Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! Several weeks ago I wrote a blog entry promoting an upcoming TV appearance from Ray on a series called Songs at the Center. The series airs all over the country on local PBS stations. Ray's episode is airing in my area over the weekend and I taped it Friday night and just got the opportunity to watch it. The host of the show, Eric Gnezda, welcomes the viewers to the show and gives a brief history on Ray's accomplishments (2 time Grammy winner; 40 million records sold) and then he introduces Ray. The episode takes place on the stage of the CabaRay showroom. Ray kicks things off with a performance of "Everything is Beautiful". In fact, once Eric finished the introduction, Ray launched into the performance. He accompanies himself on the piano... there's no other music. After the performance Ray explains the origin behind the song and that it was written because he needed a theme song for a 1970 summer show he was to be the host of for Andy Williams. Eric mentions that the song has had all kinds of impact with people...including a lot of inspirational and spiritual impact. When they were discussing the aspects of the song Eric asked Ray if he thinks of the production aspect of the song as he's writing the lyrics and the music. Ray remarks that the production is almost always at the forefront because, as he explained it, if you know what you want the song to 'sound' like then it's vital to have possible production methods rolling around in your head as you write the song. This subject blends into a discussion about recording sessions. He spoke about his years playing on recording sessions for all kinds of performers and his time in A and R which stands for Artists and Repertoire. It was in his role as an A and R executive that afforded him the opportunity to work with all kinds of new, unknown performers...as well as discover a lot of performers for record companies. As Ray and Eric discuss recording sessions the camera pans around the showroom and spotlights the photographs that decorate the walls of the showroom. The photos highlight the recording artists, record producers, and session musicians that crossed Ray's path at some point. Keep in mind that Ray's songs as well as his music arranging and production skills were showcased on numerous recordings made by others.
Eric tells Ray that his father's favorite song is "Mr. Businessman", after which Ray sings it. Eric brings up music arranging and Ray elaborates on how much he loves creating music...and he enthusiastically mentions the latest technology that he uses in his recording studio. Eric compliments Ray on being such a skilled performer and brings up that some singers just enter a studio to sing and they let the producers and others literally make the recording yet, in Ray's case, Ray not only shows up to sing but he's also there to produce, arrange, and play on the recording. Also, if it's a song from Ray or somebody that contractually supplies songs to him, he publishes the songs, too!
In the interview Ray characteristically downplays his own talents by saying that he knows what he wants in his recordings and so that's more or less why he's been his own record producer and music arranger for so many years. Eric brings up Ray's association with Dolly Parton...the time period being the mid 1960s at Monument Records. Ray speaks of Fred Foster and Dolly and remarks that although she didn't have any 'hit records' during those early years he felt that Dolly would become a big star one day. Eric asks about the song, "Just for the Hell Of It". Ray explains that Burt Reynolds contacted him to write a theme song for the movie, Cannonball Run. Ray wrote and performed the movie's theme song but then, according to Ray, Burt had a copy of the movie and asked Ray to watch it and if he sees any part where more songs could be added to go ahead and write something. Ray said that he was watching the movie and during a scene with Burt and Farah Fawcett he heard Burt's character say 'just for the hell of it' and that inspired him to write the song. Ray remarked that the song was edited down to fit a particular scene but he performed the full length recording. However, prior to Ray's performance, the host remarked that Ray would be singing to an audio track containing the music accompaniment...rather than simply singing it with just the piano. Eric asked about Ray's prowess on the piano and Ray said that he learned to play the piano at the age of 6. Ray commented that he was 6 when WWII ended and that sheet music of a military piece was something he was learning to play. He then commented that he studied classical piano for 15 years.
Eric closes the show bringing up "The Streak".. Ray tells the history of the song and then performs the first portion of the novelty.. and when you watch Ray giggling at various moments you'll find yourself wearing a big grin, too. The host had a big grin on his face when hearing Ray talk like the by-stander describing to Ethel everything he was seeing.
It was a very good appearance, performance, and it went by so fast!! Check your local PBS stations for Songs at the Center.. Ray Stevens is the guest on the first episode of the current season.
Hello fans of Ray Stevens...and in this second blog entry of June 4th I wanted to make mention of an upcoming television appearance by Ray Stevens. This appearance may very well have aired in your local market but it hasn't aired everywhere. The PBS series, Songs at the Center, will feature Ray on their first episode of the new season of shows. The episode has aired in some places of the country, as mentioned, due to it being a syndicated national program on local PBS affiliates. The episode is set to air in this area on June 16th at 11:30pm and I have my DVR programmed to tape the episode.
What you fans of Ray Stevens need to do is check the websites of the PBS television stations in your area. Once there check their program guide for Songs at the Center. All the PBS websites have a navigational tool and a list of the programs they air. When you do the TV show search, and you find out that your local PBS station carries the show, it'll provide all upcoming episodes of the series...and the one with Ray Stevens should be among the search results along with it's air-date and time. The host of the series is a guy named Eric Gnezda. Once I watch the episode in a few weeks I'll definitely write an overview/review in a future blog entry. The episode was taped at the CabaRay showroom in west Nashville earlier this year.
Hello one and all...today being July 3rd I was informed that it's the birthday of Aaron Tippin. Ray Stevens posted a video of Aaron performing "God's Not Through With Me Yet" from an appearance on CabaRay Nashville. The song originally appeared on a Silver Anniversary album from Aaron in 2015 titled 25. It was a more or less one of his latest songs when he sang it on Ray's television show a few years after the 25 album was released.
