Ray Stevens: The Road to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Part Three...

Welcome to Part Three of my mini-blog series spotlighting moments in the career of Ray Stevens as we get somewhat closer to Ray's official Country Music Hall of Fame induction in October...the election took place back in March of this year. We have a couple of months still to go...the rest of this month and all of September and into mid October. I left off in Part Two covering the single that Mercury Records issued on Ray in the fall of 1963, "Speed Ball" / "It's Party Time". Thanks to the internet a lot of Ray Stevens fans were treated to a super rare recording titled "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" that Mercury issued on acetate backed with "Don't Say Anything" in the final weeks of 1963. An acetate release is meant for limited plays due to the brittleness of the material and they're most often used for testing a song prior to it being put on vinyl. Apparently Mercury decided to go with another song for commercial release given that the first single release on Ray in 1964 came along in March and it was a novelty titled "Butch Babarian" backed with the love ballad that previously accompanied the unreleased "Pin the Tail on the Donkey": "Don't Say Anything". There's some interesting history surrounding Butch...it, too, initially appeared in test format in December 1963 (an acetate) and was broken in two parts. On the acetate recording Ray sings "flip the record over to hear part two". The acetate has the song spelled 'Butch Barbarian'. There are pressings of the single in which the title is spelled "Butch Bubarrian" and then there's pressings where it's spelled "Butch Babarian".

The song's title is a pun on the alcoholic beverage, Busch Bavarian. When I heard the song for the first time in the early 1990s I had no idea of it's inspiration but then years later I heard an audio clip of one of the Busch commercials and it led off with almost the exact kind of intro that we hear on this recording.

I don't know the reason for the altered spellings on the various pressings that Mercury Records issued but I do know that the label issued another pressing with a picture sleeve of Ray seated at the piano. The B-side of that pressing is noted as being a Longer Version. The copy meant for airplay clocks in at two minutes, fifty six seconds while the longer version runs four minutes, three seconds. The full length version is on YouTube as is the acetate which includes a lot of lyrics that didn't make it to the commercial recording. The acetate exists in Part One form but Part Two has never been uploaded (the one that uploaded Part One doesn't have Part Two). The edited copy for airplay isn't on YouTube. Well, now, after sorting through all of that wouldn't you know it...this particular novelty single didn't reach the charts when the commercial version hit the market in March of 1964. Mercury followed this with "Bubble Gum the Bubble Dancer" in July...not exactly a novelty song...but the unusual title gave it a novelty flavor. I'm not saying the flavor of the bubble gum is a novelty...but you know what I mean. If you're not sure what a bubble dancer is/was then the inspiration for the overall song's title might be lost on some. This single existed several years prior to the arrival of what music historians refer to as bubblegum music...so I don't think it's a case of tying the song's title in with the music craze. The song's B-side is the vengeful ballad "Laughing Over My Grave". If you recall from the previous blog entry I mentioned that Ray entered an unusual contract in that Mercury Records would release recordings on him while Monument Records utilized Ray's proficient prowess as a session musician, producer, and arranger. In September of 1964 Ray made his way to New York City to work as a music arranger on several songs recorded by Dusty Springfield. The recordings that Ray arranged would appear in single releases by Dusty in 1964 and 1965. Ray arranged several other recordings that remained as album tracks and weren't issued as singles. Those familiar with her recordings these are the titles that Ray worked on as music arranger: "Live It Up", "Guess Who?", "Now That You're My Baby", "If Wishes Could Be Kisses", "Here She Comes", "I Wanna Make You Happy", and "I Want Your Love Tonight". Mercury Records, in the meantime, didn't immediately follow-up "Bubble Gum the Bubble Dancer"...but they eventually released a follow-up and it arrived in January 1965 in the form of "The Rockin' Teenage Mummies". Now, admit it, who doesn't get a great big smile on their face when you see a song title like that?? It, too, was a novelty song as you could tell...backed with the ballad "It Only Hurts When I Laugh". The release of this single marked a slight change in the production credits. The single releases on Mercury Records on Ray dating back to 1961 had all been produced solo by Shelby Singleton but starting with "The Rockin' Teenage Mummies" Jerry Kennedy was credited as co-producer along with Shelby Singleton. These novelty records that Mercury was releasing on Ray throughout late 1963 and into early 1965 weren't reaching the national charts but they made appearances on what the industry refers to as regional charts which can be described as surveys of single releases that are popular in select cities across the country but hadn't met with the same success on a national level.

