Ray Stevens: "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century" latest News...

Well, well...the latest news surrounding the Ray Stevens 4-CD box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, is that it's flew up the Country New Releases Top-100 on Amazon. On the Top-100 New Releases, CDs and Vinyl, for country music, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century had been moving it's way back down the Top-100 within the last week after having risen to the Top-40 half of the list. It fell out of the Top-100 the last number of hours but it made quite a comeback, yet again, by ranking this hour among the Top-40 Country New Releases in CDs and Vinyl on Amazon. Although Ray has an upcoming album in three weeks I don't want anyone thinking that I'm going to move on from the box set or from some of his other recent works and concentrate exclusively on the upcoming album. The thing I prefer doing is whenever Ray puts out something new within months of having released something else I pay attention to both releases for awhile...and then I slowly focus my attention on whatever the current release happens to be but I also periodically look at a previous release just in case something noteworthy pops up and I'll share it here on this fan created blog page. Iconic Songs of the 20th Century is also in the Top-40 New Releases in Soundtracks. On that list it's sitting at 32 this hour while, as you can see, it's sitting at 34 among the Top-100 Country CDs and Vinyl New Releases on Amazon. The 4-CD box set contains compact disc versions of Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, Slow Dance, and Nouveau Retro. Each of those albums are available online for downloading/streaming in addition to being available in the box set as compact discs. Ray explains it all in this advertisement uploaded on YouTube back in July...

Ray Stevens: "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century" returns to Amazon's Top-40...

Hello to the Ray Stevens fans! We're here on September 8th and I'm here to report that Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, the 4-CD box set from Ray Stevens, has climbed back into the Top-40 on Amazon's Country CD and Vinyl New Releases list. The box set's been moving all over the Top-100 Country CD and Vinyl New Releases for several days and it's once again back among the Top-40 titles within the Top-100.

The highest peak position on the Amazon Country CD and Vinyl Top-100 occurred on August 6th when it peaked at 38. On a separate list, Soundtracks, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century reached a peak of 30 back on August 6th. At this hour the 4-CD box set also sits at 38 on the Top-100 New Releases in Soundtracks. That list is an all-format list...all music styles make up that particular list. The subtitle for Ray's 4-CD box set is The Soundtrack of Our Lives. As I've opined before I'm guessing that Amazon also places the box set there because the word, Soundtrack, is in it's title. The website must have some sort of coding that detects the word, soundtrack, and therefore it automatically gets placed on a list of compact discs that contain songs from movies and television shows. Ray's box set isn't exactly a movie or television soundtrack...the word, soundtrack, in this scenario is meant to describe songs recorded in the 20th century that became iconic or have stood the test of time. It can also refer to songs that meant something to specific generations of people, but hadn't had the same durability, and yet remain iconic to some. The product page over at Amazon states that there's 20 copies of the box set available. I've lost track how many times a disclaimer like that has appeared on the product page of Ray's 4-CD box set. Compact discs aren't as in demand as digital downloads...but then there's the major return of the vinyl album. 

I remember a few years ago when portable turntables were being released as novelty items (I purchased several) and now record companies are issuing contemporary vinyl albums through Amazon...and there's a vinyl album section in the local Walmart stores, too, which feature contemporary artists on vinyl; and the re-issue of classic titles enable current record buyers to get vinyl copies of classic albums. Ray's box set, as far as I know, will remain in compact disc format. Each of the compact discs that are inside the box set are available as digital downloads. I don't know if Curb Records would ever issue a vinyl collection containing four individual vinyl albums in a carrying case...which is what they'd have to do if anyone would want Iconic Songs of the 20th Century in vinyl format. Yes, for the sheer novelty and one of a kind nature of it, I'd purchase a vinyl copy of the box set if it ever became available. I know vinyl has made a retail comeback but record companies are still limited in the amount of vinyl they'll offer...so if Curb would ever entertain the idea of issuing Iconic Songs of the 20th Century in vinyl format it would be in extremely limited quantities...nevertheless, I'd be among those in line waiting to purchase it! 

