Ray Stevens: The Road to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Part Twenty-Eight...

It has now come to this...the final installment of this mini-blog series chronicling the career path of Ray Stevens as he made his way to the Country Music Hall of Fame. I have reached January 2018 and this is another busy month for Ray...the opening of his long-anticipated venue, CabaRay, dominated the local headlines. The showroom, located on River Road in West Nashville, had a VIP opening on January 10, 2018. The audience make-up consisted of family and friends...and some of the footage and interviews made their way onto the internet in addition to being featured on local television news outlets.

1/10/18: Ray Stevens Day

This photo of Ray circulated on the internet back on January 10th and in the next few days which declared January 10, 2018 to be Ray Stevens Day. The official declaration, signed by Nashville mayor, Megan Barry, is on display in the photo. The grand opening of the CabaRay to the general public came more than a week later. The overall layout of the interior, according to numerous interviews from Ray, was inspired by a venue he used to appear in numerous times in the past...a Las Vegas attraction called The Desert Inn. Ray commented that he wanted this to be a showroom...an intimate supper club kind of venue...and there's dinner served to those that choose that option. The floor level seats are actually tables...where you eat before the concert. Those that choose balcony seats are provided the opportunity for drink service but if you want the dinner option you'll have to purchase floor level tickets. There are booth's located on the floor level, too. The booth's are named after several record producers. Oh yes, the CabaRay also contains a piano bar...the official name is the Bill Lowery High Spirits Emporium. The walls are lined with photo's of numerous musicians, record producers, recording artists, as well as photo's, of course, of Ray. The gift shop is located just inside the main entrance. CDs, T-shirts, and trinkets of all kinds are offered...a lot of these trinkets aren't sold in his on-line store and so the only way to get these gifts is by visiting the gift shop. Large photo's of his album covers line the walls of the gift shop but those aren't for sale. The gift shop generally opens 1 hour before the dinner...the Piano Bar opens 2 hours ahead of the dinner. The piano playing can be heard throughout the showroom...so you don't necessarily have to literally be inside the bar to hear it. The piano player/singer wraps up several minutes before Ray comes out on stage. After the concert Ray usually appears in the Piano Bar to sign autographs or sing songs accompanied by the bar's piano player. The upstairs area contains trophy cases lined with his awards. How do I know all of this?? Well, I attended a concert at the CabaRay a couple of months after it opened...oh how I'd love to get back there one day!!

The performance schedule at the showroom is typically confined to Friday and Saturday nights. There are times when a Thursday night concert is added in addition to Friday and Saturday. Ray made it perfectly clear in those grand opening interviews that he didn't want this to turn into another Branson-type of arrangement. If you're not familiar or are unsure of what he was referring to he was referring back to his early '90s run at the theater he headlined for three seasons, 1991-1993, and how at that time he did two shows a day, six days a week with very little downtime. So, this time around, the CabaRay, unlike The Ray Stevens Theatre, features one concert per night from Ray on Friday and Saturday and occasionally Thursday. In his memoir Ray remarks that the 2 shows a day, 6 days a week Branson schedule left him physically and mentally exhausted...so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the CabaRay would have a far less physically demanding pace. On the music front he had previously issued three CD's in 2016: Just a Closer Walk With Thee/Gospel Favorites, Love Lifted Me, and the holiday release, Mary and Joseph and the Baby and Me, in addition to the music video/single only, "Dear America". The first gospel release was the second volume of gospel songs released through Bill Gaither's record company while Love Lifted Me was a re-issue of Ray's early '70s gospel album with a unique twist: The music tracks were from the 1972 studio album but the audio tracks were re-recordings, except for one song, "Let Our Love Be a Light Unto the People". The Christmas CD, to date, remains the last CD project he's released.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville continued airing in local syndication on PBS television stations across the country throughout 2018. In August of 2018 the city of Nashville selected Ray as one of that year's recipient's for the Music City Walk of Fame. The attraction is located across the street from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum...recording artists of all music genres have received Stars on this cemented row of musicians. It's kind of like the Hollywood Walk of Fame...but without the massive hype/attention.

August 21, 2018

The sixth season of Ray's television series wrapped up in the summer of 2018...a little more than a month prior to the Music City Walk of Fame honor. The series, as of this writing, has a total of 78 half hour episodes. The show's title, CabaRay Nashville, was used as a tie-in to the showroom even though almost all of the episodes were taped at a recording studio on Music Row. The last ten episodes of Season Six originated at the CabaRay, though. In the last couple of months in 2018 Ray put on a Christmas series of concerts at the CabaRay showroom before closing things down for the year.

The venue closed down for a couple of months but re-opened for it's second season of concerts in early March 2019. By this time Ray had reached age 80 (back on January 24th) and his CabaRay Nashville television series was returning to the RFD-TV airwaves in addition to a second series, Rayality TV, making it's RFD-TV debut...all of these happenings arrived during the month of January but the biggest news of all arrived on the morning of March 18, 2019. It was on this day that WSM radio personality, Bill Cody, in a news conference, delivered the latest list of inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame. I was watching the news coverage that morning and it was surreal...as soon as Bill began reading about the inductee being from the small cotton mill town of Clarkdale, Georgia I couldn't believe my ears!!! Ray's election/induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame is something I had championed for years and years. I have always felt that his lack of presence in the Hall of Fame among those he worked with or worked for over the decades was a shame...but beyond that just his talents alone and the impact he had with songs, albums, home videos, and on-line music videos provides a perfect display of his artistic range and why he belongs in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

His talents as a singer/songwriter/musician/producer/arranger/publisher touch every facet of the music industry. For some country music fans they feel election to the Country Music Hall of Fame is more or less a prestigious popularity award. In this mindset they feel that Hall of Fame members need millions upon millions of album sales and dozens of Top-10 and number one hits to qualify. You can have a very successful career without being the dominant headliner or without being known all over the country. Anyway, Ray continued on with his CabaRay concerts, of course. Wednesday nights saw the addition of taping sessions for Larry's Country Diner, a series that airs on RFD-TV. I suspect that Ray had plans for new music to be released this year but the March announcement of his election to the Country Music Hall of Fame perhaps blindsided him so much that everything he had planned was put on hold. There are still several months left in 2019 so it's possible he'll issue something by year's end. In the summer of 2019 Ray appeared on the Close-Up Stage at CMA Fest...being interviewed about his career and recent election to the Hall of Fame. He served as Grand Marshal of an area Shriner's parade in June and held a private concert at the CabaRay for the Shriner's...photo's surfaced which looked as if they came right out of his 1980 "Shriner's Convention" song...but for the record there were no Shriner's in the photos wearing a Fez with a propeller on top.

