Ray Stevens: CabaRay Nashville on YouTube E-5, S-2

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! In the most recent upload on YouTube of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville we were treated to Episode 5, Season 2 guest starring The Bellamy Brothers. I've known of the brothers recordings (Howard and David) for several decades. The first song from them that I can remember hearing was "Old Hippie". Now, of course, their career goes way back...that recording came along in 1985 when I was 8 years old...so I may have heard other songs by them but didn't realize it. The word, hippie, was funny to me at that age and so I asked my parents what a hippie is/was. I don't think they told me but they did say the singers were The Bellamy Brothers. Later on I heard the two songs that they perform on this episode of CabaRay Nashville.

Ray opens the show with the comical performance of "Pickin' on the Chicken" complete with chicken clucks at every intentionally bad pun. The song is from his 2015 Here We Go Again! album. I do happen to believe that Ray inserted more chicken clucks in this performance than what's heard in the recording. There's a lot to laugh at when you see Ray break out into fits of chicken clucks throughout the performance. Ray brings out The Bellamy Brothers and the discussion begins with David's songwriting history and the story behind "Spiders and Snakes". David remarked that he'd written the song and that Jim Stafford's people thrown the song (the demo) in the trash...but according to David's recollection, Jim found the song in the trash and listened to it. 

Jim suggested the two of them re-write a lot of the lyrics to fit Jim's style. The single became a major pop hit for Jim Stafford and a multi-million seller. Ray recorded it for his 2012 Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. Ray recounts how David's two sons used to show up at the recording studio and wanted to hear Ray's songs. David mentions that his two sons are huge fans of Ray. David mentions that he and Howard are old acquaintances of Gallagher. This leads to a story of how they destroyed Jim Stafford's alarm system with Gallagher's Sledge-O-Matic.

The Bellamy Brothers sing "If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body" and this is followed by "Let Your Love Flow". Howard sings the lead vocals on "Let Your Love Flow" while David sings the lead vocals on "If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body". Ray closes the show singing "The Haircut Song". 

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Nashville on YouTube E-4, S-2

Hello once again...and this is my overview of Episode 4, Season 2 of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. This episode guest stars Leroy Van Dyke. The show opens up with Ray singing "Cooter Brown", an up-tempo number about a local town drunk who had no cares in the world. The song's title is a reference to a Southern United States legend about a man during the Civil War who lived on the State line separating a Union and Confederate State. It's presumably the border between Kentucky and Tennessee or West Virginia and Virginia where "Cooter Brown" lived...drunk out of his mind for the duration of the Civil War...to prevent having to fight in the war. Legend has it Cooter had family that lived in Union and Confederate States so he had allegiance to the North and the South. Ray's recording of "Cooter Brown" is on his 2015 comedy album, Here We Go Again!.

Ray speaks of moving to Nashville in January of 1962 and becoming a session musician and the head of Mercury Records Artists and Repertoire division. He speaks of the magical day in January when he was involved in three separate hit recordings. In one day at Mercury Records he was in the studio for the recording of Joe Dowell's "Wooden Heart" (playing organ), Leroy Van Dyke's "Walk on By", and his own recording, "Ahab the Arab". Leroy's recording was published by Bill Lowery and produced by Shelby Singleton...as was Ray's "Ahab the Arab". I don't know if Ray played on the "Walk on By" session or if he observed it from behind the producer's glass as Shelby Singleton ran the control board. If so that would mean Ray sat in on the recording session and witnessed it but didn't actually play on it...but he may have been an assistant to Jerry Kennedy who was often credited as "orchestra conductor" on some of Mercury's recordings in addition to being one of the mainstays in the Nashville studio system and ultimately a record producer in his own right. Jerry Kennedy is credited as being one of the guitarists on "Walk on By". Ray introduces Leroy Van Dyke and they discuss Shelby Singleton, Jerry Kennedy, and several more. Leroy mentions that he attempted writing songs and it led him to be a co-writers of "The Auctioneer". Leroy performs "Walk on By" after telling it's origins and how he talked the powers that be into allowing him to record the song. Leroy mentions that what sold him on the song was the follow-up line to the song's title: "Just Walk on By...wait on the corner...".

Ray touched on most of the high points in Leroy's career...even asking him to reveal his age. This was asked by Ray because I feel he wanted the audience to take in/appreciate the stamina and mental sharpness of a man in Leroy's age bracket. Leroy was also heavily involved with the Country Crossroads program. The series was created by Bill Mack (the late disc jockey/songwriter known as The Midnight Cowboy) and he hosted it for many decades. He was eventually joined by co-hosts...one being Jerry Clower (beginning in 1973) and the other being Leroy Van Dyke. His involvement with that series wasn't brought up in this episode of Ray's television show but I thought I'd insert it into this overview nonetheless. 

