Ray Stevens: Early '90's "Santa Claus is Watching You" performance...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!!! I don't know if too many of you recall seeing Ray perform "Santa Claus is Watching You" on The Family Channel in the early 1990s or not. I remember watching it on TV the night it aired. It was a television special starring various recording artists synonymous with Branson, Missouri. Ray was very synonymous with Branson in that time period...he was one of the Top-10 attractions during his 3 season stay (1991, 1992, 1993). If you look closely he was probably among the Top-3. Ray performs "Santa Claus is Watching You" with the added assistance of Yakov Smirnoff and Janice Copeland. Ray's Branson concerts featured Janice Copeland as a comical co-star and as a featured vocalist. If you have Ray's VHS titled 'More Ray Stevens Live!' you'll see her as a serious vocalist but then you'll see her as a comical alter ego, Beulah. She was also in the 'Ray Stevens Live!' VHS, too. You're going to love seeing this early 1990's performance and if you remember that era in Ray's career it'll immediately send you into a time warp. Country Road TV uploaded this early 1990's television performance. 

Ray Stevens: Branson continues to appreciate Ray...

Hello Ray Stevens fans! It slipped under my radar and I suppose it slipped by your radar, too, but just a few minutes ago while browsing on-line search engines for Ray Stevens content I came across a news item posted by Branson Tri-Lakes News where the Mayor of Branson, Missouri declared July 11, 2023 as Ray Stevens Day. I don't know why the webpage is only now showing up in search results. If it had been online sooner I would've made mention of it a month ago. 

This is a fascinating bit of information due to the fact that 2023 marks the 30th year since Ray closed down his theatre (for the first time) in Branson. The legacy of his theater will forever live on through a couple of video releases: Ray Stevens Live! and More Ray Stevens Live!. When Ray opened up his theater in the summer of 1991 it had been under construction for a number of months... news began surfacing late in 1990 that he was set to open a theater in Branson in 1991. This theater, for those unaware, was designed by Ray and he also had it built...it wasn't a situation where Ray had moved into an already existing venue. 

Ray performed there during the concert/tourist seasons of 1991, 1992, and 1993. He left the theater after finishing up the 1993 season but he didn't sell the theater...instead, he rented the theater to a group of executives that operated a music show called Country Tonite. Their music show headlined Ray's theater for 10 years (!) until 2004. Ray returned to Branson to headline his theater once again. Prior to Ray's theater opening up for the 2005 concert season, in 2004, he had the interior redecorated and he installed some new features like a mammoth electronically controlled bust of a gorilla that would rise up from the floor and lift Ray, while seated at the piano, in the air during a performance!!. 

Ray's return to Branson took up the 2005 and 2006 concert seasons. Now, following the 2006 season, Ray left his Branson theater for the second time and officially put the theater up for sale. It was purchased by RFD-TV within a few years of it going on the market. Ray returned to Branson a few more times in the coming years... first, to perform during a 6-week engagement at The Welk Resort Theatre (2010) as well as a series of tribute/memorial concerts at the Andy Williams Moon River Theatre (2012) and in 2015 he briefly re-appeared in Branson for an appearance at the Moon River Theater. The local news headlines in Branson for that brief 2015 return triumphantly declared that 'Ray Stevens returns home to Branson'. 

However, with the exception of the few and far between re-appearances, his days of being an owner of a Branson theater had come to an end when he put his own theater up for sale in 2006. As many of you know Ray opened up a new kind of venue in 2018 called the CabaRay and it's in West Nashville. It's an intimate venue and Ray based it's interior design on numerous venues he performed in during his years playing the Las Vegas casinos and nightclubs in the '70s and '80s. Do you want to know something fascinating? After all this time there usually isn't a day that doesn't go by that some fan on his social media pages doesn't ask if he's ever going to return to Branson or do anymore concerts down there. So, happy belated Ray Stevens Day. It's plain to see the town of Branson still appreciates your brand of entertainment.