A year earlier Ray uploaded Aaron's performance of "You've Got to Stand For Something". That song was released in the latter half of 1990 and struck a chord early in 1991 and became an anthem during the Gulf War. Since it's Aaron's birthday I decided to give you all a double dose of Aaron Tippin...here he is performing the song along side Ray on the piano...
It's me once again! I was going over the episode list of the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville television show and it dawned on me that I never highlighted the show's 5th anniversary last month. The reason it slipped my mind is because of the activity surrounding the 50th anniversary release of "Everything is Beautiful". Ray's television series, which runs 30 minutes, debuted on November 7, 2015. The series was originally titled Ray Stevens' Nashville and it followed the release of his 2014 memoir of the same name. The show's first 26 episodes aired on cable channel, RFD-TV, on November 7, 2015. The series left it's airwaves in December 2016. The show moved to local syndication on PBS in January 2017...and for the first 26 weeks in syndication the local PBS stations carrying Ray's show repeated the RFD episodes.
The show's title changed to Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville beginning with it's move to local PBS stations in January 2017. Ray was in the process of having his CabaRay showroom built during the latter half of 2015 and throughout 2016...and it was expected that a grand opening of the showroom would occur early in 2017 but some technical/legal issues with the building permit caused the construction to be delayed from the start and so the showroom wasn't finished until the fall of 2017. The grand opening of the CabaRay happened in January 2018. All the while this was going on throughout 2017 and into 2018 local PBS stations were airing all new episodes of Ray's television show. In June of 2017 in nearly all of the local PBS markets airing his show viewers that had previously seen the RFD episodes were now going to be treated to brand new episodes. Ray and his crew throughout the latter half of 2016 and throughout much of 2017 and into early 2018 eventually produced 52 half hour episodes, specifically, for PBS and the earliest of the completed episodes began airing, as mentioned, in June of 2017. Ray taped 9 episodes at the CabaRay showroom early in 2018.
All in all there have been 78 half hour episodes produced of the series and one behind-the-scenes special that aired during pledge break on several PBS stations. These 78 half hour episodes continue to air on local PBS stations scattered throughout the country. The bulk of the local PBS stations airing the show are in Tennessee but there are other local PBS stations across the country that are airing it. Some local PBS affiliates either carry it on their Statewide network or on a digital sub-channel. Here is an incomplete list of PBS stations currently airing Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. A couple of States air the show on their main PBS feed but the majority of the PBS stations are local affiliates that are geographically specific in nature and therefore the coverage is confined to a specific area within the State.
It's me once again!! In this second blog entry of October 4th I am discussing Ray Stevens and Don McLean. If I'm not mistaken I published a blog entry awhile ago featuring Don's performance of his biggest hit, "American Pie", from this episode of CabaRay Nashville. I'd have to search the archives but I'm pretty sure I uploaded it in blog's past.
In the photo off to the left we see Don McLean being interviewed by Ray Stevens. Well, it's more like chit chat as Ray asks Don to tell the audience what's being performed. Don remarks in the video embed that it's a song from his current album, Botanical Gardens. This album hit in 2018 which is right around the time this episode of CabaRay Nashville was taped. The song Don performs is called "Lucky Guy". The interview portion of Ray's PBS CabaRay Nashville series features the guest star seated on the other side of Ray's red piano. Ray sits at the piano and conducts his interviews. A typical episode will feature Ray either introducing the guest to the television viewer or introducing the guest's first performance. The guest usually doesn't walk out from backstage on camera...the guest is already seated beside the piano or standing in the performance area. Now, depending on the execution of an episode, the guest will either do their interview segment first and then perform or they'll sing first and do a brief interview second...followed by their second song. Most episodes feature the guest being interviewed first and then they sing their first song. A guest's first performance is typically followed by one of the recurring features...either a classic music video from Ray is played or sketches from his various video projects are played...followed by the second song from the guest. Ray opens and closes the show with a song. Here's Ray and Don McLean...and the performance of "Lucky Guy"...
Hello all once more!! As most of you long time fans of Ray Stevens are aware he's a recording artist of many talents. He was raised listening to country, pop, gospel, and the rhythm and blues sounds. In his career he's recorded all of those styles in addition to the comical/novelty style of which he's garnered the bulk of his success. One of his music influences was Ray Charles and while it may seem laughable to a general audience to say Ray Stevens in the same breath as Ray Charles the truth of the matter is Ray idolized Rhythm and Blues artists and groups of the '40s and '50s.
The Coasters, given their novelty reputation, have long been credited as an influence of Ray Stevens but the list of influences doesn't stop there. Ray has often said that he grew up loving the music of Ray Charles, Clyde McPhatter, The Clovers, The Drifters, and others. Ray recorded a song that was a huge hit for Ray Charles, "What'd I Say", for his 2015 CD, Here We Go Again!. In 1978 Ray Stevens recorded his tribute to the Rhythm and Blues artists and groups he loved listening to on an album titled There Is Something On Your Mind. It's for that 1978 album that Ray recorded his version of "One Mint Julep", which had been a lyrical hit for The Clovers (the rendition Ray Stevens heard first) but it later became an even bigger hit as a piano instrumental for Ray Charles. In this video clip from Ray's CabaRay Nashville television series he performs the Ray Charles classic, "I Got a Woman"...
Hello one and all!! In this blog entry I'll be embedding the video of Rex Allen, Jr. on the CabaRay Nashville television series. The program, hosted by Ray Stevens, airs in local syndication on PBS stations. In the promo for the episode Ray can be heard doing his vocal impression of Gabby Hayes. In the performance video "Happy Trails" is performed by Ray and Rex.
