Ray Stevens CabaRay performance: "Detroit City"

Hello fans of Ray Stevens! Earlier today, given that it's the birthday of Bobby Bare, Ray uploaded his own performance of "Detroit City". This particular song, from the pen of Mel Tillis and Danny Dill, had been recorded by Billy Grammer less than a year before Bobby's recording was released. In fact, the song was titled "I Wanna Go Home" when released by Billy Grammer. The song became a Top-20 country hit and peaked early in 1963. Bobby recorded the song in the spring of 1963 as "Detroit City" and by the end of the summer it hit the Top-10 on the country chart and crossed over to the Pop and Adult-Contemporary formats. The single crossed over internationally and reportedly hit number one in Sweden, Norway, and the Top-10 in Denmark. Bobby's recording was released on RCA and was produced by Chet Atkins. A few years later, in 1966, Ray did the arrangement for Bobby's recording of "Streets of Baltimore". If you have the vinyl album of Streets of Baltimore you'll see Ray credited with the arrangement of that recording. The liner notes for the album were written by Eddy Arnold. Chet Atkins was the producer. 

Ray speaks, briefly, about the recording session for the song. Something that one has to remember is that Ray witnessed a lot of recording sessions in his career. Now, of course, he played on a lot of recording sessions but what some may not realize is that Ray often was in recording studios during sessions and rehearsals that he, personally, didn't participate in but witnessed. He was often showing up at the recording studios of Mercury, Monument, Columbia, and RCA given his jack-of-all-trades skill set or he simply shown up due to his friendships with producers such as Shelby Singleton, Fred Foster, Chet Atkins, and Jerry Kennedy. 

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

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! I watched episode 3 of Season 1 of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville on YouTube Friday night. On this episode the special guest is Bobby Bare. In these YouTube episodes there are a couple of commercial breaks...and in those commercials you'll see advertisements about the CabaRay showroom in Nashville. On tonight's episode Ray opened the show singing a classic Rhythm and Blues song, "High Heel Sneekers". The intro song in each episode, usually, indicates the kind of episode that you'll be viewing or the style of music a guest star might be known for. Bobby Bare is a bonafide country music artist but if you see him in concert or if you've seen him on television appearances you'll notice that he's got a laid back attitude, a matter-of-fact speaking style, but often times he gives off a cool, hep cat vibe. A master of informality. Bobby once recorded a novelty song under a different name, Bill Parsons. The song was "All American Boy". It's easy to make the case for Bobby Bare being a country music hep cat...or Nashville Cat. He has this unique ability to be very contemporary and in the know yet he doesn't allow that to interfere with what he wants to do with his own music. Bobby speaks about some of his experiences in the music industry...makes mention of Ray being the music arranger of "Streets of Baltimore". This episode was taped a few years prior to the death of Mel Tillis, who, during the appearance, Bobby mentions is still living. Bobby tells a fishing story involving Waylon Jennings, too, that you'll love hearing. Ray performs an always lively "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" near the end of the episode.

Ray Stevens: CabaRay Nashville "My Babe" group performance...

It's a very windy Sunday afternoon...not as windy as it was a couple of days ago...two weather fronts colliding in the atmosphere. Speaking of colliding...in this performance Ray Stevens is joined by Charlie McCoy, Don Schlitz, and Bobby Bare for a performance of "My Babe", a Blues song from 1955 vocally recorded by harmonica player, Little Walter. Today is the birthday of Charlie McCoy who, himself, is a legendary harmonica player. He reaches 80. Charlie spent a couple of decades on the television show, Hee Haw, originally as part of the band but later was promoted to music director. In the opening credits of the show, especially in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, he was credited as 'Charlie McCoy and the Hee Haw Band'. Charlie, like Ray, played on a lot of sessions throughout the late '50s and into the mid '60s. Ray eased up on his recording session intake by the late '60s simply because his own recording career required more of his time and energy but Charlie continued on as harmonica session musician for nearly every recording studio and record label in Nashville. Charlie also had a series of top selling single releases of harmonica performances. His commercial success as a harmonica player in the 1970s rivaled the instrumental successes of saxophonist Boots Randolph, guitarist Chet Atkins, pianist Floyd Cramer, trumpeter Danny Davis, and fiddler Johnny Gimble. All of those musicians plus Charlie, Jethro Burns, and Roy Clark formed what was known on Hee Haw as The Million Dollar Band. This super group performed instrumentals on Hee Haw on a recurring basis throughout the late '70s and into the mid '80s. Here is Ray Stevens, Charlie McCoy, Don Schlitz, and Bobby Bare singing "My Babe"...