Ray Stevens 1992 performance: "Mississippi Squirrel Revival"...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! A couple of days ago Ray uploaded a performance he gave of "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" from his former theatre in Branson, Missouri. The performance is from 1992. Ray taped a complete concert at his former theatre in 1992 and split it in half and sold it in two separate VHS tapes: Ray Stevens Live! and More Ray Stevens Live!. Those VHS tapes were released in 1993. The performance of "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" appears on More Ray Stevens Live!. Ray never released that particular VHS through television direct marketing...it was only sold at his theatre's gift shop and through his former fan club...so it wasn't as widely known as Ray Stevens Live! at the time. You'll see not only Ray perform the song but you'll see the big video screen above the stage playing snippets of the music video. This video screen and the insertion of music video content is what Ray said inspired him to begin releasing VHS tapes of his songs. In the beginning there was a VHS release only sold at his theatre called Ray Stevens Video Hits. This led to the extended edition, in 1992, of Comedy Video Classics which became a blockbuster VHS for two years in the Home Video market. The 1992 release featured five of the music videos from the Video Hits release with three all new music video productions bringing the overall total to eight music videos. One of those newest music video productions for Comedy Video Classics was "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" and you'll see it playing as Ray sings the song at his former Branson, Missouri theatre...

Ray Stevens: Branson...June 15th 1991...

It's a really hot 80 degree day on this June 15th...it was exactly 30 years ago in 1991 that Ray Stevens had the grand opening of his Branson, Missouri theater. Ray's theater had a tremendous impact on the town's economy and, if truth be told, inspired other performers to open up theaters and make Branson, Missouri a tourist destination. Branson's theater district, if I recall correctly, originally began with just a couple of venues popping up. The Baldknobbers, Boxcar Willie (the first nationally known performer to open a theater in Branson), and later on Roy Clark...from there music venues began to sprout...Ray Stevens became interested in the town in 1990. Soon after Mickey Gilley, Jim Stafford, Mel Tillis, Glen Campbell, Andy Williams, Tony Orlando, Shoji Tabuchi, and local performers set up performance venues. A two lane highway filled with theaters and other types of entertainment prompted chronic traffic jams according to local reports. 

Ray Stevens began building his theater in the latter half of 1990 and it was ready for business on June 15, 1991. Ray had been performing a series of concerts at Roy Clark's Celebrity Theater in Branson and it inspired him to think about opening up his own theater. Ray, having a secondary passion for architecture, designed the theater. Two VHS tapes were released in 1993 of a concert taped at Ray's theater. Ray Stevens Live! was sold over television and became a Platinum selling VHS. It was released to retail outlets by Curb Records in 1994. The second half of the concert was sold as More Ray Stevens Live! and was only available through Ray's fan club (fan club members received catalog pamphlets in the mail with an attached order form). The More Ray Stevens Live! VHS was also sold at the theater's gift shop. The following television commercial aired in 1992...

Ray performed two shows a day, 6 days a week at his Branson theater. The theater would close down each year just prior to Christmas and then re-open in the late spring the following year. Ray kept this schedule during the 1991, 1992, and 1993 seasons...and he closed down his theater following the 1993 season and put it up for sale. The property wasn't immediately purchased and so Ray became a landlord and rented out the venue to an organization that presented a series called Country Tonite. 

Ray was no stranger at being a landlord...he owned and rented out property in and around the Music Row area in Nashville for several decades. He was often co-owner of property with Chet Atkins. Anyway, the Country Tonite program occupied the Ray Stevens theater in Branson from 1994 until 2004. Shortly after the Country Tonite program vacated the theater in 2004 Ray decided to do some interior redecoration and and he began performing concerts at his theater once again by the summer of 2005. Ray didn't do the 2 shows a day, 6 days a week schedule he once did...this time the schedule was way more relaxed. 

He ended up doing two seasons worth of concerts (2005 and 2006) before ultimately selling the theater. Since then Ray has returned to Branson several times for limited performances at other artist's theaters but this and all other touring came to an end in 2018 when his CabaRay showroom opened in Nashville. Those wanting to see Ray Stevens in concert will have to visit his CabaRay showroom when it re-opens this September. 

