streaming sites. Losin' Streak has never gotten that re-issue treatment. The album was recorded at a studio that Ray nicknamed 'The Ray Stevens Sound Laboratory'. It was a studio located close to the recording studio he opened the following year on Grand Avenue in downtown Nashville in 1974. Losin' Streak, because of it's lack of availability, has become a rarity. There are audio tracks of the album on YouTube...a fellow fan of Ray Stevens uploaded the audio tracks almost 10 years ago...but that's it. You won't find the album listed among Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, Itunes, or other music streaming sites. It's a shame, too...and you're probably not surprised that I'd say that. I champion the release of all Ray Stevens recordings onto modern-day listening devices and onto contemporary online music services. If you have the vinyl album, as I do, you'll note that the track list on the front of the album isn't exactly listed in chronological order.
One of the things you'll notice right away...it's a 1973 vinyl album but in this photograph Ray Stevens has a beard...and a very thick beard at that. When you see photographs of Ray in the early and mid 1970s with a beard it causes him to look as if the photo was taken at a later time. You may think it's another way of saying he looked older with a beard...but I always felt that his beard in that time period caused him to visually look more recognizable to all of the fans he gained in the 1980s and 1990s who were not as familiar with a clean shaven Ray Stevens. Even today, if a clean shaven image of Ray is posted on a social media site, most of the commentary is filled with shock reactions...like it's the first time they've seen him without a beard.
The back of the 1973 album shows us a completely different pose. Here Ray Stevens looks somber, studious, quaint...compared to the belting out, rocker-type of pose on the front of the album. I made mention that the front of the album contained an out of order track list. On Side 1 there are five songs: "Losin' Streak", "Just One Of Life's Little Tragedies", "Inside", "Things Work Out", and his bluesy rendition of "Bye Bye Love". On Side 2 there are six recordings: "Being Friends", "Idaho Wine", "This Is Your Life", and instrumental titled "Laid Back", "Easy Lovin'", and "What Do You Know?". Ray Stevens was listed as the album's producer and music arranger. Unfortunately this album lacks a musician credit list. It's safe to assume that Ray played piano, synthesizer, organ...any instrument in the piano family. When you listen to the audio track of "This Is Your Life" you'll hear a heavily produced song...the technology infused into the recording was unlike anything heard on any country or pop song of that era. This was yet another example of the production skills and music arranging skills of Ray Stevens. There's a memorable whip or a crack sound in that recording. I have no idea if it was accomplished by striking a chair with an actual whip...or placing a microphone on the floor of the studio and striking the floor with a whip...or whatever. It is probably a sound effect from a synthesizer.
When you listened to that song did you take notice of the cracking sound effect? I just thought of something...maybe that cracking sound effect was accomplished by folding a belt and snapping it. I used to that a lot with my dad's belts. I'd have the belt folded in both my hands...push my hands together until a loop formed in the belt...and then pull my hands apart real fast and the belt would make a cracking sound. I've never asked anyone on Ray's social media because I don't think anyone would be able to specifically pinpoint how that sound came about on a Ray Stevens song from 1973. If you're curious about the songwriting credits. On Side One: The funky title track with the lilting steel guitar solos was written by Nick Van Maarth. Tupper Saussy wrote "Things Work Out". Ray Stevens wrote "Inside" and "Just One Of Life's Little Tragedies". The standard, "Bye Bye Love", was written by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant. On Side Two: Layng Martine, Jr. wrote "Being Friends" and "Idaho Wine". Freddie Hart wrote "Easy Lovin'" and Ray Stevens wrote the other three.. "What Do You Know?", "Laid Back", and "This Is Your Life". The writer of the title track, "Losin' Streak", also wrote a song Ray recorded for his previous album, Nashville. Ray recorded Nick Van Maarth's "Love Me Longer". Interestingly, when the songwriter previously recorded it, the title of the song was "Lay Lady Lay Down".
If you go to YouTube and type in the phrase, Ray Stevens + Losin' Streak, you'll get audio tracks from the album in the search results. As of now, unless you have the vinyl album of Losin' Streak, these YouTube audio tracks are the only way to hear these rare, under-rated Ray Stevens recordings. You can thank Randall Hamm for uploading these audio tracks onto YouTube. He knew how rare they were back when he uploaded them. Here's Ray Stevens giving us some inspiration with "Inside"...
