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.
Hello once again!! Ten days until Christmas and earlier today Ray Stevens uploaded a performance he gave of "Santa Claus is Watching You" on an episode of Nashville Now. There wasn't a specific year given as to when this was recorded. In the beginning of the video, briefly, you'll see the Nashville Now desk and Ralph Emery and what appears to be his frequent puppet sidekick, Shotgun Red. The set is decorated for Christmas and Ralph's desk is from the late 1980's time period. I've seen this performance before...and it was described as a late 1980's performance at that time as well...but it could also come from Christmas time 1990. I wish I knew specific years of what the set looked like on Nashville Now. I only have vague time frames. The desk is gray as are the couches...and so I'd pinpoint this appearance as being December 1989 or December 1990. I know that it's not from the mid 1980s because Ralph's desk and the chairs during that time period were brown. Here's the performance uploaded today from Nashville Now in the late 1980s.
Ray has several video performances on his YouTube channel of "Santa Claus is Watching You" and he also has an audio track of the song. The song has an interesting history. It was written and recorded by Ray in 1962. Mercury Records released it as a single and it became one of the Christmas hits of 1962. That recording was largely aimed at children...and a lot of the lyrics catered to a younger audience. I'm sure parents of children in 1962 got a kick out of the novelty song and would play it so their kids could hear Ray's warning about Santa's watching so be nice to your parents and classmates. In 1985 Ray re-recorded the song. He kept the basic hook lines and imagery of the original (the list of reindeer expanded greatly in the 1985 recording) but he changed nearly all of the lyrics. The song went from being a cute warning for kids to be on their best behavior because Santa's watching to a hilarious song about a wife who better remain faithful and true to her husband because Santa's watching.
Ray turned the song into his first ever music video in 1985. It became a Christmas music video standard on The Nashville Network...often making their Top-10 most played Christmas music video lists in the late 1980s and into the early 1990s.
Another performance by Ray of "Santa Claus is Watching You" on YouTube is from 1989...on a Christmas special hosted by Ralph Emery. In the performance he's joined by hand puppet, JoJo. You may remember JoJo from Ray's television commercial for Get The Best of Ray Stevens. JoJo appears during the snippet of "Gitarzan". JoJo also appears on Ray's 1995 movie, Get Serious!, as a speed zone informant. Whenever in the movie Ray appeared in his yellow car JoJo often popped out from underneath the dashboard to tell him the speed zone. You'll notice when watching that Ray's performance includes the use of a click track...meaning that someone off stage in the sound department dubbed in Ray's falsetto phrase "He's everywhere! He's everywhere!!" during the live performance to make it look as if JoJo is 'speaking' but there are several camera angles that show Ray's mouth closed when JoJo 'speaks'.
Ray has, for decades, put lots and lots of sound effects and unusual sounds on the many novelty songs he's recorded...and in order to come as close to possible of matching a studio recording in a live setting is to have some of the sound effects and other voices dubbed into the live performance. Ray uses multi-tracking whenever he makes records...the vocal and every instrument is recorded on separate tracks...and during production everything is mixed. He'd use a click track during live performances of "Sex Symbols", for example. His lines for Julio, which were recorded on a separate track, would be played back in concert as Ray sang his lines live while operating the mouth movements of Julio. Some people, because Ray sang the song in concerts and on television with a dummy at his side, have mistakenly thought Ray to be a legitimate ventriloquist. Here's Ray and JoJo from 1989...
