Ray Stevens: CabaRay Nashville on YouTube E-1, S-3

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! Season Three of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville got underway on YouTube this past Friday. This episode marked the beginning of the program's syndication run with local PBS stations. The program had aired for two seasons (26 episodes) on RFD-TV beginning in November 2015 and running through December 2016. The program then moved to local PBS syndication starting in January 2017. A total of 52 episodes were produced for the PBS run. There are two ways of looking at the seasons. There is the cable TV, niche TV, and online streaming definition of a season (13 first run episodes) and there is the network TV definition of a season (26 first run episodes). So, depending on how you market it, the show is described as having 4 seasons of 13 first run episodes each or 2 seasons of 52 first run episodes in it's initial syndicated run on local PBS stations. Regardless of how you market/promote the number of seasons the fact is, in total, there were 78 episodes produced of Ray's television program. Since I'm following the 13 episode per season definition this is Episode 1 of Season 3.

Ray opens the show singing "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon". He tells the history of the song once he concludes the performance. Although not mentioned on the YouTube program description he performs a second song, 1961's "Jeremiah Peabody's Green and Purple Pills", as a tie-in to 1960's "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon". Ray performs both songs in their entirety with as much gusto and energy that both songs require. The dog howls and other vocal sound effects in both recordings brought wild bursts of laughter and applause from the audience. 

He introduces Harold Bradley and Mandy Barnett. Ray mentions that both he and Harold have the same first and middle names: Harold Ray. Harold discusses his entry into the music business and how his first recording sessions took place in Chicago on a Pee Wee King recording in the late 1940s. He explains that, in those years, there wasn't much of an opportunity to make records in Nashville and that his career began prior to Nashville becoming known as Music City, USA. Harold's first session in Nashville happened in 1950. Ray asks how Harold and Mandy joined forces... 

The story is tied to Owen Bradley (Harold's brother) and a stage show called Always...Patsy Cline. The musical began in 1994 at the Ryman Auditorium. Mandy portrayed and sang like the late Patsy Cline so convincingly that, from that point forward, Mandy's name for some people became synonymous with Patsy Cline...some say the two have become inextricably linked. Mandy, according to most sources, has portrayed Patsy Cline in more than 500 performances dating back to 1994. She was one of the longest running frequent guest performers at the Grand Ole Opry...appearing hundreds of times in a nearly 30 year period. She was officially inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in November 2021...after having made her first guest appearance there 27 years earlier in 1994. It'll probably always remain a mystery as to why it took the Opry nearly 30 years to officially make her a member.

Mandy and Harold perform "Crazy" and "I'm Confessin'". Ray closes the show with "Harry the Hairy Ape". The episode has a decidedly classic country overtone...specifically a vintage 1960's flavor. This, of course, had a lot to do with the special guests being Harold Bradley and Mandy Barnett, a recurring subject matter of Patsy Cline, and the fact that Ray performed songs from the 1960's, too.  

Ray Stevens: Newest Musicians Hall of Fame Member...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! Tuesday was the big night...Ray Stevens became one of the newest members of the Musicians Hall of Fame. This is a Hall of Fame that recognizes musicians regardless of music format. Among the Class of 2022, in addition to Ray, were Vince Gill, Marty Stuart and his band The Fabulous Superlatives, and Don McLean plus several others. Music Row magazine and The Tennessean newspaper are just two online sites that provided an overview of Tuesday night's event. There were several photos that made the internet as well. I come across a couple of Ray. It was described that the Hall presented an extensive video documentary/retrospective of Ray's 60 plus years as a recording artist prior to the presentation of the medallion. As far as music goes it was reported that Ray sang "Everything is Beautiful" and "The Streak". There's a photo of Ray wearing his medallion but he's standing beside the person who arranged for the photo to be taken and I don't want to crop the other person out or post the photo without permission since Ray himself hasn't posted it to his social media yet...but it's on the Instagram page of Tim Hibbs. His screen name over there is thibbs111 for those interested in seeing a photo of Ray and his Musicians Hall of Fame medallion. I have no idea if the event was recorded for playback at a later date or not. Since we weren't able to see the event I don't have much details or anything specific that I can add other than what was reported by The Tennessean and a few other online outlets. 

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Nashville on YouTube E-13, S-2

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! We've reached episode 13 of Season 2 of the CabaRay Nashville television series. This is the final episode of Season 2. If you're a detailed fan of Ray's as I am then you'll know that the first 26 episodes of the television series originally aired on RFD-TV (Seasons One and Two). The series then moved to first-run local syndication on PBS stations across the country beginning with Season Three. The special guest on this episode happens to be Reed Robertson of the Duck Dynasty family. That series was a massive hit on the Arts and Entertainment channel for four years (2013-2017). There were 131 episodes produced in that time span. Since it was considered a niche program and because it was on cable it adhered to the cable tradition of at least 13 episodes a season but in some seasons as little as 9 episodes aired. This means that, in cable TV terminology, the series ran 11 production seasons but four television seasons (2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, and 2016-2017). Reed's graduation ceremony from high school was shown on an episode of Duck Dynasty. He was born in 1995...the year that I, your blogger, graduated high school!! 

Ray opened the show singing "Dear Andy Griffith" from the pen of Nick Sibley. The nostalgic song originally appeared on Ray's 2010 album, We The People. It's nostalgic but it's also a social commentary on how things have become...and how the average level headed person simply yearn for simpler times. 

Ray introduces Reed Robertson who speaks of his athletic past and how, in high school, he played five sports. He gives Ray a duck call as a gift and speaks of how his parent's love music. He mentions that his mother sang opera in the morning hours at their house while his dad preferred country music...specifically Johnny Cash. Since this episode was taped a number of years ago, and if you follow the Robertson's, you'll notice how different Reed looks in this appearance compared to how he looks now. At the time of this episode he still had the lengthy hair but in most recent appearances he's had a much shorter hair style and a stubbly beard. 