Ray Stevens: Bobby Bare performances...

Hello one and all...yesterday happened to be the 85th birthday of country music legend, Bobby Bare. To mark that event the social media sites of Ray Stevens posted a video clip of Bobby, from 2009, performing "Detroit City" on an episode of a short-lived sitcom Ray starred in called We Ain't Dead Yet. If you'd seen episodes of the clip-filled Rayality TV series, which recently ended it's run on RFD-TV, it contained bits and pieces from that 2009 series. In the video clip you'll see several people that have since passed away...



Bobby recorded the majority of his songs for RCA Records and in the producer's booth was Chet Atkins. The style of country music coming out of Nashville in the late 1950s and well into the early 1970s was nicknamed The Nashville Sound. Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley, and Bob Ferguson are typically given equal credit for creating The Nashville Sound. It could be described as pop music arrangements placed on top of, lyrically country, songs. In the umbrella of The Nashville Sound there was a style referred to as Countrypolitan and that sound, historically, is connected to the records produced by Billy Sherrill. This style expanded on the Nashville Sound and it incorporated even more strings, soaring music arrangements, more background harmonies, and there was an overall glossy/beautiful production of the traditional country song. Those who prefer minimal production with sparse instrumentation consider The Nashville Sound, and especially Countrypolitan, to be "overly-produced, overblown, over-the-top, overbearing, and obnoxious". Those are just some of the more polite descriptions from country music purists! Anyway...

Nearly a decade after Bobby Bare sang "Detroit City" on We Ain't Dead Yet in 2009 he was a guest star on an episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville a couple of years ago. In this episode one of the songs performed was "Streets of Baltimore". Bobby made reference to Ray's music arranging skills in this episode. Ray wasn't credited as an arranger on the recording. I'd previously searched for images of the single release and the LP, last year, and the music arrangers aren't credited.

Ray Stevens: Bobby Bare and Friends Podcast...

Hello one and all...it's been awhile, again...but it's better to compose a blog entry that has some meaning rather than just hastily throw one together just to have something available for on-line viewing. As the title of this blog entry details I'll be providing a link to podcast of Ray Stevens being interviewed on Bobby Bare and Friends, a series that airs every other week on WSM radio. Ray's episode is currently the most recent and it originally aired a couple of days ago (September 26th) and it's since been uploaded as a podcast.

The link I'll be providing will have Ray's episode featured on the show's home page given it's the most recent episode but if you click the link in the coming weeks/months you'll have to click the Menu option located on the lower right hand side of the podcast screen. Once you do this you'll see a row of menu options along the top of the podcast...one of those is 'episodes'. Click that and an episode list will drop down and then you'll be able to select the Ray Stevens episode. However, as of this writing, since it's the current episode all you need to do is click HERE and then scroll down to the podcast screen and click the play button.

The theme of the series is the chorus of Bobby's mega-hit, "Detroit City". Bill Cody provides the opening narration/introduction. Bobby opens the show telling of Ray's genius and lists the various Halls of Fame that Ray belongs to but offers the question: "why in the world isn't Ray in the Country Music Hall of Fame??". Ray, in his signature style, says he has no idea why. Bobby says that they [CMA Board] need to get Ray into the Hall of Fame before it's too late...which causes Ray to mention Jerry Reed. They then discuss Jerry Reed and how he should have gotten elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame decades earlier. They then discuss "All-American Boy", the very first hit by Bobby Bare, released under the name of Bill Parsons. Ray had actually brought it up and Bobby told it's history. Although it's Bobby's series there are moments where Ray comes across as the interviewer, too, when he answers Bobby's questions with a counter-question of his own which causes Bobby to recall moments from his career.

The two of them had dramatically different career paths, of course, but each of them share common experiences and professional associations with the likes of Chet Atkins, Shelby Singleton, Felton Jarvis, etc. etc. and each of them played on their fair share of recording sessions for other artists, too. Bobby appeared on Ray's locally syndicated PBS television series, CabaRay Nashville, twice. The first appearance is Episode Three of Season One but a clip from this appearance later shown up on Episode Four of Season Six, an episode titled Hall of Fame. In this exchange Ray and Bobby speak of Chet Atkins and the song "Streets of Baltimore" for which Chet produced while Ray did the arrangement. In the podcast you'll hear Bobby ask Ray how in the world did he ever learn to write the string arrangements and that kind of technical stuff for so many songs.