I have this photo posted along the right hand side of the blog page. It's a photo of Ray inside the rotunda at the Country Music Hall of Fame during the morning of March 18, 2019 after being named one of the 2019 inductees into the Hall of Fame. His plaque will be unveiled this coming October 20th at the private Medallion Ceremony. The gala is a private function but photos, video, and audio from the event show up on-line almost immediately afterward. I felt this was a perfect photo of Ray to use as publicity for his upcoming induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and so I also have it posted on the photo time line off to the right. Ray gave an acceptance speech back on March 18th when the news broke that he was one of the artists going into the Hall of Fame this year and it's available to see and hear on YouTube. The big speech won't take place until October 20th when the formal induction takes place. I, like so many of his fans, are eager to hear what he has to say and if it's going to be full of laughs or if it'll be serious and dare I say, tear-jerking. Ray isn't known as an artist that shows those kinds of emotions publicly...and so I'm anxious to see/hear Ray's speech once his plaque is revealed for all to see. This mini-blog series was designed not to be an in-depth career history (although that's probably how it turned out) but more or less an overview of his career with some emphasis placed on things that elevate his career as something other than 'novelty singer' which is how he's viewed and it's what his reputation is even though you and I know Ray Stevens is much more than a 'novelty singer'.

In this mini-blog series I attempted to show his skills as producer, music arranger, and his role as music publisher...and the many styles of music he's recorded over the decades. While it's true that the comedy songs and the equally comedic music videos are tough to overcome in the overall legacy of Ray Stevens this mini-blog series gave equal time, in some cases more, to his serious recordings and to more serious aspects of his recording career...at least I happen to think it did. "Don't look, Ethel" is a very popular catchphrase associated with Ray Stevens...but don't let that catchphrase dictate your opinion regarding Ray's overall career. His serious recordings from the late '50s to the present time are definitely worth looking at and discovering if all you know about Ray Stevens is a comedy song or two from the '70s or '80s.

Tune into CabaRay Nashville every Saturday night on RFD-TV at 8pm Eastern or if you don't have the channel look for the show on your local PBS stations. When you watch his television show you'll know exactly why Ray Stevens belongs in the Country Music Hall of Fame and formal induction takes place in six days...October 20, 2019.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Grand Opening...Tomorrow!

Hello once more!! Here we are...just one day from the Ray Stevens CabaRay opening to the public!! Ray posted a link to an article in their local paper, The Tennessean. You can read the article by clicking HERE. For whatever reason they have a video clip of Ray from the CMA Music Fest last year in which he spoke about hoping to have the venue open to the public soon. On January 15th an article appeared on-line from the Digital Journal recapping the VIP event held on January 10th. You can read that by clicking HERE. One of the guests at VIP night that went under the radar as far as the press coverage...as I just found out about it this morning...was Margie Singleton (the widow of Shelby Singleton).

Back on January 11th, which would be a day after the VIP concert, Ray appeared on local television station WSMV in Nashville to promote the CabaRay. A video clip of that appearance can be found HERE. Keep in mind if you're coming across this blog entry months of years from now it's possible that the links may not be functioning anymore. If you find that's the case you simply Google Ray's name, the year, and the TV station or website the URL is linking to and you're sure to find the video clip or article among the archived search results.

I'll now relay something that's mind blowing and completely coincidental...this blog entry happens to be my 17th of 2018...what's so mind blowing you may ask yourself? I began it 10 years ago and this 17th blog entry added to the others I have written over the last 10 years equals 999!!! Yes...you read that correctly...this is my 999th fan created blog entry on the career and goings-on in the world of Ray Stevens. Tomorrow being opening day at the CabaRay means my 1000th blog entry celebrating the music/career of Ray Stevens will fall on that special day. I'll be scouring the internet and posting links to whatever I come across as far as commentary from those that share their experience on social media sites. In a recent Facebook post on Ray's page he mentioned that recording sessions at the CabaRay for the next season of his CabaRay Nashville television show will get underway soon!! I can't wait to start seeing episodes originating from the CabaRay!

You can visit the venue's official website by clicking HERE and find out about tickets. The site lists the box office hours, their number, and the venue's address. If you're unable to attend the grand opening tomorrow you can always choose a future concert. There's a calendar at the site and as you progress into the spring there's going to be more and more concert opportunities.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...Con Hunley

Hello once again...and on today's blog entry I'm recapping episode 11 from Season Two of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. On this episode the special guest happened to be Con Hunley. The episode was taped during recording sessions that took place in February 2017. Those episodes were among the first-run's that began airing on PBS stations in the summer.

Ray opens the show with a performance of "The Baptism of Stumpy Brown", from his Here We Go Again! album, from the pen of Buddy Kalb and Allison Speer. It's a funny story and it's a sing-a-long kind of performance if you happen to know the lyrics. It's about a non-believer that decides he wants to get baptized in his 90's and the chaos that ensues after the Preacher tosses him in the river. After this bit of funny business Ray welcomes Con Hunley.

Con speaks of his background and makes mention that during a period of more than 10 years he never recorded but that all changed after reuniting with Norro Wilson in the early 2000s and the two of them began working together once more. Norro, I had learned, was Con's record producer during the period of time he was signed to Warner Brothers. I was not too familiar with Con Hunley's career or his recordings but I knew of his name because he recorded several songs that became bigger hits for other artists...one in particular being "What Am I Gonna Do About You?". It hit the Top-20 for him in 1985 but yet the very next year a recording by Reba McEntire hit the charts and her version hit number one early in 1987. Con also recorded "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart" and it was issued as a single in 1978 and it hit the Top-20 but then several years later (1984) an abbreviated recording by George Jones would hit the Top-5.

During Con's discussion with Ray about Norro he was pointed out in the audience. The camera pans out to the audience and Norro is seated next to Buddy Kalb. Norro hollers from his chair to the area where Ray and Con are standing and everyone has a laugh. Norro has since passed away and this could very well be his final appearance in front of a camera. Norro passed away in June of 2017 and the taping of this episode occurred in February of 2017.



Con speaks of his love of Ray Charles and a current album called A Collection: By Request. If you look for the CD on-line by way of search engines you're going to find it listed on several on-line music sites but once you visit those sites you're not going to find it due to it not being available in general release anymore even though it's still listed. However, you can still purchase it on Amazon but there's a disclaimer of there only being 6 copies of the CD available. It's not available as an Mp3 and Amazon doesn't offer any song selection so you'll have to do some more investigating to find more information surrounding the CD. I did just that and found out the CD had been issued in 2014 but Amazon has it's release being August 2017...so that must reflect it's reissue date or it must have been exclusive to Con's website until 2017? Anyway...