Some may wonder why Rex would perform that song given it's universal identification with Roy Rogers...my guess is the sing-a-long nature lends itself to duets and considering Ray, in most episodes, sings a duet with his guest that's the reason the song was selected. Ray plays piano and sings harmony while Rex performs "Happy Trails"...which, as one could guess, turns into a studio sing-a-long with the band and the audience.
In the full episode Rex sings "Lonely Street" and "Crying in the Chapel" and the two discuss his writing of "Arizona", which became a State song for Arizona. I wrote an episode review of Rex Allen, Jr.'s appearance on Ray's television show a couple of years ago in case you want much more specific details about that episode. It should be in the October 2017 archives. Here's Ray and Rex discussing and then performing "Happy Trails"...
Hello all again! It's 15 minutes until midnight as I begin typing this so let me squeeze in a birthday post centering around Collin Raye and his guest appearance on the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville television show (which airs in local syndication on PBS stations). Born August 22, 1960 the country music artist, as you can see, turns 60 today. He came to fame in country music in 1991 during the New Country/Young Country wave that was sweeping over country music. It had started in the late 1980s but by the early 1990s it was unstoppable. Collin's first single, "All I Can Be is a Sweet Memory", comes from the pen of the late songwriting legend, Harlan Howard. It hit in 1991...but I first heard that song on a 1985 album from Conway Twitty called Chasin' Rainbows.
Ray Stevens and Collin Raye; CabaRay Nashville
Collin's breakthrough song was the follow-up which hit number one, "Love, Me". He has 21 Top-10 Country hits and 14 of them hit the Top-10 in consecutive order between late 1991 through early 1996. "Love, Me" hit number one here in the U.S. and in Canada early in 1992. He'd have three more number one hits in the U.S. and three additional number one hits in Canada. In 1997 he was part of a trio recording, "The Gift", which became an Adult-Contemporary smash hit (peaking at #3). The main artist on that recording was pianist Jim Brickman but Collin was credited as one of two soloists, the other being Susan Ashton. Collin's 21st and final Top-10 Country hit was "Couldn't Last a Moment" in 2000 (a number one in Canada). The trio of Brickman/Raye/Ashton reunited in 2003 for "Peace", which hit the Adult-Contemporary Top-20. Okay, I think I've written enough of a backstory on Collin Raye...what about his appearance on Ray's show?? Here it is...
Collin spoke a lot about his early years and his time in Branson, Missouri. The song he performs, "My Kind of Girl", hit number one in early 1995.
Hello all once again!! Earlier today a performance by Aaron Tippin of "You've Got to Stand for Something" from an episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville appeared on YouTube. The performance comes from Aaron's guest appearance on Ray's PBS show. The single was released in the fall of 1990. As is commonplace in country music a new artist usually has to have a couple of single releases fail to make an impact before finally getting 'discovered'. In Aaron's case his debut single, which he co-wrote, happened to be "You've Got to Stand for Something". The single struck a chord but what put it over the top was it's connection to the Gulf War in early 1991. Bob Hope was in the process of doing what turned out to be his last major USO tour...this time around it happened to be military stops in the Persian Gulf area. Bob heard Aaron's song and wanted the singer to appear on his next USO stop...and one thing led to another and Aaron's career and his debut single became emotionally tied to the Gulf War during the first several months of 1991. Aaron continues supporting military causes and has performed at numerous military bases all over the world since 1991. Aaron was born July 3, 1958 and so today is his birthday.
In a recent blog entry I listed the episodes of Ray's television series, Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. The series airs in local syndication on PBS stations. It might be airing in your area...check the PBS affiliates in your area to be sure. If it isn't airing on what's called the main PBS station check their sub-channels. If you happen to have a PBS station found on Channel 24, for example, the sub-channels would be referred to as 24.1, 24.2, 24.3 on the on-screen program guide and sometimes they'll be found in the section of your on-screen program guide located with the other local stations in your area. There's been a lot of confusion over the years because many, if not all, of the main PBS stations have put Ray's show on their sub-channels and the existence of those sub-channels don't get a lot of publicity and it's left a lot of Ray's fans unable to find the show even though there's a possibility it's airing on a local PBS sub-channel but fans don't realize it.
My advice, as it's always been, is to thoroughly search the line-up's of your local PBS station and their sub-channels. All television stations offer a program guide on their website...so search for Ray's television show using the search guide. If it airs on your local PBS station then you'll receive information on air-date, whether it's airing on the main PBS channel or one of it's sub-channels, and the time it's airing. In this video clip we have Ray Stevens playing piano and singing harmony with Larry Gatlin on "All the Gold in California".
The video clip emerged a couple of days ago on May 2nd...it was Larry's 71st birthday. The performance is from the second episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville from November 2015...but at the time the series was called Ray Stevens Nashville and when it moved into local PBS syndication in January 2017 it received the slight change in title but the opening sequences were left intact as was the theme song, "Nashville".