You can purchase the compact disc copy at Amazon when you click HERE.  

Ray Stevens: "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century" Amazon Top-100 Update...

Hello to all you Ray Stevens fans!! As you can see in the photo on the left side of the screen Iconic Songs of the 20th Century is nearing the Top-40 portion of the Amazon Top-100 New Releases in Country. The format in which it sits at this position is CD's and Vinyl. When I wrote my blog entry I mentioned that the 4-CD box set had returned to the Top-100 after having fallen off for several weeks. When I wrote the previous blog entry the box set was sitting at number 59 on the Top-100 Country New Releases/CD's and Vinyl and number 58 on the Top-100 Soundtracks/CD's and Vinyl. As you can see it's shot up to number 42. The 4-CD box set had previously risen into the Top-40 Country New Releases...the highest the box set had risen was number 30 on August 6th...so you can that it's been almost a month since the box set was sitting in this area of Amazon's Top-100. It wasn't uncommon, though...Iconic Songs of the 20th Century was released on July 23rd and typically a brand new release will sit among the Top-50 or higher on release day somewhere on Amazon and continue to appear on Top-100 lists in the days that follow. Some releases will bounce around the Top-50 for weeks at a time...while other releases take up residence in the Top-100 and bounce around from hour to hour. Then there are some releases that have a big opening day or week and then vanish from Top-100 lists. 

The box set contains 48 tracks. Some of the tracks feature a medley of two songs. In each individual compact disc there's a fold out cover...and these fold out's are filled with musician credits, songwriter credits, publisher credits, and there's written commentary from Ray on each fold out cover. The four compact discs are: Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, Slow Dance, and Nouveau Retro. All four of the compact discs had previously been released as digital downloads but this box set was put together mainly for those that still prefer to have music on compact disc as well as for a souvenir item for those who attend concerts at the CabaRay showroom. I'm sure the box set will be available for purchase in the CabaRay gift shop which, as mentioned, is another reason for the need to have a box set compact disc collection available. 

Ray Stevens: "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century" returns to Amazon Top-100...

Hello one and all...we're a nearing 1am here on September 2nd and I just returned from looking over the various Top-100 lists on Amazon. I was pleasantly surprised to see the 4-CD Ray Stevens box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, in the Top-100 New Releases list again. The box set is charting on both the Top-100 Soundtracks as well as the Top-100 Country CD's and Vinyl list. 

As if on cue the new month kicks off with Iconic Songs of the 20th Century on Amazon's Top-100. I've often checked the Top-100 on a daily basis and this is the first time it's been listed since mid August. A quick look at my online photo gallery shows that August 19th was the last time the box set appeared on any Top-100 list on Amazon. Yes, before you can ask, I took screen caps on most of the days that Iconic Songs of the 20th Century appeared on Amazon's Top-100 so that I can have them for future reference. Why? Well, it's so that if anyone months from now or years from now wants to say things that are inaccurate about this box set, such as it didn't reach any chart, I'll have the screen caps from Amazon to correct any inaccuracy that might come up. If this 4-CD box set is something that you're just now hearing about, well, it's available on Amazon as well as Ray's online webstore. I alternate between which webpage I leave a link to. In some of my blog entries I've left links to both websites. Since we're focusing on the box set being among the Top-100 New Releases on Amazon's Country CD's and Vinyl list here's a link to AMAZON. 

This coming Saturday, don't forget, Ray Stevens is returning to the concert stage at his CabaRay showroom in West Nashville. Those of you who are attending on September 4th be sure to leave messages about your experience at Ray's social media. He has an active Facebook and Twitter page where concert goers can post about their time at the CabaRay. He even has a Facebook page all about the CabaRay, too. The announcement about the CabaRay re-opening was made back in the spring. It was in March. Now, during that point in time, several wondered why make an announcement so many months in advance. I was wondering the same thing, too, but now here we are 6 months later and it's 2 days before showtime at the CabaRay. 