Con speaks of his charity work/golf tournaments for underprivileged children. He and Ray perform a duet of "Georgia on My Mind". If you're not as familiar with Con Hunley you'll be blown away by his vocals during this performance. Ray Stevens is also a big fan of the late Ray Charles, as all fans of Ray Stevens should be well aware of, so having both Ray Stevens and Con Hunley perform the song as a duet should bring chills to fans and the public in general.

The segment is followed by the limited animation music video, "The Camping Trip". Upon it's conclusion Ray brings Con out once more and the performance is the much more uptempo "She Ain't You" from his 2003 CD, Sweet Memories. Don Cusic, as the professor of music, talks of Ray's recording of "If Ten Percent is Good Enough for Jesus" and Ray closes the show with a performance of that song. On the next episode the special guest is Jimmy Wayne...stay tuned for a recap.

Ray Stevens CabaRay opens in 6 days...

Hello one and all...we're only 6 days away from the Grand Opening of the CabaRay in West Nashville. In my previous blog entry I shared some video clips of the VIP event that took place at the CabaRay for his friends and family. The big day, though, arrives on January 18th when the venue officially opens to the general public.

I felt like creating a blog post to give some spotlight on some additional publicity surrounding the venue and I'm starting things off with a January 4th article from the online site, Music Row, which I may have already shared with you...I've posted more blogs than usual during the first 2 weeks of January so I may unintentionally repeat myself...but in case I hadn't posted about the article already I decided to just go ahead and provide the article's link anyway. This article appeared several days before the VIP gala but it's still a good article promoting the venue. You can read it by clicking HERE. That particular article was written by Jessica Nicholson. I point this out because after the VIP event at the CabaRay on January 10th a further article appeared in the Music Row publication written by Eric T. Parker and you can read that article by clicking HERE.

The VIP performance ran 90 minutes and some of the audience members included Bobby Goldsboro, Johnny Lee, Bill Anderson, T.G. Sheppard, Steve Wariner, Ricky Skaggs, The Gatlin Brothers, T. Graham Brown, Harold Bradley, Fred Foster, Ralph Emery, Jeannie Seely, and more.

In that article it features a photo of Ray seated at his piano with the official document declaring January 10, 2018 as Ray Stevens Day by Nashville's Mayor, Megan Barry. Stay tuned for further blog entries as I watch the remaining episodes on the Season Two DVD of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. I have reviewed the first 8 episodes of the second season (which you can find over in the Archive list on the right hand side of the page) and there's 5 episodes left to watch/review (each season consists of 13 episodes). Episodes that are to be reviewed include those guest starring Bill Anderson, Sylvia, Con Hunley, Jimmy Wayne, and Reed Robertson. The local PBS affiliate in my area is in their repeat cycle (repeating the 26 episodes from season three and season four) and as a result new episodes aren't scheduled to begin airing until the early summer. Those upcoming episodes were taped at the current recording studio but the next production period will take place at the CabaRay...which opens on January 18th.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...John Berry

Hello once more!! I couldn't post a review/re-cap of last week's episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville because I wasn't able to see it. Severe storms passed through last Saturday night (November 18th) and although it didn't knock out our electric it did enough damage to knock out the signal of the PBS station that airs Ray's television series. I just finished watching the November 18th episode guest starring John Berry. I watched it on the new subscription based website that Ray launched last week. I posted a link to it in my previous blog entry which can be found off to the right hand side of the page in the archives.

Ray opened the episode singing "I Got a Woman", a classic originally recorded by one of his musical heroes, Ray Charles. This is one of the few episodes in which Ray is seated at the piano at the start of the show. After the performance Ray brings out John Berry who discusses his background. Born in South Carolina he was raised in Georgia...mentioning Atlanta and Athens. Ray asked how he managed to migrate from Georgia to Tennessee and the inspiration for it. John makes mention of being locally popular and of hearing Joe Diffie's recording, "Ships That Don't Come In".

John says that hearing the song led him to believe that if he truly wanted to become noticed as a singer at a national level than he should go to Nashville instead of being locally popular in Athens, Georgia. He relates how he and his wife made the trip to Nashville in 1992 and at the time he was in his mid 30's which John half jokingly remarked would be considered over the hill in today's music climate. Ray mentions a current CD of John's being available, What I Love the Most, which was released in June of 2016.

Ray, at various moments throughout the show, marveled at John's voice and simply referred to him as 'John Berry: Singer' to emphasize the tenor vocals that John's famous for. John performs a song from it titled "There Could Never Be Another Love". Afterward he speaks of his electronic duet with Patsy Cline and then performs two additional songs: "Standing on the Edge of Goodbye" and his signature song, "Your Love Amazes Me". A music heavy episode for sure as Ray closes with his version of "Up a Lazy River". This is one of the rare episodes in which no comedy emerged either in music or sketch form (there wasn't any Video Jukebox or Comedy Classic segments). As mentioned at the top of this blog post the John Berry episode originally aired the weekend of November 18th on PBS affiliates and had it not been for severe weather knocking the PBS signal off the air I would have been able to have seen the episode then...but thanks to Ray's television and video subscription website I was able to watch the episode I didn't get to see. It's only $4.99 per month or you can do as I did and pay for an entire year (which is $49.99) and by doing that I won't have to renew my subscription until November 2018. I also mentioned that you could find the website's address by searching my archives, well, I decided to provide a link containing information about Ray's television and video site in this blog entry.

You can read about the TV and video site, including a direct link to the TV and video site, by visiting his main website by clicking this LINK. After clicking the link and his website opens up be sure to click the Watch Now button. It'll take you to the TV and video site where you'll see the subscription offers and you can check out everything you'll get to watch once you become a member. There's a lot of content exclusive to the site (full length episodes of his summer 1970 television show, for example; and early and mid 1980s performances from television specials on The Nashville Network).

The local PBS affiliate that airs Ray's television program didn't air it tonight due to their annual pledge break. The PBS affiliates that aired the episode will have seen his special guest, Jeannie Seely. This episode should become available on Ray's TV and video site on Monday. I'm thinking that Ray adds the current episodes to his site once they've aired on all the PBS affiliate stations (many air the show on either Friday night or Saturday night...some air it on Sunday...which is what has me thinking the Jeannie Seely episode will become available on Monday). Once it becomes available on Ray's new TV and video site I'll watch it and give my recap.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville DVD commercials...

Hello all...early Monday morning here and I'm getting ready to post the YouTube video clips, promoting the first season DVD of Ray's television series, that went on-line back on July 31st. I hadn't embedded these clips yet and so I thought the perfect opportunity would be to post them in an early morning blog post. The clips debuted on YouTube in between my previous 2 blog posts (July 30th and August 5th). Why didn't I post them in my previous blog post Saturday night? I didn't think to do so...I was in the middle of posting about the latest episode of Ray's television show...but I'm posting the commercials now...

There are two separate promo clips for the DVD...and each run various lengths. The first clip runs 34 seconds and has more detailed information about the release...



