Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! As we make our way to the end of August it's time to look at the upcoming CabaRay concerts for the month of September. There will be 5 concerts this month...four of the concerts are scheduled on their regular night, Saturday, while the fifth concert of the month is scheduled for a Friday night. The concert start time is always 7:30pm Central. The doors to the CabaRay open up earlier in the evening. The showroom typically begins it's business day around 5pm on the day of the concert. The reason for this is to give fans time to enter and present their concert tickets and then lounge in the piano bar. If you purchase a dinner option you'll be able to enter the performance area an hour prior to concert time. Dinners are served during this time. As I've mentioned in previous blog posts it used to be only those who ordered a dinner were allowed to sit at the tables on the main floor or in the red leather booths situated throughout the main floor. Non-dinner guests sat elsewhere in the showroom. The balcony seating area isn't the most popular choice since, in my opinion, it's above the main floor and furthest away from the activity taking place below...although it doesn't mean you're not getting the same entertainment value up there than you'd have on the main floor. We know the balcony seating isn't as popular because of the various photos that are taken during the course of a concert which get posted on the internet from other fans of Ray. Now, based on the photo's I've seen, everybody prefers to sit on the main floor and there's a few in the balcony...and it's my guess that's why the seating policy changed a couple of years ago to allow non-dinner guests to sit at the tables.
As far as September goes Ray will be in concert on the following dates: the 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, and on the 29th. Ray, as you can see from the photo, is still a master entertainer and continues to perform with just as much feeling as ever. Even though his recording of "It's Me Again, Margaret" came along in 1984 you can see how much fun he still has performing the song just by looking at the concert photo from a CabaRay performance. The only thing different is he rarely uses the prop hat which became a fixture of the song's antagonist, the prank caller Willard McBain. The hat was made much more popular when Ray made the music video of the song in 1992 and through performances of the song at his former theater in Branson, Missouri.
You can purchase CabaRay tickets by clicking this LINK.
The reason why there isn't a concert scheduled for September 30th, a Saturday, is due to Ray having been invited to attend an event being held at the Tennessee State Capitol celebrating the heritage and history of Tennessee. The event is called A Tennessee Waltz. It's a charity event centered around the Tennessee State Museum.
Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! I just read on various online sites that recording artist, Ray Hildebrand, passed away at the age of 82. (December 21, 1940 - August 18,, 2023). For those of you familiar with the pop music duo of Paul and Paula and their recordings in the early 1960's then you'll be familiar with Ray Hildebrand for he was the one playing the role of Paul in that duo. Jill Jackson performed the role of Paula in the recording.
He guest starred in an episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. The full episode is on YouTube, which I've shared the link to in a couple of older blog posts, but there's also a clip of him singing "Hey Paula" with the harmony singers on Ray's show. In the video clip you'll see part of the interview that he does with Ray Stevens and then the performance of "Hey Paula" begins.
Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! As Ray was departing from RCA Records in 1983 the record company issued a compilation album on him simply titled Greatest Hits. Ray had signed with the record company late in 1979 and his album debut for RCA arrived very early in 1980. Those who are fans of Ray, as I am, often cite his Warner Brothers years (1976-1979) as the turning point where the marketing of his music, overall, shifted from a general pop music audience to a country music audience. I agree with that but I'll further add that when he joined the roster of RCA Records he became even more woven into the fabric of country music...becoming very visible on all kinds of country music programming on television, increasing his appearances at county and state fairs across the country, and performing/appearing at country music themed awards show. Now, of course, this isn't to say that Ray was a stranger to county fairs, country-oriented television shows, and nightclubs prior to his signing with Warner Brothers or RCA...it's just that when you see him on television programs from the early to mid 1970s and then see him on television in the late 1970s and into the 1980s you'll notice some subtle changes in his stage presence and delivery...and obviously you'll notice that the beard became permanent in the late 1970s. A lot of Ray's comedy songs I'd categorize as fun songs, recordings that are heavy with southern comedy/southern humor, but there are plenty that can be categorized as topical and satiric.