After the performance, Ray's live-action/limited animation music video for "Gone for Good" is played. This is followed by Leroy's performance of "The Auctioneer". We get a second dose of limited animation as Ray shows the "Misty" music video and the episode closes with Ray singing "The Bricklayer's Song". 

Ray Stevens audio track: "Popeye and Olive Oyl"

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! 2022 is the 60th anniversary of the very first studio album from Ray Stevens. I've made mention of that before but I wanted to feature an audio clip from from that 1962 album which Ray posted on his social media pages recently. The album is titled 1,837 Seconds of Humor and was released on the Mercury Records label. Ray wrote all of the songs on the album...it's the album that features "Jeremiah Peabody's Green and Purple Pills", "Scratch My Back", "A Hermit Named Dave", and "Ahab the Arab" among others. Ahab was such a hit that the album's cover focuses on that song and has the song's title in large letters...overshadowing the album's actual title. Elsewhere on the album is the equally funny "Saturday Night at the Movies" and the song I'm featuring, "Popeye and Olive Oyl". Now, unlike 1960's novelty "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon", 1962's "Popeye and Olive Oyl" wasn't met with any type of lawsuit threats from copyright owners. It's my guess that Mercury Records got permission to use the Popeye characters in a song whereas NRC, the label Ray recorded for in 1960, didn't get permission to use Sgt. Preston's name and characters in a recording. Ray's "Popeye and Olive Oyl" novelty, performed mostly as a fast-talking recitation instead of being sung, plays like a typical adventure between Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Bluto...and spinach saves the day. The recognizable Popeye theme and the accompanying Sailor's Hornpipe music is heard in the recording, too. Ray treats us to a falsetto voice with cries of help from Olive... 

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Nashville on YouTube E-3, S-2

Hello there fans of Ray Stevens!! Here's my overview/re-cap of Episode 3, Season 2 of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. The special guests on this episode are Williams and Ree, a comedy duo who've been performing together for more than 50 years. I hadn't looked up the specifics but they may be reaching the 55 year mark...their partnership began sometime in the late '60s. Their names are Bruce Williams (referred to in their act as The White Guy) and Terry Ree (referred to in their act as The Indian). In almost all of their appearances they're introduced as The Indian and The White Guy. I first knew of them from their co-starring years with Florence Henderson on Country Kitchen, a country music oriented cooking show that aired on The Nashville Network. The special guest in each episode demonstrated on the set of a kitchen how to make some kind of food...with Florence as the aid. Afterward she would turn the show over to Williams and Ree who would tell jokes, slip in all kinds of innuendo, and comically prepare a dish. After the intentionally comical mayhem the duo would hold up the finished dish (made ahead of time) to the delight of the audience. Then, after being applauded for their performance, the duo would turn the show back over to Florence again who would sing a duet with the guest.

Ray opened this episode of CabaRay Nashville singing "Knock Him Out, John", a salute to the late comedian, Jerry Clower. The song can be found on Ray's 2015 album, Here We Go Again!. 

Williams and Ree are introduced and they launch into some comical banter with Ray. They speak of their partnership and Ree tells some Indian jokes. Ray mentions that the two of them had cameo appearances in his VHS movie, Get Serious!. In this movie, which also includes numerous music videos, Ray performs "The Woogie Boogie". The song, from the pen of Ray Stevens and Buddy Kalb, originated in 1989 on Ray's Beside Myself album. Williams and Ree do a rocked up rendition backed with Ray's original arrangement of the song. So it's like a clash of two music styles. The duo also perform "Sweet Thang", a country music classic that some remember as a duet between Ernest Tubb and Loretta Lynn. Some may be more familiar with another recording of the song by Nat Stuckey. The duo next sing "San Antonio Rose" to a rousing conclusion. 

Don Cusic, known on-air as The Professor of Music, appears in a segment introducing facts about the Dallas Frazier song, "Alley Oop", and it's history. Ray closes the show singing "Alley Oop". He performed the song differently here than the way he recorded it in 1969. The performance on the TV show is more in line with how he re-recorded it for The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music (released in 2012). 

Ray Stevens: "Too Drunk to Fish" music video on YouTube

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! It's Labor Day 2022 as you all know...and besides his family Ray's other labor of love is recording music and performing at the CabaRay showroom. The other day the music video of "Too Drunk to Fish" was uploaded to Ray's YouTube channel. This music video goes back a number of years. It originally appeared on Ray's 1997 comedy album, Hum It. In fact, oddly enough, the music video had never been uploaded to Ray's YouTube channel as a pure YouTube upload. It had previously appeared online with a VEVO suffix and other people have uploaded the video to YouTube but it had never officially been part of Ray's YouTube channel until now. It's been viewed by more than 8,000 people since premiering on YouTube. 