In the podcast you'll hear Ray reply that when he attended Georgia State he majored in music theory and composition...to which Bobby interjects with a boisterous "ah-ha!!" as if at long last he's learned the secret to Ray's arranging prowess. Ray said that he became interested in musical notes and writing sheet music and that he intended to graduate but the unexpected popularity and success of a certain recording of his in 1961 ["Jeremiah Peabody"] inspired him to not finish his final year and embark on a career in the music business. He tells of getting a job at Mercury Records which he initially wanted to turn down after hearing his salary would only be $50.00 a week. The allure of receiving payment for recording sessions on top of his regular pay caused him to accept the job. Ray later tells of "The Streak" being his biggest selling hit while "Everything is Beautiful" was his biggest hit song in terms of cover versions and accolades.

"The Streak" (released in 1974) sold more than five million copies, hit the top of the Hot 100 for three weeks, the Top-10 on the country music chart, as well as reaching other music charts worldwide. "Everything is Beautiful" (released in 1970), sold over a million copies and it hit the top of the Hot 100 for two weeks as well as the top of the Easy-Listening chart; it became an international hit (reaching the top in Australia and the Top-10 in the United Kingdom) and ultimately it became the most recorded song from the pen of Ray Stevens. It also took home some Grammy honors early in 1971: Ray won for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance while a recording by gospel artist Jake Hess won for Best Inspirational Performance. Ray tells of how the sales of "The Streak" and advance orders were so huge that Barnaby's pressing plant and their distributor couldn't keep up due to it being an Independent label not used to those kinds of order demands.

Bobby mentions Ray's recording of "Harry the Hairy Ape" and this leads into a recollection of a time when Bobby was performing at a venue in Fresno, California and a drunk member of the audience kept hollering for "Detroit City". The story he tells is a classic tale involving a gun toting piano player that performed songs by Ray Stevens and one time he performed "Harry the Hairy Ape" in a gorilla suit. The gun was a prop and it shot blanks. The mention of this comes along within the 6 minute mark of the podcast and you'll hear Bobby's recollection of how they may have scared the drunk guy into future sobriety.

I've only provided an overview of the first 6 or 7 minutes of the half hour podcast. There is a lot more to listen to so don't let my overview take the place of hearing the podcast for yourselves. Here's that link once more: BOBBY BARE INTERVIEWS RAY STEVENS.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...Hall of Fame episode

Good early Monday morning!! I'm a bit depressed over the loss of the Feedjit traffic counter. I always looked forward to visiting the blog and see how many visitors had stopped by and where they were from, etc. etc. I've replaced it with a service called StatCounter which doesn't provide the country of origin of visitors which the previous service did...StatCounter only shows the total number of times the blog's been accessed. When I visited the blog yesterday morning the StatCounter shown the blog had accumulated 6 visits since it's installation. This morning it shown a total of 24...so, in a way I'm glad I can still see something of a visitation total for my blog but it doesn't provide location or time of day, etc. etc. But anyway...this blog entry is about the fourth episode of Season Six of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville.

This episode originally aired on local PBS syndication the weekend of April 28th and it was uploaded onto Ray's video site just this past weekend. Speaking of which...Ray has a second option for people to view his video programming. He now has a Roku channel in addition to RayStevens.tv. The Roku channel can be accessed HERE. I know nothing about Roku but I've heard of it for a number of years and so for those that are familiar with it you can get access, for a subscription, to all of Ray's video content...with the allure being the episodes of his television series...which a lot of fans routinely complain that their local PBS station doesn't carry it. Those two video sites provide a solution.



Season Six's fourth episode, titled Hall of Fame, marked the first episode of the series to air at the CabaRay showroom. The curtains pulled apart after Bill Cody's introduction...and you see his familiar lit up signature on display behind the band...and Ray promptly launched into "Nashville". This was the only performance at the CabaRay, though, as the bulk of the episode highlighted clips from previous episodes...singling out Hall of Fame members or recording artists performing songs produced by Hall of Fame members. After Ray's performance of "Nashville" the camera faded from the stage and the next thing we see is Ray speaking about the CabaRay and how up until tonight the episodes had been taped at one of his recording facilities on Music Row but from here on out the episodes will originate at the CabaRay.

Ray takes the viewer on a tour...reading an inscription on the wall which provides visitors a brief background on why Ray wanted to build the showroom and have it spotlight people behind the scenes (session musicians, arrangers, and record producers). Ray is next seen in front of the Owen Bradley booth. There are red booths inside the CabaRay named for legendary record producers.

Ray speaks about Owen's legacy as well as Harold's. This sets up the performance of "Crazy" by Harold Bradley (on guitar) and Mandy Barnett (vocals) from the third season (it's first on PBS). Ray next speaks of Chet Atkins and of their long history in and out of the music industry. He mentioned that he produced a novelty record on Chet which became a hit. Although he doesn't mention it by name it's "Frog Kissing". Ray speaks of playing on numerous recording sessions for Chet...and on one session he did string arrangements for the Bobby Bare recording, "Streets of Baltimore", which Chet produced. Ray plays a clip of Bobby's performance of the song.