The 1983 Greatest Hits album that RCA released I've written about and spotlighted numerous times during the life of this fan created blog page. The collection includes 10 songs...and Ray wrote 9 of the 10 recordings. The mystery that I don't think will ever be solved about this album is why the record company decided to feature just two recordings that Ray did for the company (from 1980) and fill the rest of the album with songs from decades past. Ray recorded three studio albums for RCA during the years 1980, 1981, and 1982. In that three year time frame RCA released 6 singles on Ray...5 of the single releases reached the national best selling charts...and so it's baffling why those single releases weren't spotlighted on the 1983 album. The track list of the 1983 album: "Shriner's Convention" (1980), "Ahab the Arab" (1969 recording), "The Streak" (1974), "Everything is Beautiful" (1970), "Mr. Businessman" (1968), "The Moonlight Special" (1974), "Misty" (1975), "Gitarzan" (1969), "Freddie Feelgood" (1969 album cut), and "The Dooright Family" (1980). Do you want to know what single releases on RCA that could have been included on this 1983 album but weren't? Here they are: "Hey There" was released in 1980 in international markets instead of "Shriner's Convention". "Hey There" and "Shriner's Convention" contained the same B-side, "You're Never Goin' To Tampa With Me". "Night Games" was issued in the latter half of 1980 as the first single from his yet to be released 1981 album. The title track of that 1981 album, "One More Last Chance", was issued as a single in the first half of 1981.
Inexplicably, RCA never released another single or album on Ray throughout the rest of 1981. This brings us to 1982 and the release of Don't Laugh Now. This album contained the final two single releases on Ray from RCA: "Country Boy, Country Club Girl" and "Where The Sun Don't Shine". As mentioned, 5 of the 6 single releases charted on the various best selling charts.. the one that didn't happened to be "Hey There". I have not, to date, come across any weekly sales or airplay chart from overseas that lists his comical take on "Hey There" as having made the charts. The other RCA single releases all reached the Top-100 best selling singles charts here in the United States.
Now, from the 1983 Greatest Hits album, is the 1974 audio track of "The Moonlight Special". Ray wrote this song as a parody of the television series, The Midnight Special, upon which it's announcer was disc jockey Wolfman Jack. It's an example of how Ray's music played to a general, pop music audience at that time. I don't know if country music audiences at the time were even aware that TV show even existed?! You can listen to the track by clicking HERE.
In this 5th installment of the Audio Diary series of blog posts, I'm spotlighting a 2015 recording from Ray Stevens which doubled as a salute/tribute to the comedy legacy of the late Jerry Clower...but first a little, brief backstory on Jerry Clower's friendship with Ray Stevens.
In country music circles Ray Stevens and Jerry Clower are two of the most popular and beloved entertainers when it comes to country comedy. On YouTube their recordings are being heard by hundreds and thousands of people weekly.
Jerry Clower, in his comedy stories, always said that he backed into show business. He said this because he didn't begin recording comedy albums until he was middle age. In fact he was perfectly content to remain a fertilizer salesman for the Mississippi Chemical Corporation. He had been born in 1926 and served in the Navy during World War Two. After his military duties he went to Mississippi State University and played college football while getting a degree in Agriculture.
He worked with the 4-H and eventually found himself selling fertilizer. It was during one of his speaking engagements selling fertilizer to potential customers that his speech was recorded...for you see, during his speaking engagements, he would tell wild stories about his youth, his military experiences, his years playing football, and the misadventures of a family with the last name of Ledbetter. One thing led to another and his monologue found it's way to music executives. When MCA Records came calling in 1971 he was 44 years old and having no previous desires of being a comedian or even a celebrity of any kind he found himself on a major record label, receiving his first of several Gold albums, and within several years he was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry (1973) and the rest is history. He passed away in August 1998...a month shy of turning 72.
Ray and Jerry's paths crossed multiple times on various country music awards shows and talk shows. In fact, in 1986, the two of them and Minnie Pearl got together and recorded "Southern Air", a comedy song dealing with a run down airplane where Jerry plays the part of the Captain and Minnie plays the role of the stewardess...with Ray playing the role of the meek passenger fighting off Minnie's flirtatious behavior as well as commenting on all of the in flight chaos going on around him. Ray was a labelmate of Jerry Clower at MCA for five years (1984-1989).