Hello Ray Stevens fans!! It's with sad news that I report that the CabaRay concerts scheduled this month and the first Saturday in July have been cancelled/postponed. In a social media post with a time stamp of 4:24pm Eastern time (an hour ago) the announcement was made that Ray Stevens has lost his voice and was advised to rest it for nearly a month. Now, as you could imagine, this news was a shocker to all of us fans. I left my own message on his Facebook page. My message to Ray and those who work on his social media pages: Oh wow.. that's sad to hear. It's something that I didn't think could ever happen especially given how active Ray is with his voice.. it usually, but not always, but it usually happens with singers that slow their pace as they get older and don't sing as much and they find that they've lost their voice but Ray puts on such a full throated show each time, and in his recordings, that I didn't think he'd ever face such an issue.. Hopefully it's something very temporary.
Ray's Facebook message didn't detail whether he has literally lost his ability to talk/sing or if he's dealing with some sort of vocal chord issue that makes it difficult to talk/sing. The message left on his Facebook page, a message which has gotten more than 400 reactions and over 100 comments within the last hour, is being pasted here, quote:
"Ray Stevens has fortunately been able to avoid the COVID Virus, but he couldn’t avoid another kind of viral bug that has temporarily taken away his voice. To make sure no permanent damage is done he has been advised to cancel Shows through July 2nd in order to rest his voice and give it a chance to completely recover with no lasting damage. So sorry to report that the CabaRay Shows will be temporarily cancelled until July 9, 2022."
"She's a Hoo-ooo-ooo-chie Coochie Dancer..." croons legendary entertainer, Ray Stevens, in his novelty single/music video, "Hoochie Coochie Dancer". The release had it's debut early in October of 2021 as the lead-off, and to date, only single release from his recent comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. A belly dancer some may say...in the music video we also see a gypsy who plays matchmaker...leading Ray into the clutches of the dancer. We're at the 8 month period. The YouTube video reached the 100,000 unique views plateau by the end of October 2021. It reached the 200,000 unique views plateau by January 2022...and today the music video sits with 239,004 unique views and climbing. The mass online sharing of the video decreased, which is natural for most newly released online video content after a few hours or a few days, and so it's now down to discovery by chance on YouTube...in other words, discovery by those who weren't seeking the video out, initially, but decide to watch the video after seeing it show up in a search engine result. A lot of Ray's online audio tracks and online music videos fall into that 'by chance' category once the initial mass publicity wave dies down.
I've never been to a large scale carnival or a circus. I've seen small carnivals and small scale circuses that passed through town...and the big top as it's popularly known, on a large field near the local school; but I never attended a carnival or a circus...just observed them from a distance...but I've been to several local county fairs.
Hello Ray Stevens fans!! I watched episode 3 of Season 1 of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville on YouTube Friday night. On this episode the special guest is Bobby Bare. In these YouTube episodes there are a couple of commercial breaks...and in those commercials you'll see advertisements about the CabaRay showroom in Nashville. On tonight's episode Ray opened the show singing a classic Rhythm and Blues song, "High Heel Sneekers". The intro song in each episode, usually, indicates the kind of episode that you'll be viewing or the style of music a guest star might be known for. Bobby Bare is a bonafide country music artist but if you see him in concert or if you've seen him on television appearances you'll notice that he's got a laid back attitude, a matter-of-fact speaking style, but often times he gives off a cool, hep cat vibe. A master of informality. Bobby once recorded a novelty song under a different name, Bill Parsons. The song was "All American Boy". It's easy to make the case for Bobby Bare being a country music hep cat...or Nashville Cat. He has this unique ability to be very contemporary and in the know yet he doesn't allow that to interfere with what he wants to do with his own music. Bobby speaks about some of his experiences in the music industry...makes mention of Ray being the music arranger of "Streets of Baltimore". This episode was taped a few years prior to the death of Mel Tillis, who, during the appearance, Bobby mentions is still living. Bobby tells a fishing story involving Waylon Jennings, too, that you'll love hearing. Ray performs an always lively "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" near the end of the episode.
