Here are the Top-10 Ray Stevens video uploads on YouTube based on rounded unique view totals and we do have a couple of ties... at number 10 and number 6 so, to break the ties, I looked up the specific numbers for each video and have included those:
10: "Mr. President - Mr. President" 3,884,870
9: "Sittin' Up with the Dead" 3,824,559
8: "The Quarantine Song" (from Larry's Country Diner) 4.1 Million
Isn't it wonderful having the music of Ray Stevens to enjoy?? This particular album, Me, is 40 this year. This album was released on the Mercury Records label and featured co-production work from Jerry Kennedy. If you've visited Ray's CabaRay showroom in west Nashville you know doubt have seen photos of Jerry Kennedy as well as noticed the red leather booth named for him. There are several red leather booths located inside the showroom named for other music industry producers, too: Shelby Singleton, Fred Foster, Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley, and Billy Sherrill. Now, just in case you're curious, Jerry Kennedy was one of the top record producers for the Mercury Records label and their subsidiaries. He is also a musician and played on all kinds of recording sessions...and is an important person in the career of Ray Stevens. When Ray was originally on Mercury Records in the early 1960s the recording sessions were usually, but not always, produced by Shelby Singleton and Jerry Kennedy. Ray Stevens, in addition to being a singer/songwriter/musician he is also a music arranger and so in addition to being his own music arranger he would arrange the songs that other recording artists on Mercury or a subsidiary (such as Smash Records) would be recording. When Ray returned to Mercury Records in 1983 a lot of time had passed between those early recordings during 1961-1965 and then-present year, 1983. Jerry Kennedy had racked up dozens upon dozens of number one hits as a record producer for much of the Mercury Records country music roster throughout the '60s and '70s. Those recordings included songs by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, The Statler Brothers, Roger Miller, and Tom T. Hall...just to name a few.
The legend, Ray Stevens, strikes a familiar pose in this 1983 photo. Mercury Records issued the Me album in the latter half of the year. I don't have any kind of inside information or anything detailing his recording contract but apparently it was a one-album deal and Me came along late in 1983. Cashbox magazine featured a brief news item in their March 26th issue about Ray signing a recording contract with Mercury/Polygram. There were a series of single releases that weren't promoted much, if at all, until the release of "My Dad" in the latter half of 1983. From the pen of Dale Gonyea this ballad was a tribute to fatherhood and fathers in general. It is not the same song that Paul Petersen recorded in the 1960s from The Donna Reed Show. I feel the need to mention that because you'd be surprised by the amount of internet sites that credit the song, "My Dad", as being a song recorded by both of them with no explanation given that the two songs share the same title but nothing more. More on that single release later. However, the first single release from Me happened to be the ballad, "Mary Lou Nights". It's such a great song...a bouncy yet bluesy love ballad detailing the not so romantic topic of a couple breaking up. The harmonica is the main instrument. Cashbox magazine did a brief write-up of the single in their June 4, 1983 issue. In the September 10, 1983 issue of Cashbox there was a passing mention of a new single release from Me titled "Love Will Beat Your Brains Out". This song, too, is a wonderful twist on the heartbreak ballad with a joyous/up-tempo chorus. Those two single releases, in particular, are just more reason why we fans love the music of Ray Stevens so much. You're often not going to get the same old-same old with a Ray Stevens recording. It doesn't matter whether he's the writer or co-writer or if it's an outside song written by somebody outside the inner circle of the umbrella of Ray Stevens Music. Ray's skill as a record producer and music arranger means every song he records will seem as if he wrote it. This talent is why a lot of people just assume that he writes everything he records...his reputation as a writer precedes him.
Mercury Records released the Me album in September 1983...and in doing research months ago I came across a Cashbox magazine album review in their September 24, 1983 issue. It was a positive review that mentioned several of the songs from the album and pointed out that the album cover was one of the most memorable...referring to the fact that other recording artists at the time were content to have large close-up's or a generic publicity photo serve as an album cover. One of the long standing traditions in Ray's career are his eye catching album covers. The B-sides of the first two single releases happened to be: the bouncy "Piece of Paradise Called Tennessee" was the original B-side to "Mary Lou Nights". The B-side of "Love Will Beat Your Brains Out" happened to be the clever "Game Show Love". I challenge any of you that find that song online to try to pick out all of the catchphrases and game show titles within the lyrics.