It's the weekend and that means somewhere out there on local PBS stations there are airings of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. Although the series is syndicated on local PBS affiliates across the country, which means local stations can air it at any time they choose, most of the local PBS stations that air it have placed it on their Saturday afternoon or Saturday evening time-slot while other local PBS stations air it on Sunday. In a lot of these local markets the series is airing on what are known as secondary channels/sub-channels or over-the-air channels. The best way to explain it is there might be one main PBS station per large market per State and in that PBS station's umbrella of channels there may be three or four secondary channels affiliated with the main PBS station. As mentioned those channels are referred to secondary/over-the-air because they're owned and operated by the main PBS station. In my area the local PBS affiliate airing Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville is in the umbrella of KET (Kentucky Educational Television). Ray's show airs on one of their over-the-air channels, KET2. The line-up for KET2, in my area, is assigned to television station WCVN in Covington, Kentucky. There is a KET3 and another sub-channel in the KET umbrella of channels. There have been 78 half hour episodes produced of the series between 2015 and 2018. Since there is an abundance of episodes and with it airing weekly (rather than daily) the local PBS affiliates are able to air a little more than 50 episodes per calendar year and still have more than 20 additional episodes to air before the series begins it's repeat cycle. If we were talking about daily syndication the series would've been into it's first repeat cycle perhaps within 30 weeks in the same calendar year. So, then, each local PBS affiliate that picks up the series (it's free) won't need to concern themselves with repeating an episode until the following calendar year. There are several stations, which I consider loyal, that have continued airing the series year after year and I love the fact that they continue to air the show, in repeats, because it keeps Ray's name out there and it allows people to find the show if they previously weren't aware of it's existence whereas other local PBS affiliates aired the episodes on a first-run only basis and didn't go into a repeat cycle.
I've posted an episode guide in past blog entries and I'll more than likely post an episode guide in future blog entries, too. The episode guide is based on the official release dates and not based on actual air-dates. A syndicated series can air out of order or it can run in chronological order...some PBS affiliates may be airing the first series of episodes whereas another PBS affiliate may be airing some of the later episodes but here is the official episode guide:
Season One:
1. Steve Wariner
2. Larry Gatlin
3. Bobby Bare
4. Don Schlitz
5. Charlie McCoy
6. Bobby Braddock
7. Jimmy Fortune
8. Aaron Tippin
9. John Conlee and Jeff Bates
10. Tanya Tucker and T.G. Sheppard
11. Gene Watson
12. James Gregory
13. Billy Dean
Season Two:
1. Bobby Goldsboro
2. T. Graham Brown and Suzi Ragsdale
3. Williams and Ree
4. Leroy Van Dyke
5. Bellamy Brothers
6. Gatlin Brothers
7. Collin Raye
8. Darryl Worley and Lee Greenwood
9. Bill Anderson
10. Sylvia
11. Con Hunley
12. Jimmy Wayne
13. Reed Robertson
Season Three:
1. Mandy Barnett and Harold Bradley
2. Shenandoah
3. Michael W. Smith
4. B.J. Thomas
5. Rhonda Vincent
6. Restless Heart
7. John Michael Montgomery
8. Baillie and the Boys
9. Tommy Roe
10. Mark Wills
11. Duane Eddy
12. Angaleena Presley
13. Riders in the Sky
Season Four:
1. Rex Allen, Jr.
2. Lari White
3. Charley Pride
4. Janie Fricke
5. Gary Mule Deer
6. Garry Morris
7. John Berry
8. Jeannie Seely
9. Don McClean
10. Felix Cavaliere
11. Suzy Bogguss (Christmas episode)
12. Deborah Allen (Christmas episode)
13. The A-Team (New Year's Eve episode)
Season Five:
1. Ray Hildebrand
2. Steve Wariner (edited repeat of series debut episode)
3. Paul Overstreet
4. Daily and Vincent
5. Jenny Gill
6. Tracy Lawrence
7. Sam Moore
8. Wilson Fairchild
9. Deana Carter
10. Gary Puckett
11. John Rich, Part One
12. John Rich, Part Two
13. Tony Orlando
Season Six:
1. Jamie O'Neal
2. Mark Chesnutt
3. Special Moments (compilation/clip-filled episode)
4. Hall of Fame (Ray gives a tour of the recently opened CabaRay)
5. Moe Bandy (first live episode taped at the CabaRay showroom)
6. Linda Davis
7. CeCe Winans
8. Micky Dolenz
9. Tribute Show**
10. Ronnie McDowell
11. Shoji Tabuchi
12. John Schneider
13. Lee Roy Parnell
**- The Tribute Show episode features Ray singing songs made famous by country music artists that had passed away: Jerry Reed, Glen Campbell, Merle Haggard, and Mel Tillis. As most of you know there are pledge breaks on PBS stations nationwide. In the latter half of 2017 one of the gifts being offered for those donating at a certain level happened to be a DVD documentary of Ray's television show featuring backstage footage and the production of the show. The documentary is narrated by the announcer for Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville, Bill Cody. The special aired on the local PBS affiliates that were airing his show. The televised airing featured interruptions by pledge breaks but, of course, the DVD itself lacked the pledge break interruptions. I donated to the local PBS affiliate and got myself a copy of that documentary when it was brand new. Since it's initial airing it's been available in select PBS on-line gift shops and it's since been uploaded onto YouTube by one of the members of the video hosting site. It hasn't officially been uploaded by Ray's social media staff and so I'm not going to post it here. I'll post a promo for the special...
Hello all! I'm playing catch-up and so I'm blogging about a video clip posted on Ray Stevens social media sites a couple of days ago. In this video we see recording artist Con Hunley performing the song "She Ain't You". I did some research because I know he had several country music hits but I wasn't familiar with his overall career. I wrote a re-cap of Con's episode of CabaRay Nashville and you can find it in my archives. Con is one of those artists that developed a following but later on he stopped making records entirely...he wasn't even recording for any small, Independent labels during that time...and the hiatus was nearly 20 years (1986-2004).