Reed sings "Hallelujah" and this is followed by a comic sketch for the fictional Duck-a-Phone. It's a parody of the Zamfir pan flute television commercials that used to air on TV in the early 1990s. In Ray's sketch he plays a duck hunter who uses an instrument made up of a row of duck calls called a Duck-a-Phone. The hunter demonstrates his prowess by humming numerous melodies through the duck calls...each with a different pitch.

Reed Robertson's second performance is "I'll Be the One" and this is followed by an appearance by Ray's daughter, Suzi. She sings the up-tempo "Wishbone" as Ray plays the piano. It's the first time that the show was closed by someone other than Ray in performance...Suzi performed the final song of the episode. Season Three's first episode will be uploaded onto YouTube this coming Friday. 

Ray Stevens: 1 Day Until Musicians Hall of Fame Induction...

Hello once again and welcome to Part Two...now we're only 1 day away until Ray Stevens is inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. If you read my Part One blog entry you may have come away with the impression that I was very broad (not detailed) in my overview of Ray's career time-line from 1955 through 1979. I have a detailed career time-line of Ray that runs along the side of the blog. It begins in 1955 and every so often I'll add an image to the time-line which represents a specific year. When Ray releases a new album or single I'll add the publicity image to the time-line. Anyway, I didn't want to be too detailed in my Part One blog since that's the function of the pictorial time-line. Toward the end of the last blog entry I brought up Ray's push into the country music mainstream as the mid 1970's rolled around. His friendship with Chet Atkins lasted decades. The two were often spotted together at music industry functions and gala's...and unless you're well detailed in the career/life of Ray Stevens then you may not know that the two were business partners in a string of real estate properties all over Nashville. In music industry publications some of the writers half-jokingly nicknamed Ray the Landlord of Music Row. Nashville is an album Ray released on Barnaby Records in 1973. I consider it his first major step into the country music format. The album's overall feel is in line with what Nashville was promoting as country music at the time. Ray was the producer and arranger on the album as he had been on his last several studio albums. "Nashville" was the main single release and it's become a mainstay in his concerts...but it had gone under the radar for several decades before Ray brought it back to the forefront of his career several years ago. It was a country music hit...it didn't appear on the pop chart. Ray was in the process of recording studio ownership around this time. He opened up a studio called The Ray Stevens Sound Laboratory. 

Some of his pop music releases crossed over to the country audience and I feel the friendship he had with Ralph Emery was a factor. Ralph was a very influential country music disc jockey and country music television host...and typically if a song was heard on Ralph's broadcasts chances were other disc jockeys around the country picked up on it. 

"Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", as mentioned in Part One, was the first single of Ray's to appear on a country music chart. The single charted pop in America and in Canada as well as country in America and Canada. The Canadian RPM publication had Ray's single ranked higher on their pop and country chart's indicating that it either had more sales or more airplay in Canada than here in the United States. If you search weekly chart publications you'll find all kinds of interesting tidbits revolving around single and album releases in Ray's career. Since his career bounced all over the music spectrum you'll find that an album or single might do well in one format but not even appear in another...but then, by the next release, the format that didn't embrace the previous single may embrace the following single and vice versa. Ray's next country appearance came with "Have a Little Talk With Myself"...and though it's appearance on the weekly country chart was brief the fact that his singles were breaking into country music as early as 1969 suggested his wide appeal. 

1970's "Everything is Beautiful" was a multi-week number one pop hit, a multi-week Adult-Contemporary number one, and it reached the music charts internationally...and it, too, crossed over to the country chart and reached the Top-40 in that format. A series of gospel singles in 1971 hit pop and adult-contemporary...with one, "Turn Your Radio On", pulling a triple-prize by charting pop, adult-contemporary, and country. In the country market the single hit the Top-20. Two preceding singles "All My Trials" and "A Mama and a Papa" both reached the Top-10 on the Adult-Contemporary charts both here in the United States and in Canada. His rock and roll arrangement of "Love Lifted Me" was also a hit...but in Bangkok of all places. Billboard magazine's Hits of the World shows the single listed on Bangkok's music chart for multiple weeks. Ray's international publicity took him all over the globe in the early to mid 1970s. As you see here it's a March 1971 issue of a Sydney, Australia tourist guide with Ray Stevens on the cover. Later on Ray wrote the song, "Nashville", a song I mentioned earlier, during one of his lengthy overseas tours. Ray is quoted as saying he wrote the song because he was homesick for Nashville. Ray plays the piano, keyboard, and synthesizer and is credited as one of the musicians in almost all of his albums. He is also credited with being the record producer and music arranger. His first producer credit, as far as his own recordings are concerned, come along in 1968. Specifically it was a co-producer credit with Fred Foster on the Even Stevens album. That is the album that introduced a general public that never bothered to play the B-side of singles a chance to hear a serious side of Ray Stevens. Serious songs often appeared as the B-side of his novelty songs throughout his years at Mercury and during the earliest years of his recording career on Monument (which began in 1965) but Even Stevens was an entire album of non-comedy and it's main single was the pop hit, "Mr. Businessman". Fred Foster, Ray Stevens, and Jim Malloy were the record producers on the Gitarzan comedy album. Ray's final studio album for Monument, Have a Little Talk With Myself, was produced by Ray with co-production by Jim Malloy. Ray's first studio album where he was the sole record producer happened to be Everything is Beautiful, released in the summer of 1970. The Mercury singles and two studio albums (1961-1965) were produced by Shelby Singleton...with some single releases featuring co-production by Jerry Kennedy. 