I've been speculating in some of my previous blog entries that Ray might promote the songs found on the 4-CD box set. He's never performed many of these songs in a concert setting yet. He performed "Oh, Pretty Woman" and "Unchained Melody" during a guest appearance at the Opry a number of years ago...but at that time this box set and the music found in it was still in the planning and pre-production phase. I don't even think, at that time, there was any thought of putting together a box set like this. I think there was just so much unreleased songs building up that a plan was formulated and it was put into work this year...the plan resulted in releasing one digital download per month (February, March, April, and May) and then issue those digital albums as compact discs in a 4-CD box set called Iconic Songs of the 20th Century (which they did in July). Those of you who attend any of his CabaRay concerts be sure to visit his gift shop!! I am sure he'll have the 4-CD box set available for purchase there. 

Ray Stevens: "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century" Online Update...

Well, it's me once again!! I've been keeping track of Iconic Songs of the 20th Century and it's appearances on Amazon's New Releases Country Top-100 within the last couple of weeks. The 4-CD box set reached a peak position of number 38 on the CD/Vinyl list of Country New Releases and a peak position of 30 on the CD/Vinyl list of Soundtrack albums. The 4-CD box set continues to chart on the CD/Vinyl Country New Releases. I visited Amazon earlier today and discovered, however, that the 4-CD box set is once again 'temporarily out of stock'. It had been available for purchase and Amazon had been accepting orders for awhile...and during that time Iconic Songs of the 20th Century bounced all around the Amazon Top-100. This hour it's sitting at 94. A place where the 4-CD box will likely never become temporarily unavailable is at the official Ray Stevens webstore. I purchased my box set there several weeks ago and I've put it in my collection with the rest of my Ray Stevens albums. The music from the box set is in my online music library...the music got there from when I purchased the digital albums separately during the first half of this year. You can purchase the 4-CD box set HERE. I posted this several blog entries ago but I decided to share it again...it's a 40 second video clip of Ray promoting Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. The video promo hit YouTube back on July 23rd...

Ray Stevens: My Review of "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century"...

I've been a fan of Ray Stevens for more than 30+ years. I make no apologies for my excessive fandom and so when he released four digital albums earlier this year you can bet I was right in line to make my purchase. Those 4 digital albums have now become available in CD format: Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, Slow Dance, and Nouveau Retro. You can check out my reviews of each of those titles here on my blog page by looking in the archive posts off to the right or you can search for the digital albums over on Amazon and read my reviews there. This review is about the overall box set and so I'm not going to re-review the four albums. As mentioned I think this 4-CD box set is lovely without it being aggressively splashy. There's the cover art on the front of the box and then on the back the songs from each CD are listed. Each disc is in it's separate jewel case...and each contains a fold-out cover. The fold-out features the technical information such as musician credits, songwriter and publisher credits, and on the back of each fold-out are personal notes/commentary from Ray. I really, really love the inclusion of those musician credits specifically because it lets us know who played on which song. The studio band usually plays on every recording...but when you look at the musician credits on each of these CD's you'll notice that Ray is credited with a lot of additional instruments!! He's often credited as the piano/keyboard player and synthesizer player on his albums...but for these particular albums he's also credited with playing drums, French horn, trombones, harp, bass, and celeste...and those are just the additional instruments credited to Ray on Great Country Ballads!! 

The additional credits for Ray beyond piano/keyboard/synthesizer continue on the other three CD's as well. Denis Solee is the saxophone player and Jerry Kimbrough is the acoustic guitarist on all 12 of the songs on that particular CD. The musicians are mostly the same on 9 of the 12 tracks. "Making Believe" and "Sweet Dreams" include a couple of additional musicians: Glen Duncan playing fiddle and Rob Ickes playing the resophonic guitar. Jerry Kimbrough, in addition to acoustic guitar, is also the one playing the mandolin and electric guitar...so when you hear either of those two instruments on any of the recordings throughout the 4-CD box set it's him. "Please Help Me I'm Falling" features Jon Hamrick credited as an additional keyboard player while Ray, in addition to his musician credits on the song, is also credited as the string arranger. Bergen White did the bulk of the string arrangements. The harmony vocalists, in addition to Ray, are Lisa Silver, Kyra Small, and Cindy Walker.  