Mercury released "My Dad" as a single in December 1983 and the publicity surrounding it arrived at the midway point in January 1984. The sentimental and sensational ballad entered the Cashbox country singles chart on February 11, 1984...his first appearance on the country music singles chart in almost 2 years. Throughout most of 1984 Ray promoted the Me album and continued touring the country and making himself familiar to viewers of The Nashville Network...as other country music artists were doing (well established and newcomers). Ray had been a familiar face on local, regional television outlets for at least a decade by 1984...appearing in print advertisements and doing TV commercials for Farm Best and their successor, Flav-O-Rich Dairy. The B-side of "My Dad" is the album's title track, "Me". The Me album, turning 40 this year, is a great album and one that has not been re-issued in the digital age. His daughter, Suzi, has a guest vocal on the song, "Yolanda". As mentioned in the beginning of this blog entry Me happened to be a one-album deal for Ray Stevens while at Mercury Records...reuniting, creatively, with Jerry Kennedy one more time. Me would also be, as of 2023, the last studio album from Ray Stevens to feature a co-producer. His 1982 album, Don't Laugh Now, featured Bob Montgomery as a co-producer...but having a co-producer is something of a fluke for Ray Stevens since almost all of his studio albums have never included a co-producer. There were exceptions very early on in his career, obviously, but from 1970 onward he was almost always working on the production of his albums by himself. I have the Me vinyl album in my personal collection. Have you ever heard this ultra rare 1983 album? He deliberately re-recorded some of the songs from the album for a release nearly 30 years later. Here is the track list of the 1983 album...
1. Love Will Beat Your Brains Out
2. Mary Lou Nights
3. Special Anniversary
4. Piedmont Park
5. Me
6. My Dad
7. Yolanda
8. Piece of Paradise Called Tennessee
9. Kings and Queens
10. Game Show Love
Down below are a couple of video clips. The first one, from 1983, features Ray performing "Piece of Paradise Called Tennessee" in March 1983 during the launch night of then-new cable channel, The Nashville Network.
This second video clip isn't from Ray's YouTube channel but I'm including it anyway. It's a performance by Ray of "Love Will Beat Your Brains Out".
Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! As we near the end of April 2023 let us look ahead to the month of May at the CabaRay showroom. Ray will be in concert one last time this month...this coming Saturday night, April 29th. Then, the following Saturday kicks off the new month of concerts. There will be four concerts from Ray Stevens during the month of May. Those dates are: May 6th, May 13th, May 20th, and May 27th. All concert dates are on a Saturday evening.
The CabaRay opens it's doors in the evening. My guess would be around 4:30pm Central time. The piano bar within the showroom opens at 5pm and if I recall correctly, when my brother and I went to the showroom a couple of years ago, we entered at some point after 4pm but that was back then...the policy may be different now. The piano bar, as mentioned, opens up at 5pm with John Jonethis. It's a fully equipped bar...a variety of drinks are available...and most people choose to remain in the piano bar until a few minutes before the Ray Stevens concert begins at 7:30pm. However, those who have purchased a dinner along with the concert, the dinner gets underway at 5:30pm. The staff already know where you're seated and so they'll bring the dinner you ordered to your table.
You purchase your dinner at the time of your ticket purchase...some fans, back when the CabaRay opened up and I think some may still think this, but, some fans might be under the impression that it's like a fast food place where you order what you want when you arrive but ordinarily that isn't the way it is. I know that fans can purchase concert tickets at the showroom's box office on the day of the concert...and maybe they allow those who purchase tickets on concert day the option to have a dinner included...so, in that situation, you can order a dinner on the day of the concert. However, most people choose to purchase CabaRay tickets weeks or months in advance and the dinner, should they choose that option, is already taken care of. If you love balcony seating be aware that dinner's are not offered up there but you can order beverages. You can read about the showroom and purchase concert tickets when you click HERE. The information is also in the official CabaRay showroom commercial. I've said it plenty of times over the last several years and I'll say it again. The CabaRay showroom is like a playground for Ray Stevens and his fans. It could very easily be described as Ray Stevens World. If you're a fan of Ray and haven't made the trip to west Nashville to see the CabaRay, yet, I'd recommend you do so. I know economics aren't that great so it's understandable if you're 3 or more States away from Tennessee...but if you're within a 100 or 200 mile radius of Nashville in either direction it'll be well worth your trip.