Hello all you fans of Ray Stevens!! March 7th is the anniversary date of a once very important television network for country music artists. A cable television channel, The Nashville Network, went on the air on March 7, 1983. As is the case with most networks on launch day it showcases a wide arrange of performances and experiments...trying to find what works and what doesn't work. In the case of this channel everything on launch day was live. The celebrations were taped all over Nashville with a bulk of the festivities taking place inside a television studio on the Opryland grounds. Ray was part of the network's opening day in 1983 in two places. He performed several songs at the Opry house and then he appeared at the festivities taking place at the television studio at Opryland. Ralph Emery, who had been chosen to host the network's nightly live show, Nashville Now, was on hand to host a program that introduced the Nashville Now concept/format to the audience. It would be a country music version of The Tonight Show...Ralph would walk from offstage and do an opening monologue standing in front of the set (a greeting; often tell a joke aimed at either the show's announcer or someone in the band or about one of the guests appearing that night; and then he'd go into further detail of the guests that'll be appearing; then, after commercial, Ralph would be seated behind a desk with a couch off to his right). I wonder if there's any footage of Ralph interviewing Ray during this launch event? If there is I hope it gets uploaded, too!! In the video clip below Ray is singing "Such a Night" during the Ralph Emery portion of the launch. Ray had recorded that song on his previous album, Don't Laugh Now.
Ray previously uploaded a couple of other video clips from the 1983 launch of The Nashville Network. Almost a year ago he uploaded a performance of him singing "Everything is Beautiful" and exactly one year ago he uploaded a video clip of him singing "Piece of Paradise Called Tennessee" from his current album at the time, Me. The first clip is his performance of "Everything is Beautiful" followed by "Piece of Paradise Called Tennessee". The performances below are from the Opry house.
Hello all...in this installment of my fan created Ray Stevens blog I'm going to embed a 1987 performance from Ray Stevens of "It's Me Again, Margaret". This novelty song was written by the late Paul Craft and had actually been recorded and released as a single by him in the mid '70s. The legendary songwriter wasn't well known outside of the songwriting community and therefore his own recordings aren't widely known as a result. Ray had previously recorded a Paul Craft song, "Honky Tonk Waltz", and that single became a Top-30 country hit for Ray in 1976. Ray's recording of "It's Me Again, Margaret" emerged from his 1984 comedy album, He Thinks He's Ray Stevens. It was the third single release from the 1984 album. "I'm Kissin' You Goodbye" was the first single release...but during the promotional stage word got around that "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" was getting a lot of unsolicited airplay (a phrase referring to disc jockeys playing a song on their own based on listener requests) and so that single received a lot of publicity and promotion...eventually becoming a Top-20 country hit early in 1985. The impact of the single's success bolstered sales of the album and it eventually hit the Top-10 on the Country Album chart in 1985 and was eventually certified Gold and then Platinum. "It's Me Again, Margaret" wasn't a big radio hit but it rode the wave of success that "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" and He Thinks He's Ray Stevens had set in motion.
Take a look at that comical photo of Ray over on the left side of the screen. You know from looking at the photo that he's performing "It's Me Again, Margaret". When it was announced last year that Ray was one of the newest members elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame I seriously wondered if the CMA would use that photo of Ray on the Hall of Fame plaque or use a photo similar. Ray's reputation for comedy and novelty songs propelled his recording of "It's Me Again, Margaret" into cult status...a song that people know about in spite of it not being a nationally known radio hit. It's one of those songs that hit locally...a geographical hit...meaning that it could be a big hit in a radio market in southwest Missouri but people in northwest Missouri may not even know the song exists. "It's Me Again, Margaret" was placed on 1987's Greatest Hits album as was "Mississippi Squirrel Revival". Those two songs are often paired up on compilation albums...you usually don't see one without the other. Curb Records knew how very popular "It's Me Again, Margaret" truly was with Ray Stevens fans that when they issued a 1990 compilation on Ray titled His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits they used a photo of Ray in a phone booth as Willard McBain calling up Margaret on a pay phone. Music videos were made for "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" and "It's Me Again, Margaret" in 1992...and "It's Me Again, Margaret" became an enormous hit for Ray all over again. The music video being so prominent in those television commercials and the fact that it had been a popular song for Ray since it debuted enabled the song to eventually become a beloved performance in Ray's concerts. Leave it to fabulous Ray Stevens to make a novelty song about an obscene phone caller a beloved classic...but that's exactly what he did. Whenever he appeared in concert and on television shows like Nashville Now there was usually a reference to "It's Me Again, Margaret" or Ralph Emery would ask Ray to perform the song if there was any extra time left.