This promo clip runs 21 seconds...it features a slightly different voice over from Ray (for the shortened presentation) and several images of the special guests (plus the house band) from the longer promo clip do not appear in the second promo clip...



In addition to awaiting any kind of information about any further DVD or CD releases from Ray Stevens I'm also awaiting information on the grand opening of the much anticipated CabaRay Nashville entertainment venue! I know it's only early August but throughout every article and interview that has appeared since the middle of last year concerning the project it was always suggested that the CabaRay would have it's grand opening in August or no later than September of 2017. There hasn't been any updated photographs posted of the venue to see if it's close to a grand opening yet. The previous photo's that were uploaded shown that there was still work to be completed. Those photo's are part of a YouTube video clip that Ray uploaded back in early May of this year...almost 3 months have passed since then...and I'm sure the parking lot's complete and it no longer looks like a construction zone anymore. In case you hadn't seen that video clip here it is...



Ray's television series, Ray Stevens Nashville, ran for 26 episodes on RFD-TV (2015-2016). After it's departure from that channel it was re-branded Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville and in January it began airing on local PBS affiliates across the country. The PBS affiliates that began airing the show in January of this year have since aired all 26 episodes from the RFD era. In July (last month) 26 additional episodes became available for PBS stations. The local PBS affiliate that carries the show in my viewing area aired all of the episodes that appear on the First Season DVD (13 episodes) plus the affiliate aired 2 additional RFD originated episodes (one that guest starred Ray's daughter, Suzi Ragsdale, and country-rock artist T. Graham Brown; and one that guest starred Bobby Goldsboro) for a total of 15 episodes.

After the airing of the July 1st episode (guest starring Suzi Ragsdale and T. Graham Brown) the local PBS affiliate began airing (July 8th) first-run episodes exclusive to PBS. The episode airing July 8th guest starred Harold Bradley and Mandy Barnett. I'll have to wait until a future DVD release from Ray (hoping there's more to come) to see the remaining RFD episodes (episodes that guest starred Williams and Ree; Leroy Van Dyke; Sylvia; Con Hunley; Bill Anderson; The Gatlin Brothers; The Bellamy Brothers; Collin Raye; Lee Greenwood and Darryl Worley). Episode 5 of the PBS exclusives aired this past Saturday (guest starring Rhonda Vincent).

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...Shenandoah...

Hello all...its a steamy Monday morning here...and I'm about ready to recap the previous episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville from this past Saturday night. One of the things the more eagle eyed viewers may have caught is the new wave of thumbnail images that crawl along the screen during the opening. Those images highlight episodes that were recorded during taping sessions in late 2016 and earlier this year. Saturday night's episode guest starred the famed country music band, Shenandoah. Their episode was taped back in February of this year and this past weekend marked it's first air-date. The episode began with Ray performing "Ned Nostril"...how wonderful it was to see him stroll out and perform such a beloved song...perhaps, admittedly, obscure to most...but to us long time fans and lovers of his music "Ned Nostril" is a genuine classic. During the band solo's they pulled out napkins and acted as if they were sneezing and sniffing.

Now, for those that have never heard the song before, it's about a guy with a nose as long or as longer as Pinocchio...and he had a very rough childhood...but as an adult he became a crooner of Hawaiian songs (using his nose as an instrument). Ned enlisted the help of some buddies who had a bad habit of sniffing ragweed and so his ragweed buddies would sneeze and sniffle their way through musical breaks as Ned hummed along using his nose.

The complete title of the song is "Ned Nostril and His South Seas Paradise Puts Your Blues on Ice Cheap at Twice the Price Band, Ikky-Ikky Ukky-Ukky". The original hook of the song happened to be Ray's vocal impression of Johnny Cash. In the performance Saturday night he delivered the song in a Cash style, in keeping with the song's original recording, but some of the original arrangement had been changed. On the recording (from 1984) it has an intro similar to "Folsom Prison Blues" but on the PBS performance it wasn't as prominent.

Something that I briefly mentioned in a couple of my previous blog entries is that these PBS exclusive episodes are much more looser and come off more relaxed (sounds redundant, yes?). In Saturday night's episode the audience was spoken to by Ray and they had much more interaction with the activity taking place on the set than in the previous episodes that originally aired on RFD before the series moved to PBS this past January.

Ray brought out Shenandoah and explained that each member of the band was considered special guests. They spoke of their chosen instruments and their history in the music business. The lead singer, Marty Raybon, mentioned the band's 30 year anniversary...Ray remarked that he'd been in the business a long time, too...approaching 60 years...and a small back and fourth about 30 and 60 commenced. There was more audience reaction/interaction during the Shenandoah segment, too. The band performed "Two Dozen Roses", "I Wanna Be Loved Like That", and "Church on Cumberland Road". Every so often during the instrumental breaks in those songs Marty could be heard hollering "yeah!!!".

In addition to the music and exchanges with Shenandoah there happened to be an instrumental spotlight on Ray's steel guitarist, Tommy White. Ray opened this segment speaking about a 1959 steel guitar instrumental which, ironically, became a massive pop hit (one of the most ironic instances in music history...an instrument almost exclusive to country music riding the top of the pop charts). The recording, "Sleep Walk", hit #1 in September of 1959...originally performed by a duo known as Santo and Johnny. I thought I had never heard this recording before but once Tommy White began to play it I immediately remember hearing that melody on a television commercial at some point in my life. Along the same lines came an out of left field performance from Ray...the legendary pop hit "Only You".

Ray sang this song as several members of the studio audience danced in the background. It was a thrilling moment in the show...seeing Ray get into the song and physically mimic any number of crooners of that era...now, adding to that thrill, was the mention of a future CD featuring that song and others. I have no idea if this CD he mentioned is going to be released this calendar year or not but he called the CD, Slow Dance. He has mentioned this CD in the past...in addition to a Bluegrass project titled Melancholy Fescue...but there's never been any sort of concrete information released concerning the future of either project and when or if they'll be released. I'm sure both projects, at some point, are going to get released to the public but it's just a matter of when. His television series and the upcoming grand opening of his CabaRay venue are without a doubt the top priority in his career at the moment...CD releases are on the back burner. His most recent project is the DVD of the first 13 episodes of his television series (during it's run on RFD).

This week's episode is gospel themed and it guest stars Michael W. Smith. It'll air here this coming Saturday (July 22nd).

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...Summer Schedule...

Hello one and all...in my first fan-created blog post of July I have some updated information to pass along concerning the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville television show on PBS. In a previous blog post from last month I posted the upcoming schedule of episodes set to air on one of the local PBS stations in my area. There are a couple of changes, however, as episodes originally posted have been removed and replaced. Beginning this weekend (officially this past Friday; July 7th) all of the local PBS affiliates that air Ray's show aired the same episode.