Ray Stevens: 1991 theater sketch...

I was never able to see any concerts, in person, of Ray Stevens when he was in Branson, Missouri at his theater. He performed at his former theater in Branson for a total of five non-consecutive seasons: 1991, 1992, 1993, 2005, and 2006. I have his 1993 VHS releases, Ray Stevens Live! and More Ray Stevens Live!. Those two VHS tapes consist of a full-length Ray Stevens concert from 1992 broken in two parts. If you have Ray Stevens Live! you'll know that parts of the concert feature fade outs and fade-ins. The footage not seen on Ray Stevens Live! is shown on the sequel. In the concert performances Ray utilized a jumbo screen. Comical sketches would often play on this screen either during intermission or in the concert itself if a song required a lot of production to pull off in a live setting. When he performed "I Saw Elvis in a U.F.O." the opening portion of the song with the field reporter and eyewitness was shown on the video screen. He taped a black and white parody of James Bond. These are things you can see on Ray Stevens Live!. Yesterday the social media sites of Ray Stevens uploaded a 1991 comedy sketch, shot in black and white, of a couple lost in Branson after being stuck in a traffic jam and they end up breaking into a theater. Little do they know it's the Ray Stevens Theatre...and little do they know who Ray Stevens is...



I can't tell who the woman is but the guy I recognize from Ray's 1995 movie, Get Serious!. The guy played Harv Newland in the movie.

Ray Stevens: Summer 2005 interview...

Ray Stevens; 2005

Hello once again!! Earlier today on the Ray Stevens social media sites there came a video upload of an interview with Ray from 2005. This is the year that Ray returned to his former theater in Branson, Missouri. He performed at the theatre, originally, in 1991, 1992, and 1993. He leased the theater to a group that presented a program called Country Tonite and they performed concerts there for nearly ten years. He took back the theater in 2004 at the request of the management of Country Tonite and, according to his memoir, spent the remainder of 2004 having the interior redecorated and plants re-planted and turning it back into 'The Ray Stevens Theatre'. He marked his return to concerts at the theater in 2005 and he spent two seasons there (2005 and 2006) before selling the theatre to the RFD-TV network. The interview was conducted in the summer of 2005...exactly 15 years ago. I love the shirt Ray is wearing throughout the interview...it's a dark Hawaiian type of shirt as you can see in the photo above and in the photo below in video. Ray's voice is the one you'll hear doing the introduction at the theater. He discusses "The Streak", "Ahab the Arab", and "Everything is Beautiful" in addition to his history in Branson, Missouri up to that point.

Ray Stevens CabaRay: June concerts...

Hello all...an early Monday morning and my first fan created blog entry for the month of June 2019. I had a somewhat busy weekend...I brought a lot of items, well, practically all of the items, from a room at my grandparent's house that I've often referred to on-line as my mini-museum and I brought those items to the house I've lived in for the last 19 years. I was going through the items and came across a lot of the Ray Stevens Fan Club newsletters from the mid to late '90s and early 2000s that I saved. I even came across an invoice for my 1995 purchase of the VHS, Get Serious!, from June of that year...I wasn't even aware that I had saved it. Also among the personal items was Ray's tour schedule for 1996 that the fan club mailed out to members. The fan club, known as FFFOL, was in operation from 1987 to 2002. I was a member from 1994 to 2002. The acronym stands for French Fried Far Out Legion. If you own VHS or DVD copies of his 1993 Ray Stevens Live! project you're already aware of that name if you read the closing credits or remember the opening number on More Ray Stevens Live!.