In this 1987 episode you'll see that Ray was asked/requested to perform the song and when he finishes he walks back to the set...where other guests were seated...which indicates that Ray had already performed several songs and had been interviewed by Ralph already. Ralph's show at that time was still 90 minutes...and each guest would sing their first song, then go over and have their interview/conversation with Ralph, and then during the second part of the episode the guests would sing their second song of the episode. Whatever guest was well established or was considered a legend in the music business usually got to sing three songs. I think "It's Me Again, Margaret" was the third song Ray performed on this episode. I believe this episode is the same one where Ray sang "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?" and "Gourmet Restaurant". Those two Nashville Now performances are on YouTube. The video below was uploaded a little more than 4 hours ago and it's already obtained close to 1,500 unique views already. The video is a lot more clearer than the thumbnail image may indicate.
It's me once more...and in my third blog entry of the day I'm focusing on the most recent social media post from Ray Stevens. There have several social media posts from Ray within the last couple of days and I've been playing catch-up which is why there's been multiple blog entries posted by me today. This video clip comes from earlier today and it's Ray's performance of "Gourmet Restaurant" on a May 1988 episode of Nashville Now. The song originated on his 1987 album, Crackin' Up. The video clip shows the performance of the song and the interview with Ralph Emery...I'd love to have seen the other Ray Stevens performance from that episode.
Ray Stevens; 1988
In the interview there's not much discussion about what Ray's currently doing in the studio or experiences he's had on the road...this appearance more than likely was did strictly for publicity purposes given there wasn't a performance of something brand new...but yet we don't know if Ray sang something soon to be released later on in the show or not. Nashville Now ran 90 minutes each weeknight and the guests sang two songs sandwiched between interviews and performances from the other guests. The interview always took place after the guest performed their first song of the night. There weren't any follow-up interviews within the episode. Now, having said all that, Ralph mentions an upcoming album from Ray. I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like hit retail stores in June of 1988, a month after this appearance, so it's hard to tell if Ray later performed a song from that upcoming album or not. Ray spoke of the album's title and it's reference to Will Rogers. Ralph asked Ray if he personally feels he never made a record he didn't like. Ray jokingly remarked that he always likes any song he's recorded...but maybe 2 weeks later he'll have regrets about it. In this 1988 interview Ralph, out of the blue, asks Ray about the song focusing on Barry Manilow...which became a hit for Ray in 1979, nearly 10 years earlier. Ray spoke of the song's title, "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow", and that it was written by Dale Gonyea. The reason Ralph had brought it up is explained in the interview. Ray, by 1988, had long since removed that particular song from his concert set-list and I'm sure he was surprised that Ralph would bring it up...he even looked surprised.
I captured a lot of screen caps from this appearance as I did his 1987 Nashville Now appearance (uploaded on Ray's social media sites last month). The screen cap below is from the May 1988 episode of Nashville Now.
Hello once again and I'm here putting together an early Happy Birthday blog entry centering around Ralph Emery and the friendship he's had with Ray Stevens for quite a few decades. Since this is my Ray Stevens fan-created blog I'm going to, as mentioned, spotlight Ralph Emery's career as it relates to Ray Stevens. Tomorrow (March 10th) Ralph turns 87. He was born March 10, 1933 in McEwen, Tennessee as Walter Ralph Emery. The album cover you see on the left hand side of the page is a Mercury Records release from 1970. The Best of Ray Stevens features a very obscure performance of "Ahab the Arab" with an introduction by Ralph Emery. Although I've never found out the origin of this recording I've often assumed that it was recorded at some point in the the latter half of the '60s on Ralph's local television program, The Ralph Emery Show, and Mercury placed the audio onto this vinyl album. I've also come across a vinyl album from the mid '60s in which Ralph appears as an emcee at a concert and among the performers is Ray Stevens...and so the opening performance of "Ahab the Arab" heard on this 1970 compilation album could have come from that vinyl album. Ralph hosted a lot of similar programs relating to country music in the 1960s and it's difficult to find an accurate account of the time-line and titles of the programs he hosted. Opry Almanac is listed as a local television show he hosted, beginning in 1963, and some sources on-line state that this show eventually was re-titled The Ralph Emery Show in 1972 but then there are sites that state each was a separate local television show and that the local Ralph Emery Show debuted in 1966 in the late afternoons. There's also a program he hosted called 16th Avenue South in the mid 1960s and sources say it was a local television show that focused on pop music!? If so, that could be the program where this version of "Ahab the Arab" originated because Ray was definitely marketed as a pop artist in the 1960s. Ralph also hosted a syndicated radio show in addition to his television work.