Con's highest charting hit came along with a song called "Oh Girl" in 1982 but that, strangely enough, isn't the song that received the most recurrent airplay of his career. That distinction goes to his hit, "No Relief in Sight", which hit the Top-20 the same year as "Oh Girl". It was probably due to "No Relief in Sight" sounding a just a tad bit more country that spurred that particular recording to be among his most notable recordings. It's anyone's guess. He recorded three albums after his nearly 20 year hiatus...one in 2004, another in 2005, and a third in 2006. Norro Wilson reunited with Con as record producer in the early 2000's...Norro had been associated with Con earlier in his recording career. Norro, by the way, was seated in the audience during Con's episode of CabaRay Nashville. The video below is Con performing "She Ain't You"...
A follow-up blog entry on the heels of my previous blog entry from about 20 minutes ago. In this one I'm embedding a video clip of Charley Pride performing "Kiss An Angel Good Morning" on CabaRay Nashville. He happened to have celebrated a birthday yesterday.
This video clip, like the one featuring Paul Overstreet, at the moment doesn't appear
on YouTube searches for 'Ray Stevens' because his name isn't in the
official video title. If you search 'Ray Stevens and Charley Pride' this
video will show up in the results...but not it you search 'Ray
Stevens'. Of course, if you regularly visit Ray's YouTube channel and look at the video upload section you're going to find these video clips. I point all of this out because if you don't frequent Ray's other social media sites and just rely on YouTube to search for video clips of Ray then chances are you're not going to easily find this video clip or the one with Paul Overstreet in a basic search for 'Ray Stevens'.
"Kiss An Angel Good Morning" is referred to as Charley's signature hit and in
terms of longevity at number one and the fact that it crossed over into
the Top-40 on pop radio it's inarguable that it's his signature song in spite of the fact that he'd go on to have incredibly popular hit songs for 15 or so more years after "Kiss An Angel Good Morning" reached it's peak.
Hello once again!! I'd written about the upcoming Season Three of the Ray Stevens CabaRay showroom getting underway on March 12th. We're less than a month away from that date and a new video clip from Ray has emerged on social media promoting the upcoming third season of concerts. He had previously uploaded a video as a tie in with the 2020 edition of CMA Fest this coming June but this promo is for the showroom's Season Three kickoff next month...
In the video Ray goes into more detail about things that I was wondering about in some of my previous CabaRay blog entries. There will be special events at the CabaRay on select Friday nights throughout 2020...no detailed information was given but perhaps he'll be renting out the showroom to other performers who are touring and maybe the CabaRay will be a venue they'll add to their concert itinerary!? It sounds like a long shot on my part...but it's just an opinion/assumption based on what I heard in the promo video. I had previously written about the change in procedure from the first two season's of concerts with regards to the dinner. The 2018 and 2019 seasons stipulated that dinner paying customers sat at tables or at the various booths. The balcony seats were for those that chose to skip the dinner option...although beverages were still served to those seated up there. The 2020 concert season will suspend the 2018 and 2019 policy and allow customers to sit at the tables and in the booth's with or without a dinner being served. It's my guess that customers are still going to want a dinner, though...and so they'll order one just so they'll get the full experience of a night at the CabaRay.
As you heard in the video clip Ray will be performing on Thursday and Saturday nights this season. One of the other things mentioned is that the resident pianist, John Jonethis, will be in performance on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings inside the Piano Bar. This means that the Piano Bar will be open to the public on Friday evenings when there isn't a Ray Stevens concert scheduled. Ironically years before the CabaRay was built John Jonethis had released a CD titled Tonight...at the Piano Bar. I never knew this CD existed until today...I was doing on-line searches about the CabaRay as well as John Jonethis, specifically, and seen the name of the CD among the search results. I clicked the Amazon link assuming that perhaps it was a live CD recorded at Ray's showroom inside the piano bar area but I found out it's a CD from 2002...some 16 years before the CabaRay had it's grand opening. Even though the main attraction at the CabaRay is, of course, Ray Stevens, my guess is the Piano Bar being open on Friday nights is designed to attract those that want a classy atmosphere than what exists elsewhere...where Pop music standards and vintage jazz is played/celebrated by the pianist, John Jonethis. I don't know if you still need to purchase some sort of ticket to visit the CabaRay Piano Bar on Friday when Ray isn't performing or if you can just walk in and have a seat in the piano bar. Those that appreciate the style of music often played inside the Piano Bar will find it heavenly. I'm not embedding a link to the CabaRay webpage because the information can be found in the video clip...which includes a telephone number for ticket information.
Hello all...I was performing an image search of Ray Stevens about 20 minutes ago and I came across an image of a press release from a site called the Upper Cumberland Reporter. I clicked the image and was taken to an on-line newspaper website displaying a press release from PBS station WCTE. The document shown that it was written on January 29, 2020 for immediate release while the on-line site shows it was uploaded onto the internet on January 31, 2020. In the last several days of routinely searching the internet for Ray Stevens images, etc. I never once came across an image of a press release until this morning and so I decided to write a blog entry to share the link with all of you. I have written two previous blog entries about the WCTE dinner that Ray is going to perform a concert at and I included several links to information concerning ticket prices and everything else. This press release will also give you information on where to get tickets and it also includes a phone number and e-mail address. You can read the press release by clicking HERE.
CabaRay Nashville title card
The weekly television series hosted by Ray Stevens, CabaRay Nashville, is syndicated on local PBS stations across the country. The current station that handles the distribution of the series is WCTE. The weekly series is in a hiatus, as of this writing, but to date there have been 78 half hour episodes produced as well as a one hour special which often airs during annual PBS pledge breaks. I have a DVD of the documentary special from a local PBS station in my area that airs Ray's television show every Saturday night at 8:30pm. The DVD features the documentary, narrated by Bill Cody, in addition there's a lot of behind the scenes bonus footage as well as exclusive performances which didn't make the final cut from some of the special guests. The half hour bonus footage isn't part of the hour long special and can only be seen on the DVD. If your PBS station airs Ray's television series then you should be able to get the DVD through them as a donation gift or you can at least inquire about it's availability. It isn't sold on Ray's website and you won't be able to find it in any mass merchant on-line store. The webpage for a local PBS station in Nashville, WNPT, currently has this DVD special listed on their site as a donation gift.