From 1970 onward Ray has been the main producer of all of his albums and the music arranger on all of his recordings...with the exception of two back to back albums in 1982 and 1983. Don't Laugh Now, from 1982 on RCA Records, featured co-production work from Bob Montgomery. Me, from 1983 on Mercury Records, featured co-production work from Jerry Kennedy. The 1982 album was Ray's third for RCA. A few years earlier, in 1980, Ray was the recipient of two career recognition awards. The Georgia Music Hall of Fame as well as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Ray's exquisite Don't Laugh Now is so good...there's a mix of all kinds of styles on the album. The opening track is his catchy take on "Such a Night". The album features a novelty song in "Where The Sun Don't Shine" and a series of love ballads including the hit single, "Written Down in My Heart". 

Ray's deep dive into country music comedy began in the latter half of 1984 when he joined MCA Records. It was on this record label where Ray's albums took center stage as each of his releases on the label entered the Country Albums chart...with two of the albums reaching Top-10 status and almost all of them having long chart runs. It is also on MCA Records that the sales of his albums were so large that several of them eventually achieved Gold and Platinum certification. As unbelievable as it may sound Ray's 1981, 1982, and 1983 studio albums didn't appear on the weekly album charts. So, when 1984's He Thinks He's Ray Stevens debuted on Billboard's Country Albums chart it marked his first appearance on the chart with a studio album since Shriner's Convention in 1980. A 1983 Greatest Hits album, on RCA, became a hit. 

Ray's career branched out into different avenues in the 1990s. The decade of the 1980s was dominated, mostly, with his comedy albums for MCA and his consecutive wins as Comedian of the Year by the readers of Music City News magazine and viewers of The Nashville Network. In the 1990s he signed with Curb Records and he revealed his plans for building a theater in Branson, Missouri. The theater opened to the public in the summer of 1991. This led Ray into the realm of VHS tape. He produced and starred in a collection of music videos and sold them on VHS under the title Comedy Video Classics in 1992. VHS reporters for the music industry cited Ray's VHS as being revolutionary. Television commercials played on hundreds of television stations and at all hours of the day and night. It became a multi-million seller through direct marketing and when it was released to retail stores in 1993 it repeated the same success. Billboard named the VHS it's Video of the Year in 1993. Ray Stevens Live!, part of a concert at his former theater in Branson, Missouri, was sold on VHS and was certified Double-Platinum through direct marketing. In audio that decade Ray recorded three studio albums for Curb Records. He performed at his Branson theater for three seasons (1991, 1992, and 1993). Here's video of Ray at the piano performing "Yakety Sax/Yakety Axe" along side Chet Atkins and Boots Randolph. It's from an episode of Nashville Now...you'll see the show's host, Ralph Emery, at the beginning of the video.

Ray returned to MCA Records late in 1996 and recorded two albums for them and released more comedy music videos. He had marked his return to MCA with the retail release of his VHS tape, Get Serious!, which was sold through direct marketing in 1995. It was certified Double-Platinum. 

When Ray goes into the Musicians Hall of Fame tomorrow we'll all be excited but we also know that Ray's career will continue to move along. He'll continue performing concerts at his CabaRay showroom in West Nashville and his songs will continue to be discovered by thousands of people who search the internet for 'comedy songs', 'comedy music', 'funny songs', etc. I deliberately cut off my overview of Ray's career in the mid 1990s because I feel I've written a detailed overview without it turning into an entire career retrospective. I'm hoping the Musicians Hall of Fame will give Ray's career an in-depth going over tomorrow...but even if they don't it's still going to be exciting to know that Ray's being recognized for his career by such a prestigious organization.   

Ray Stevens: 2 Days until Musicians Hall of Fame Induction...

Hello once again!! I was going to write a blog entry tomorrow about Ray Stevens being inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame this coming Tuesday (November 22) but I decided to go ahead and write my celebration blog entry today. Why? Well, I can't help myself...I can't wait until tomorrow evening or late in the night tomorrow...I want to mark the celebration now. This will be Part One, however. I'll write Part Two later tonight or sometime early tomorrow morning. 

A general public most likely know of Ray Stevens by way of any number of comedy recordings. Ray himself likes to say that if anybody knows who he is then more than likely they know of him for some kind of comedy song or some sort of comedy video...now, of course, comedy isn't all there is to Ray Stevens. Throughout his now 65 year recording career (dating back to 1957) Ray has recorded just about every type and style of popular music imaginable. He began singing the style of music that was most dominant...the teenage love ballad. His roots are in Georgia. He was born Harold Ray Ragsdale in Clarkdale, Georgia and he resided in Georgia until a permanent move, five years into his recording career, to Nashville, Tennessee in 1962. Late in his high school years he and his family (his parents and a brother) packed up and moved to the Atlanta area. He and his brother had to switch schools, too. Ray had been attending Albany High School but the move from Clarkdale to the Atlanta suburbs meant he was going to graduate from Druid Hills High School. It was in high school that Ray formed a band called The Barons. Prior to the move to Atlanta, as you can see from the photo, Ray had made a name for himself as co-host of a local radio sock hop. This radio series, co-hosted by Mary Dale Vansant, aired on WGPC radio beginning in 1955. It was a Saturday radio program called The Record Hop. As you may have known or may have guessed by now the style of music that a young Ray Stevens (known as Ray Ragsdale) was originally exposed to was country, gospel, and all kinds of rhythm and blues. In addition he was also exposed to radio comedy/stand-up comedy, rock and roll, and with this love of music and comedy he'd say, decades later, was a big reason he loved The Coasters so much. Ray had come of age right when rock and roll was brand new...turning 18 in January 1957. He was a high school graduate the same year...a member of the Druid Hills Class of '57. Yes...it was the very same year he signed his first professional recording contract. It was with Prep Records, a subsidiary of Capitol Records. As far as the music business/music industry is concerned the first two important figures in the career of a young Ray Stevens were Bill Lowery and Ken Nelson. 