As far as the notes are concerned...those of you that frequent Ray's social media will probably be familiar with some of the commentary...he's posted some of it on his social media pages...but there's a lot more commentary from him that hadn't been posted online and for now the only way to read the additional notes/comments is to purchase the 4-CD box set. Here I am glancing over the fold-out cover of Great Country Ballads...

After reading the review and learning of all of the people who helped put the box set together that's why I purchase CD's, if available, because ordinarily they'll include musician, songwriter, and publisher credits and for me knowing those aspects of an album is just as important as listening to the songs. The box set is released on Curb Records in collaboration with Ray's CabaRay Records imprint. The two imprints are shown side by side on the back of the box set and on the bottom side of the box set. On the side of the jewel case where the album title and catalog number are located it has Curb Records off on the right side of the case. 

I purchased my copy of Iconic Songs of the 20th Century on the Ray Stevens webstore and you should, too. I'm going to be copying/pasting most of this review over on Amazon. Although that online store is "out of stock" I'm still going to submit a review. If Amazon is ever in stock with Iconic Songs of the 20th Century my review will already be there. Here's the link to the 4-CD collection over on Ray's WEBSTORE. Don't forget...you can also purchase the 4-CD box set at the Curb Records store by clicking HERE.

Ray Stevens: "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century" promo video...

Hello all once more!! A number of hours have passed since my previous blog entry celebrating release day for Iconic Songs of the 20th Century by Ray Stevens. A promo video for the box set was uploaded onto YouTube earlier today while I was away from the computer. It's a cute promo and you'll like it once you see it. 

In my previous blog I provided two links...one was for the official webstore at Ray's webpage and another was a link to Amazon. I'm in no way, shape, or form a conspiracy theorist but something's odd about a product, minutes after it's suppose to become available for purchase, being simultaneously unavailable on the world's largest online store. A few minutes past Midnight as the day went from July 22nd to July 23rd the product page on Amazon for Iconic Songs of the 20th Century went from being available for Pre-order to it becoming Temporarily Out of Stock. It seems to be a pattern...almost anything that Ray releases whether it be a digital album or a CD...it typically has delayed availability on Amazon. I have no idea if it's intentional to effect an album's impact data, which is a cynical point of view, or if online stores truly are out of stock only minutes after going on sale. 

Getting that off my chest let's return back to the fun of having a 4-CD box set from Ray Stevens being released today! I placed my order for Iconic Songs of the 20th Century earlier today on Ray's webstore and I'll be including a direct link to the store later in the blog entry...even though there will be a link advertised in the video promo as well. 

When my copy of Iconic Songs of the 20th Century arrives in the mail and I get in front of my web-camera I'll more than likely rival the grin that Ray Stevens is giving us in the screen cap. I'll be just as excited. In that video promo you'll see the individual discs as well as the jewel cases for each disc. Since I don't have the box set, yet, I don't know if there will be any musician and songwriter credits listed. Those credits should be listed...it's commonplace...but there actually have been CD's in the past that don't provide musician credits or publisher credits, etc. and those are things I like to be informed about. I like to know the names of all the personnel involved in the making of all of the albums I purchase. Basically, though, those kinds of things appear within a CD's packaging...usually within a fold-out cover or simply on the back of the CD's picture sleeve...so I'm pretty sure once I get the 4-CD box set that kind of information will be available. 