Over the course of the last several months (dating back to early January of this year) local PBS affiliates picked episodes that previously aired on RFD and aired those. The PBS station in my area began airing the show in late March and of those RFD episodes available to air, WCVN/KET2 broadcast 15 of them (the 15th being a gospel themed episode guest starring T. Graham Brown and it also guest starred Ray's daughter, Suzi Ragsdale). Last night's episode guest starred Harold Bradley and Mandy Barnett.

On that particular episode it carried an early '60s feel...but yet this isn't surprising considering the guests that night. Ray opened the show singing "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" which eventually led to an explanation of the song's origins and history and how, coupled with it's brisk sales success and the fact that it happened to be a comedy song, inspired him to focus on comedy for awhile and perhaps that would enable him to breakthrough and become a successful recording artist. He had to pull the single off the market after threats of a lawsuit from the copyright owners of the Sgt. Preston character but the sales attention he had gotten led him to issue another comedy song...and this one contains one of the longest song titles in existence: "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills". That song rocketed up the Hot 100 and into the Top-40 in the blink of an eye in 1961.

Harold Bradley, a legendary guitar player/session musician and brother of the late Owen Bradley (himself a legendary music figure), talks of his background and history in the music industry. Owen happened to be a producer at Decca (later renamed MCA) and eventually opened what was to be known as The Bradley Barn (a recording studio inside a converted barn). Prior to this, however, both Owen and Harold worked in what was referred to as The Quonset Hut. The facility happened to be located at a house on 16th Avenue and 1954 is the year it opened for business...attaching a Quonset Hut to the house later on...which originally was intended as a film/TV studio but over time it became part of the recording studio. Owen and Harold sold the studio to Columbia in 1962 and, as mentioned, The Bradley Barn came into existence a couple of years later. Ray and Harold discuss their identical first and middle names: Harold Ray Ragsdale (the birth name of our Ray Stevens!) and Harold Ray Bradley. They speak of Patsy Cline and this eventually brings out Mandy Barnett. She sings "Crazy" and "I'm Confessin'" as Harold plays the electric guitar. Given the length of time spent with Harold and Mandy there wasn't much time for some of the familiar segments. There was a Video Jukebox segment featuring the limited animation music video, "Barbecue", and a closing song from Ray...a performance of his early '60s hit "Harry the Hairy Ape".

This begins the official third season of Ray's television show. The updated schedule of episodes can be found below. The air-dates listed below fall on Friday but that doesn't mean Friday is the official day of the week the show airs. Some local PBS affiliates air the show on Friday evening while a bulk of the PBS affiliates air the show on Saturday or Sunday evenings. As mentioned the first episode has already aired here...some PBS affiliates are airing that episode today...some PBS affiliates aired the episode on Friday.

July 7 – Harold Bradley and Mandy Barnett

July 14 – Shenandoah

July 21 – Michael W. Smith

July 28 – B.J. Thomas

Aug 4 – Rhonda Vincent

Aug 11 – Restless Heart

Aug 18 – John Michael Montgomery

Aug 25 – Baillie & the Boys

Sept 1 – Tommy Roe

Sept 8 – Mark Wills

Sept 15 – Duane Eddy

The last three episodes on the above list weren't originally scheduled to air when I provided what turned out to be a tentative list of future episodes in a previous blog. The last three episodes are going to air here on September 2, 9, and 16. Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville Schedule.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville Showroom...

Hello there once again!! Oh yes, I know that I missed nearly an entire month of fan-created blog posting during the month of May but I didn't have much extra time to write a quality entry. I could've posted breezy messages and called it a 'blog entry' but I usually, hardly ever, do that kind of thing unless some kind of urgent news about Ray breaks and I want to get it onto my blog as soon as possible. In my hiatus I'd been busy with my off-line life...my job demands for much of May included working extra days (mandatory) and it created a situation in which my only free time was Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings...hardly any time available to spend seriously concentrating on my blog posts. Before going any further I want to share a video clip that Ray posted in early May of the nearly completed CabaRay Showroom. There are some more things left to complete (the parking lot, for example) but I think the major construction is complete as far as the actual building is concerned.



Meanwhile, during my hiatus from blog writing, several more episodes of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville have aired on KET2. The last blog post I wrote featured a review of episode 7 (Jimmy Fortune guest star).

Episode 8 featured Aaron Tippin as the special guest. On this episode Ray opened the show performing "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone, Part One". After the performance he offers commentary about the physique of special guest, Aaron Tippin. Ray asks about Aaron's past and they discuss some of his duties as a former pilot/aviator. Afterward Aaron gives Ray a bottle of Blackberry Wine. They discuss Aaron's Silver Anniversary in country music. Ray displays a CD celebrating the milestone. Ray remarks about the photo's inside the fold-out and points out a photo of Aaron and Bob Hope during the Gulf War (1991) and this eventually leads into Aaron performing "You've Got to Stand For Something" which became a monster hit in country music during the Gulf War. After a break (fade out) the next scene features Ray introducing Aaron once more for a performance of a brand new song, "God's Not Through with Me Yet". In the Video Jukebox segment the famous music video of "It's Me Again, Margaret" is played. Ray closed the main portion of the show by singing "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone, Part Two".

Sadly episode 9 didn't record. I got an error message on my recording log saying that the channel wasn't available during the taping. It happened to be an odd situation because after contacting the station via social media messaging and asking if the channel had any sort of technical issues Saturday night (May 20th) the very next week (May 27th) episode 10 recorded without any problem. The person that replied to my e-mail couldn't understand the glitch given that, to their knowledge, the station remained on the air the night of May 20th...so it's a mystery as to why the DVR didn't record episode 9 and why the recording log had an error message about the channel not being available. To add to my minor misery over the episode not recording...that particular episode guest starred one of my favorites, John Conlee, and it also featured Jeff Bates. What a night for your DVR to not function properly!!

Episode 10 (May 27th) featured Tanya Tucker and T.G. Sheppard as special guests. Ray opened the show singing "Taylor Swift is Stalking Me". Ray and Tanya perform a cute duet. I do not know the actual name of the song but the line that's often repeated "I Might Be an Old Dog, Honey" is probably the song's title. She then performs "Strong Enough to Bend". T.G. Sheppard performs "I Loved 'Em Everyone" and talks about his current duet project CD. Ironically, Ray and T.G. recorded a duet together called "This One Burger King Town" in 2012 but they didn't perform the song for this particular episode. There's a possibility that he and T.G. performed it during the taping and that it didn't make it into the final cut but that's just me making a guess. Ray and company tape the program in segments and edit everything together later (almost similar in recording technique to "Hee Haw"). Ray closed the main portion of the show by singing "Along Came Jones".