Ray had been using his birthname up until his meeting with Ken Nelson. Ray been known as Ray Ragsdale, locally, in the Albany and Atlanta area but it was through the suggestion of Ken Nelson that Ray should come up with a stage name. Harold Ragsdale perhaps sounded too mature of a name for a teenager and the last name, Ragsdale, didn't seem like it could be marketable. Ray decided to use the last name of his mother, Stephens, for his stage name. In interviews Ray remarked that Ken loved the name, 'Ray Stephens', but he says Ken suggested that the last name be spelled 'Stevens'. Prep Records released "Silver Bracelet" under the name of Ray Stevens in 1957...and it was reportedly a local hit in the Atlanta area. Ken released a few singles on Ray on the Capitol label in 1958 that attracted regional attention. Bill Lowery guided Ray through the next phase of his career...signing him to his own label, NRC. Ray, Jerry Reed, Joe South, Tommy Roe, and Billy Joe Royal were all under the guidance of Bill Lowery...most of them, if not all, shown up on The Georgia Jubilee music program. Bill was an Atlanta-based disc jockey who became a very successful music publisher and was completely independent from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Nashville. One wonders if Ray got his desires of being a publisher from seeing the financial successes of Bill Lowery's music publishing company and how important publishing rights are to a recording? Perhaps...but Ray didn't begin to delve into the music publishing side of the music industry until the late 1960s.

Ray happens to be, in my opinion, a music prodigy. He can play the piano and other keyboard instruments but he can also read and write music for other instruments...and this talent had him in demand for all kinds of recording sessions once he got into Nashville in the early 1960s. In the meantime, though, he professionally parted ways with Bill Lowery and began a professional relationship with Shelby Singleton at Mercury Records in 1961. It was at Mercury where Ray began a lengthy run as a session musician and music arranger...not only on his own recordings but for dozens of other recordings by other recording artists. 

Ray had released a series of love ballads and rhythm and blues style songs in the late 1950s time period. He had also recorded some novlety songs... "Rang Dang Ding Dong" appeared on one side of his debut single in 1957 on Prep, "Silver Bracelet". In 1960, while at NRC, he recorded "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" which displayed not only his love for The Coasters style of music but it was gaining some exposure outside of the Atlanta, Georgia market. Ironically, the reporting of the novelty song's local success made it's way to the owners of the Sgt. Preston character...their lawyers sent NRC a letter and threatened a lawsuit if the song wasn't pulled off the market. Ray has always said that the near hit of that song inspired him to come up with another comedy recording and so, in 1961, he put out a novelty song on Mercury Records. The song is funny but what caused the most attention was it's title: "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills". This novelty song became Ray's first hit single...reaching the national Hot 100 chart in Billboard magazine. A year earlier "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" peaked on Billboard's Bubbling Under the Hot 100...and had it not been pulled off the market it could've become Ray's first hit. It was on Mercury Records, in 1962, that Ray had his biggest hit single to date...the comical "Ahab the Arab". It crossed over to the Rhythm and Blues chart as well. 

Ray's musician side bigger emphasis during his Mercury (1961-1963) and, specifically, his Monument (1963-1970) years. Fred Foster became the next important figure in Ray's music career in 1963. Fred hired Ray to work in the Artist and Repertoire department, arrange the music for recording sessions, lead the sessions, and play on the sessions. So it is definitely no surprise that it was during the first half of the Monument era where Ray concentrated heavily on music arranging and session work. Mercury Records, however, continued to control his recordings and they released a series of love ballads and novelty songs on him while he was producing and arranging the songs of an assortment of recording artists. Ray either played on the sessions or did the music arranging on several Monument Records releases. He was also getting into the publishing business, too. Lowery Music had been the publishing company that controlled the bulk of Ray's recordings but this changed not too long after Ray joined Monument Records. Ray began his own Ahab Music Company and entered the music publishing business. Now, of course, nearly all of the titles published by his own company were his own recordings...or, later, songs written by writers who worked for his publishing company. While at Mercury Records and at Monument Records he worked with Dolly Parton, Patti Page, Brenda Lee, Dusty Springfield, and Brook Benton. 

Monument began releasing singles on Ray in the latter half of 1965...and though all of the single releases were top quality and excellent their first big hit didn't arrive until 1968's "Mr. Businessman". The single that preceded it, "Unwind", reached the pop Hot 100. From 1968 to around 1984 Ray Stevens continued to balance his recordings between pop, country, and comedy...even recording a gospel album in 1972. He became associated with Andy Williams in 1969. Ray's recording of "Gitarzan" became a million selling hit not only in America but it became a hit in several other countries which opened his career up, a little bit, internationally. He slowed down on participating in recording sessions in 1970 because, in his own words, his career become so successful that he didn't have the time to play on the recordings of other singers as the demands from his own career had skyrocketed tremendously since his move to Nashville in 1962. Andy Williams brought Ray to Barnaby Records in 1970. It was also in 1970 that he hosted a summer show for Andy Williams and that show's theme song, "Everything is Beautiful", went on to win Ray a Grammy in 1971 in the category of Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. A recording of the song by gospel singer, Jake Hess, won a Grammy in a gospel category in 1971. While 1969's "Gitarzan" brought Ray some international recognition it was "Everything is Beautiful" that brought him the widest international exposure to date...selling millions of copies...but the international reach would reach a fever pitch in 1974 with the release of the multi-million selling novelty, "The Streak". 