Ray speaks of Shelby Singleton next...and he tells the viewer that Shelby's responsible for the production of "Ahab the Arab". Shelby produced the recording sessions at Mercury Records during the time Ray recorded for them and in those days the record company typically had one or two head producers who were responsible at production of all artists on the roster which is why people like Shelby, Chet, Owen, and several others were in charge of so many sessions. Ray name drops a couple of other songs Shelby produced, "Harper Valley, PTA" and "Hey Paula", but then a clip of "Walk on By" by LeRoy Van Dyke is played. Ray doesn't mention that he played on the recording session. Ray next speaks about Fred Foster and Monument Records. A clip of "Orange Blossom Special" by Charlie McCoy is played. Ray talks about Billy Sherrill and the recordings he produced...citing "He Stopped Loving Her Today"...which leads into a clip of one of the song's writers, Bobby Braddock, performing it on a keyboard.

The next producer spoken about is Jerry Kennedy...a legendary figure as a session musician and producer. He produced nearly everything The Statler Brothers and Tom T. Hall recorded during their years at Mercury Records...also producing sessions on Roger Miller. Ray plays a clip of himself performing "King of the Road". Ray closes the show detailing more things about the CabaRay prior to the closing credits. There isn't a closing dance...I don't know if it'll be worked into future episodes though...during the closing we see images of the trophy case and other areas of the CabaRay interior.

The special guest this weekend happens to be Moe Bandy. This episode will be uploaded onto his video sites next weekend. This will mark a return to a more typical episode...minus the retrospective and clip-filled assemblage of the previous two. As such Moe's episode will hold the distinction of being the first complete episode to air on the CabaRay stage. When it's uploaded onto Ray's video site I'll watch it and provide a recap next weekend.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville DVD and Series: My Examination!!!

Hello out there...all of you fans of Ray Stevens!! The DVD of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville, Season One arrived in the mail this past Friday (June 16th). It's a 4-disc collection featuring 13 episodes of his television series. Once you play any of the discs there's an advertisement for Ray's website and mention of the upcoming CabaRay venue. Ray provides a voice over as his chicken clucking recording of "In the Mood" plays in the background. The main menu consists of various options that a viewer can select. You can choose to "play all episodes" (4 half hour episodes are featured on 3 of the 4 discs) and that's the choice I often select on my other DVD's but you can select the "choose a program" option and pick specific episodes to watch and there's even an option where only the performances are available and that's in the "choose a song" selection. There isn't a list of the 13 episodes on display on the back of the DVD case...so if you hadn't purchased the DVD yet and you want to know what episodes are part of the collection read further because I'll be posting an episode list. Now, of course, you can choose to wait until you purchase the DVD and read the menu...but I thought I'd make mention of the fact that an episode list is going to be at the bottom of this blog entry.

The first season consists of 13 regular episodes and one Christmas episode. Technically 13 episodes are referred to as a half season and 26 are considered a full season because everything is based upon a once a week air-time and a 52 week calendar year (26 first run episodes plus 26 repeats equals 52). I explained a lot about Ray's production cycle in my previous couple of blog entries but in any case this collection features 13 episodes with all of them showcased in chronological broadcast order based upon it's current run on PBS stations across the country.

The series originated as a lot of you know on the cable channel, RFD, in November of 2015. It's first season on RFD consisted of 14 episodes (one of those episodes, which isn't part of the PBS syndicated package, was the Christmas themed episode). From here on out I'll be referring to the episode lists as Season One/RFD; Season Two/RFD and Season One/PBS. All of the episodes currently airing on PBS affiliates originally aired on RFD.

Ray has had taping sessions at various times throughout 2016 and into this year and those episodes are going to start airing on PBS stations at some point later this year. The footage is in post-production. Then, in 2018, he plans on taping his episodes from the actual CabaRay venue after it officially opens. I was at long last finally able to see the first episode and episode nine!! In episode nine John Conlee performed "Common Man" after talking about his radio background. Jeff Bates appeared on the program, too, and after performing his song he and Ray spoke about Conway. Ray and Jeff also mentioned "Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me". Given that the episode originally aired in early January of 2016 it wouldn't be until November the same year that a music video emerged of the song...and eventually an entire Christmas CD soon after that. As most of you know I wasn't able to see Ray's television program during it's original run on RFD and couldn't see it on PBS until WCVN/KET2 began airing it on March 25th of this year.