There is a phone number listed at the bottom of the WNPT product page for the DVD you see off to the left. Call
that number to see if this DVD is actually still available as a gift. It's been a couple of years since it was released and I don't know if their gift donation page is updated...it should be accurate but call just in case. If
it's still available you can pay a one-time donation or you can spread it out over a
period of months. You can find all that information, including a phone number to call for more details, by clicking HERE. I don't have the time to look up the local PBS stations carrying his show because they're scattered throughout the country but I lucked out at finding the DVD listed in the Gift section of WNPT's website. It's a fascinating documentary. Although long time fans such as myself perhaps weren't being told anything revealing or new the presentation is spectacular and the footage is a must for all fans of Ray Stevens. The reverent style of Bill Cody's narration is also a plus. I don't mention that PBS television special too much in my blog entries given the obscure and exclusive nature surrounding it...but I decided to make mention of it in this blog entry just in case there are people who do not know that it exists. In the meantime don't forget to click the link at the top of this blog entry to read the press release of the Ray Stevens concert on March 24th for WCTE.
Hello once more...as several of my recent blog entries will clearly show I'm also writing this one based upon something I came across on the internet. Several blogs ago I wrote about an upcoming dinner that Ray Stevens will be performing at this year. The performance is scheduled for March 24th and it's going to take place in Cookeville, Tennessee at the Leslie Town Center. The performance is part of an annual dinner hosted by WCTE, a local PBS station, and the distributing station of Ray's syndicated television series, CabaRay Nashville. In my first blog entry surrounding the upcoming WCTE dinner I included three links to websites that provided more detailed information. If you clicked each one and read more detailed information you would've seen information concerning ticket prices. There's since been a link that's emerged on social media that takes you directly to the page detailing ticket prices and I'll be embedding that link in this blog entry. I do this because I know there's a lot of people that do not like to navigate through websites and prefer to click a link and immediately find what they're searching for. Personally I prefer to navigate. If you're familiar with events of this caliber then you'll know that the ticket prices are usually not in the price range of the average concert goer. The link I'll be providing offers a breakdown of the ticket prices and the quantity of tickets remaining for purchase. I don't know when the page was last updated so it never hurts to call the venue. There's a link contained within the link I'll be sharing...it's a link that I've shared previously. Once you click HERE you'll see a page open up with Ray at the piano inside the CabaRay. When you look below that photo you'll see the logo for WCTE television and a link to their Annual Dinner webpage. If you click that link it'll take you to a site with contact information (phone numbers, etc.).
There are three sets of ticket prices. Based upon when the page was last updated the VIP Tickets show only 4 remaining. Those tickets not only include a concert but also a Meet and Greet. A second set of tickets are called Table Sponsor and there are 23 of those remaining. The third set of tickets are Individual Tickets. This set are the tickets that are likely going to be purchased by the general public and are the cheapest by comparison. The VIP and Sponsor level tickets are often referred to as Corporate and therefore are priced higher. It doesn't mean you'll get better seats by purchasing the higher priced tickets...it just means you'll have a few extra incentives added that a general audience doesn't receive. The Individual set of tickets guarantee a dinner and the Ray Stevens concert. This information is also available in the link I provided above. The link is a ticket ordering site and so if you plan on attending the event there's a blank order form below the advertisement. When you open the link there will be several messages from the site that pop up in the lower left hand side of the screen detailing who's purchased tickets as well as an alert to how many tickets have been purchased within a specific time frame. If even more specific information comes along between now and March 24th I'll blog about it of course!
Hello one and all...while doing an internet search I came across a webpage promoting an upcoming event taking place on March 24th. The event is the WCTE Annual Dinner and it'll take place in Cookeville, Tennessee at the Leslie Town Centre on March 24th. I just came across the webpage and I looked elsewhere and seen a link to the event page posted on social media site, Twitter, and so I'm posting a link on this blog page as well. I'm making the assumption that the upcoming performance will appear on Ray's social media pages later on in the month or perhaps in the days following the third season kick-off of his CabaRay showroom on March 12th...with it now being February 1st the month of March is just a month away.
You can read about the WCTE Annual Dinner event when you click HERE. Once you click the link you'll see a photo of Ray performing at the CabaRay. WCTE is the flagship PBS station of his television series, CabaRay Nashville...well, I should say, it's the distributing station. Those of you that are able to see Ray's locally syndicated PBS series across the country no doubt have seen the image show up on your television screen reading: WCTE Upper Cumberland. Well, that's the distributing station for Ray's television series. The article also contains all the ticket information you'll need if you're thinking about attending the event. The event, surprisingly, is open to the public. I say that because I had always thought that PBS events were exclusive but this one is open to the public given the link on their webpage for ticket purchases. When Ray performs at this WCTE dinner on March 24th the third season of concerts at the CabaRay will have gotten underway. The Leslie Town Centre's webpage shows images of it's interior. I don't know if posting about the event in this blog will create more demand than they have room for or not...it's not my intention to create a situation where people may be turned away for lack of space but nevertheless this is a Ray Stevens fan created blog page and I feel obligated to promote all of his public appearances in any venue regardless of capacity size. A third webpage promoting the Annual Dinner can be found by clicking HERE. That is WCTE's website and the link is to the 2020 Annual Dinner showing Ray Stevens as the special guest. A link to ticket purchases can also be accessed on their site.