While all of this was going on Ralph was also at the helm of WSM radio's all-night show, Opry Star Spotlight. This program was, in time, referred to as the "all-night show" informally. Ralph hosted this show from 1957 until 1972 and due to it airing in the overnight hours when WSM radio's signal was at it's strongest he was able to be heard in nearly every State in the Midwest and certainly all the Southern states. Remember, too, this was decades before satellite/internet radio became the norm and so it was something to behold that a disc jockey on a local station was being heard well outside of their market. The legend of Ralph Emery's radio years are tied to the "all-night show" but, as mentioned, he hosted a syndicated radio series in addition to other radio programs that aired in syndication...including one titled Take Five for Country Music and an hour long show where he simply played the current records of the day.
Ralph Emery and Ray Stevens, 1979
Upon the retirement of Ralph from the all-night show on WSM radio in 1972 he continued hosting his television show and syndicated radio programs and he maintained a presence on WSM radio in the daytime hours for a number of years following his departure from the overnight shift. He was also one of the Grand Ole Opry staff announcers during the majority of his time at the radio station. He began hosting a nationally syndicated television series in 1974 titled Pop! Goes the Country. This is the show upon which television viewers across the country were introduced to Ralph Emery. Ray made numerous guest appearances on this television show and by the time this episode aired in 1979 Ray had become well established not only as a 'pop' recording artist but he had also crossed over into country music and remained there permanently by decade's end. In Ray's earliest appearances on Ralph's various television and radio programs he was still officially marketed as a pop act even though he had been living and recording in Nashville and had played on hundreds of recording sessions up and down Music Row since the 1960s. Ralph's programs always had the welcome mat open for Ray Stevens. I wish every radio and television appearance from Ray were available. I find his earlier appearances fascinating and I like to compare/contrast the various decades of his career. I also like reading older interviews of him and compare his thoughts in one era with his contemporary thoughts and gauge how much he's changed or remained the same. Oh yes, I also like to see older clips so I can make note of whether Ray's clean shaven or bearded. As you see in the screen cap Ralph is also shown with a beard...and he wore one for a number of years. His entire run on Pop! Goes the Country (1974-1980) has him bearded. Ralph shaved off the beard but kept a mustache at some point in 1986/1987 but by 1991 he was clean shaven and he's remained that way.
Now, in between Ralph's departure as host of Pop! Goes the Country in 1980 and the debut of Nashville Now on TNN in 1983 he hosted a short-lived series on TBS titled Nashville Alive!. Ray appeared on this show...a photo of Ray and Ralph in one of Ralph's books is credited as coming from that TBS series. Also in the photo is Ralph's wife, Joy, in a gorilla suit. Nashville Now introduced Ralph to an even wider national audience. Pop! Goes the Country, syndicated nationally, aired on the weekends in various time-slots depending on which station carried it. The bulk of it's airings took place in the late afternoons on Saturday or Sunday opposite sports programming. However, Nashville Now aired in the same time-slot every weeknight on cable channel TNN for 10 years. The length of the show was 90 minutes for most of it's run and it aired from 7pm to 8:30pm Central/8pm to 9:30pm Eastern for much of it's history. Later it was pushed to 8pm to 9:30pm Central/9pm to 10:30pm Eastern to make clear a place for Crook and Chase and their expanded hour-long program. They had previously aired after Nashville Now but by the early '90s they were scheduled as Ralph's lead-in show. Ralph's main competition was whatever was airing on network television and whatever happened to be airing on cable television...notably CNN...considering almost every other cable channel at that time specialized in repeats of television shows and movies...rarely was there a cable channel that specialized in original programs. Ralph's TNN show was trimmed to an hour for several years before it's eventually end in 1993.