Hello Ray Stevens fans! Earlier this year I wrote a blog entry spotlighting the 50th anniversary of the 1973 album, Losin' Streak. Those of you familiar with Ray's career probably know that he released two albums in 1973. Losin' Streak arrived in the second half of the year whereas in the first half he gave us, Nashville. The Nashville album wasn't as big of a surprise if you happened to have been a long time fan of Ray when the album was released or had seen him in concert. Ray had been living in Nashville since 1962 and was well known up and down Music Row. He was an active session musician throughout the bulk of the 1960s and had formed long lasting friendships with record producers and musicians throughout Nashville as well as in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. His most publicized friendship was with RCA's Chet Atkins but Ray was also a friend to several other record producers/music executives including Ken Nelson (Prep/Capitol Records), Shelby Singleton (Mercury Records), Fred Foster (Monument Records), Jerry Kennedy (Mercury Records), and of course Bill Lowery, the man largely responsible for Ray getting into the recording industry in Georgia back in the late 1950s. Those people along with Andy Williams, Ralph Emery, Mike Sheppard, and scores of people behind the scenes that most of us may never know about were vital to the career of Ray Stevens. Ray, given his position in the music industry, also personally knew a whole host of other record producers and executives that had little to do with his own career but nevertheless the music industry back then guaranteed that singer-songwriter-musicians-publishers, such as Ray Stevens, would run into all types of movers and shakers in Music City.
Ray's session musician workload began to diminish by 1970 and in several interviews Ray makes it clear that it was his own decision to decrease both the session work and his music arranging for other recording artists because his own career demanded more of his time and attention.
In 1973 Ray opened up his first recording studio...and Nashville holds the distinction of being the first Ray Stevens studio album to be recorded at a studio he owned. It was called The Ray Stevens Sound Laboratory. Now, just so you won't be confused, that was a name that he used, professionally, for his first recording studio and then when he opened up his second studio the following year he kept that name. He used that studio title on up into the late 1970s. His 1977 studio album, Feel the Music, was the last one that credited the recording studio as The Ray Stevens Sound Laboratory. The albums released beginning in 1978 onward credited it as The Ray Stevens Studio.
The Nashville album came at a time when country music and pop music, to some people's ears, couldn't be distinguished from one another. Now, if you go back and listen to 1973 country and 1973 pop you can clearly tell the difference...but not in the ears of some. The pop influence in country eventually led to the creation of a syndicated TV series, Pop! Goes the Country. Ray had been charting pop and Adult-Contemporary, on and off, since 1961...but in 1969 one of his singles, "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", crossed over to the country chart and this was followed by another appearance on the country chart with "Have a Little Talk With Myself". Then, later in 1970, his mega number one hit, "Everything is Beautiful", reached the country Top-40...and then in 1971 he hit the country charts with his gospel single, "Turn Your Radio On". He made his debut as a guest on the country music show, Hee Haw, in 1972...appearing on the show twice that year. I meticulously make mention of all of these things to reinforce my earlier comment that 'pop singer' Ray Stevens releasing Nashville in 1973 wasn't as big of a surprise as it may have seemed.
He had been selling music/albums to country audiences and had wide appeal within the umbrella of country music even though, as far as country radio was concerned, his appeal with country audiences fell on deaf ears to them most of the time. No one will convince me that Ray Stevens wasn't attracting country fans during the hey-day of his 'pop' stardom in the early and mid 1970s...his appearances on numerous country music television programs of that era attest to his familiarity with the country audience. As far as chart statistics are concerned I blame country radio for not supporting his music as much as they could have or should have. They supported "Nashville", the single, and it made it's way into the country Top-40. What a recording artist needed was the sales support of the public combined with the airplay support of radio disc jockeys and, later on, radio consultants and radio programmers. Ray almost always had the public support...if you gauge the chart activity on numerous singles he released they'd rise up almost near the Top-50 or Top-40 but with the lack of airplay support the single releases would just die mid-level and not reach the airplay-driven Top-40 portion of the singles chart.