To purchase Iconic Songs of the 20th Century click HERE. It'll take you to Ray's online store at his official website. I've ordered many things from Ray's online store over the years. The last time I purchased something from his store was last year...the CD re-release and remastering of the 1990 Boots Randolph instrumental album that Ray produced. The re-release was in recognition of the album's 30th anniversary. I don't know how long it'll take for Iconic Songs of the 20th Century to arrive in the mail...hopefully it won't take weeks and weeks. This being a Friday, and based on the time of day I ordered it from their webstore, I think it may have gotten shipped at some point today or perhaps some point tomorrow morning...or held off until Monday. I'd be surprised if it isn't in my mailbox by next Friday...hopefully sooner than that.      

Ray Stevens: It's release day for "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century"...

Well, release day for Iconic Songs of the 20th Century has finally happened!!! The box set from Ray Stevens contains CD copies of his previously released digital albums. I checked Amazon and I looked at the webstore over on Ray's website and it's also available for order there, too. The Amazon product page for the box set, as of this writing, shows that it's available as a Pre-order. I'm assuming that Amazon's official time zone is Pacific...which means as of this writing it's a little past 10pm out West. Here where I am it's nearly 1am. I mention this each time Ray has released new projects. Amazon waits until it's release day in their time zone. As mentioned the box set is also available on Ray's webstore. If you visit the webstore you'll see photos of all four of the discs. Also, on Ray's webpage, you'll see a sideview of the box set. I was assuming the box set would have to be opened up to reveal the discs but the box design they went with features the discs stacked in jewel cases on top of one another and to remove a particular CD from the box set you slide the jewel case from the right hand side of the box. The thing that I'm thrilled with is the fact that the discs are inside individual jewel cases with cover art. I was thinking that the discs would just be sitting in paper sleeves on top of one another in a box but based on the image shown on Ray's webstore each disc has it's own jewel case and cover art. I bring that up because I had originally thought the images shown for each digital album were only for online promotional purposes but, as said, I'm thrilled to see that the discs will be in cases with cover art. I'm assuming musician credits will also be available for each release. As you see on the box set's cover art it's subtitled The Soundtrack of Our Lives. 

I'll be including links to both Amazon and to the official Ray Stevens webstore near the closing of this blog entry. 

This won't be my only blog entry today...as the Central and Eastern time zones begin their day 7 or 8 hours from now I look for some official publicity from Ray's social media to hit the internet surrounding the release of this box set. Once Ray starts to publicize the box set, as I'm thinking he will, I'll be on the lookout for any news articles, write-ups, video promos, or whatever it might be to pop up online. Once I come across any and all publicity for this release I'll blog about it. I won't be writing a traditional review of the box set because I have the music already through my purchases of the four digital albums and I've written individual reviews of each digital album. I'll be purchasing the box set because I want the music on CD and I'm buying it for the cover art and the musician credits and for any potential personal comments from Ray that might be found if there's a fold-out cover. Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, on Amazon, can be purchased by clicking HERE. If you prefer to purchase it directly from Ray's webstore you can do so HERE. The box set is also being sold on the Curb Records online store. The product page for the box set at the Curb Records website only shows the track list for Great Country Ballads rather than having the whole 48 song track list of the box set visible. The four CD's are: Great Country Ballads, Melancholy Fescue, Slow Dance, and Nouveau Retro.  

I'll be looking at various Amazon New Releases and Best Seller Top-100 lists to see if the box set makes an appearance at some point and yes, if it happens, I'll blog about it. I'd also like to say that the box set is not as expensive as I thought it might be. The price, before taxes, is $24.98 on Amazon and three cents cheaper on Ray's website, $24.95. This is an incredible value for four compact discs with 12 songs each...at that price it means that each disc would sell for a little less than $6.00 each, before taxes, if they were being sold separately. The banner below is just a promotional banner...it isn't a link. The links to Amazon and to Ray's webstore I've previously posted above. When you click the promo banner you'll not be taken to any online store. I stress this because for some of Ray's albums I'd always post a promo picture banner, much in the design like what you see below, and I got feedback that it was being mistaken for a link to an online store. The promo banner for Iconic Songs of the 20th Century seen below is just a photo...it isn't a link. 