As I looked over the 1996 tour schedule I seen that Ray began the tour in Nashville, Indiana at The Little Nashville Opry on April 13th and he ended the bulk of the tour in Nashville, Indiana at The Little Nashville Opry on September 28th but technically he had one more show date on the 1996 tour and it was in Hiawassee, Georgia on October 5th at Anderson Music Hall. Ray's tour schedule also had him making appearances in Illinois for two concerts on April 20th and 21st at a venue called Nashville North in Taylorsville and then he made his way down to West Virginia for an appearance at the Jamboree in Wheeling (April 27). In May he kicked things off with a series of concerts at The Wayne Newton Theater in Branson, Missouri from May 6th through May 13th and then appeared in Mahnomen, Minnesota on May 18th at the Shooting Star Casino and then on May 19th at the Star Plaza Theater in Merrillville, Indiana. A concert on June 8th in Salem, Ohio took place at the Ponderosa Park. Ray appeared in Cumming, Georgia on June 15th at the Lanierland Music Park. Ray then become something of a resident performer at The Wayne Newton Theater in Branson, Missouri during the months of July, August, and the first half of September 1996. He delivered concerts at the theater on the following dates in July: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27. The August concert dates were held on the dates of: 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24. Lastly, the September 1996 concert dates at The Wayne Newton Theater were: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14. The following day he was in Hutchinson, Kansas at the Kansas State Fair and this was followed by a September 21st concert in Renfro Valley, Kentucky before, as mentioned earlier, a return trip to Nashville, Indiana on September 28th.

The 1996 concerts in Branson marked the first time he'd performed there since 1993 when he was headlining his own theater (it opened in 1991 and Ray stepped aside in 1993 and rented the venue to other music-based productions before headlining the venue once more in the mid 2000s). The 1996 concerts had also marked his return to concert performances due to most of 1994 and early 1995 being taken up by the taping/filming of his Get Serious! VHS movie. Ray's career in Branson is legendary even though he didn't have the kind of decades-long run that several other performers enjoyed. He ultimately sold his theater to RFD-TV and they've been using it as a showcase for all kinds of performers. It's officially known as RFD-TV The Theatre. After wrapping up his series of concerts in 1996 Ray continued to engage in limited concert appearances...often staging concerts at the Acuff Theater at Opryland. He occasionally returned to Branson but for the most part he largely retired from extensive touring. He did a series of concert at The Welk Theater in Branson and he made appearances at The Moon River Theatre during the tribute/memorial/remembrance concerts being held for Andy Williams and as of this writing those were his final appearances in Branson, Missouri.

Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom

Ray has since moved on from Branson and in 2018 he opened his much-anticipated CabaRay showroom. The layout is based upon the venues he used to appear at in Las Vegas in the '70s and early '80s complete with table seating for customers that order dinner along with the concert...theater seating is in the balcony for those that order concert-only tickets...and there's also a piano bar and a gift shop at the CabaRay. Ray will be performing concerts at the CabaRay on the following dates during the month of June: 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 27, 28, and 29. The first concert of the month has already happened...it was held this past Saturday (June 1st). Ray typically performs there on Friday and Saturday nights and during some months he adds a Thursday concert. The CabaRay is in it's second season of operation. It's located on 5724 River Road in Nashville, TN.

This coming June 6th Ray will be appearing at the CMA Fest...he'll be on the Close-Up Stage being interviewed about his career and recent election to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The scheduled time for the interview is 1:15pm Central and it's suppose to be half an hour...but given it's a live event there's no telling if it'll go longer than that or if it'll get underway at it's scheduled start time. I'll obviously be searching all over the internet later on that day to see if I can find any images, manuscripts of the interview, video/podcast, etc. etc. and if I come across anything from Ray's 2019 CMA Fest appearance I'll be posting/commenting about it...but that goes without saying!!

Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville...Shoji Tabuchi

Hello once more...and this is my recap of season Six, episode 11 of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville guest starring Shoji Tabuchi. During the introduction Bill Cody referred to Ray as the 'Hillbilly Piano Man'. Ray opened the show performing "Strangers in the Night", the classic made famous by Frank Sinatra. Ray's recording of the song is from his tribute album, Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What??!, from 2008.



Ray brings out the 'Hillbilly Fiddle Player', Shoji Tabuchi, who greets Ray and then offers a one liner: "you all didn't know I could speak English"; Ray then asks what Shoji thinks of the CabaRay. Shoji says he loves it and then is asked how a native of Japan ended up in country music and America. Shoji tells of his origins and how he was inspired by the fiddle playing that he saw Roy Acuff doing while Roy and others were on one of those famed Opry package shows that used to tour all over the world.