The series is taped in bits and pieces and assembled into separate half hour programs during marathon-style taping sessions. In a lot of ways the recording and production of the series resembles Hee Haw. 

As mentioned...there are 13 episodes on this 4-disc collection...but for some reason there's a bit of a difference in the broadcast order of RFD and PBS.

Curiously, in addition to the Christmas episode (from December 26, 2015) not being among the episodes airing on PBS (so far) and therefore not on this DVD there are 2 episodes from Season One/RFD not on this particular DVD, either. The January 2016 episodes guest starring Lee Greenwood and Darryl Worley (January 23rd) and T. Graham Brown and Suzi Ragsdale (January 30th) are not on this DVD because, technically, those episodes haven't aired on PBS stations yet even though they originally aired during Season One/RFD. Those 2 episodes aren't scheduled to air on PBS stations until later. The local PBS affiliate in my area carrying the program, KET2, which is a sub-channel of PBS affiliate WCVN (part of Kentucky Educational Television), has the January 23rd episode airing on September 16th and the January 30th episode airing in a couple of weeks, July 1st. This is a perfect illustration of local PBS affiliates picking and choosing the episodes they'll be airing from those made available.

What happened is 2 episodes from Season Two/RFD, perhaps by mistake or by design, have aired on Season One/PBS already. An episode guest starring Gene Watson from June 18, 2016 (Season Two/RFD) aired on the local PBS station a couple of weeks ago on June 3rd. On June 10th the episode guest starring James Gregory (Season Two/RFD) aired on PBS stations. The 13th and final episode of Season One/PBS guest stars Billy Dean and it aired just this past Saturday on the PBS channel in my area (June 17th). This is also the final episode of Season One/RFD from March 19, 2016. So, for whatever reason, PBS stations haven't aired a couple of January episodes from Season One/RFD but they did air a couple of summer episodes from Season Two/RFD to fill-in the gaps.

Season One/RFD Air-Dates/Broadcast Order:
1. Steve Wariner: November 7, 2015
2. Larry Gatlin: November 14, 2015
3. Bobby Bare: November 21, 2015
4. Don Schlitz: November 28, 2015
5. Charlie McCoy and Lori Stegner: December 5, 2015
6. Bobby Braddock: December 12, 2015
7. Jimmy Fortune: December 19, 2015
***Special episode: Suzy Bogus (Christmas program; hasn't aired on PBS): December 26, 2015***
8. Aaron Tippin: January 2, 2016
9. John Conlee and Jeff Bates: January 9, 2016
10. Tanya Tucker and T.G. Sheppard: January 16, 2016
11. Lee Greenwood and Darryl Worley: January 23, 2016 (hasn't aired on PBS yet; scheduled to air on WCVN/KET2 on September 16, 2017)
12. T. Graham Brown and Suzi Ragsdale: January 30, 2016 (hasn't aired on PBS yet; scheduled to air on WCVN/KET2 on July 1, 2017)
13. Billy Dean: March 19, 2016

Season Two/RFD Air-Dates/Broadcast Order:
1. James Gregory and Helen Highwater String Band: May 7, 2016 (aired on WCVN/KET2 already)
2. Bobby Goldsboro: May 14, 2016
3. Williams and Ree: May 21, 2016
4. Bellamy Brothers: June 4, 2016
5. The Gatlin Brothers: June 11, 2016
6. Gene Watson: June 18, 2016 (aired on WCVN/KET2 already)
7. Collin Raye: June 25, 2016
8. Bill Anderson: July 2, 2016
9. Sylvia: July 9, 2016
10. Con Hunley: July 16, 2016
11. Leroy Van Dyke: July 23, 2016
12. Janie Fricke: July 30, 2016

Here are the episodes that have aired and those yet to air on the local PBS affiliate in my area. You will notice that WCVN/KET2 isn't planning on airing much of what aired during the Season Two/RFD line-up. So I am hoping that more DVDs of his television program become available throughout the year!! Also, the first 13 episodes listed below are exactly what appears on Ray's latest DVD project...