Ray's songs were bouncing from pop to country to adult-contemporary during the first five years of the '70s. His first appearance on the country music chart had arrived in 1969 with his version of "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down". Ray began marketing himself more and more country by the mid 1970s. Chet Atkins and Ralph Emery were two key figures in Ray's career once the country direction of his career began to take shape. Ray had charted country in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, and 1974 with specific single releases and he was a frequent guest on country music programming but it wasn't until 1975 when Ray's single releases began performing even more successfully with country audiences. "Misty", arranged in a Bluegrass style, won Ray a Grammy for Best Arrangement. Ray charted several more country hits as the 1970's ended: "Indian Love Call", "Young Love", "You Are So Beautiful", "Honky Tonk Waltz", "In the Mood", "Dixie Hummingbird", "Get Crazy With Me", and "Be Your Own Best Friend". On regional television commercials Ray was the spokesman for Flav-O-Rich dairy products. I added that tidbit to reinforce the country direction in Ray's career. In 1979 he charted pop for the final time with the novelty "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow". 

This brings to an end Part One. I'll write Part Two in a couple of hours! 

Ray Stevens: Ray's Country Diner Audio Performances on Spotify

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! If you recall some of my recent blog entries I've been relaying information about his recent appearance on Larry's Country Diner. I've shared a YouTube video that was uploaded onto a phone and shared on YouTube of Ray singing "When Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene". I've also made mention of some of the other songs Ray performed during his appearance. Spotify has the audio performances of the songs he recently sang on Larry's Country Diner. There's "The Gambler and the Octopus", "Where Are All The 12 Year Old's?", "When Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene", and "Cup Holders". The audio performances from Larry's show are identifiable by Ray's image, the title of the song, and the logo of Larry's Country Diner written above the screen cap of Ray. In addition to their Spotify appearance they've also been uploaded onto YouTube and it's the embeds from that particular site which show up in this blog entry. 

Here's the embedded audio performance of the sensational "Cup Holders"...a twist on the romantic love ballad and like nothing you've ever heard before...

Here's a better audio quality of "When Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene"...

As of this writing I do not know when or if any of these songs will end up on any album. There's another song, "It's My Job", that he's been performing but has yet to officially record it. He sang it on an episode of his CabaRay Nashville television show. The emergence of unheard of songs by way of his recent appearance on Larry's TV show is something rare for Ray Stevens...meaning that he usually doesn't fill up his appearances with songs a general public or even the fanbase might not be familiar with and so to spotlight several yet to be recorded songs on national TV is, like I mentioned, rare...and of course it has me thinking a new album may soon come along (early in 2023 most likely). 

Ray Stevens: 8 Days Until Musicians Hall of Fame Induction...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! The news broke a couple of weeks ago that Ray Stevens would be one of the newest members of the Musicians Hall of Fame. The ceremony is scheduled to take place on November 22 which is next Tuesday...so we're just 8 days away. I wrote a blog entry back on October 30th promoting the breaking news of Ray's upcoming induction and time flies as we find ourselves 8 days from the induction ceremony. 

It was in November 2020 that the late founder of the Musicians Hall of Fame, Joe Chambers, conducted an in-depth interview with Ray. That interview is on YouTube and I've posted it in a previous blog entry or two. It was in that interview where Ray not only revealed that he'd recently signed a lengthy contract with Curb Records but it was also revealed that he'd be releasing a 4-CD box set. This project, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, had quite a lengthy run on Amazon's top seller lists in 2021. It placed among the top selling Country titles as well as the top selling Soundtrack titles. I questioned on here as to why Amazon would place a box set, which had nothing to do with a film or TV soundtrack, on a list of top selling Soundtracks. I made a guess back then that Amazon placed it among the Soundtrack top sellers because the box set has the sub-title of The Soundtrack Of Our Lives. It seems so obvious looking back now...but back then it was a mini-crisis on my part until it dawned on me that the box set's sub-title had something to do with it. The 4-CD box set peaked in the Top-30 on the Amazon Soundtrack top sellers list and the Top-40 in the Amazon Country list. The box set was released in the summer of 2021. Each CD in the box set can also be purchased/downloaded separately. It's available as a physical album as well as a digital download album. The physical album comes complete with musician credits, songwriter credits, production credits, and arrangement credits in each CD's fold-out cover. 

I am still trying to find out if the November 22nd ceremony will be streamed online or if it'll be recorded and played at a later date. Maybe aired on a TV station? RFD-TV? Circle TV? As a fan of Ray Stevens, as I'm guessing you are, too, we want to see some photos from the ceremony and see whatever plaque or medallion, etc. gets presented to Ray Stevens on induction night. It's the 7th Annual Musicians Hall of Fame Concert and Induction Ceremony. Their website features a promo for the upcoming November 22nd ceremony but in the Inductee's section it cuts off at the previous ceremony and so, my guess, once the upcoming ceremony concludes next Tuesday their website will be updated and show the newest members inducted to the Musicians Hall of Fame. 

This particular Hall of Fame is non-partisan...it doesn't single out any specific music format to honor. It's a Hall of Fame for musicians and those who literally make the music (songwriters, musicians, recording engineers, producers) and it relies less on those who sing the songs. Now, obviously, there are so many singer-songwriters that have come and gone in all forms of music and so it's natural that a lot of recording artists are members of the Musicians Hall of Fame by virtue of the fact that they're musicians, too. Ray Stevens is one of the unique ones in that he not only is a singer but he's also a songwriter, a musician, a record producer, a music arranger, a music publisher, and a music video performer. In songwriting it gets broken down into two areas: composer and lyricist. Ray can do both. He can read and write music (the role of a composer) and he can obviously write lyrics (the role of a lyricist). 