The CEO of WCTE, Becky Magura, interviewed Ray at the CabaRay for her talk show. I embedded that video a couple of months ago in a previous blog entry. The series is called One on One. If you search the December 2019 archives off on the right hand side of the page the blog entry will be among the results listed. I'm anxiously awaiting any news or information surrounding Ray's music releases for the year 2020 or if new episodes of his television show will be going into production. Let's see what the month of February has to bring!
Hello one and all...in this particular blog entry I'm embedding a recent video upload from Ray Stevens. This time around it's a video of him singing his Christmas classic, "Santa Claus is Watching You". This song, as long time Ray Stevens fans should already know, originated in 1962 and was issued as a single on Mercury Records. In that recording Ray sings about how children across the world better behave and do well in school because Santa's watching...he knows who's naughty and nice. The 1962 recording hit the Hot 100 that Christmas season. Ray wrote the song and in it's original lyrics he came up with the catchphrase "he's everywhere, he's everywhere!" and the inclusion of additional reindeer during the roll call. Aside from those two instances the rest of the song is aimed pretty much at children. Yes, as I've mentioned before, I like the 1962 recording but then Ray, several decades later, reworked the song into a tale of a relationship between two people in which the man warns his wife not to cheat on him because Santa's watching. This rendition hit in 1985...and in a pretty big way, too. It was featured on his MCA album that year, I Have Returned, and not only that it holds the distinction of being his very first music video. The 1985 version retained the "he's everywhere, he's everywhere!" catchphrase but hilariously added even more reindeer to the roll call. In the 1962 recording Rudolph was missing due to a dislocated hip he suffered in a Twist contest...in the 1985 version the missing Rudolph is said to be staking out a house at the order of Santa who's revealed to be working for the C.I.A. and attempting to catch adultery being committed.
The single release featured a picture sleeve of Ray, as Santa, peaking out from behind a Christmas tree next to a chimney. The 1962 recording also came with a picture sleeve in which Ray is shown with his hand above his eyes as if he's looking into the distance at Santa. An illustration of Santa appears on the picture sleeve, too. Ray re-recorded the song in 1997 for his first ever Christmas album, Christmas Through a Different Window. It was a re-recording of the 1985 version...the rendition containing the most familiar set of lyrics. In the more familiar recording of the song there's a segment that features an extensive display of scat singing. You'll see this in the video clip below. Now, whenever the 1962 recording is made mention of on social media sites, a lot of people have a stunning reaction which, after all, is rather normal given how obscure the 1962 recording had become and how massively popular the 1985 reworked version became. I, too, immediately think of the 1985 version of the song whenever I think of "Santa Claus is Watching You" even though I know the 1962 recording with different lyrics exists. Ray, as far as I know, has never performed the lyrics contained in the 1962 recording on any television show. A performance from Ray on a Christmas episode of his television series, CabaRay Nashville, was uploaded onto YouTube yesterday. This joins another performance of the song that Ray uploaded several days prior from 30 years ago in 1989...but below is a performance of the song by Ray in 2017...to date his most recent video upload...
Hello all...and yes, if you read my previous fan created blog entry, I mentioned that it would probably be the last one to appear until I compose a blog entry re-capping 2019 in the career of Ray Stevens but I looked on the lower right hand side of my computer and seen that today's date is December 15th and I wouldn't...more precisely I couldn't...dare to bring myself to not write any blog entries until after Christmas. I did mention that I'd probably write a blog entry if breaking news happens or if Ray uploads an audio track of one of his Christmas songs. In addition to not wanting to create a long drought of no new blog entries I decided to create a blog entry that specifically gave his television interview on WCTE proper attention. I provided links and discussed facts surrounding the interview but it's among a lot of Christmas themed writings in my previous blog post and so the link to the WCTE television series could easily get overlooked. A promo article published on December 5th by the Upper Cumberland Business Journal centering around Ray's December 12th WCTE appearance can be found HERE. I post that link because it's sort of like an appetizer for the main dish of Ray Stevens. Located below is a screen cap of Ray seated in the balcony area of his CabaRay showroom. The interview on WCTE, as you can tell, takes place inside the showroom.
2019
The interview is featured on a television series called One on One, hosted by Becky Magura. It's a local television program and given that I live several states away from Tennessee I don't receive this channel in my area and didn't know of the program's existence given it airing locally. However, the PBS station that carries the interview show, WCTE, is the presenting station for the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville television program and so I knew of that PBS network because the PBS station in my area that carries Ray's show, WCVN, displays an on-screen distribution credit for WCTE prior to the start of each episode. I came across another website which features the Ray Stevens episode of One on One and you can watch the video by clicking HERE. The video itself is rather large...I prefer videos to be a bit more smaller. I clicked the settings for the video while at the website but the video box didn't change it's size but nevertheless it's the full episode and I'm assuming it'll remain on-line. I don't think it's one of those limited availability postings which vanish without warning and so if you come across this blog entry days or weeks from now the link should still take you to the Ray Stevens interview.
Those of you that live in the WCTE area this One on One episode will repeat at 6:30pm today (December 15th) also, for those that get WCTE in your area, the episode of CabaRay Nashville airing today at 3pm will guest star Williams and Ree.
As a reminder, and it's totally your decision, think about making a donation to the PBS stations that air Ray's television program. If your local PBS station carries his television program, regardless of the time of day it airs, as a thank you give a donation to them. On all local PBS websites there's a make a donation link...you don't actually have to wait until a 'pledge break' to make a donation.