Hello Ray Stevens fans!! 2022 marks the Silver Anniversary of a comedy album from Ray Stevens and I'm here to spotlight it. It was 25 years ago, in 1997, that Ray released the Hum It comedy album. If you recall that particular year Ray was in his 40th year as a singer...having released his first singles in 1957...and several publicity pieces and interviewers made note of that fact. The record company, Rhino, issued a CD titled The Best of Ray Stevens. It featured a mini-booklet of liner notes by Dr. Demento and several photo's of Ray through the years. I played the CD so frequently that at one point it started to skip. I still have the CD, though. I'm not one for tossing out music that I've purchased unless I have a replacement standing by to take it's place.
Hum It, the comedy album you see off to the left, got it's name based on a hypothetical joke about the Whistler's Mother painting. In an interview Ray once said that in naming the album they wondered what might've happened if Whistler's mother got tired of hearing the sound of whistling...would she tell her son to simply Hum It, instead? The joke based on the notion that her son went around whistling all the time. Get it? So, that's the story behind the album title. On the cover Ray is dressed as the Whistler's Mother painting and in the picture frame is Ray as a basketball referee, blowing a whistle. The comedy, for the most part, is just as cerebral as the backstory of the album's cover art. The album closer is the satirical "How Much Does It Cost To Fly To Albuquerque?" where we find Ray speaking to a fictional travel agent over the phone discussing ticket rates, frequent flyer rewards, and the overall quality of the airlines. Ray delivers a tale of lament and anguish in the song "My Neighbor" as he tells us what it's like for him and the wife living next door to the obnoxious. "I'll Be In Atlanta" is one of my all-time favorite Ray Stevens songs...an ode to Dixieland, the South, and an homage to the classic film, Gone With the Wind. The album opens up with "R.V.", a comedy song about a retired worker who purchases one but driving it isn't exactly what he'd had in mind. There's plenty of sound effects of crashes and glass shattering as Ray sings about having no room to turn onto different streets and that the height of the "R.V." was incorrectly marked...they crash into a canopy and then they come upon the inevitable overpass.
"Mama Sang Bass", one of the songs that Ray performed on television in the early months of Hum It, features J.D. Sumner as the bass voiced Mama while Ray plays the part of tenor voiced Daddy. The song is about a married couple that work in a pharmaceutical factory. Mama works in the department that makes body building steroids while Daddy works in the department that manufactures birth control pills. As previously mentioned Ray and J.D. performed the song together on television in 1997...on an episode of Prime Time Country. J.D. wore a long, curly blond wig. The parody song was never released as an official single nor did it become a music video but it got a lot of notice back then given it's use of J.D. Sumner as 'Mama' and the fact it was a re-interpretation and parody of the Johnny Cash single, "Daddy Sang Bass".
The two songs from the album that became music videos were "Virgil and the Moonshot", a novelty about a southern simpleton who works at NASA as a janitor who breaks company rules and enters the space capsule to play the role of an astronaut...unaware that it's an un-manned test capsule and it'll soon be launched into orbit. The song was written as a response to the 1995 blockbuster movie, Apollo 13. NASA and their Space Program saw a resurgence thanks in part to that movie. Virgil, at various moments in the song, utters the catchphrase from the movie in which over the radio we hear Houston being called and the astronaut says "we got a problem". Buddy Kalb appears in the video as the head of Mission Control.
The second song that became a music video from Hum It happens to be "Too Drunk To Fish". In this song Ray sings about a fishing trip...with Harold bringing along enough beer to open up a small store. In the music video Ray plays himself and Harold. Ray's frequent songwriting partner, Buddy Kalb, appears in the video sitting in a boat at the beginning and end...in addition to appearing at various moments during the group scenes. The official music video hasn't been uploaded onto Ray's YouTube channel but he did upload his performance of the song, which features snippets from the music video, from his guest appearance on The George Jones Show in 1997. You can listen to the audio tracks from Hum It on YouTube. Simply search for Ray Stevens and the album title and you'll be able to listen to the entire comedy album.