Shoji said that he came to America in 1967 and eventually ended up touring with David Houston for five years. I looked up several statistics surrounding Shoji and the timeline has him a member of David Houston's road show from 1970 to 1975. On hand with Shoji is his daughter, Christina. Ray remarks that the last time he saw Shoji's daughter she happened to be a little girl. Shoji opened his theater in Branson, Missouri in 1990 and he remains a headliner there. Ray, as most of you know, headlined his own theater for two separate three season runs (1991-1993 and 2004-2006). Ray brings up Mel Tillis having recently passed away and mentions that Mel and Shoji were fishing buddies. Shoji confirms this and jokingly says that Mel taught him how to speak English (an obvious self-deprecating joke centering around Shoji's heavy Japanese inflected command of English and Mel's famous stutter).

Ray counters Shoji's comical remark with an amusing joke centering around Mel's decision to eventually stop fishing with Shoji. I'd love to offer it in this recap but there are things I intentionally leave out in all of these episode recaps and I do this so those that haven't seen these episodes will be surprised once they view them. There are some things that I add, which I feel necessary to incorporate into my blog recaps, but I always tack on a bold-print **spoiler alert** warning...but this time I decided to hold off...you'll laugh at the joke, though. If any local PBS station in your area isn't carrying Ray's television series you can always watch it on-line. Episodes can be found on his video web-site, raystevens.tv. Every episode from Season One to the most recently uploaded episode from Season Six can be found there. It's a subscription based site but Ray always provides recent episodes in the Free Content section for a limited time only before they become exclusive to subscribers. I'm a subscriber...obviously...no big secret there...but for those that simply want to catch a couple episodes of the show, for free, there's always a limited time frame upon which you can.

As of this writing there are three selected episodes available for free viewing. Two episodes from Season Three (guest stars being Restless Heart and B.J. Thomas) and this episode I'm recapping guest starring Shoji Tabuchi. If you come across this blog entry weeks or months from now the episodes available for free are certainly going to be different...but anyway...back to the recap...

After the comical remark about Mel and Shoji's fishing trips coming to an end Ray suggests they perform something...and this leads into a performance of a Roy Acuff classic called "Once More". After the performance Ray asks if Shoji is familiar with any other style of music. He replies with an answer that surprised me: big band. This leads into a performance of "Tennessee Waltz", vocally performed by Christina, while Shoji and Ray perform it instrumentally. Ray called Shoji the King of Branson and he instructed Shoji to make his way center stage at the red carpet. Shoji performed "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" and followed this with "Old Joe Clark" which he humorously introduced and re-titled 'Young Joe Clark' as he comically took offense to the original "being so old" that he felt a younger version needed to be in existence. Afterward Ray thanks Shoji and his daughter for appearing on the show.

The show's closing performance from Ray is another selection from the Sinatra tribute CD. This time it's "All the Way". Appearing on the episode of Ray's television series airing locally on PBS stations this weekend is John Schneider. Once it becomes available on-line next weekend I'll write a recap of it.

As of this writing I haven't seen any indication of Season Seven being in production or if Ray's going to take any sort of hiatus from the show and focus on CD releases of any kind. Whenever the show is "in production" Ray and company frequently provide photo's from the taping sessions, etc. etc. which, obviously, keeps all of us informed and there's social media posts offering tickets for show tapings. I haven't seen anything like that emerge so far. If I come across any on-line information concerning an upcoming season I'll pass it along. Now, of course, this current season of episodes were taped earlier this year after the CabaRay officially opened it's doors in January and the episodes began airing on PBS in April. Well, technically, the current season started with episodes taped at his Music Row recording studio in the latter half of 2017 but by the fifth episode, guest starring Moe Bandy, episodes had since began taping at the CabaRay. My guess being the production of a Season Seven may get underway next month or probably August with those episodes more than likely starting to air on PBS in the latter half of September or early October...but then again the show could very well go into a lengthy repeat cycle for the rest of the calendar year (which I don't see happening, by the way) with new episodes emerging in 2019. Again, I don't see that happening, so I look forward to seeing some sort of information in the coming weeks about production of the next season getting underway. I'm assuming during his activities at this year's Fan Fair/CMA Fest earlier this month he contacted a range of entertainers to appear on his show.