Now, speaking of alcohol, Ray once recorded a song called "Bubba the Wine Connoisseur". That particular song appears on his 2008 album, Hurricane. It might be fun if Ray would be able to host a wine tasting charity event inside the CabaRay Piano Bar...with him making a guest appearance, in character, as Bubba, wearing a yellow CAT hat and stereotypical country attire (the way he appeared in the music video of "The Streak"). It would take the place of the charity golf event Ray used to host...but this event would, obviously, be inside the CabaRay Piano Bar instead of out on a golf course and the donations to the charities would originate from the price of admission to the wine tasting event. Ray had hosted a charity golf event for several years prior to 2020. There wasn't an event in 2020 or 2021 and with the year heading into the fourth quarter and fall getting underway later there hadn't been any kind of information released about any charity golf tournament for 2022. 

Anyway, though, a wine tasting charity event is just a suggestion as it can take place at anytime of the year since it would be inside the CabaRay. A wine tasting charity event would raise money for charities but it would also publicize the CabaRay at the same time. 

This is the audio track for 2008's "Bubba the Wine Connoisseur" just in case you've never heard the comedy song before...

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Nashville on YouTube E-2, S-2

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! In this blog entry I'll be providing a recap of Episode Two, Season Two of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. The episode made it's debut on YouTube this past Friday evening. The special guests on this episode happen to be T. Graham Brown and Suzi Ragsdale. Ray opened the show singing "If Jesus is a Stranger" which set the tone for the evening. A country gospel flavor...the song Ray performed can be found on his 2014 gospel album, Gospel Collection Volume One. There was a Volume Two follow-up called Just a Closer Walk With Jesus: Gospel Favorites just in case you're wondering. "If Jesus Is a Stranger" comes from the pen of Don Cusic...the same guy who appears frequently on CabaRay Nashville as the Professor of Music. The two gospel albums were distributed by companies associated with the Gaither Gospel organization. 

Ray introduces his daughter, Suzi Ragsdale. He tells of how an audio recording of her grade school class singing 'Jesus Loves the Little Children' was spliced into his 1970 recording of "Everything is Beautiful". Ray and Suzi sing a duet of "Everything is Beautiful" and about midway through they sing a dueling duet in which Ray sings the original lyrics of the song while Suzi sings alternate lyrics based on the original lyrics. It's a performance you'll have to see for yourselves.

Ray introduces T. Graham Brown who performs his powerful recording, "Wine Into Water". The single was released in 1998 and, in spite of it's resistance from radio programmers, it almost made it into the Country Top-40 in Billboard. It was his first chart appearance since 1991. The album, Wine Into Water, spawned four single releases altogether...with the title track being the biggest charting hit. If radio would've been way more receptive it could've become a strong Top-30 or Top-20 radio hit...but it wasn't to be. I remember when the song was brand new. He sang it on several country television shows on The Nashville Network and I do believe he appeared on a couple of high profile news programs on the Fox News Channel as well as CNN. When he sang it on The George Jones Show he had his hair styled to look exactly like George. As you'll hear in the video, T. Graham still has that distinctive voice.

After T. Graham's performance there's a clip of Ray in Branson, Missouri singing "Amazing Grace". This performance comes from the 1993 VHS tape, Ray Stevens Live!. Special footage from Ray's personal collection is shown next. The footage, recorded as if it's from a home movie, features Ray and three harmony singers practicing "Turn Your Radio On". After this brief clip concludes we're back at the CabaRay set and Ray sings "Turn Your Radio On". Ray closes the show with a joke about a multi-lingual parrot, a grandson, and a grandfather.    

Ray Stevens: The CMHOF Page

Well, hello to all the fans of Ray Stevens!! This is a rare blog entry in the middle of the day. It's not one of my days off work, though...but I decided to write a blog entry a few hours before I leave for the evening. Has anyone recently visited the Ray Stevens profile page at the Country Music Hall of Fame website? I've visited the page several times over the last couple of years...Ray was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019...and he has his medallion on display at his CabaRay showroom in West Nashville. The medallion, in case you're wondering, is something that the organization began to award inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In addition to the iconic plaque, which you see off to the left, members are also given a medallion. They wear these medallions around their neck at each subsequent induction ceremony. It is something that emulates the National Baseball Hall of Fame ceremonies...where current members of the Hall of Fame are present to welcome the new induction class...and it's been part of the official Country Music Hall of Fame induction process for at least a decade. I know it's been around awhile but I also remember when there wasn't such a thing as the Golden Medallion ceremony but I can't find an exact date and year for the first medallion ceremony. I'm more than likely not looking in the proper places...but yet the official hall of fame website doesn't give a history time line on the ceremony, neither. Well, anyway, Ray Stevens has a bio page over there. It's been edited by the people who run the site and it looks much more appealing the way it is now. They've also added several photos of Ray from different time periods. 