The music on Nashville is not traditional country music nor is it 'pop music'...it is Ray Stevens music. There are 11 tracks on the album and because the overall album is meant to be influenced by country music you're going to hear some steel guitar on a couple of the songs...
1. Nashville
2. Love Me Longer
3. Float (instrumental)
4. Golden Age
5. Never Ending Song of Love
6. Nobody's Fool
7. Undivided Attention
8. You've Got the Music Inside
9. Fish Eat Sleep
10. Piece By Piece
11. Destroyed
The album is available to listen to on YouTube. The playlist can be accessed when you click this LINK. I'm embedding one of the audio tracks below because I want it to get a bit more spotlight here and that track is his rendition of "Never Ending Song of Love". His take on the song is quite a take!
Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! The products that were released in 1993 have reached their Pearl anniversary. It's what the 30th anniversary is called and so that's why I title this particular blog entry the way I have. This blog post will focus on the 1993 comedy album, Classic Ray Stevens. It's not necessarily an album review but more of a short synopsis prior to my link to the YouTube playlist.
As mentioned this comedy album from Ray Stevens was released in 1993. This was an incredibly busy year for Ray, but to be more specific, it turned out to be his final season in Branson, Missouri for awhile. He had his theater built down in Branson and open for business by the 1991 tourist season. I don't know off the top of my head if he began construction in the latter half of 1990 or if construction began early in 1991...but I do know his first season of concerts at his theater occurred in 1991. The Branson experience was something phenomenal for Ray. In later interviews when he looked back on that early 1990's run in Branson he said that the very thing that lured a lot of his peers in the music industry to flock to Branson was the very thing that caused him to ultimately decide to leave and return to Nashville on a full-time basis in 1994. Ray remarked that his routine zapped a lot of energy out of him (two concerts a day, six days a week, 6 to 7 months a year). He gave a lot of praise to those that built theaters down there and were still performing or headlining there decades later...but it's something he couldn't keep doing. Branson had a lot of theaters but there weren't a lot, or any, recording studios...there wasn't the ability to jump in the car and be at the recording studio in a moments notice and given Ray's close ties with the backstage element of the music industry one could understand his need to want to get back home to Nashville on a permanent basis...and following the 1993 concert season he put his Branson theater up for sale. There wasn't an immediate buyer but he did lease it to the company that put on the Country Tonite production...and they 'rented' the Ray Stevens Theater for the next 10 years.
In 1993, while all of that was going on in Branson, Ray released a series of projects. There were two VHS tapes and this Classic Ray Stevens comedy album. The two VHS tapes were Ray Stevens Live! and More Ray Stevens Live!. The latter VHS was sold only at his Branson gift shop and through his fan club. Ray Stevens Live! was sold over television and in print advertisements. Curb Records released Classic Ray Stevens and they would distribute the 1993 VHS tape to retail stores in 1994. The comedy album was brand new despite the album's title. If you weren't much of a fan you'd probably think this was a compilation album given it's title...and believe it or not some 'critics' thought it was a compilation album when they reviewed it. I recall a critic remarking that "there's no Ray Stevens classics on here.. there's no Gitarzan, there's no Streak...a misleading title". However, the album's title is a reference to the cover art...not the track list. On the cover we have a bust of Ray Stevens in a classical music setting. The sheet music, if you have the album and a magnifying glass handy, reads 'Concerto for Cornball'.
The album contains 10 comedy songs...well, 9 comedy songs and a sort of whimsical love ballad titled "Meanwhile". The track list is below:
1. If Ten Percent Is Good Enough for Jesus
2. The Higher Education of Ole Blue
3. The Bricklayer's Song
4. Little League
5. Meanwhile
6. Super Cop
7. If You and Yo' Folks Like Me and My Folks
8. The All-American Two Week Summer Family Vacation
9. The Ballad of Jake McClusky
10. The Motel Song
You can listen to the album on YouTube when you click the playlist link HERE.