Just in case anybody's wondering or may be curious the total number of episodes of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville has exceeded more than 70 so far. The actual total number of episodes produced is 78. This being Season Six, and with each season consisting of 13 episodes, that brings you to a total of 78 half hour episodes. So far 77 of those episodes have aired. The 13th and final episode of Season Six (the 78th episode overall) airs next weekend. If Season Seven sticks to the 13 episode formula this means by season's end the total number of episodes would have risen to 93! This isn't counting the documentary special that aired during PBS pledge breaks. Since it isn't an actual half hour episode but rather an hour long documentary special it's not counted in the series episode guide.

Ray Stevens: Looking at 2016...

Hello all the fans of Ray Stevens and a belated hello to 2016!! In the hiatus from my previous blog entry a couple of additional appearances have been added to Ray's 2016 schedule. First off there's to be a book signing later this month on January 30th at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Hendersonville, TN. The event takes place on a Saturday from 2-4pm local time. You can read about it HERE. As I mentioned in one of my earlier blog entries the memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville, has become the basis for Ray's current RFD-TV television series. In one of those blog entries I made mention that "Nashville", for Ray Stevens, had gone from vinyl (1973), to music video (2013), to book (2014), to television (2015). I'm still hoping the television series makes it's way to DVD, too! The program airs every Saturday night on RFD-TV. The other additional appearance that's relatively new since my previous blog is an upcoming appearance on May 14th at the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri. It's officially been re-titled The Andy Williams Performing Arts Center and so if you should Google Ray's name and Moon River Theatre chances are you're going to come up with older results from last year and the years previous. If you choose to not perform an on-line search you can visit Branson's site HERE to find out more information or you can visit the venue's site HERE and click the thumbnail image of Ray. It'll open up the Celebrity Weekend page and scroll to Ray's May 14th appearance.

Unless a concert announcement pops up from now until March 9th, Ray's first concert of the year is to be on March 9th at the Strawberry Festival in Plant City, Florida. That concert is to take place at 3:30pm. You can purchase tickets by calling 813-754-1996 found on the venue's site HERE under the Tickets and Pricing Information section. There are 2 concerts scheduled for the month of April and 2 for the month of May, including the Branson concert on May 14th. The other concert in May is an appearance on May 21st at the Shipshewana Event Center in Shipshewana, Indiana. During this appearance Ray is to give 2 concerts. The first concerts begins at 1pm and the second one is at 7:30pm. You can read all about it by clicking HERE.

On April 16th Ray is to be in Bremen, Georgia at the Mill Town Music Hall. On April 1st he'll be in Jacksonville, Florida at THE FLORIDA THEATRE.

One of the concerts posted on Ray's Events page at his official site isn't listed on the venue's page (as of this writing). It's a concert that's suppose to take place in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the Tivoli Theatre on April 17th. I've visited the Chattanooga Tivoli Theatre site and searched the concerts and there isn't one listed for April 17th but there are others listed before and after that date. This could be a case of a contract not officially being signed yet or the venue is going to add the date at some point in the future...but seeing that this is January and the concert's suppose to take place on April 17th it looks like tickets would've been become available by this time. Those in the area and are wondering if there's to be a Ray Stevens concert there or not can call the venue and ask. Their number is 423-757-5580.