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Nashville on YouTube E-12, S-2

Once again I bring you an overview of the most recent YouTube upload of the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville show. This time around it's Episode 12, Season 2 guest starring Jimmy Wayne. Ray opens the show with a rousing rendition of "Smoky Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat", a comedy song that originated in 1986 on Ray's Surely You Joust comedy album. When I saw Ray in concert the 1986 song was in his set list but I don't know if it's still a part of his set list as of 2022. I saw him in concert a few times...twice in Renfro Valley, Kentucky; once in Nashville, Indiana; and a couple of years ago at the CabaRay showroom in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Overall this particular episode is a somber one. Jimmy Wayne discusses his turbulent upbringing, coming from a broken home, and his eventual success in country music. It's part of a book that the two discuss at the start of the interview segment. In the years leading up to his appearance on Ray's CabaRay Nashville show Jimmy had authored/co-authored several books with a foster home/homeless theme. The names of his books are Paper Angels (2012), Walk to Beautiful: The Power of Love and a Homeless Kid who Found the Way (2014), and the children's book Ruby the Foster Dog (2017). Jimmy speaks of the homeless and the need for an abundance of foster homes. In this episode Jimmy spotlights the 2014 book. He speaks of his being raised in a foster home. He sings "Sara Smile", a single from 2009 and one of his first releases, "I Love You This Much", from 2003. This doesn't have anything to do with the show but I thought it interesting to share that a nearby neighbor of mine looks a lot like Jimmy Wayne from a distance. When I seen this episode the first time around I couldn't help not to notice the similarities. 

Ray's second song of the episode is "Safe at Home" and I think it's the first song that Ray recorded from the pen of Nick Sibley who would go on to pen a couple of other songs Ray recorded. It first shown up in 2000 on an album Ray put out called Ear Candy. The songs from that album, well, most of them, would resurface in 2002 when Curb Records issued Ray's Osama Yo' Mama comedy album. Almost a decade later, in 2010, "Safe at Home" found itself on the track list of Ray's album that year, We The People. It's safe to assume that the song means a lot to Ray given the fact that he's kept it part of his shows for more than 20 years. When I saw Ray in concert, yes, he sang "Safe at Home". Now, for those keeping track, this is the next to last episode of Season Two. The seasons of the series consist of 13 episodes each. 

If this series is something brand new to you then I thought it appropriate to explain that CabaRay Nashville is a music/talk show...but there isn't a desk and a long couch. Ray uses his red piano as his 'desk' and whoever the special guest happens to be sits next to the piano during the interview segment. Sometimes, if the guest sings an informal duet with Ray, the guest remains seated next to the piano. The main song from a guest takes place out front of the piano with the show's band seated off to the side. Ray sings the opening and closing songs of the show singing from that area, too...unless he's playing the piano during the performance. In that case he sings from where you see him in the photo above.      

Ray Stevens: Christmas at the CabaRay 2022...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! As you can see this blog entry is written in red because it's the first Christmas themed blog entry of the season. I don't make it a point to write all of my blog entries during Christmas season with Christmas colors but I decided to do so today. Later this evening is the first Thursday night concert at the CabaRay and it is also the first Christmas themed concert. Each concert until December 17th will be a Christmas show. As mentioned in a previous blog entry the November concerts at the CabaRay will take place on the 10th, 12th, 17th, 19th, and the 26th. Later this month I'll be posting a blog entry spotlighting the CabaRay concerts for next month. There won't be a concert on the 24th because that's Thanksgiving. This LINK to the CabaRay will tell you all about the concerts and how to purchase tickets and there are numerous detailed photos to browse through in case you've never been to the CabaRay in person. There are several photos that circulate online...those would be called publicity photos but the CabaRay webpage has even more photos and information about Ray's showroom located on the west side of Nashville. The showroom opened to the public in January 2018. The video promo below is for the 2021 Christmas concerts at the CabaRay. Now, since the website and telephone information hasn't changed, this 2021 video promo is being used to promote the 2022 Christmas concerts, too. 

When Ray performs his concert on the 26th it'll be four days after his induction into the Musicians Hall of Fame. That induction takes place on November 22nd. If video or photo from the ceremony makes it's way onto the internet I'll be sharing that in this blog. 

There still hasn't been any video surface of Ray's appearance on Larry's Country Diner. An audio surfaced yesterday of him singing "The Gambler and the Octopus"...so, this means that Ray sang at least four songs during his appearance: "The Gambler and the Octopus", "Where Are All the 12 Year Old's?", "Cup Holder", and "When Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene". If you read a previous blog entry from a few days ago you'll know that my DVR failed to record Ray's episode of Larry's Country Diner and so I have no specific information to blog about when it comes to that episode other than what I pick up from the internet and from what some other fans of Ray had to say about the episode. Meanwhile, don't forget to click the link above or watch the video promo of Christmas at the CabaRay 2022. 

Ray Stevens audio track: "You're Never Goin' To Tampa With Me"...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! A few hours ago Ray uploaded an audio of his 1980 recording, "You're Never Goin' To Tampa With Me". The comedy song comes from his album that year, Shriner's Convention. In fact, the song was the B-side of the "Shriner's Convention" single. I first heard "You're Never Goin' To Tampa With Me" in the early 1990s on a compilation album called Collector's Series by RCA Records. That collection features 8 recordings that Ray made during his RCA years. He signed with the record label in the latter half of 1979 and early in 1980 he put out the "Shriner's Convention" single which his debut RCA album, Shriner's Convention, soon followed. 

Ray remained an RCA recording artist through the midway part of 1983. In that late 1979 to mid 1983 time frame he recorded three studio albums (29 songs) and RCA issued only six singles in a 2 year stretch. The songs are listed as A-side / B-side. In 1980 they issued "Shriner's Convention" / "You're Never Goin' To Tampa With Me" and "Hey There" /"You're Never Goin' To Tampa With Me". Late in 1980 RCA issued "Night Games" / "Let's Do It Right This Time" and this was followed in the spring of 1981 with "One More Last Chance" / "I Believe You Love Me". In 1982 from his third and final RCA album they issued "Written Down in My Heart" / "Country Boy, Country Club Girl" and lastly, "Where The Sun Don't Shine" / "Why Don't We Go Somewhere and Love". RCA didn't issue "Hey There" as a single in the United States. It was issued as a single in Canada and in overseas markets in place of "Shriner's Convention". 