Concurrently, May 27th happened to be the night that Ray made a guest appearance on The Grand Ole Opry. In a segment hosted by Bill Anderson, who advertised the upcoming grand opening of the CabaRay showroom (slated for August), Ray came out to strong applause and after some opening remarks he launched into "It's Me Again, Margaret". In recent times during live performances he cut out his vocal impression of the telephone dial but on that particular night he dazzled the audience (judging by their applause) during his phone dial impression (you can see it on the music video if you're not sure of what I'm referring to). After telling a joke about a hapless kid named Earl and cheating on a school test Ray performed "Misty".

Episode 11, which aired this past Saturday night (June 3rd) featured Gene Watson as the special guest. Ray opened up the show singing "Power Tools" aided by snippets of the music video. Gene Watson is introduced and he talks about his start in the music business. One of Ray's background vocalists, Sheri Copeland Smith, steps into the foreground and shares thoughts about George Jones as does Gene...in particular a tour in Canada that he and George were on. Gene then speaks a little bit about performing at the unidentified Jones Country in the early 1980s. Gene referred to it as "the outdoors music park George owned..." but didn't exactly call it by it's actual name. Gene sang "Farewell Party" and in the Video Jukebox segment the music video of "The Haircut Song" was featured. Gene performs the more uptempo "14 Karat Mind" and then Ray closes the show performing a stellar rendition of "Mr. Businessman".

Take a look at a Billboard advertisement currently on display...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nice Tee Shirts of Ray Stevens available...

Hello once more to the fans of Ray Stevens! I'd been on vacation from work this past week but vacation's soon going to be over tomorrow sad to say. I received an e-mail this morning as a lot of others should have received if you're on his mailing list. I highlighted in bold print the most important of information. It's information about this season's CMA Music Fest.

Ray is to have a booth set up again in the Music City Center during this year's Fan Fair X festivities. According to the information he's to appear on June 8, June 10, and June 11 and sign autographs, sell items, and I assume have his photo taken with fans. There's a standard time slot given: 1:30pm - 2:30pm Central time. 

Based upon things I've read in the past, most meet and greet/photo/autograph events are timed so that everybody in line is able to get their item signed or their photo taken...cutting off any small-talk a fan may have with their favorite artist...ensuring that everybody gets through the line within the allotted time frame.

Some fans bristle at the notion of a time table in place (a common practice for a number of years...some years it's more strictly enforced than others) but the organizers of the event perhaps want to avoid the potential for a seemingly never-ending parade of professional autograph seekers...those that aren't necessarily fans of an artist clogging up a line...and cutting off legitimate fans' chances of meeting their favorites. The autograph seekers then, more often than not, put the autographed item on sell (eBay usually).

I assume the booth is going to be operated by members of his staff prior to and after his autograph session each day. I can't imagine the booth only being open for 1 hour each day...but I've never been to the CMA Music Fest (formerly known as Fan Fair) and so I don't know if the booth's of artists are only open if the artist is there in person or not. I had always thought that the booth's are operated by members of the artist's staff or representatives of the record company and that booth's are open during business hours for fans to walk by, browse any merchandise available, etc. but the artist being represented at that booth may only be there in person for an hour or 2 per day. It's safe to say that the in-person appearance by an artist is the busiest a booth is going to be each day.

The other big news item in the e-mail are the arrival of a couple of items at Ray's official website store. A couple of T-shirts are available...and yes I already made a purchase!! I ordered the black T-shirt featuring a recent photo of Ray on the front and an advertisement for the CabaRay Nashville on the back. A second T-shirt is red in color and features the photo of Ray from Comedy Video Classics and "Don't Look Ethel" underneath the photo. That T-shirt may be purchased by more of a general audience but I selected the other one. The introductory price for each shirt regardless of it's size is $20. Sizes range from Small to XXL. You can see the T-shirts for yourselves and decide which one you want...you may choose to purchase both...and you can see those T-shirts by clicking HERE. Once you open the page you'll see the items on display.

Tonight episode six of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville airs at 8pm. On this episode Hall of Fame songwriter Bobby Braddock and musician/harmony singer Sheri Copeland Smith are the guest stars. I have my DVR set to record the program...last week the special guests happened to be Charlie McCoy and Lori Stegner. Ray performed "I'm My Own Grandpaw" on last week's episode...he performed it as a ballad instead of the uptempo manner in which he recorded it in 1987. The arrangement of the performance was similar to the arrangement used on the 1987 recording, too, only slightly modified by the use of some different instruments not heard in the original.

He and Lori sang their duet, "Temptation", from his Encyclopedia project a couple of years ago. The song is officially spelled "Tim-Tay-Shun" because they perform it in an exaggerated southern dialect.

Ray Stevens recalls "The Streak"...

Hello all...oh yes, I know that I'm 2 weeks late in adding these links to the fan-created blog page but I'm adding them nevertheless. It's an article about and in interview of Ray Stevens published April 14th and the history behind "The Streak". The setting takes place at the NSAI. That acronym stands for the Nashville Songwriters Association International. The actual interview itself took place late last month and it's broken up into 2 different uploads. There's a clip of Ray talking about "Everything Is Beautiful" (from March 31st) and one recalling "The Streak" (April 14th). In each clip the interview is being conducted by Bart Herbison of NSAI.

Here's a link to the article published about EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL in The Tennessean on-line site. Here's a link to the article published about THE STREAK from The Tennessean. If any of those links give your browser any kind of upload fits, like it did mine, then visit Ray's Facebook page and access them there and see if there's any kind of upload issues. His Facebook page can be accessed by clicking HERE. The March 31st article wasn't uploaded to Ray's Facebook page until April 7th...I don't see a link on his Facebook page for the article about "The Streak". Here's a word of caution, though...even after accessing the link to The Tennessean via his Facebook post I still had difficulty keeping the story uploaded. The host site would jump to their home page as I as trying to read the article and sometimes the page would simply vanish and all that remained would be a blank white screen with only the site's letter head at the top and no article/video on display. Those that have much more knowledge about computers might have some sort of an explanation for The Tennessean website doing that.

Ironically those video clips hadn't been uploaded to YouTube so the only way in which to see them are through The Tennessean website.

From April 3rd, however, is an article that shouldn't give your browser any kind of fit. It's an interview posted on the Cowboys and Indians site. It focuses on his television program, Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville, and there's mention of the much-anticipated Bluegrass project he's been keeping on the back burner for several years. Here's a LINK to that particular article.

The only song that's been officially released from this mysterious, unreleased Bluegrass project is "Unchained Melody" but the official upload on Ray's YouTube channel doesn't reference it being part of a future release...however, during a performance at the Grand Ole Opry prior to the music video's on-line release he specifically mentioned that it'll be part of an upcoming Bluegrass project.