It's become tradition on this fan-created blog page at the beginning of each new year to spotlight specific Ray Stevens recordings, albums, music videos, or other career-related activities that are going to be reaching some sort of milestone. 2016 marks the 55th anniversary (!) of Ray's first Hot 100 single, "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills". It doesn't seem like that long ago that I posted a blog celebrating the single's Golden anniversary (50th)...but yet that took place back in 2011. 2016 also marks the 50th anniversary of "Freddie Feelgood and His Funky Little Five Piece Band". The recording originated in 1966 on the Monument label and it appeared on the Hot 100 for a couple of weeks. Several years later Monument included the recording on Ray's 1969 pseudo-live album, Gitarzan. Since that time the copy of "Freddie Feelgood" that's appeared most often on compilation albums is the one lifted from the 1969 album featuring the laughter. The Freddie single became the subject of a music spotlight in the June 11, 1966 issue of Billboard...not too lengthy of a mention...reading it in modern times one gets the feeling the remarks happened to be applied insincerely by giving it what I call the ol' novelty song shrug-off treatment...something that a lot of music critics were and still are known to do. Not much detail is given about the recording itself but there's nothing negative said, either, but it's a magazine feature and only a certain amount of space was available in those years.

The B-side of Freddie happens to be a serious recording titled "There's One in Every Crowd" which, to date, is still only available as the B-side of Freddie. A lot of Ray's B-side recordings for Mercury and Monument have never been made available on CD or Mp3. Ray has since made a music video of "Freddie Feelgood" and I've posted it on my blog several times over the years. The video arrived in 2000 as part of one of Ray's VHS home video projects, Funniest Video Characters. Years later Ray added it to his YouTube page...debuting the music video on May 25, 2011.

2016 marks the 40th anniversary of Ray's single, "You Are So Beautiful". In doing so it also marked his debut on Warner Brothers...after a 5 year run on Barnaby Records. This is the era of Ray's career that I'm the most fascinated with and a large part of it has to do with the mystique that surrounds his years at the label. I love finding any tidbit of information about his recordings and the activities in his career during that 1976-1979 time frame. Although I've got the music from him during that time span and I've read up on a lot of things through the years I still get the most excited whenever I see something new about Ray posted from that era. His debut album for the label, Just for the Record, obviously reaches 40 this year, too. I'm proud to say I have almost all of Ray's studio albums in some form or another via vinyl, cassette, and CD...and like a kid let loose in a candy store is the feeling I got once I gained in my possession Just For the Record. This same feeling overcame me once I seen an episode of Pop! Goes the Country from 1979 and he sang "You Are So Beautiful" and debuted a song that had yet to be released commercially, "Shriner's Convention". In case you hadn't heard "You Are So Beautiful" it's arranged in a Bluegrass fashion along the lines of "Misty" from the previous year and like "Misty" the 1976 hit is also performed uptempo. "You Are So Beautiful" hit the Top-20 on the country music charts...followed by the Top-30 placing of "Honky Tonk Waltz". In the final weeks of 1976 a certain single, "In the Mood", became available. Released as The Henhouse Five Plus Too it had a brief but commercially strong run in early 1977. I'll go into more detail about that particular recording later this year as it gets closer to December.

In addition to Ray's series of concerts in 2016 he's going to continue to stay busy working on his RFD-TV program. The episodes that are currently airing had been taped months in advance...and I believe production of that first season wrapped up at some point in the summer of 2015. The series debuted on November 7, 2015 and they're midway through the first season of first-run episodes. They'll all be reran during the spring and summer months, I assume, and the series should make a return in the late fall of 2016. Given the time he'll be spending in 2016 rehearsing, taping, producing, and starring in the RFD series, plus the handful of concert dates, and the venue that's suppose to open in Nashville called The Ray Stevens Cabaray, one may ask if he'll be too busy to concentrate on any new CD's or music videos this calendar year.

His last full length music video production, to date, arrived on May 19, 2015 for a song called "You Didn't Build That", from his current CD, Here We Go Again!.



Now, for those not aware, Ray Stevens has a political comedy section in his music catalog. It started in 2009 after the music video release of "We The People" and reached it's zenith in 2012...right around the time Obama got re-elected. In that 3 year span it wasn't uncommon to see Ray's music pop-up for discussion on numerous high profile programs on the Fox News Channel or on talk radio. He was interviewed on more than 2 dozen radio programs either as an in-studio guest or by way of a phone hook-up. The string of political comedy music videos reached millions upon millions of people of all political beliefs and are still being discovered to this day...but...