Well, hello there fans of Ray Stevens!! This is my second installment of the CabaRay Nashville bundle series. A couple months ago I posted a blog entry containing links to 7 episodes of CabaRay Nashville and in this blog entry I'm picking up where I left off. I decided to do this a couple of months ago because I found myself re-reviewing episodes of Ray's show that I had previously reviewed. So, rather than re-review, I decided to package a collection of episodes together in a blog entry. The episodes make their YouTube debut every Friday evening. Believe it or not but there are thousands of Ray Stevens fans that had never seen CabaRay Nashville until they started being uploaded on YouTube. The reasons for their not having seen it are varied. The main reason is some of his fans never received the RFD-TV channel when episodes of the show were originally airing there. Then, later on, when the series moved to local PBS syndication, a lot of fans didn't have any local PBS affiliates in their area carrying Ray's show...and so, once the episodes began debuting once a week on YouTube, it eliminated the complaint from his fans that they weren't able to see the show. So, now, the fans that missed out can watch each episode on YouTube. Oh yes, before you can ask, in case you miss an episode's YouTube debut you can always visit Ray's YouTube channel and look up the episode/guest star and watch it on demand. It's a fun, engaging show that every Ray Stevens fan should get a kick out of and enjoy tremendously.
There you have it...each link will open up to the episode of CabaRay Nashville guest starring whatever recording artist is listed. As you can see, a couple of the episodes feature some recording artists that have since passed away. Although I do believe Charley Pride appeared a few more times on television following his guest appearance on Ray's show I assume this to be the final appearance on television by Lari White...but don't quote me on that.
Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! All of you should be aware of this already but the greatest place for live music just west of downtown Nashville is the Ray Stevens CabaRay showroom. Ray is in the middle of April's concerts...each Saturday night at the CabaRay you'll see the legendary Ray Stevens in concert. The CabaRay is a showroom, as mentioned, because the objective is to put on a show...and that means you're not only going to get Ray Stevens but you're also going to delight in the banter between Ray and the harmony singers as well as Ray and his band. The showroom is a bit more intimate than the spacious theater he once owned and operated in years gone by...and Ray has often remarked that he intentionally wanted the CabaRay to have an intimate feeling...creating a concert interior where every fan in attendance feels as if they're right up near the stage. If you prefer balcony seating, well, you're still going to feel as if you're right down front. That's how impeccable the design happens to be. Yesterday (April 14th) Ray was a special guest on a local Nashville series, Today in Nashville. It airs on WSMV-TV. The interview is a little under 5 minutes. Technically it clocks in at 4 minutes, 56 seconds. The program, based on the advertisement that appeared on Ray's social media, aired at 2pm Central (3pm Eastern). I was not aware of the interview until I got home from work...and I frantically began searching the internet for any kind of transcript or video.
I came across the interview on the WSMV webpage and I've watched it. It's a very engaging interview and fast moving. You can watch the interview by clicking HERE.
I don't know how long that link will be active...most television and, or, radio station websites disable their links after a certain amount of time and they become exclusive to those that join a website, most often as a premium member, so watch the interview while you can. In the meantime...have you heard "Grits", yet? In my previous blog entry I wrote about a Pat Boone single recently released called "Grits" and it features Ray as one of the several guest vocalists. It's been heard by thousands of people, so far, through audio links on various social media sites. You can listen to "Grits" when you click this YouTube LINK. You're gonna love it!!
Hello once again Ray Stevens fans!! I came across a unique recording the other day while browsing around the internet looking up tidbits and other things about Ray Stevens that other people are sharing or discussing. A recording that's seemingly hot off the presses as the saying goes...a novelty called "Grits"...by Pat Boone. Ray is a featured guest vocalist on this recording as are Deborah Allen, Lorrie Morgan, Dean Miller, and The Gatlin Brothers. The song is very cute, very bouncy, and will have you thinking of Hee Haw before it's finished. Ray opens the song and about midway through he's featured again...resurrecting a couple of beloved characters that will surely bring a smile to your face. I can't tell, however, the difference between the vocalizations of Deborah Allen and Lorrie Morgan. When you listen to the song you'll notice that there's some very thick, exaggerated southern vocalizations that run through the entire performance. The two female singers aren't singing in their normal voices so, for me, it was difficult to tell which sang what lyric. You'll hear the Gatlin Brothers several times harmonizing. As far as an album is concerned I don't know what "Grits" will be part of...as far as I know it's a single-only release...and you can listen to it on YouTube and or purchase the Mp3 on Amazon. You can listen to the Pat Boone song, which features Ray Stevens and others, when you click the video embed below.