Regardless of the lack of national chart placings Ray was continuing to build a name for himself behind-the-scenes...and all the while Mercury was issuing novelty songs on Ray he was hard at work as a music arranger on serious recordings by other artists. In February 1965, for example, one of the songs he arranged for Ronnie Dove was released, "One Kiss For Old Times Sake", which became a Top-20 pop hit. This was backed with a song arranged by Bill Justis titled "No Greater Love".

Ray was heavily involved in the early recording career of Ronnie Dove and if you search various single releases you'll find Ray's name listed as music arranger. The singles were released on a label called Diamond Records and most of the songs were recorded at Fred Foster Sound Studio. Some of the other single releases that Ray arranged for Ronnie Dove include: "A Little Bit of Heaven", "Kiss Away", "I'm Learning How To Smile Again", "Dancin' Out of My Heart", and several more. Now, based on my research over the years, I found evidence of Ray being credited as the music arranger for 16 songs recorded by Ronnie Dove between the years 1964 through 1968. 10 of those were released on commercial singles as either the A or B side while the other 6 recordings were album tracks. Something of note is "Kiss Away" being written by Billy Sherrill and Glenn Sutton. Ronnie's recording became a Top-40 pop hit as well as a Top-10 Easy-Listening hit in the fall of 1965. In between the releases of Ronnie Dove's "One Kiss For Old Times Sake" in February 1965 and "A Little Bit of Heaven" in May 1965, Mercury Records released what, at the time, was thought to be their final commercial single on Ray...the novelty "Mr. Baker the Undertaker" backed with another novelty, "The Old English Surfer". The popularity of surfer music in 1965 is my guess as to the creation of this wacky novelty B-side. It's a bizarre story of an Englishman that plays the violin while riding the ocean's choppy waters on a surfboard. As mentioned this 1965 single ended his professional association with Shelby Singleton and Jerry Kennedy as well as, for now, Mercury Records, and from there Ray became more associated with Monument Records founder, Fred Foster, and Ray soon found himself being credited on Monument releases.

In July of 1965 Monument issued a single on a relatively unknown recording artist by the name of Dolly Parton. She had been recording since 1959 but hadn't had any breakthrough success. This single, "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby", backed with "Old Enough to Know Better", were both produced by Ray and released on Monument. It was her second single release on Monument...her first single release didn't feature any involvement from Ray. The story goes that Ray felt that Dolly was suited more toward pop/rhythm and blues and if you listen to Dolly's single releases on Monument that Ray produced, well, you'll hear the direction he felt she should be guided in. In the meantime Ray was gearing up for something of a musical re-invention...deliberately focusing on serious works of music rather than novelty songs (although that side of him had never completely vanished). In November of 1965 Ray issued his debut single for the Monument label...the marvelous "Party People" from the pen of Joe South. The B-side was another invigorating recording titled "A-B-C". These records, if played along side his previous single releases at Mercury, should cause any listener to immediately notice the major shift in his sound. His voice was a bit deeper...in places it was throaty and aggressive...and the music itself seemed just a notch above what he was doing at Mercury even though by no means am I suggesting his Mercury efforts were lousy or anything.