Hello one and all...we're in the middle of Christmas season...well, as I see it...we're here on December 14th and there's just 11 days left until Christmas and so it's fast approaching. In my previous blog entry I made mention of Ray's Christmas CDs and one of his recent YouTube uploads, "Xerox Xmas Letter", and he's since provided audio clips for his versions of "Frosty the Snowman" and "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth". Each of those songs were featured on two of the three Christmas CDs he's released: Christmas Through a Different Window (1997)and Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me (2016). A third Christmas CD, Ray Stevens Christmas (2009), features 10 recordings and one of them, "White Christmas", was made into a music video in 2012. He recorded a comical rendition of "Blue Christmas" in 2012 and made a music video out of it but previously he had recorded a non-comedic rendition of the song for his 2009 CD, too.
I placed two asterisks next to the songs that have become traditional music videos on YouTube; by that I'm referring to the songs were made into music videos rather than those that have been uploaded as audio tracks only. "Santa Claus is Watching You", featured on the 1997 CD, is a re-recording but yet a music video exists of the 1985 recording of the song. "Nightmare Before Christmas" became a music video in 2010. "Redneck Christmas" became a music video in 2012 followed the next year by "Guilt For Christmas".
Christmas Through a Different Window:
1. Guilt For Christmas**
2. I Won't Be Home For Christmas
3. Greatest Little Christmas Ever Wuz
4. Home for the Holidays
5. Redneck Christmas**
6. Xerox Xmas Letter
7. Nightmare Before Christmas**
8. The Annual Office Christmas Party
9. The Little Drummer Boy-Next Door
10. Bad Little Boy
11. Santa Claus is Watching You**
Ray Stevens Christmas:
1. Let it Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
2. White Christmas**
3. Winter Wonderland
4. Silent Night
5. The Christmas Song
6. Blue Christmas
7. I'll Be Home For Christmas
8. Deck the Halls with Teardrops
9. Jingle Bells
10. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me:
1. Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me**
2. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
3. Frosty the Snowman
4. All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
5. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer
6. Claws (A Cat's Letter To Santa)
7. All I Want For Christmas is You
8. Merry Christmas**
9. Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day
10. Christmas Bells in the Steeple
Did you notice that for the 2009 and 2016 CDs Ray took on two different approaches to Christmas music? Now, of course, the 1997 CD is completely comedic but in 2009 he filled the CD, mostly, with traditional, iconic Christmas standards. The Ray Stevens penned, "Deck the Halls with Teardrops", is the lone original on the CD; then, for the 2016 CD, Ray gave us his renditions of several more iconic Christmas songs but by and large it has a completely different feel to it even though, like 2009's CD, the one released in 2016 is completely serious too. I think a lot of that has to do with the presence of several contemporary songs such as the title track as well as "Merry Christmas", Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You", "Claws (A Cat's Letter to Santa)", and his version of a song he wrote, which had been a hit for pop music legend, Perry Como, "Christmas Bells in the Steeple". The presence of those songs gives the 2016 Christmas CD a more contemporary flavor even though, as you can see, there's plenty of Christmas favorites as well. In 2016 Ray uploaded a brief clip where he talks of the song he wrote for Perry Como...
I hope some of you reading this blog entry had a chance to attend the Christmas concerts at the Ray Stevens CabaRay showroom this year. The Christmas concerts began on November 1st and they wrap up on the 28th. According to his calendar there isn't going to be any concerts scheduled next weekend (December 20th and 21st) but he'll resume the following weekend (December 27th and 28th) and then wrap up the season on December 31st during his second annual New Year's Eve show. You can purchase tickets and read about the final concerts of the year by clicking HERE.
Shifting gears a little...several days ago an interview of Ray Stevens appeared on-line. The clip is from PBS television station, WCTE, the flagship distributor of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville to local PBS stations across the country. I believe this to be his third presenting station during the course of the last several years. OETA and WKNO preceded WCTE. A television series that airs on WCTE, One on One, is hosted by Becky Magura. She interviewed Ray for her television show and the interview appeared on-line a couple of days ago. There isn't any link provided for the actual interview but there's, of course, a link to the show's main page. Once there you'll have to search for Ray's interview. It's a commercial free interview and it's nearly half an hour long. Ray speaks about his career and several of his recordings as well as the CabaRay. He mentions that he's several weeks away from putting the finishing touches on a recording system where he'll be able to tape more television shows from the CabaRay in-house without having to park one of those large trucks outside and string cables all over the place. I took it as a hint that brand new episodes of his television show will soon be in production and if I'm correct that's welcome news to hear! Here's the LINK to the One on One television show.
Now, then, a completely out of left field announcement arrived back on December 12th regarding "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", a classic in the recording career of Ray Stevens, released in 1984. Buddy Kalb, one of the writers of the song, created a full scale musical built around the concept of the song and it'll be performed at Chaffin's Barn Theatre, a venue in Nashville, Tennessee, next summer. As of this writing it'll be hitting the stage beginning May 14, 2020. You can purchase tickets when you click HERE. The production is being billed as a Ray Stevens musical and I'm sure this was done simply for name recognition/publicity purposes...as of now I don't know how involved Ray happens to be in this musical...but because it involves one of Ray's inner circle (Buddy Kalb) and the fact that it deals with a song Ray recorded I feel you should go see the musical when it opens next May. You can also click HERE to see the main page for the musical. The more we get to May 2020 the more I'll blog about the musical. This has certainly been a jam packed blog entry!! In my next blog entry, more than likely, I'll be wrapping up the calendar year unless there's more video uploads or tidbits of information that trickle out into the on-line forum.