I know, I know...a lot of you Ray Stevens fans probably don't use the phrase 'soft and smooth' when you think of Ray Stevens. A lot of you probably consider Ray to be a hard-driving, quick witted entertainer that more than likely brings a whole lot more to his recordings than 'soft and smooth'. The truth is Ray Stevens can be so many things on record...and if you look carefully enough you'll find a lot of 'soft and smooth' sounds on numerous Ray Stevens albums. A sound that's never been a favorite of pop or country music journalists and critics...soft rock and mellow country music is pleasant to hear, however. Now, before I go any farther, I wanted to share some links to Ray's social media pages. I don't share them nearly enough. First off here's a link to his Facebook PAGE. Ray has more than half a million followers on his Facebook page. Second, here's a link to his Twitter PAGE. On that social media platform Ray has 7,688 followers.
Ray's YouTube channel can be accessed HERE. He has over 200,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. Ray has an Instagram page as well...on that page he has a little over 45,000 followers. You can see his Instagram page when you click HERE. In addition to those social media sites Ray also has a Spotify page and you can find his songs on Amazon and elsewhere on the internet. He definitely has an online presence. Now, back to 'soft and smooth'...
In 1978 Ray Stevens released a wonderful album called Be Your Own Best Friend. It is an album chock full of what I mentioned earlier...mellow country music and what some may call soft rock or Adult-Contemporary. The title track could've become an Adult-Contemporary hit if the record company would've pushed for it. The single rose to the Top-40 on several weekly country music publications. It achieved it's highest Top-40 peak position in the United States on both the Billboard Top Country Singles and the Record World Country Singles chart. It also peaked in the Top-40 on the week ending September 30, 1978 on the Cashbox Country Singles chart. In fact, the single reached it's peak right around the same time on all of the weekly music charts. Ray's publishing company, Ray Stevens Music, was reaping some benefits with not only Ray's single but a couple of other releases by Jacky Ward and Billy 'Crash' Craddock in 1978. In Canada "Be Your Own Best Friend" reached the Top-20 on their Country RPM chart. The title track was the only single release from the album...and it's a shame that nothing else from the album was released as a single. The album contains some of the following songs: "You're Magic", "Comeback", "Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right", and the exquisite "L'amour". This turned out to be Ray's fourth and final studio album for Warner Brothers. He'd come to the record company late in 1975 and his debut album for the label arrived early in 1976. In 1979 the record company would issue a compilation album on Ray titled The Feeling's Not Right Again to promote his spring 1979 novelty single, "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow". In addition to the novelty song the album contained previously released love ballads from three of his four studio albums. The title track of the 1979 album happened to be a song from the Be Your Own Best Friend album. The record company issued a publicity advertisement in which the cover of the 1978 album appeared underneath a whimsical statement: "Take some advice from a man who knows what he's singing about! Be Your Own Best Friend!". I have never seen Ray Stevens sing "Be Your Own Best Friend" on television even though I know that he performed it on an episode of Pop! Goes the Country. I still hope somebody uploads that performance onto YouTube.
Well, now that I've written a little bit about the 1978 album here's a couple of songs from it. The full length album has never been uploaded onto YouTube but some of the songs have. In 1995 Warner Brothers issued three compilation albums. It marked the first time that an abundance of songs from his years at the record label become available on cassette and CD format. YouTube has two of those 1995 albums available in their entirety. Do You Wanna Dance? collects songs that Ray recorded that fit a dancing and music oriented theme. Songs like "Can't Stop Dancing", the "Do You Wanna Dance Trilogy", "Country Licks", "Blues Love Affair", "Feel the Music", and more while The Serious Side of Ray Stevens collects songs that Ray recorded that are mostly love ballads or thought provoking. The title of that compilation is a bit misleading in that all three of those 1995 compilations spotlight mostly all serious, non-comedic recordings by Ray. A third compilation, Cornball, has never been uploaded onto YouTube. The presence of three novelty songs on that particular collection must have justified the entire album to receive the title, Cornball...there is a wonderful love ballad on there called "Cornball" but it isn't a novelty/comedy song. Since this blog entry has an overall theme of 'soft and smooth' here are a couple of songs that fit that description from the 1978 Be Your Own Best Friend album...
The smooth "Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right" from the 1995 compilation...
Next we have the exquisite "L'amour"...you're gonna love it! You could lose yourself in that arrangement...you'll probably find yourself singing along with the chorus...
I'm sure you're all familiar with audio tracks that appear on YouTube. We're unable to leave comments, which is a shame. We could educate a lot of people about some of Ray's lesser heralded work in the comment section but we don't have that opportunity. I'm glad the audio tracks are on YouTube, however...we can share them and promote his music that way...but since I like writing about his music and career the inability to leave commentary on YouTube is disappointing.