As we move into 1966 the year got underway with the second single release that Ray produced on Dolly Parton: "Busy Signal". Ray not only produced the song but he wrote it as well. Ironically the B-side, "I Took Him for Granted", was produced by Fred Foster and there's no credit given for the music arrangement. That single was, more or less, immediately followed by "Don't Drop Out" backed with "Control Yourself" in February 1966. Ray produced and arranged those two songs but for the remainder of Dolly's stay at Monument Records the production duties would be taken over by Fred Foster. Dolly eventually moved to RCA Records and became part of Porter Wagoner's stage shows, his massively popular television series, and this major exposure led to her eventual super-stardom. Ray, on the other hand, issued his second single on Monument in March 1966...the rocker "Devil May Care". This was backed with the lovely "Make a Few Memories"...both songs from the pen of Joe South...and both produced by Fred Foster. Earlier I mentioned that Ray didn't entirely abandon novelty songs...and in the summer of 1966 Ray issued "Freddie Feelgood and His Funky Little Five Piece Band" backed with the ballad "There's One in Every Crowd". Freddie returned Ray to the national Hot 100...briefly...but the single release marked the first credit given to Ray's publishing company, Ahab Music. All of Ray's single releases on Mercury and the first several for Monument were credited to Lowery Music. Ray would publish, with few exceptions, all of his own recordings from this point forward. Ray remained busy as a session musician throughout the rest of 1966...two notable recordings he was involved in...Ray was the organist on the B.J. Thomas hit, "Billy and Sue", and he did the string arrangements for Bobby Bare's legendary hit, "Streets of Baltimore". In the spring of 1967 Monument released Ray's fourth single for the label titled "Answer Me, My Love" backed with the uptempo "Mary, My Secretary". Monument didn't issue another commercial single on Ray for the remainder of the year...but in January of 1968 things started to get very interesting...so keep a look out for Part Four of this mini-series!!

Ray Stevens CabaRay Group Rates...

An early Sunday morning begins...a couple of hours before sunrise on Mother's Day. A couple of days ago a video clip was posted on Ray's Facebook page which pointed out the seldom publicized group rates for the CabaRay showroom. Group rates, of course, are self-explanatory and given it's early May and the weather is turning for the better it's become customary for businesses to begin promoting travel and tourism to Nashville, TN and the CabaRay is no exception.

Nashville radio personality Bill Cody is seen in the video clip delivering the information about the group rates. Bill also does the announcing on Ray's CabaRay Nashville television series. He makes mention of calling the box office, of course, so you can arrange/finalize the concerts in which your group wants to attend a concert. The box office number can be seen in the video and you can also visit the CabaRay webpage and find the information, too...but the video clip is designed to reach a maximum number of people who may not have the time to explore the webpage and give it a thorough going over. I'm not embedding the clip because of how it impacts the look of the blog entry. I had the video code pasted here and after I previewed the page and how it would appear there was a long gap underneath the video clip and the start of the next paragraph...and I don't think that sort of thing looks too good on a blog page...and so I'm providing a link to the video's Facebook appearance. You can see it by clicking HERE.

In my opening commentary I mentioned that the group rate offer is seldom publicized and I believe the reason for this is due to most of the feedback that shows up on-line revolves around individual experiences at the showroom and a lot of that feedback includes photos and it outnumbers the feedback supplied from those that attended a concert as part of a larger group. There have been instances where feedback from people that have been part of a tourist group has surfaced on the internet...so it isn't like that sort of feedback never happens. I have to often remind myself that not all of Ray's fans, whether they attend a concert as part of a larger group or not, some of the fans aren't internet driven which means they do not feel the desire or the need to jump onto the internet and post their comments/thoughts or photos from their Ray Stevens CabaRay experience.

However, having said that, there happen to be a lot of photos of Ray with those that have attended concerts at the showroom. Inside the piano bar after the show Ray meets and greets those that have attended and he signs autographs and so there's definitely an atmosphere of fan-artist interaction and, as mentioned earlier, it's those very photos that make up a large percentage of feedback on social media. The photos reinforce the family-friendly atmosphere and the photos offer an overview of the multi-generations of fans that appreciate his music and brand of entertainment...at a Ray Stevens concert it isn't unusual to see people from all ages in attendance...and if you happen to be a part of a group or club and want to attend a concert at the CabaRay call their box office for the group rates.