Ray Stevens: 4-CD "Iconic Songs of the 20th Century" on the way...

Like a kid in a candy store I'm grinning from ear to ear as I write this opening sentence! The cover art for the upcoming Ray Stevens box set, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century: The Soundtrack of Our Lives, has officially been uploaded onto Ray's social media. I had received a newsletter last month and it included an image of the box set and so I've known what it's looked like since early June. The newsletter is free...all you have to is visit Ray's webpage and sign up...and the newsletters will periodically show up in your e-mail. Anyway, in the newsletter they included a photo of the box set. I provided the full title of the box set earlier in the paragraph but I'll continue to shorten the box set's title to simply, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century. I know what some out there may be thinking. Why get excited over a box set of songs that have already been released as digital downloads? Well, I'm excited because it's a physical piece of music. I purchase digital downloads for one reason. It's because most of the time newly released music is only being released digitally through online streaming and download services. I don't want to wait around until a possible CD copy of an album becomes available, if one ever does, so I go ahead and purchase music as digital downloads. I purchased all four of the digital downloads once they were released and I'll be purchasing the CD box set of those four albums this coming Friday, July 23rd. 

The four digital downloads each contain 12 songs. In one of my previous blog entries I wondered if the box set will contain just the 48 songs from all four digital releases or if Ray will include any 'bonus' recordings to round out the total number of songs to 50 or 52. We'll find out once we receive the box set. I don't think they'd insert any bonus content but it's hard to tell. There's not been much detail given about the actual box set...it may just be a simple box set with 4 CD's and nothing more, nothing less...or it could be a box set with bonus extras and a booklet accompanying the discs. I don't know if the box set will feature jewel cases for each of the discs with the cover art or if it'll be 4 discs by themselves with the name of the album and the song titles and credits. There's a lot we don't know about the Iconic Songs of the 20th Century box set when it comes to packaging and that kind of thing. When Ray issued a collection in 2005 called Box Set it didn't feature any kind of liner notes or musician credits. It was just three compact discs. The back of the release listed the song titles on each disc. Ray released that box set on his own Clyde Records label and it was later picked up and distributed by Curb Records. I'm keeping myself from expecting a lot of bells and whistles with Iconic Songs of the 20th Century...I don't think it'll have the same sort of detail and information as his 9-CD box set had back in 2012, Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. I could be wrong, of course. I look for more detailed information about the contents of Iconic Songs of the 20th Century to show up the closer we get to July 23rd. If you're wondering about the color scheme in the image of the soon to be released box set I want to point out that the first image is from the newsletter from June. The second image of the box set is from Ray's social media posted earlier today. I don't know why the image in the newsletter shown up way more shinier and brighter than the image Ray posted today. As soon as I order the box set and it arrives I'll be writing an overview. Why? Because I'm a Ray Stevens fan of course!

Ray Stevens: Album Time-Line Rewind...2

Hello fans of Ray Stevens...and to those that stop by here out of curiosity. In the second installment of my Album Time-Line Rewind series I'm spotlighting a project that Ray Stevens issued on May 16, 2005 titled Box Set. The project, initially, was released on Ray's own label, Clyde Records. Box Set contains 3-CD's with 17 songs per disc for a total of 51 recordings. The recordings are all post 1990. The renditions of "The Streak", "Gitarzan", "It's Me Again, Margaret", "Everything is Beautiful", "Misty", and numerous other signature songs are re-recordings by Ray...more specifically they're the audio tracks from his live-action and limited animation music videos. The name of the album is visually emphasized on the album cover as we see Ray Stevens sitting at a table with several boxes in front of him. The original recordings he did for Curb Records in 1990, 1991, and 1993 and the recordings he did for his own Clyde Records label in the early to mid 2000s are part of the Box Set. 