WCVN/KET2 Air-Dates/Broadcast Order:
1. Steve Wariner: March 25, 2017
2. Larry Gatlin: April 1, 2017
3. Bobby Bare: April 8, 2017
4. Don Schlitz: April 15, 2017
5. Charlie McCoy and Lori Stegner: April 22, 2017
6. Bobby Braddock: April 29, 2017
7. Jimmy Fortune: May 6, 2017
8. Aaron Tippin: May 13, 2017
9. John Conlee and Jeff Bates: May 20, 2017
10. Tanya Tucker and T.G. Sheppard: May 27, 2017
11. Gene Watson: June 3, 2017 (from Season Two/RFD)
12. James Gregory: June 10, 2017 (from Season Two/RFD)
13. Billy Dean: June 17, 2017

1. Bobby Goldsboro: June 24, 2017
2. T. Graham Brown and Suzi Ragsdale: July 1, 2017 (from Season One/RFD)
3. Harold Bradley: July 8, 2017
4. Shenandoah: July 15, 2017 (footage taped February 2017)
5. Michael W. Smith: July 22, 2017
6. B.J. Thomas: July 29, 2017
7. Rhonda Vincent: August 5, 2017
8. Restless Heart: August 12, 2017
9. John Michael Montgomery: August 19, 2017
10. Baillie and the Boys: August 26, 2017
11. Con Hunley: September 2, 2017 (footage taped February 2017)
12. Jimmy Wayne: September 9, 2017
13. Lee Greenwood and Darryl Worley: September 16, 2017 (from Season One/RFD)

The second group of 13 episodes consists of some programs originally meant for RFD but weren't aired (based on social media postings late last year during taping sessions by the guest stars) and there are some from a taping session held earlier this year and those episodes will be brand new to all of Ray's fans since they hadn't aired before. The 11th episode is Con Hunley's second guest appearance. He appeared in an episode that RFD aired in July of last year. There was a taping session held in December of 2016 and those episodes are no doubt also part of the second group of 13 episodes WCVN/KET2 is scheduled to air.

From June 26th to June 30th Ray is going to be busy taping footage for even more episodes of the television series. These episodes are probably not going to start airing on PBS affiliates until maybe late fall or early winter this year. Once those episodes air, however, as I mentioned earlier, additional episodes are going to be taped at his CabaRay venue!

You can purchase the 13-episode, PBS-aired First Season DVD by clicking HERE.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...Episode Seven...

Hello one and all...it may seem as if this is becoming a recurring segment of my fan-created blog but it's more or less something that just seems to happen...that is, a re-cap of the previous night's episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. Airing last night, episode seven, and the main guest happened to be tenor singer Jimmy Fortune.

The episode opened with Ray performing "Hang Up and Drive"...a comical gem of a song criticizing the habit of driving a car and talking on a cell-phone at the same time. This preoccupation habit is more commonly referred to today as texting and driving but it didn't have such a nick-name back when Ray recorded the song, originally, in 2000. Actually, to be specific, texting and driving refers to typing on your cell-phone as you drive your vehicle and this song happens to be about talking on your cell-phone as you drive your vehicle...regardless, though, either habit is unwise while operating a vehicle. The live performance lacks the abundance of car crash sound effects heard on the recording. He created a limited animation music video for the song back in the early 2000s. It originally appeared on the VHS release, Cartoon Video Collection, but the audio recording debuted on the 2000 Clyde Records release, Ear Candy; a CD which, in 2002, was partially re-released as Osama Yo' Mama- The Album on Curb Records. You can see the official music video of "Hang Up and Drive" by clicking HERE. All the music videos on that VHS release feature live-action Ray Stevens singing against animated backgrounds. All of them have since been uploaded onto YouTube. This one hit YouTube on June 12, 2013 and it's been seen by over 40,000 people.

Jimmy Fortune is brought out following an introduction by Ray concerning The Statler Brothers in the early 1980s upon the retirement of Lew Dewitt. He tells the audience/viewers that Jimmy became an invaluable member of the group due not only to the tenor support but through his songwriting. Jimmy penned several of the group's monster hits during the mid 1980s...including the song he performed solo on last night's episode, "Elizabeth". He penned "Elizabeth", "My Only Love", "Too Much on My Heart", "More Than a Name on a Wall", "Forever", and others. Jimmy speaks fondly of his years with The Statler Brothers prior to the group's retirement in 2002 and offers brief history on the group's origins...beginning in gospel music and transferring to country music...and Ray inserts commentary about Statler being the name of a tissue brand.

Later in the show Ray presents a treat for viewers...a segment that had been taped previously featuring Bobby Bare, Don Schlitz, and Charlie McCoy. After Ray asks each of them to describe their arrival in the music industry they join Ray in a performance of the Rhythm and Blues hit, "My Babe". The trio are in the same outfits that each of them appeared in during their solo appearances on Ray's program (Bobby episode 4, Don episode 5, and Charlie episode 6) and so I think the segment had originally been taped during the production of episode 4 and saved for broadcasting on episode 7...at least that's my theory. In the performance clip Charlie McCoy sings (!) in addition to playing a harmonica solo.