They skip around a lot...focusing, obviously, on the country music side of his recordings...but when they reach the section where they discuss Branson, Missouri there's a typo error. The site has Ray having performed at his Branson theater from 1981 until 1993...now, of course, it's an obvious typo to all fans of Ray Stevens. Ray had the theater built from the latter half of 1990 and it had it's grand opening in 1991. He performed at the theater for three seasons (1991, 1992, and 1993) and then he returned for another run of concerts in the in 2005 and 2006. In between 1993 and 2003 an organization/country music show called Country Tonite utilized the theater for concerts. Ray, during that 10 year period, was the landlord...so he was still having success with his theater even though he, himself, wasn't performing there. The final section of the bio titled 'From Branson to CabaRay' comes off rushed and far less detailed. In that final section they more or less cram 25+ years (1991-2019) into one paragraph...but then end the bio referencing career awards (his 1980's inductions into both the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame). 

There's also mention of his Music City News Comedian of the Year awards...he won these for 9 consecutive years. Those particular awards were fan based and he won in the years 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994. The fans could either vote using a telephone number advertised on The Nashville Network (beginning in 1989) or they could vote using a ballot found inside an issue of Music City News magazine. The Nashville Network had a Viewer's Choice award beginning in 1983...and in 1989 it was merged with the Music City News awards. Prior to 1989, subscribers of Music City News magazine were the only people eligible to vote in the awards. I realize a lot of what I just written is wordy and probably too gaudy for an overview bio at the Country Music Hall of Fame webpage...but that's the kind of detailed information I find fascinating and noteworthy. 

The CabaRay showroom opened in 2018...his syndicated television series, Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville, began as Ray Stevens' Nashville in November 2015. The show's title change occurred in 2017 when original plans were to have the show start taping at the CabaRay...but the grand opening was pushed back a full year while the property was held up in court awaiting a building permit. As a result of the delay only a handful of episodes were taped at the CabaRay showroom. The bulk of the episodes were taped inside one of Ray's studios in downtown Nashville. The episodes taped at the CabaRay are easy to distinguish from the television studio episodes. The episodes taped at the CabaRay will show a red curtain in the background, Ray on a stage, with the band behind him...while the TV studio episodes show the band off to Ray's left...they're off to his right in the eyes of the TV viewer. This is the bio page at the Country Music Hall of Fame...click HERE. 

Ray Stevens: Upcoming September CabaRay concerts...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! We've begun a new month and you know what that means! It's time to take a look at the upcoming CabaRay concerts for the month of September. Ray will be in concert at the CabaRay every Saturday evening this month: September 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th. Since the month just started it's hard to tell if there will be any additional dates added. Sometimes there's a Thursday evening concert that pops up unexpectedly...so keep alerted for any kind of additional concert announcements. If you purchase the dinner option along with your concert you'll be served Chicken Breast au jus or a Grilled Pork Chop with apple chutney. The vegetable selection is said to be seasonal...you'll also receive a salad and rolls. The choice of beverage is coffee, tea, or pop. Some people have mistakenly thought that it's like a fast food restaurant and you can order hamburgers and French fries or other fast food...but the CabaRay dinner is closely associated with what's known as fine dining. If the CabaRay showroom is all new to you then pay close attention because the details about the showroom, Piano Bar, and gift shop can get confusing. The showroom opens at 5pm and most people gather inside the Piano Bar. If you purchased a dinner then you'll be allowed to enter the main concert area at 5:30pm. Your dinner is usually served within half an hour. If you only purchased tickets to see the concert only then you'll be allowed to enter the main concert area at 6:30pm. Some people choose to stay in the Piano Bar until around 7pm and then they make their way into the main concert area. The Ray Stevens concert begins at 7:30pm. In addition to the Piano Bar there is also a gift shop that opens up about an hour after the Piano Bar. It's open after the concert, too, as is the Piano Bar. Inside the gift shop you'll find all kinds of Ray Stevens items for sale. There's T-shirts, ball caps, CD's, DVD's, stuffed animals (squirrels, monkeys, camels), an assortment of trinkets like keychains, shot glasses, water bottles, magnets, and there's also copies of his 2014 memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville. The items in the gift shop can also be purchased online at Ray's official website. There's a Store section and a tab for the CabaRay items. To purchase tickets to see the legendary Ray Stevens...a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Georgia Music Hall of Fame, Atlanta Music Hall of Fame, and a Nashville Cat honoree...simply click HERE.