The song hit YouTube as a music video several years ago...October 2, 2013 to be specific...and I'm sure once this cryptic Bluegrass project hits the market as a CD or perhaps a DVD "Unchained Melody" is going to be among the songs...but considering it's been four years and counting since the video hit on YouTube I doubt they'll promote that song once Melancholy Fescue (the name of the Bluegrass project) is unleashed.

It's hard to tell exactly what's ahead...in the interview I linked to from Cowboys and Indians he mentions that he hopes to have Melancholy Fescue available in the fall of this year but not before his CabaRay venue has it's grand opening in August. Could this mean the project is going to hit the market in September? October? As fans of Ray Stevens aren't we used to being surprised, anxious, and on the edge of our seats?? 

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville Episode List...

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

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

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

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

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville successfully Recorded...

Hello once more...last week I wrote a post about my lack of experience setting up the DVR recording options and that the episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville that I thought would be taped didn't turn out as planned. As I had guessed all I had to do was change it's default setting from "record new episodes" to "record all episodes" and that did the trick. Obviously by having the episode recorded I loved having the opportunity to go back several hours later and watch the episode all over again. In case you missed it the April 1st airing guest starred Larry Gatlin. Ray opened the show singing "Such a Night" and later performed "It's Me Again, Margaret". In case you hadn't seen this episode yet keep your eyes open for Don Cusic. Interestingly Ray didn't do a live vocal impression of the telephone dial during "It's Me Again, Margaret" but instead had his recorded sound effect piped in through the sound system. In a segment referred to as the Video Jukebox Ray presented his music video of "Freddie Feelgood and His Funky Little Five Piece Band".

Larry Gatlin spoke about his career and his brothers, plus he did his impression of Mel Tillis in addition to mentioning Mickey Newbury (a noted songwriter). He sang a couple of lines of a song from the pen of Newbury, "American Trilogy", before launching into "All the Gold in California".  Throughout the episode there happened to be comical inserts of vintage comedy bits featuring Ray as Sickmind Fraud, a parody of Sigmund Freud.

Prior to and after the episode PBS aired commercials for The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the more broader Musicians Hall of Fame. Ray was elected a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 (the same year he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame!). Also promoted, of course, was Ray's website. In addition to the publicity for the Halls of Fame and Ray's website he appears before and after the episode seated at his piano for exclusive footage introducing/closing the presentation. This footage is exclusive to it's PBS airings given that he asks viewers to stay tuned to their local PBS station. It's a syndicated series...airing on scattered PBS stations across the country and on whatever day and time a station chooses to air it. Those wraparound segments of Ray at his piano reminded me of the PBS airings of classic episodes of Lawrence Welk's program. Former cast members/associates of that series often appeared before and after the episode to talk about the show, etc.

Saturday night (April 1, 2017) happened to be the first time I'd been able to see a complete episode of Ray's television program. Over the years the thing that's been consistent from those that had previously seen the episodes on RFD-TV is their sentiment that "the episodes are too short" or "it needs to be an hour long". After finally being able to see an episode I agree...it did feel as if the half hour flew by...but only time will tell if he expands it to an hour. My overall reaction: it's sort of an informal formality...it's a top flight, formal program lacking the stuffiness or pompousness often associated with formality. That's the best way of describing my feel of the series...and I've had that opinion of the series solely based on the clips I'd seen on his YouTube channel...so to finally see an episode in it's entirety only helps to reinforce my earlier opinion. I can't wait to see the next episode on April 8th!!

Here are a couple of articles about the upcoming CabaRay Nashville venue...set to open at some point later this year. Once it opens, it's already been announced, that future episodes of his television series are going to be taped there.

The first article features comments from Ray's longtime business and songwriting partner, Buddy Kalb, plus comments from Bill Cody (WSM radio personality and the announcer of Ray's television series) and several others. The second article features comments from Ray himself. Each article appeared in the March 31st issue...so they're still "hot off the presses" as the saying goes.

Nashville Ledger Buddy Kalb

Nashville Ledger Ray Stevens

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville and my DVR...

Hello all of the Ray Stevens out there! I've never claimed to be an expert in technology and so tonight I come sharing some embarrassing moments on my part. For months I've been awaiting for the debut of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville on one of the local PBS stations in the area. A couple of weeks ago I set up my DVR to record the program...I woke up Saturday night around 9pm and found out that the episode didn't tape!! March 25th (tonight) is the night it debuted on the local PBS station. Mad, upset, embarrassed...I decided to dive into the specifics/settings of the DVR. 

On the menu I selected recording options. A page opened up and there's an option for recording "new episodes" and one for recording "all episodes". The setting was checked for "new episodes" (it's default setting). Then, in a brain storm, I possibly realized the reason tonight's episode of Ray's television series didn't record. 

In the program description for the show it lists it's original air-date (last year). Remember, in case you all forgot, PBS is re-airing all of the episodes that originally aired on RFD-TV the last couple of seasons. So, given that the program description didn't list it as a "new episode" but instead listed a previously aired date I'm assuming that's the reason the DVR didn't tape the program. So, as an experiment, I selected "all episodes" and hit the save setting button. At the moment the DVR menu has next Saturday's episode scheduled for taping!! I'll give a report next Saturday night (April 1st) and let you all know if the DVR taped the episode or not. I'll be sure to watch the episode, too, as it's airing just in case the DVR doesn't tape it. Oh yes, I learned my lesson...but yet, as I pointed out, I never claimed to be an expert in technology.

It's a Ray Stevens Birthday...

Hello one and all...today is the birthday of our fearless Entertainer, Ray Stevens. Born in Clarkdale, Georgia as Harold Ragsdale on January 24, 1939 the Georgia-born talent eventually became known all over the world as Ray Stevens. Music, one could say, has long been the life of Ray Stevens, too. His first recordings came along in 1957 on a small label called Prep Records. In my previous blog entry I made mention of the fact that 2017 marks Ray's 60th year in the music business...and he turns 78 today. Yes, if you do the math it's a fascinating tidbit of information. It means that 60 of Ray's 78 years on Earth have been spent in the music industry in some form or another. Given such a youthful start in the industry and being talented as a piano player (among several other instruments) it didn't take long for his presence on recording sessions to become something of a habit. He enrolled in Georgia State with the idea of studying music but during his college years he remained active as a recording artist on a series of record labels (Capitol, NRC, and eventually Mercury). A series of recordings from Ray hit the market...everything from love ballads aimed at teenagers to rhythm and blues...one obscure recording during this period happened to be an off the wall effort called "Cholly Wolly Chang", a blend of Hong Kong culture set to rock music. Ray's early recordings (1957-1960) can be found on CD but you'll have to dedicate yourself to finding the various CD's available that contain those early recordings. There is a CD from just a couple of years ago that includes the obscurities from that period and it's called Ahab, Jeremiah, Sgt. Preston and more...The Early Ray Stevens. The CD hit in 2014 and it's available on AMAZON. The site states that there's only 7 copies left and so if you're a devoted fan of Ray Stevens but haven't heard some his recordings from 1957-1960 then get that CD as soon as possible!!