In 1995 Ray issued a Direct-to-VHS movie titled Get Serious!. In this movie Jerry Clower appears several times in the role of the Colonel.. the boisterous manager of Ray's career who spends more time relaxing and taking it easy instead of overseeing Ray's career and professional reputation which, in the storyline, is being trashed and tarnished by a new, yet, humorless music executive (played by Michael Airington). Here's Jerry Clower as Ray's manager early in the movie as Ray is wearing his Gitarzan costume.
In 2015 Ray released the comedy album, Here We Go Again!. It was his first album of comedy in four years. The album featured the audio tracks of the hit YouTube music videos "Taylor Swift is Stalking Me" and "You Didn't Build That"...it also features the song "There Must Be a Pill For This" which became a YouTube hit video a number of years later after Ray performed it on his CabaRay Nashville television series and uploaded the performance onto YouTube. The 2015 comedy album also includes the song, "Knock Him Out, John". The title of the song is a phrase heard in the first comical story released on Jerry Clower in 1971. The story about the raccoon hunt and how the hunters were led to believe that the dog chased a raccoon up into a tree...only to discover it was a lynx...the one that discovered that it was a lynx was a man that Jerry identified as John Eubanks. In the story Jerry says the phrases 'knock him out, John!!!' and 'shoot this thing!!' many times as the story reaches it's climax. Ray recorded "Knock Him Out, John" as a tribute to Jerry and I'm sharing the audio track below.
In the song, Ray puts Jerry's story about the raccoon hunt to music and uses phrases from the story to give added highlight. One of the best things is Ray's impression of Jerry Clower's famous holler. In the song the holler is timed with the music and you'll hear it at various moments throughout the song. Don't be surprised if after hearing the song you don't find yourself trying to do the holler.
Hello Ray Stevens fans! It slipped under my radar and I suppose it slipped by your radar, too, but just a few minutes ago while browsing on-line search engines for Ray Stevens content I came across a news item posted by Branson Tri-Lakes News where the Mayor of Branson, Missouri declared July 11, 2023 as Ray Stevens Day. I don't know why the webpage is only now showing up in search results. If it had been online sooner I would've made mention of it a month ago.
This is a fascinating bit of information due to the fact that 2023 marks the 30th year since Ray closed down his theatre (for the first time) in Branson. The legacy of his theater will forever live on through a couple of video releases: Ray Stevens Live! and More Ray Stevens Live!. When Ray opened up his theater in the summer of 1991 it had been under construction for a number of months... news began surfacing late in 1990 that he was set to open a theater in Branson in 1991. This theater, for those unaware, was designed by Ray and he also had it built...it wasn't a situation where Ray had moved into an already existing venue.
Ray performed there during the concert/tourist seasons of 1991, 1992, and 1993. He left the theater after finishing up the 1993 season but he didn't sell the theater...instead, he rented the theater to a group of executives that operated a music show called Country Tonite. Their music show headlined Ray's theater for 10 years (!) until 2004. Ray returned to Branson to headline his theater once again. Prior to Ray's theater opening up for the 2005 concert season, in 2004, he had the interior redecorated and he installed some new features like a mammoth electronically controlled bust of a gorilla that would rise up from the floor and lift Ray, while seated at the piano, in the air during a performance!!.
Ray's return to Branson took up the 2005 and 2006 concert seasons. Now, following the 2006 season, Ray left his Branson theater for the second time and officially put the theater up for sale. It was purchased by RFD-TV within a few years of it going on the market. Ray returned to Branson a few more times in the coming years... first, to perform during a 6-week engagement at The Welk Resort Theatre (2010) as well as a series of tribute/memorial concerts at the Andy Williams Moon River Theatre (2012) and in 2015 he briefly re-appeared in Branson for an appearance at the Moon River Theater. The local news headlines in Branson for that brief 2015 return triumphantly declared that 'Ray Stevens returns home to Branson'.