Ray Stevens, Boots Randolph, and Ralph Emery; 1990
In the screen cap above, unfortunately a bit blurry, we see Ray Stevens and Boots Randolph in conversation on Nashville Now with Ralph Emery. In this appearance Ralph has his mustache and they're discussing the album that Ray produced on Boots Randolph and released through Clyde Records. This happened to be one of the first projects released through Ray's own label and there's a television commercial for that CD on YouTube from 1990. If you were a member of Ray's fan club at any point in the 1990s, as I was, then you should be familiar with this CD. It was one of the items offered for sale in the Ray Stevens mail order catalog for much of the decade. Unfortunately I don't have any super vintage photo's of Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery, from the '60s, specifically. I know they must exist but they haven't surfaced on-line for public sharing/viewing. Some photos of the two of them can be found in several of Ralph's books and there's a photo of the two of them in a radio studio from the early 1970s in Ray's 2014 memoir. Ray hosted several book signing events throughout 2014 and into 2015...one of those book signings featured Ralph interviewing Ray at the Nashville Public Library.
The Nashville Public Library hosted the special book signing event in 2015 where a set of Nashville Now was recreated and Ralph interviewed Ray Stevens, Barbara Mandrell, Lorrie Morgan, and Con Hunley. It was part of their on-going series, That Nashville Sound. Previously that series hosted an interview by Ralph Emery of Ray Stevens discussing his memoir and career, in general, and later on the library hosted the recreated Nashville Now special event.
Ray Stevens and Ralph Emery, 2015
When Ray made the announcement that he would be opening a showroom in West Nashville titled CabaRay one of the people attending the ground breaking ceremony happened to be Ralph Emery. The groundbreaking took place, ironically enough, in March 2016. On groundbreaking day Ray and several friends were photographed at the site of the soon to be constructed showroom posing with shovels and digging into a mound of dirt. The construction company was also on hand, of course. As we all know a myriad of issues came up along the way...most of it tied into the lengthy approval for a building permit. Once this was obtained...nearly half a year later...construction got underway which pushed a fall 2017 grand opening time table to an early 2018 grand opening (the showroom opened for business in January 2018).
Ralph Emery, Gorilla, and Ray Stevens; 2016
As we see in this photo Ralph is toasting the groundbreaking of the CabaRay along side a gorilla and Ray Stevens in March of 2016. I don't know if this is the same gorilla that met Ray Stevens at the airport in the cover photo of Here We Go Again! in 2015. It might be that gorilla's cousin...it's difficult to tell. Anyway, by the time this photo was taken Ralph had long since retired. After the end of Nashville Now in 1993 he didn't go away...he continued to appear with a recurring interview series called On the Record. That series was based on a highly rated interview Ralph conducted in 1992 with his pop music counterpart, Dick Clark. In fact there was a second program in which Ralph was the subject of an interview from Dick Clark. In the hour long series, airing on TNN, Ralph initially interviewed guests that had also authored books. Ralph had become known for a series of books based on his experiences and memories from his career in country music...the first one was appropriately called, Memories (1991), and this was followed by a series of other books throughout the 1990s: More Memories (1993), The View From Nashville (1998), and 50 Years Down a Country Road (2000). Ralph also interviewed country artists regardless of whether or not they had released a book but the conversation was almost always centered around autobiographical information and life experiences rather than the show turning into an hour long commercial for the book or the guest's latest recording.
In 1995 Ray Stevens appeared during the opening week of Ralph's daytime talk show on TNN. This show aired from the Opryland theme park live at 9am Eastern/8am Central beginning in the latter half of the year. Ray's appearance featured a sight gag in which he walked out on stage screaming in a pseudo-Austrian accent about how hot the cup of chocolate happened to be and he 'tripped' and spilled the contents all over Ralph, seated behind his desk. Ralph was caught off guard because instead of scalding hot chocolate spilling out of the cup it was nothing more than marshmallows. Ralph asked Ray how in the world he happened to make the cup appear to have steam coming from the top of it and he explained the hand trick...covering the powdery marshmallows in the cup for several seconds and then removing your hand from the top of the cup will make it appear as if steam is rising from the cup. I've never attempted the trick but that's the way he explained it. Ray promoted his Get Serious! VHS movie and performed "Can He Love You Half as Much as I?".