Hello once again!! Last night episode 2, Season 1 of CabaRay Nashville was uploaded onto YouTube. Ray, a few weeks ago, revealed that he would be uploading full episodes of his television show onto YouTube every Friday evening. The uploads air at 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern. Yesterday the guest star happened to be Larry Gatlin. Ray opened the show singing "Such a Night" and within the episode were snippets of sketches from his Amazing Rolling Revue VHS. Larry spoke about his career and how in the very beginning his sister was part of the group. He related a story about how much trouble he has getting much sleep...but insists that regardless of how much sleep he may or may not get it has never impacted his performances or energy level. When I was listening to him speak about his sleeping habits I started to think of his commercial, with Mike Huckabee, for a sleep medicine that currently airs on several cable channels. Larry reflects on the time he and several people, in a boat, visited songwriter Mickey Newbury. Larry sings a portion of "An American Trilogy" and then sings "All the Gold in California". Now, don't let my overview satisfy you...a written overview is nothing like seeing the episode for yourselves...enjoy the fun...
Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! One of the latest uploads on Ray's YouTube channel is the performance of "There Is No Arizona" by Jamie O'Neal. If you search the archives here you'll find my review of the CabaRay Nashville episode guest starring Jamie O'Neal. I wrote the review in April 2018. Today is the birthday of Jamie O'Neal and so Ray uploaded this performance. Last year on this date he uploaded his interview of her and a performance of "Hey, Good Lookin'". This year, as mentioned, he's uploaded her performance of "There Is No Arizona". Jamie, a singer-songwriter, was among a sea of female country artists that emerged in the latter half of the 1990s and into the 2000s. She came onto the music scene in 2000 on the Mercury label and her first two single releases reached number one. "There Is No Arizona" and "When I Think About Angels" were back-to-back number one hits in 2000 in 2001. The two songs were on an album she released in 2000 called Shiver.
In hindsight the record label released too many songs from the album. There were 5 songs released as singles. In a country music industry where 3 months is the standard for the life of a single (from promotional stage, to impact, to peak, to eventual decline) it means that each single release from that album was potentially being rode for 3 months...15 months total...and the album was released on October 31, 2000. It meant that a follow-up wouldn't arrive until some point in 2002...but an abrupt change in record labels occurred and a recorded follow-up album wasn't released. She went from Mercury to Capitol and after recording one album for that label, Brave, she made her exit...a third album arrived in 2014 called Eternal. She might be the only recording artist whose first three albums contained one word titles.
Hello Ray Stevens fans!! I was over on YouTube about half an hour ago and discovered that a local Nashville, Tennessee television personality, Eric Dahl, had interviewed legendary Ray Stevens once again. If you keep up with Ray's career then you might recall that Eric's interviewed Ray several times over the years as part of a series Eric calls Rock and Review. Eric interviewed Ray in 2018 right around the time the CabaRay had it's grand opening. The interview was uploaded onto Ray's Facebook page on January 17, 2018. Last year (March 31, 2021) Ray uploaded onto Facebook an interview conducted by Eric to discuss the 4-CD box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. Today, the interview mainly focused on the CabaRay as well as Ray talking about how great it's been to be out there on stage and see people in the audience laughing. He said that during the closure in 2020 and nearly half of 2021 he revamped the show to include some additional songs and different presentation. He discusses the inspiration for the showroom and says how much he tries to remain as active as can be...and points out that his recording studio is on the other side of the showroom.
Ray also talks about his most recent comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. Eric asks Ray several questions about preparing for concerts, the set-list, he discusses Ray's longevity, and if there's even more new music on the way. Ray thanks Eric for referring to the CabaRay as something opulent and says that he's recording songs for future projects but didn't go into any detail. Ray spoke of the CabaRay Nashville television program...Eric says that a TV show enables Ray to be seen everywhere. Ray hinted that he hopes to bring back his production team and do some more episodes. Ray said that there are 79 episodes that have been in repeat cycle for a number of years on local PBS stations...Ray then pointed out that it would be nice to have a round number like 80 or more. To see the interview for yourselves watch the embed below...