However, with the exception of the few and far between re-appearances, his days of being an owner of a Branson theater had come to an end when he put his own theater up for sale in 2006. As many of you know Ray opened up a new kind of venue in 2018 called the CabaRay and it's in West Nashville. It's an intimate venue and Ray based it's interior design on numerous venues he performed in during his years playing the Las Vegas casinos and nightclubs in the '70s and '80s. Do you want to know something fascinating? After all this time there usually isn't a day that doesn't go by that some fan on his social media pages doesn't ask if he's ever going to return to Branson or do anymore concerts down there. So, happy belated Ray Stevens Day. It's plain to see the town of Branson still appreciates your brand of entertainment.
Hello once again all you fans of Ray Stevens! I was doing some browsing over on YouTube and my eyes caught the unique view totals for the final episode of Larry's Country Diner. The series aired it's final first-run episode in the latter half of 2022 and Ray had the honor of being the program's final guest. The final episode with a guest star was followed by a clip-filled retrospective of the program. The episode was uploaded onto the YouTube channel of Larry's show earlier in March of this year and as of this writing the unique view total is 95,771. I am certain that it will reach 100,000 unique views in time but perhaps with my focusing on that episode in this blog post it'll reach that milestone sooner rather than later this year.
The episode had aired on television back in August of 2022...but it didn't find it's way onto YouTube until March 2023. In the episode Ray sings a couple of songs that haven't been put on any album yet and he also sang a song from and spoke of his 2021 comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. In the episode Ray sings "The Gambler and The Octopus", "Cup Holders", "Where Are All The 12 Year Old's?", and "Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene". The latter song, if you check the details of the video of the final episode of Larry's show once you visit YouTube, curiously refers to it as "Homecoming Queen" even though Larry's YouTube channel had previously uploaded the performance as a stand-alone under the "Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene" title. The upload of that one performance has received more than 50,000 unique views... whereas the full episode containing that song has over 95,000 unique views to date...
Hello Ray Stevens fans!! If you happen to be reading this and you're just a casual 'fan' of Ray or if you only know of him by way of something comical he's done then this fan created blog page is a perfect introduction to the music and career of Ray Stevens from the very beginning to present day. My time-line on the right hand side of the page provides a spotlight and gives highlight to practically every year in Ray's professional career. I have long since made the determination that his professional career began in 1957 when Ken Nelson signed him to Prep Records, a subsidiary of Capitol Records. Prior to this Ray was making a name for himself in and around two Georgia towns, Atlanta and Albany. He had a band in high school called The Barons and worked as a disc jockey... fitting in the time to host a teenage dance program, The Record Hop, with co-host Mary Dale Van Zant. This pre-1957 activity indicated that Ray's natural talents and the skills he was perfecting would eventually lead to stardom.
In this Audio Diary 4 I'm spotlighting a recording Ray did of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", a previous pop hit for The Four Seasons. Ray does a Bluegrass version of the song and it's from his 2021 album, Melancholy Fescue. For some reason you haven't heard of this album I suggest you visit YouTube, type Ray's name and the album's title, and wait for the page to load. You'll be directed to a page that features the audio track list from that album. Every recording is fabulous but I decided to spotlight "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" to possibly entice you to check out the entire album. Ray can play the romantic lead if and when he wants... so if you still have it in your mind that all there is to Ray Stevens is silliness and comedy then this album will introduce you to the vast array of talents that Ray possesses.
The Melancholy Fescue album is one of the albums that makes up Ray's box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. The box set contains 4 CD's of diverse forms of music/iconic songs re-arranged and covered by Ray.