I still do not know when the Country Music Hall of Fame medallion ceremony is to take place. I don't think the information is released publicly, though. It's a private gala, anyway, but once the ceremony has taken place each newly elected member of the CMHOF will receive their plaque. Photos from the gala as well as video clips almost always appear on-line after the ceremony concludes but the actual ceremony itself has never been streamed live. The plaques, as many of you know, are put on display in the rotunda of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ray was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame this year...the announcement was made on March 18th...but his plaque won't be on display at the Hall of Fame until after the medallion ceremony has taken place.

Prior to the creation of the medallion ceremony each newly elected member of the Country Music Hall of Fame would receive their plaque on national television at the annual CMA Awards; typically to the surprise of the artist being given the honor because it was kept secret until the revelation at the awards show.

The reason I come across eager and anxious for the medallion ceremony is because after it concludes Ray's place in the Hall of Fame will become official...at the moment he's referred to as a Member-Elect (much like politicians who've been elected but haven't taken office yet). So, in a way, the medallion ceremony is like Inauguration Day...and once the medallion process is completed the recipient officially becomes a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame with the unveiling of their plaque during the medallion ceremony...which later goes on permanent display in the rotunda at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In the lengthy career of Ray Stevens, and this ties in with Mother's Day, he's recorded a few songs about mom but I can't think of any song that traditionally fits the emotional, heartwarming feelings of Mother's Day. In several of his comedy songs he's sang about some wacky wives. In comedy songs in which Ray sings of being the father there's often comical situations revolving around the mom and the kids...a few examples being "The Camping Trip" (1986), "Juanita and the Kids" (1991), "The All-American Two Week Summer Family Vacation" (1993), "We're Having a Baby the Natural Way" (2004), "When the Kids Are Gone" (2005), and "The Cure" (2008).

Let's also recall some other mother references that have appeared in some Ray Stevens comedy songs: "The Dooright Family" (1980) tells the comical story of a traveling gospel show in which Mama Dooright memorably plays piano; "Mama's in the Sky with Elvis" (1987) is a comedy song featuring what's referred to as dark humor...the song is about a wife and mother who happened to have been a fan of Elvis but has since passed away in one of the most bizarre ways imaginable; "Mama Sang Bass" (1997), which I wrote about in previous blog entries (including the one preceding this), is a song in which Ray recalls how his fictional parents both worked at a pharmaceutical factory and how exposure to chemicals and fumes caused Mama and Daddy to switch traditional roles (Mama eventually started growing facial hair) and then on Sunday in church their voices had also began changing which caused Mama to sing bass and Daddy to sing tenor. Ray would do a cover version of "Mother-in-Law" in 2012 for his Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. If you're familiar with the song you'll know it plays into the 'mother-in-law joke'...detailing how inferior a mother views her daughter's husband. 

On a more serious side of things there's "A Mama and a Papa" (1972) which originally appeared on Ray's gospel album, Turn Your Radio On. As one could imagine it's a song dealing with the importance of having a mother and a father figure in a child's life. Earlier than that Ray recorded "The Little Woman" (1969) and this is a song about a man who comes across an attractive woman who apparently shows interest in him...but loyalty to his wife and children prevent him from going down an adulterous path. It's a lyrically powerful song in my opinion. The politically correct zealots of today as well as feminists have long since defined the slang expression 'the little woman' as being a degrading and condescending phrase but as usual their over-reaction to phrases and words is just that: hysterical over-reaction. "The Little Woman" and "A Mama and a Papa", as far as I know, are the only songs Ray has recorded that fit the traditional formula of a sentimental, traditional Mother's Day song. If any of you can think of any other feel free to let me know.