I know you're going to love this song...to my knowledge he's never performed this on any television show. Buddy Kalb wrote the song...it was the third song from Buddy that Ray recorded. His name began appearing with great frequency in the songwriter credits on Ray's albums by the mid 1980s onward.  

Ray Stevens: Have You Heard the New Songs?

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! I had it planned to tape the RFD television show, Larry's Country Diner, last night when my DVR malfunctioned. I got home from work last night and immediately flipped on the TV and went to my DVR menu and seen that the episode I scheduled to have recorded didn't record! I was furious because I was expecting to see the episode when I arrived home from work...and it wasn't recorded. I later discovered that my TV hadn't been updated...we get periodic software update reminders...and obviously I had forgotten to update the software the last time I was watching TV and so I scheduled the DVR to record and it confirmed the episode would record but yet, as mentioned, it didn't. I frantically searched online for any sort of content from the show. 

Now, a few days ago, someone on YouTube uploaded a performance of Ray from Larry's Country Diner. The episode, which originally aired Thursday night was reran Saturday night...it's the Saturday night rerun I attempted to record. Anyway, video of Ray singing "When Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene" emerged on YouTube the other day. The performance comes from someone's TV set...they recorded the song on their cell phone and then uploaded the video to YouTube. I don't prefer to embed video content from those outside of Ray's official YouTube channel but I have posted links to video content from YouTuber members. That's a screen cap from the episode. The TV show is set on a brightly lit stage and so I toned down some of the bright coloring just a little bit. If I wouldn't have then the photo off to the right would look more bright than it currently is. This is during the performance of "When Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene". There are several moments in the performance where Ray gives us some of his familiar facial expressions...particularly when he sings about the athlete who says he's a girl just because he said he is...with obvious visual facts saying otherwise. I don't know if this is the first song about this subject matter but if Ray puts this out through his own social media platforms it, I think, would generate all kinds of notice.  

Those interested, and I'm quite sure all of you are, here is the LINK to watch Ray Stevens perform "When Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene". Since it's a video recorded directly onto a phone from a television set you're not going to have sharp, pristine sound quality...but have the volume up nonetheless and, more importantly, have a listen. 

I hope Ray puts this song out as a single...perhaps with a green screen music video. As mentioned, if Ray would put this song out through his own social media, it would grab a whole lot more attention, shares, likes, and general conversation. It's a light-hearted look at what some people out there want everybody to take extremely seriously. It's a social commentary that speaks to the average person who doesn't let themselves get caught up in a lot of the noise out there or allow 'experts' to tell them how to form their views. 

A fellow Ray Stevens fan who seen the episode was able to record a few seconds of Ray singing a song that we think is called "Cupholder". Also performed was "Where Are All the 12 Year Olds" which I'm more familiar with since he performed it on an episode of Huckabee earlier this year and it's been on YouTube for more than half a year. 

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Nashville on YouTube E-11, S-2

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! Episode 11 of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville made it's debut on YouTube last night. The special guest happened to be Con Hunley. Ray opened the show singing "The Baptism of Stumpy Brown", a comedy song from his 2015 album Here We Go Again!. 

Ray brings out Con Hunley and compares him to Sinatra. Now, for those not familiar, Con Hunley at one time was among a collection of country music artists in the late '70s and early '80s that benefitted strongly from the pop music overtones that were gradually being implemented into the sound. Also, Con was among the class of recording artists that music industry magazines and fan magazines often cited as a country music heart throb. Conway Twitty, Mac Davis, Con Hunley, T.G. Shepard, Razzy Bailey, Leon Everette, Larry Gatlin, and Billy 'Crash' Craddock were often placed in that category at some time or another during their recording careers. Con's biggest hit happened to be "No Relief in Sight".

Ray asks about Con's latest recordings and they both speak of Norro Wilson. The camera pans over to Norro who's seated in the audience next to Buddy Kalb. Norro happened to have been one of Con's record producers in the late '70s/early '80s time period. Con recruited Norro to work on the latest album, A Collection By Request. Ray asks what he thought of the country music album by Ray Charles and this leads into a conversation about Con's love of Ray Charles songs. Con and Ray Stevens sing a duet of "Georgia On My Mind". 

Con sings "She Ain't You". I looked that song up and found out that it originated on an album he released titled Sweet Memories in 2005. That album was produced by Norro Wilson as well. 

Ray closes the episode performing "If Ten Percent is Good Enough for Jesus" which was preceded by an introduction from Professor Cusic. The professor tells a brief history of the song and how it's become enormously popular in Ray's concerts since the day he introduced the song to his audiences back in 1993. Curb Records initially released it as a CD single that year...referred to as a promo single...featuring currency on the CD's photo sleeve with Ray's face in the portrait. The song first appeared on Ray's 1993 studio album, Classic Ray Stevens.

Ray Stevens: The Warner Brothers cassettes Have Arrived..

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! Lately I've been reacquainting myself with eBay purchasing. It had been more than a decade, it seems, since I last bought anything from there. The reason I'd stopped is, if I recall correctly, there was a time period where the only way to make purchases was through the PayPal system and I didn't want to do that. Anyway...about a month ago I began to not only browse eBay but have started to make purchases again. The first item I purchased, since it was at the right price and it was a Ray Stevens item, was a cassette copy of One More Last Chance. That cassette was released in 1981 on RCA Records. I have had the vinyl album for years but had never come across a cassette copy. When I seen it for sale on eBay, and knowing the obscure nature of a cassette copy, I bought it. The purchase/transaction went well and so I purchased an even more obscurity...a cassette copy of Ray's 1978 album on Warner Brothers, There Is Something On Your Mind. The vinyl album, which often comes up for sale and something I have in my collection, is rare enough but a cassette copy?? When I seen it listed I bought it!!