Well, hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! In this third installment of Audio Diary I'm going to spotlight an audio track from the 1989 album, Beside Myself. This album was later re-issued under a different title, At His Best. The track I'm spotlighting is the fabulous ballad, "Marion Michael Morrison". Now, if you know your John Wayne history, you'll know that his birth name was given various possibilities. Some early research/biographical data state he was born Marion Mitchell Morrison. Then, there is the data stating his birth name was Marion Robert Morrison and then there is the statements in interviews from the actor himself that his middle name was changed from Robert to Michael. There is also statements that he went by the nickname of Duke Morrison and then, Duke Wayne, and eventually it was shortened to just The Duke. Legally his birth name is credited as Marion Robert Morrison but so many fans and biographers cling to Marion Michael Morrison...I think because it's so alliterative...and that's perhaps why the song used that name, too. Buddy Kalb, one of Ray's long-time friends and associates, wrote the song. It's a tribute to John Wayne. When I first listened to the 1989 album I had no idea who "Marion Michael Morrison" was and once I began listening to the song I thought to myself why is there so many references to John Wayne without actually using the name? Little did I know that John Wayne was a stage name. I was just a teenager...and, yes, at that time I didn't even know that Ray Stevens' birth name was Harold Ray Ragsdale, yet. Anyway... "Marion Michael Morrison" is a marvelous salute to the career of John Wayne. Some people may not like the approach but I love the manner in which John Wayne's character names and titles of his movies are woven into the song. If you haven't heard the song before don't assume it's only a collection of movie titles and character names. It's more than that. The music sets the mood...conjuring up the Old West...as Ray sings about a man born in Winterset. The movie titles and characters that are included in the lyrics just seem natural...as if no other choices would fit. When you listen to the song see if you can name which character appeared in what movie. If you hadn't heard the song I know you're going to love it and if you're a John Wayne fan you'll have an even bigger smile on your face as Ray salutes the iconic performer. You can listen to the audio track on YouTube when you click this LINK.
Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! Now, do I have an extremely wonderful treat in store for you all in this blog entry! Earlier today what I consider an extremely rare episode of Nashville Now from October 1985 made it's debut on YouTube. The episode, as far as I'm concerned, carries that rare title because it probably hasn't been seen since it's original airing almost 40 years ago but more importantly is it brings together Ray Stevens and Roger Miller for an extensive period of time. The show's host, Ralph Emery, was on vacation and so the guest host happened to be Roger Miller. I'm sure all of you reading this are aware of who Roger Miller is/was. He was a singer/songwriter who also had a knack for writing humorous songs. A lot of his humor/novelty songs were in what some might call the ditty category...often fast paced and laced with a lot of addictive scat singing and lyrics that go by so fast it's sometimes difficult to catch all of the little one liners and jokes. Roger once hosted his own network show on NBC in the fall of 1966...and we all know Ray was a recurring guest and summer host for Andy Williams...and so they both had a lot of experience on camera.
Ray performed two songs on the episode. The first, "Vacation Bible School", and the other was his current single at the time, "The Haircut Song". Roger promoted Ray's 1985 album, I Have Returned. An irony is that the episode aired in October 1985 but it would be another 5 months or so before the album would reach it's peak of number one on Billboard's Country Albums chart in the spring of 1986. Another irony is Roger opened the show with the whimsical "A Hand for the Hog"...whereas Ray, on the I Have Returned album, recorded a song called "Kiss a Pig".
The episode was basically dominated by both the guest host, Roger Miller, and guest star Ray Stevens. The other guests were actress Nicolette Larson who had a music career at the time, and a duo called the Vega Brothers. Throughout the episode during the interview portions Ray and Roger come across like a comedy duo or comedic rivals...cracking jokes and telling one liners in the hopes of trying to make the other laugh or to out-zany the other with one wild story after another. Roger's joke about why Willie Nelson crossed the road had the two of them in a brief fit of laughter. Some may feel a bit uneasy with Roger's very loose style but if you're familiar with him then it won't come across that way...anytime I'd seen him on TV he always come off as a bundle of nerves yet there's no denying his talents.
He sings several songs in the episode, of course. The highlight is "River in the Rain" from the Big River musical, a production that brought him several Tony Awards. He closed the show singing "King of the Road". I am deliberately brief with this overview because I don't want to give everything away and to fully appreciate the chemistry that Ray and Roger had on this episode it's best to just provide a link to the episode and tell you to treasure and savor the episode. Two legendary figures sharing the stage and having a big time doing so. Here's the LINK.