The morning show Ralph hosted on TNN was later moved to an early evening time-slot later in 1995 but it was eventually canceled soon after. I don't know if the end of that series was due to any backstage problems or any conflicts with the Opryland management or what...it was certainly a format that Ralph had mastered and so it wasn't like he was attempting something new. It could be a case of lack of enthusiasm from TNN or just a change in viewing habits causing the interview format to have run it's course!?
In the late 1990s Ray taped several new music videos for a collection ultimately released on VHS titled Funniest Video Characters. In this collection was "The Pirate Song"...a music video for a song Ray originally recorded in 1985 but later re-recorded in 1991. It had since became one of those fan favorites. Ralph Emery appears in that music video. Once you know he's in it and you spot him I bet your eyes will be drawn to him every time he's on screen. He plays one of the underlings of the Captain.
Getting back to sight gags...in an episode of Pop! Goes the Country in 1977 Ray performed a sight gag involving a large ceramic chicken mask...while wearing the mask he clucked a piece of "In the Mood". In another interview he was asked to imitate a chicken and so he began flapping his arms and clucking. A clip of this was featured on a 1990 surprise tribute special to Ralph Emery. In that special Ray performed a song he wrote specifically for the special, "Ralph, You Have Embarrassed Us All". He sang it with Roy Clark, Faron Young, and Kathy Mattea. In the video clip the introduction is by Johnny Cash and Barbara Mandrell.
Now, fast forward 24 years from 1990 to 2014 and here we see Buddy Kalb, Ralph Emery, and Ray Stevens during a photo opportunity at the Nashville Public Library. This was taken at some point before or after Ralph's interview of Ray took place.
Buddy Kalb, Ralph Emery, and Ray Stevens; 2014
Ironically enough Ray Stevens wasn't a guest on any On the Record episodes and I suspect the reason for this was there wasn't time to fit in an interview, due to Ray's busy schedule, and the concept of the series emphasizing an introspective, personal interview instead of a breezy, let's have some fun type of interview, perhaps led Ray to avoid appearing on it. It's anyone's guess. In the meantime a peek into Ray's life was on the horizon as TNN was putting together an episode of The Life and Times, a recurring biography series, and the producers decided to tape an episode about the life and career of Ray Stevens. The hour long special featured rare photo's from Ray's personal collection and video clips not seen since their original airing...specifically snippets from his NBC television summer show in 1970. This hour long special features commentary from Ralph Emery, Norro Wilson, George 'Goober' Lindsey, Charlie Chase, Brenda Lee, and Buddy Kalb...in addition to Ray himself.
Last year Ralph Emery officially inducted Ray Stevens into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ralph was elected in 2007 and current members officially induct a new member each year at the Medallion Ceremony. In December of last year the two of them appeared as Guests of Honor at a fundraiser in Dickson, Tennessee at the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum where they had their pictures taken and signed autographs. To date that is the last time the two of them publicly appeared together. I put the two of them together in this collage, though. Happy early Birthday, Ralph Emery!
Hello again...a couple of days ago I wrote a blog entry partially centered around photos from CMA Fest 2019. The second part of the blog entry focused on a recently uploaded video clip of Ray Stevens and Boots Randolph from an episode of Nashville Now in 1990. Ralph Emery, the host of the show, introduced the duo and they performed "Tequila". Ralph interviewed the two of them afterward and spotlighted an instrumental album, Boots, that was being sold through direct marketing (print advertisements and television commercials). The album is chock full of saxophone instrumentals and it's something I'd known about for years but until recently I'd never seen any video footage promoting the project. The album was released through Ray's own label, Clyde Records, with Ray being the arranger of all the recordings.
Unbeknownst to me the very television commercial that Ray and Boots were speaking of in the 1990 Nashville Now video clip had been on YouTube since 2017. The video doesn't feature Ray's name as a 'tag' and so it's never come up in video search results.