As mentioned in the previous paragraph Ray recorded for a series of labels under the guidance of Bill Lowery. Prior to Ray's debut on vinyl in 1957 he had become something of a local celebrity thanks in part to radio station WGPC. In his memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville, he recalls the time that he was promised a slot on the radio station on the condition that he find a female co-host. The radio program was described by Ray as a kind of sock hop and his role was simply to play rock music and rhythm and blues songs currently on jukeboxes nationally and locally. For those curious you can read the memories of the co-host, Mary Dale Vansant, by clicking this LINK. The link takes you to Albany High Times and their page devoted to that sock hop radio program she and Ray hosted. He began recording for the NRC label in the middle part of 1959 following brief stints on Capitol (1958) and Prep (1957). A recording for NRC in 1960 nearly became a national hit...a novelty called "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon". The single began appearing on the national radar and had climbed a special chart called Bubbling Under the Hot 100. This chart listed specific single releases that had began to break all over the country but hadn't obtained the sales requirements necessary to move onto the "big chart" as they called it. Ray had to take his recording off the market (well, NRC did) after the copyright holders of the Sgt. Preston character objected to the use of their property in the recording.

Ray's first Hot 100 hit arrived in 1961. For those that don't follow music popularity charts the Hot 100 is the name of the chart that lists the best-selling songs across the country in all formats. Chart methodologies have come and gone since then but in 1961 the chart was still largely being based on sales. The higher the sales the more likely pop music stations would play the song...and the airplay exposure, in theory, would increase sales even more. Ray often recalls that his near-hit with Sgt. Preston inspired him to try novelty songs and see if that would do the trick and get him national attention. Prior to that next release, however, he switched record labels. He departed NRC for the much more commercially successful and mainstream label, Mercury. Still living in Georgia in 1961 his debut for Mercury happened to be a novelty song...with a title that tested the memory of many disk jockeys and listeners and, also, tested their breathing control, too. The song's title?? None other than "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsatured Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills". The song is appropriately abbreviated by many of us fans and we refer to it simply as "Jeremiah Peabody's Green and Purple Pills". The single hit the Hot 100...and climbed into the radio-driven Top-40! It opened the door...but the follow-up, "Scratch My Back", failed to scratch the charts, sad to say. The song is highly entertaining as is it's B-side...his version of "When You Wish Upon a Star". Ray moved to Nashville, Tennessee in January 1962...and he began a lengthy association with Shelby Singleton. Ray eventually became an A and R man for the label. In this role he found songs for artist's to record, assisted in production of the recordings, and as a session musician he played on other artist's records. One of his first sessions at Mercury included his recording of "Ahab the Arab". The song turns 55 this year. On the same day he also played on the recordings of "Wooden Heart", a song recorded by Joe Dowell and the massive Leroy Van Dyke hit, "Walk on By".

"Ahab the Arab" became a million selling Top-5 pop hit and it crossed over to the Rhythm and Blues chart and in the summer of 1962 it made him a star overnight as the saying goes. The song inspired an assortment of properties. His music publishing company had the name Ahab Music Company (BMI) until the mid 1970s when it changed to the more business-sounding Ray Stevens Music (BMI). Ray has several music publishing outlets but the bulk of the songs are published under Ray Stevens Music. The camel in "Ahab the Arab", Clyde, became the name of his personal record label in 1988. In 1991 he opened up a theater in Branson, Missouri. The design was inspired by the desert imagery mentioned in "Ahab the Arab" and throughout the venue one could see imagery that could've come directly out of Arabian Nights or Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Clyde the camel became his logo. Clyde Records gained it's first taste of profit in 1992/1993 during the VHS explosion in Ray's career. After the major record labels refused to finance/promote a home video from Ray titled Comedy Video Classics he took matters into his own hands and released the VHS on his own label, Clyde Records. This home video led to other home video releases...sold directly to customers through television commercials and print advertisements. By the mid 1990s he had sold more than 3,000,000 home videos through direct marketing. Comedy Video Classics, Ray Stevens Live!, and Get Serious! are landmarks in home video marketing. Clyde Records became something of a stand-by for Ray throughout the '90s and 2000s. If he happened to not be signed to a major label but wanted to release new music for the fans he'd simply release the music through mail-order via his fan club and later, after the fan club dissolved, he'd sell his music through his own website.

Some of the career milestones for Ray Stevens include record, single, and home video sales of a combined 20 million. 2 Grammy awards: a 1971 win for "Everything is Beautiful" and a 1976 win for "Misty". 3 Gold Singles: "Gitarzan" (1969), "Everything Is Beautiful" (1970), and "The Streak" (1974). Numerous Gold and Platinum albums and home videos (throughout the '80s and '90s). The fan-voted Music City News Country Awards honored Ray as Comedian of the Year for 9 consecutive years (1986-1994). In 2012 he released a 9-CD box set, The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music, a beautiful salute to comedy and novelty songs both past and present. Ray performs his versions of many, many, many novelty songs made popular by other artists plus he offers some of his own recordings, too. He hosted a summer television series for Andy Williams in 1970. In the latter half of 2014 he started hosting Ray Stevens' Nashville on the RFD cable channel. The series ran on RFD for a season and a half. In late 2016 the series became associated with PBS and this month (January 2017) it started popping up on scattered PBS stations across the country. The program's title has changed to Ray Stevens' CabaRay Nashville. 

In 2009 Ray added another dimension to his career...he began to release music video content on-line...specifically on the video hosting site, YouTube. At first he issued music videos from his past but in late 2009 he released a new recording, "We the People", and it's music video took off in a tremendous way. He became hot on the internet...releasing a string of music video content taking jabs at the Obama Administration and becoming a headliner at several Tea Party and Conservative events. Oh yes...saying that he added political humor to his career in 2010 is a huge understatement...the YouTube music videos he released during that time period, 2010-2013, became viral video sensations. Nearly all of them have obtained more than a million unique views (some topping more than three million!). At some point this year (2017) Ray's entertainment venue, CabaRay, is set to open. It's still under construction on River Road in Nashville. His television program, according to some reports, is eventually going to start taping at that venue and he's moving his offices and recording equipment from his longtime studio in Nashville to the CabaRay venue.

Happy Birthday to the one and only Ray Stevens!! May he forever remain creative, compelling, unpredictable, and entertaining!! Here's also hoping his television series comes to a PBS station in my area! Check your local PBS stations and see if you are receiving the program!