This is just one of three photos I took with my web-camera. The album is Ray's salute to vintage rhythm and blues songs that he says were an inspiration to him. The vinyl album features extensive commentary from Ray on both the front and back of the album cover but the cassette copy lacks this. There's a track list provided on the reverse side of the cassette cover as well as on the back of the cassette. I know of another fan of Ray Stevens that says that There Is Something On Your Mind was an album released only in Canada. The only thing I know is that there was absolutely no publicity for this album when it was released. I've searched archives of various music publications (Billboard, Record World, Cashbox) from around the time this album would've been originally released and I came across no publicity or even an album review. The album/cassette features 8 songs...maybe that's the reason it didn't get an album review back in 1978? However, don't let that fool you into thinking the album is less than half an hour because it isn't. The songs are lengthy...and by the time the album is finished you'd have thought you'd listened to an album of 11 or 12 songs. Why? Well, it's because there are four medley performances among the track list. There's the opening medley called "Dance Trilogy" which contains brief performances of "Do You Wanna Dance?", "When You Dance", and "Save the Last Dance For Me". This is followed by full performances of "Talk to Me" and "One Mint Julep". The fourth track on the cassette is the "Old Faithful Trilogy". That trilogy features brief performances of "Shake a Hand", "Since I Met You Baby", and "Always". The remaining four tracks are: "Money Honey", the "Banned in Boston Trilogy" which features "Sixty Minute Man", "Work With Me Annie", and "Annie Had a Baby"; the final two tracks are "Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash" and "There is Something On Your Mind". I know, in the photo below, I should have my other hand resting on the side of my chin if I wanted to make an exact copy. I ordinarily don't use the camera's timer but in this instance I did...

 

The other Warner Brothers cassette can be seen here. The Feeling's Not Right Again was released in 1979. I have the vinyl album and if you do, too, you'll know that the back of the album also features a photo of Ray. The thing about cassette tape and 8-track releases is they lack imagery or commentary that might be featured on the back of a vinyl album. However, given the obscurity of cassette copies of Ray's albums from the '70s and early '80s I've decided, if they're at the right price, to purchase them on eBay just so I can have them in my personal collection. This is actually a compilation album and not a studio album. The album's cover art (both front and back) intentionally parodied the art work found on Barry Manilow's 1975 album, Trying To Get The Feeling. Ray's vinyl album copy went a step further with matching font style of Ray's name and album title but as you can see the cassette copy lack this. The only new song on the 1979 album is "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow". Warner Brothers apparently didn't want to release an album on Ray titled Greatest Hits or The Best of Ray Stevens and so they put out The Feeling's Not Right Again and filled it with previously released songs from 1976, 1977, and 1978. The songs weren't randomly chosen, either. They were intentionally chosen for their MOR (Middle-of-the-Road) sound due to the inclusion of the new song, "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow". The album's title track, in case you're wondering, had been previously released on Ray's 1978 album, Be Your Own Best Friend. That album was released in the fall of 1978...and "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow" began making it's impact in the spring of 1979. So, in an effort to build an album around that 1979 single release, The Feeling's Not Right Again emerged in the summer of 1979. 

Ray Stevens: The Encyclopedia on YouTube...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! I may have mentioned this earlier this year but 2022, hard to believe, marks the 10th anniversary of the Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. Ray released this 9-CD box set in 2012 and it's chock full of his versions of novelty songs of the last 60+ years. He also re-recorded some of his own comedy songs but the majority of the recordings on here are Ray's take on other novelty songs like "Mother-in-Law", "King Tut", "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", "Little Brown Jug", "Huggin' and Chalkin'", and many, many, more. I don't know if it's because 2022 is the 10th anniversary but Curb Records has uploaded dozens of songs from the Encyclopedia onto YouTube. This is a big deal because, until now, the only way to hear a large amount of Ray's phenomenal recordings of classic novelty songs was to have the 9-CD box set. In 2012 Ray promoted the collection in a series of TV appearances and he made a few online advertisements. I wrote numerous blog entries in 2012 promoting the box set, too. The collection remains a masterpiece and a salute to the novelty song. If you have this box set then you're already familiar with the songs and the booklet. In the booklet you'll read Ray's commentary on all of the songs he recorded for the Encyclopedia plus a lot of facts surrounding the times and places each song made it's impact. Don Cusic was also one of Ray's collaborators. When you watch some episodes of Ray's CabaRay Nashville television show you'll see segments featuring Don Cusic introducing facts surrounding the box set. On the show Don is wearing a graduate uniform and is known as Professor Cusic. Here are a few of the songs Curb Records uploaded from the Encyclopedia onto YouTube...

"Searchin'" is just one of several recordings originated or popularized by The Coasters. I'm excited to finally promote individual audio tracks from the Encyclopedia so you all can hear how great they are. In "Searchin'", Ray is at his Coasters best...several times inserting throaty vocalizations which were like a hallmark of their overall sound. Here we go...

Now, wasn't that fabulous??? It's like Ray is in another world whenever he's covering songs originated by The Coasters or any other rhythm and blues vocal group. If you're familiar with the song, "Cigareets and Whuskey and Wild, Wild Women", then you'll love Ray's rendition of it. It was popularized, originally, by Red Ingle and I've also heard a recording of it by Buck Owens. Now, speaking of Buck, this Ray Stevens rendition will have you thinking of Hee Haw...

 Now, this one is just plain fun...his take on "Mother-in-Law"... 

Most remember Nervous Norvous from the many plays he got on the novelty song broadcasts of Doctor Demento...a song by the name of "Transfusion". A novelty song about a guy that can't get enough blood transfusions and we're left to wonder if the guy gets into car wrecks on purpose just to get another shot of the red stuff. I hope you love hearing these audio tracks from Ray's 2012 Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. There is so much more to hear over on YouTube. Do a search for Ray Stevens + Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music on YouTube and the results will showcase what Curb Records uploaded. Here's Ray's version of "Transfusion"...