In fact, if you do a video search on YouTube for 'Ray Stevens + Boots Randolph', you'll get the recently uploaded 1990 Nashville Now performance/interview plus a 1993 performance by Ray, Boots, and Chet Atkins of "Yakety Yak" from another episode of Nashville Now. In that performance each instrument gets spotlighted with a solo (Ray on piano, Boots on saxophone, and Chet on guitar). Chet's recorded version of the song was always referred to as "Yakety Axe" while Boot's recorded version of the song was always referred to as "Yakety Sax". Chet's recording is legendary but Boots' recording even more so due to it being played all over the world as chase music on The Benny Hill Show. Anyway, the 2017 upload of the 1990 Boots Randolph television commercial isn't among the search results. I found the video by searching 'Boots Randolph 1990'. I'm a little hesitant about sharing the video on this fan created Ray Stevens blog page and here's why...
The 1990 television commercial was uploaded onto YouTube on February 18, 2017 with the declaration of it being terrible and therefore perfect for a YouTube channel of so-called 'inferior commercials'. Although I emphatically disagree with the opinion that it's a terrible commercial I'm embedding the television commercial for a number of reasons: I'm a fan of Ray Stevens and he briefly appears in it as does Buddy Kalb; Ray arranged the music for the recording sessions; Boots was a legendary saxophonist; and the embed spares you the derogatory commentary surrounding the video on it's YouTube page...in other words the embed allows you to enjoy the commercial without having to see the sour commentary attached to it. I know that by embedding the video it gives some publicity to the YouTube channel due to the channel's name being visible in the upper left hand side of the screen but I've decided the commercial is just too entertaining and fun not to share.
In the fine print once the blue screen appears showing the telephone number, mailing address, etc. you'll see Ray's Clyde Records label listed underneath the Money Back Guarantee policy. As a visual gag Boots appears in different stage clothes to fit the flavor of the performance. Boots had a sense of humor and so I don't know if it was his idea or Ray's idea for him to dress up differently for almost every screen shot. As an example Boots is wearing a blue train conductor's hat during a sampling of "Take the A Train"...and there's also a sampling of "Tequila"...20 saxophone instrumentals altogether.
Hello again! Late last night...I should call it early in the morning since it happened to be around 2am...I came across a video upload on YouTube of a complete performance of the Nashville Public Library's series titled That Nashville Sound. The special event that took place on May 31st of this year is of particular interest because of it's involvement with Ray Stevens.
The event celebrated Ralph Emery's career as host of Nashville Now (1983-1993) and the impact the cable series had on country music during that 10 year period. Throughout that decade and beyond various television critics in the 1980s and 1990s referred to Ralph as the Johnny Carson of cable television. As far as his varied career on television and on country radio some even called Ralph the Dick Clark of country music.
On stage at the venue the familiar/iconic desk, complete with the TNN logo, brought back memories of the series. The line-up for the special event included Con Hunley, Lorrie Morgan, Barbara Mandrell, Steve Hall/Shotgun Red, and of course Ray Stevens. Like the television series each guest came out and participated in an interview detailing the latest happenings in their career or in their personal lives. After each segment each guest moved down the line-up of chairs (there wasn't a couch and chair like in the TV series). Unlike the television series there wasn't any live music performances. To make up for this the special event included a large selection of snippets from various episodes of Nashville Now of artist's singing or being interviewed. If you happen to be a fan of Roger Miller, too, you'll be in for a treat. During the section focusing on Ray Stevens there's video footage of these 2 comedic geniuses and clever songwriters sharing the stage during an episode of Nashville Now. Roger tells a joke to Ray's utter delight. The two of them rarely appeared on stage together but the moments they did are priceless. The clip is brief but entertaining.
In Ray's segment he mentions his memoir and some of his plans for future products and his current CD. Among those plans is the hope of having a music/talk program in the same tradition of Nashville Now. He also talks about some other things that I'll hold back making mention of...you'll have to click the video to learn more. At the time of this taping on May 31, 2015 Ray's current CD had been available for just a couple of months (it's release date happened to be March 23, 2015).