Hello all you Ray Stevens fans!! Happy Easter 2023!! It hasn't been a tradition but every so often on Easter I spotlight the 1990 Ray Stevens comedy album, Lend Me Your Ears. The reason I do will be quite obvious if you're familiar with the album's cover art. The album cover features a photo of Ray dressed as Marc Antony from the Julius Caesar play...holding a rabbit in front of the Parthenon replica in downtown Nashville. If you're familiar with your Shakespeare quotes then "...Friends, Romans, countrymen.. lend me your ears!!" should be one that leaps to mind right away.
As mentioned, this comedy album from Ray Stevens arrived in 1990. The album marked something of a new phase in Ray's career. He recently signed with Curb Records that year. Their first release on him was a compilation, His All Time Greatest Comic Hits, earlier in 1990. It has since become a Gold record (500,000 copies sold). This new phase began slowly but continued to build and I'm referring to the use of music videos in his career. Ray had previously released two music videos. "Santa Claus is Watching You" was the first in the mid 1980s followed in 1988 by "Surfin' U.S.S.R.". In 1990 he issued two separate music videos of songs from the 1990 album. "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and "Sittin' Up With the Dead" made their music video debut in 1990 and the following year found Ray Stevens in Branson, Missouri at his own music theatre. The addition of music video wasn't anything new to recording artists but when it come to Ray Stevens, who specializes in comedy/novelty songs filled with often zany lyrics and storylines, a music video is therefore a must-see. So, Ray began inserting music video performances into his stage shows and one thing led to another...resulting in the release, in 1992, of Comedy Video Classics on VHS. It spotlighted Ray's four previously issued music videos and another four brand new to fans. The VHS success, coupled with his successful concerts in Branson, meant that VHS/music video would take more of a front seat in Ray's career. Lend Me Your Ears and it's follow-up in 1991, Number One with a Bullet, were wonderful comedy albums but oddly enough both would become overshadowed by his VHS releases in 1992 and 1993. Those VHS tapes would get released through direct marketing, first, and then a year later they would get released to retail stores. This meant that Ray rode the success of several VHS tapes for at least 6 years. The VHS tapes released in the 1990s were big sellers for Ray at his Branson gift shop, through direct marketing, and in retail stores: Comedy Video Classics (1992), Amazing Rolling Revue (1992; not direct marketed), Ray Stevens Live! (1993), More Ray Stevens Live! (1993; not direct marketed) and Get Serious! (1995).
Lend Me Your Ears, however, was Ray's first studio album of the decade and given it's Easter Sunday I felt it appropriate to include a link to the YouTube playlist of the 1990 album. There are 10 songs.
In addition to the two that were turned into live action music videos there were a couple more that became limited animation music videos more than 10 years later. "Barbeque" and "This Ain't Exactly What I Had In Mind" become animated music videos. The album also features another song that fans of Ray have come to know: "Where Do My Socks Go?". Are you ready to hear Lend Me Your Ears?? All you have to do is click this LINK and it'll take you to the YouTube playlist!