In the Video Jukebox the spotlight turned to his iconic music video, "Help Me Make It Through the Night" (1990). The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music "professor", Don Cusic, presented information concerning "Gitarzan"...and this lead to Ray's performance of his 1969 classic. A rousing performance to close the episode for sure!

Next Saturday night episode 8 will feature Aaron Tippin as special guest. If the PBS affiliate in your area airs the program tune it in. You can find out by clicking Ray's TV SERIES link. There's a state by state breakdown so if you find your state on the list click it and see which PBS affiliate in your area is carrying Ray's program. Once you do that check your local listings for specific day and time it airs. Syndicated television series have various air-times and air-dates throughout the country. In most major PBS markets that carry his program they offer it at 8pm on Saturday nights.

You, as fans, will have to look up your PBS channel's website from the list provided at Ray's web page. One the touring front Ray is to appear at The Grand Ole Opry on May 27th. Usually, but not always, but usually most guest appearances from Ray signal some sort of upcoming project is on the horizon and he's been known to debut unreleased songs during Opry appearances...but even after saying that don't read too much into his guest appearance until after it happens later this month. Since he hasn't released any music since last Christmas (the CD and music video of "Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me") it's only natural for this fan to assume he'll spotlight some upcoming release but then again he may just walk out on the Opry stage and regal the audience with classics like "The Streak", "It's Me Again, Margaret", "Misty", "Everything is Beautiful", etc. Later this summer on July 22 he'll be appearing in Renfro Valley, Kentucky at their entertainment center. So far those are the only concert dates that appear on his site. I'm sure other appearances may appear on the schedule this summer but don't forget his CabaRay Nashville venue is set to open in the fall of this year...so the bulk of his performances are going to be taking place there...and factor in any taping sessions for his television series, too! He continues to keep himself busy doesn't he??

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville Episode List...

Hello once again! Last night I seen episode 3 of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville which featured Bobby Bare as a guest. He sang "The Streets of Baltimore" and told a couple of stories of Nashville's past. He and Ray spoke of Mel Tillis and "Detroit City". Ray played a clip of Bobby performing the song on an episode of Ray's previous internet-only series, We Ain't Dead Yet. Ray performed a rhythm and blues classic, "Hi-Heel Sneakers", and later on performed "Mississippi Squirrel Revival". Earlier this morning I began thinking about Ray's current television series and it's history. It previously aired on RFD-TV...debuting on November 7, 2015. There happened to be at least 26 episodes (maybe more) that aired on the channel prior to it's RFD exit nearly a year later. It began airing on local PBS stations across the country in January of this year (starting with episode 1 from November 2015).

On Ray's main site there's a section focusing on his television series and it lists the first 12 episodes. You can access that page by clicking HERE. On that page there's a state by state list of PBS affiliates carrying Ray's series. Click on the name of the state to see the PBS affiliate. Given that the series hasn't been available on PBS for too long (since January) the number of markets isn't saturated across the country which obviously explains the reason a lot of states are missing from the line-up. Some states carry the program on more PBS affiliates than others. For example...if you click Oklahoma you'll see that 19 stations carry the program. There are 16 PBS stations in Kentucky that air the program. I can tune into the program via KET2, a sub-channel of WCVN.

A couple days ago the Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame (class of 2017) were released. Going into the Hall of Fame this year are Alan Jackson, Jerry Reed, and songwriter Don Schlitz. Next week's episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville, by pure coincidence, guest stars Don Schlitz. Ray is not a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, by the way, but he's a member of other Halls of Fame and they're just as meaningful...but of course as a fan of his I'd love to see his name become enshrined as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame one day!

A couple months ago a 4 minute publicity video featuring snippets of Ray's television series appeared on YouTube. Some of the episodes spotlighted in this video clip have already aired on PBS and some have yet to air.

Ray Stevens' Nashville Promo Clips...

Hello once more!! I just returned from visiting the Ray Stevens YouTube channel and at the time of this writing he's uploaded three commercials promoting his RFD-TV series, Ray Stevens' Nashville. These commercials aren't full-length (they're less than 20 seconds) but they're nevertheless televised promo spots advertising the upcoming guests on that week's episode. This past Saturday (January 30th) Ray announced that Saturday's episode happened to be the last one of the season. Given that announcement the first season consists of 13 episodes dating back to it's debut early in November of 2015. The series airs each Saturday night at 8:30pm Eastern on RFD.

The promo's advertise the appearances of these three guest stars: Larry Gatlin, Charlie McCoy, and Bobby Bare.