Curb Records took over distribution of the Box Set beginning on February 28, 2006. Clyde Records handled the direct marketing/mail-order side of Ray's career and had no in-store distribution. The 3-CD collection, upon wider release, did gather some criticism for the absence of original recordings of songs he'd recorded prior to 1990...but other online reviewers weren't as upset. Sprinkled throughout the collection were 5 exclusives, 1 recording that was previously only available as a single-release, and 1 recording that was previously only available on a music video. The 5 all new songs were: "The Cat Song", "Driver's Education", "Family Funeral Fight", "Kitty Cat's Revenge", and "When The Kids Are Gone". The song that was previously released as a single-only: 2003's "We're Havin' a Baby The Natural Way"; and previously available as a music video-only, 2002's "Hello Mama", the audio track appeared on Box Set. Here's a bit of trivia: "The Cat Song" would later be recorded by radio talk show host, Mark Steyn. 

I'm going to embed several of the songs from the Box Set that were exclusive at the time. The first one is "Family Funeral Fight". There's a nice piece of banjo accompaniment with a lot of sound effects as Ray tells a comical tale of a divided family and their brawl at a funeral in Ducktown, Tennessee when it was revealed the recently deceased was having affairs. The fight, as Ray sings: "...started in the afternoon and lasted half the night...".

Wasn't that hilarious? It's anyone's guess why Ray didn't or hasn't, to date, turned any of these songs into comedy music videos. In "Kitty Cat's Revenge", another song with banjo accompaniment, Ray tells about attempting to rescue an Ocelot from a drainage pipe and getting attacked not only by the wildcat but a swarm of bees. Ray and the wildcat end up floating through the pipe and out into a pond of waste. Box Set, as mentioned, was released initially in May 2005...then Curb Records released it in February 2006...and the audio tracks were uploaded onto YouTube by Curb Records in March 2018.  

The third audio track I'm embedding is "We're Havin' a Baby The Natural Way". The song begins softly and Ray tells us about the optimism and desires of having a baby the natural way...with no hospital help, drugs, or anything else. In the song Ray plays the role of the husband and future father who's very supportive of the idea of having their baby born at home...going through training classes on delivering, etc. However, the soon-to-be parents are talked into enlisting the help of the hospital...and while there the wife goes into labor. The rest of the song is filled with descriptions of the wife giving birth and all the pain...at one point in the song the wife demands more drugs in a exorcist-like voice.

Ray Stevens: July 23rd Box Set Release...

It's me once again!! Blogger's fixed the image problem from the other day. In my last couple of blog entries I was unable to post images...I could still post video clips but whenever I'd go to post an image I'd get an error message. I'm glad that the image feature has returned!! That's an image of the Country Music Hall of Fame plaque unveiled in 2019 when Ray was elected. If you're familiar with the official webpage of Ray Stevens or you visit the contact area of Ray's social media you'll probably be familiar with his newsletter. Anyone that signs up to receive their newsletter typically gets e-mail alerts about the latest happenings in Ray's career. Yes, even in the day of the internet, they realize that not all fans have the time to do internet searches, etc. and so they offer a free newsletter re-cap. All anyone has to do is sign up for it. I received their latest newsletter in my e-mail inbox today...the box set I've been mentioning since February, Iconic Songs of the 20th Century, is being pushed back to July 23rd. The original release date was scheduled for June 21st. The newsletter states that the box set will be an exclusive to the gift shop at the CabaRay and it'll also be available at Ray's web-store. The newsletter contained a photo of the upcoming box set and I'll be posting an image of it in a future blog entry. This blog entry is more or less being composed to highlight the change in release date for the Iconic Songs of the 20th Century box set. The four digital albums that Ray has released will be issued in CD format for that box set. A lot of fans want CD copies of the music. 

The newsletter also revealed some upcoming secondary releases...which includes a brand new comedy song soon to be released digitally and a brand new comedy album this fall. This bit of news may be of relief to those wondering if Ray had decided to by-pass comedy entirely in favor of recording and arranging classic country and pop songs. When Ray decides to release this information from the newsletter about the brand new song and the upcoming comedy album to the general public through his social media then I'll write a blog about it.