The photo of Ray Stevens off to the left is from the latter part of 2022 when he was inducted into Nashville's Musicians Hall of Fame. I decided to use this photo because I wanted to promote Ray's inclusion into that particular Hall of Fame which honors musicians/performers in all types of music. Now...about this particular blog entry! It's been almost half a year since this 2022 episode of Larry's Country Diner originally aired...but if you remember I wasn't able to catch the episode the first time around. So, in the meantime, I'd been awaiting the time when the episode aired as a repeat. I counted the repeat airdates from October 2022 and calculated that the episode would repeat sometime in March 2023 and it did...this past Friday. If you caught my previous blog entry you'll know that the repeat wasn't promoted on any of Ray's social media posts and therefore I wasn't aware that Friday (March 31st) was going to be the airdate. I discovered that RFD-TV would repeat the episode a couple more times over the weekend and so I set my DVR to tape Ray's episode airing at 11pm last night (April 1st). I just finished watching it for myself and enjoyed the performances...and then kept thinking about how it was the final first-run episode of the series. Well, I should say the final first-run episode with an in-studio guest. The series officially came to an end following a 2-part look back (part 1 and part 2 aired in back to back weekends in late November). It's always a sad or melancholy feeling whenever a series comes to an end...especially one that's long running. Larry's show began on RFD-TV in 2009 and after 13 years (14 seasons) it wrapped up in 2022. It was one of, if not the only, nationally airing programs in production that regularly spotlighted established, and in most cases, legendary, recording artists. There are other programs on RFD-TV that feature legends, too, but Larry's Country Diner happened to be the only one currently in production (as opposed to repeats of Pop! Goes the Country, Porter Wagoner, and Marty Stuart) and because of the show still being in production it had a contemporary flair to it. Ray was a guest on numerous episodes of Larry's show over the last 14 seasons.
Prior to Ray being introduced in this episode the announcer, Keith Bilbrey, joked about the show's host, Larry Black, auditioning in 1974 to play the part of a real-life streaker. A reference to Ray's single, "The Streak". Larry remarked that he ran down Broadway with no clothes on but nobody took him up on his offer to become a professional streaker. He said that he's loved Ray ever since "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" (1957 release). Larry brings up an old quote attributed to Ray where it stated that recording artists should never discuss religion or politics. Ray, to great laughter, remarked that if he said that then he was way too young to understand much of anything and that it's perfectly okay for recording artists to discuss politics or religion. It perfectly illustrates that opinions change with time. As Larry spoke more of religious aspects Ray discusses being on Barnaby Records at the time of "Everything is Beautiful" in 1970 and one of the executives, Mike Sheppard. The record company's headquarters was located in Los Angeles but it had a Nashville office.
When speaking of Nashville he comments on the congested traffic and how it hasn't changed in the last 4 decades...and this leads into a conversation about huge trucks that haul around large lawn mowers...and how they're parked wherever a space can be found (causing even more congestion). Ray sings "Where Are All The 12 Year Old's?". He commented that he's been singing that song at the CabaRay but has yet to officially record it. He had previously performed the song on an episode of Huckabee. The song comes from the pen of Nick Sibley who, based on the other songs by him that Ray has recorded, tends to have a nostalgic bent to his lyrics. Nick had written "Safe at Home" and "Dear Andy Griffith" (recorded by Ray in 2000 and 2010, respectively). The song has several twists on phrases and just when you think you know what the song's overall message is about up comes another lyrical twist that gives the song a different meaning. You might come away with the opinion that "Where Are All The 12 Year Old's?" is about a lazy youth culture glued to hi-tech devices with no physical exertion or work ethic...but then you may come away with the opinion that it's a commentary on how something mundane and simple as lawn mowing as a teenager can instill work ethic and the value of earning money...ensuring that future generations of teens will become productive rather than attach themselves to Government handouts.
Ray follows this performance with "Cup Holders", also from the pen of Nick Sibley. This song is fun to listen to...especially the music arrangement...but don't let the peppy arrangement prevent you from paying attention to the lyrics. I don't think I've heard Ray sing this type of love song in decades. You'd probably have to go back to 1989's "Another Fine Mess" or earlier.
Shifting music gears Ray brings in the comedy...first in the form of "Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene", from the pen of Buddy Kalb. You could hear all types of laughter at various moments greeting this song...some of the laughter, to my ears at least, tended to be nervous laughter as if some members of the audience weren't too sure if they were allowed to laugh about the topical, controversial subject matter. Ray closed the show with another Buddy Kalb song, "The Gambler and the Octopus", from 2021's Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore.
This concludes my overview of the Ray Stevens appearance on Larry's Country Diner. It was a great appearance and one that didn't dwell, too much, on previous recordings to the extent where there wasn't much time to promote current activity. Ray currently performs every Saturday night at his CabaRay showroom in west Nashville. In the episode that aired over the weekend he remarked that he does concerts twice a week but keep in mind the episode airing over the weekend was from October 2022. A second night of concerts for 2023 haven't been added, yet.