Season 01, Episode 04 promo:


Season 01, Episode 05 promo:


Season 01, Episode 03 promo:


Here is a list of Season One episodes and their original air-dates:

1. 11/07/2015: Steve Wariner

2. 11/14/2015: Don Schlitz

3. 11/21/2015: Bobby Bare

4. 11/28/2015: Larry Gatlin

5. 12/05/2015: Charlie McCoy

6. 12/12/2015: Bobby Braddock

7. 12/19/2015: Suzy Bogguss

8. 12/26/2015: Jimmy Fortune, Bobby Bare, Charlie McCoy, Don Schlitz (my guess is footage taped on a day that Bobby, Charlie, and Don were on hand to tape their individual episodes this unofficial trio and the show's host, Ray Stevens, taped an impromptu jam session and it's been inserted into this episode.)

9.  1/02/2016: Aaron Tippin

10. 1/09/2016: John Conlee and Jeff Bates

11. 1/16/2016: Tanya Tucker and T.G. Sheppard

12. 1/23/2016: Lee Greenwood and Darryl Worley

13. 1/30/2016: Suzi Ragsdale and T. Graham Brown

For those that missed seeing the first season's episodes the rerun cycle begins this coming Saturday at 8:30pm Eastern on RFD-TV. To date there is no word on the start of Season 2. Back on December 8, 2015 Ray posted on his Facebook page that he'd be taping episodes during a week long session (December 14th through December 18th). On a Facebook post dated December 18, 2015 Ray posted that he had finished taping an episode featuring Jimmy Wayne. This episode has yet to air and so I'm assuming that there is going to be much more information posted via Facebook and YouTube on Season 2's guests once the second season gets underway.

One of the recent posts on Ray's Facebook page (as of this writing) is a video promoting the encore presentations of Ray Stevens' Nashville. I'm not computer savvy enough to post the video here (it isn't a YouTube clip with a simple embedding link) and so click this LINK and see the video for yourselves. 

Ray Stevens Nashville...a Ratings Triumph...

Hello all!! It's been almost a month since my previous blog entry but I've been adjusting to this new job of mine. It's a 10 hour, 4 day a week job at bizarre hours: 2am-12pm. I find myself sleeping most of the rest of the day as a result and only having sufficient internet time on my days off...but yet instead of using the free time to keep the blog page current I find myself sleeping even more...but I decided to at least post a blog entry for the month of November.

As you should all know by now Ray Stevens hosts a weekly television series on RFD-TV called Ray Stevens' Nashville. It debuted on November 7th (my last blog entry in October promoted the upcoming series debut) and this coming Saturday marks the 3rd episode's air-date. There have been several promo articles surrounding the program's debut and at least 3 interviews with Ray giving details about the series. One of those interviews can be listened to by clicking HERE.

The interview originated on November 4th on radio station WYMG in Illinois. The phone connection isn't the sharpest (perhaps that being the reason for the lack of publicity) but it's an engaging interview. I came across it by accident, actually, as I was reading up on some of the latest Tweets about Ray Stevens.

It's conducted by an on-air personality named Liz Willis and she described herself as one of his fans, ever since "Gitarzan", and so the style of the interview is more in the mold of fan-gushing (which is highly understandable!!).

RFD-TV, on November 16th via Twitter, announced that Ray's television series had the highest ratings of any of their other series currently airing. Have you all noticed several of the banners that have popped up on-line pertaining to the series? I posted a banner in my previous blog entry...that one originated from Ray's Facebook page. There are a couple of others you can see if you do an image search. The one I like the best is the image of the Nashville skyline in black, the title of the program in white all-caps lettering, Ray's name in red, and a caricature illustration of Ray's face on a yellow circle (presumably a full moon). You can see that image in all it's glory by clicking HERE.

Last Friday (November 13th) Ray made another guest appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. Why in the world hasn't he become an official member of the Opry by now is anybody's guess. He appeared during the 7:30-8:00pm segment hosted by Mike Snider. The podcast hasn't been posted in the archive section of the radio station's website yet.

Ray's previous guest appearance had come in late September of this year during a segment hosted by Mel Tillis. Earlier still Ray guested on the Opry and around the same time he was the star performer on Larry Gatlin's Opry Country Classics recurring radio series. I'd say in the last 5 years or so Ray Stevens has guest starred at the Opry (either on a Tuesday, Friday, or Saturday) at least 10 times.

In my previous blog post I didn't include a link to the home page at the RFD site because, at the time, Ray's series hadn't debuted and there wasn't a show page available. Since the November 7th debut RFD has posted a page detailing Ray's series and you can view it by clicking the link below...

RAY STEVENS' NASHVILLE