Ray's laid off the political comedy videos considerably since 2012 but "You Didn't Build That" happened to be a surprise on his 2015 comedy CD (marking a return to political humor after a couple of years). The CD also featured the previously released song, from 2010, "Come to the U.S.A." (the video's gotten 9.2 million unique views on YouTube!!). I assume it's addition on the 2015 CD is meant as a social-comment tag-along for "You Didn't Build That" and "A Handshake Will Do"...since it appears between those 2 songs on the CD...

1. Taylor Swift is Stalkin' Me
2. What'd I Say?
3. There Must Be a Pill For This
4. Walkin' the Dog
5. Hearts Made of Stone
6. Pickin' on the Chicken
7. The Baptism of Stumpy Brown
8. Little By Little
9. You Didn't Build That
10. Come to the U.S.A.
11. A Handshake Will Do
12. Knock Him Out, John

You can purchase Ray's most recent CD by clicking HERE.

Ray Stevens and the Moon River Concert...

Hello once again! Here's a reminder that Ray Stevens has a concert coming up...this coming Saturday night at the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri. You can read about it and purchase tickets HERE. I've mentioned this concert in previous blog posts but considering it's now a couple of days away I thought to make mention of it once more. It's his first concert of the month...he has 2 more concerts planned for later in the month in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Beginning today you can purchase 2 of Ray's DVD collections in a special offer ($15.00). Each of the DVD collections regularly sell at his web-store for $10.95 each but starting today both are being sold together. The DVDs are the Cartoon Carnival releases. Each release (Volume One and Volume Two) features 10 music videos...most of them featuring animated characters on screen (including Ray himself) but there are some that feature live-action Ray interacting with animated backgrounds.

You can purchase the special offer HERE.

In one of the summer 1970 video clips found on Ray's YouTube channel there's a clip titled "Swamp Girl". In addition to the comedy sketch there's also the recurring segment called "Who is Ray Stevens?". In that segment you'll be treated to cameo appearances by Don Knotts, Andy Williams, and Jonathan Winters giving their response as to who they think Ray Stevens happens to be. The routine came about due to Ray's low-key nature and the idea/belief that a television audience is different than a music audience.

Ray had made periodic appearances on Andy's television program in 1969 and into early 1970 and according to producers of Andy's program Ray happened to be the most popular/talked about guest and so they approached him with the offer to host Andy's summer program. Ray, up until that point, had been a fixture on the pop music scene for nearly 10 years and he had several recordings and albums to his credit (some of those songs became million sellers).

The exposure on the summer television program launched him into pop superstar stratosphere. Ironically his summer series began on June 20, 1970...a couple of weeks after "Everything is Beautiful" had reached it's #1 finish on both the pop and the Easy-Listening charts...but the further exposure the song received on Ray's summer series enabled it to remain a top seller. Given the fact that it remained #1 pop for 2 weeks and #1 Easy-Listening for 3 and the fact that it hit the Top-40 internationally (reaching #1 in Australia and Canada and the Top-10 in Ireland and England) it's not a surprise to learn that it became the #12 song for the entire year of 1970. A massively popular recording.

The final episode of the summer series aired on August 8, 1970. During the production of the series he was promoting some other songs, too, which came to light on the Unreal album (released after the summer series ended). "America, Communicate with Me", for example, became the big single from that album but "Sunset Strip" is a masterful recording, too. Each single became a hit on the adult oriented Easy-Listening radio format (music that still appealed to a broad audience...but typically appealing to people aged 35 and older instead of 30 and younger).

Here is one of the clips from Ray's 1970 summer series...

Ray Stevens upcoming Tour Dates...

Ray Stevens has six concerts planned for the months of September and October. These are part of his mini-tour titled Here We Go Again which began earlier this summer. Up first is an appearance in Branson, Missouri on September 12th at The Andy Williams Theatre. Tickets went on sale in May...if you hadn't called about tickets by now it may be too late to get a seat near the stage. You need to call 1-800-MOON-094 or visit the promo page HERE.

The second concert planned for this month is in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at The Alabama Theater on September 19th. You can read all about it and purchase tickets HERE 

On September 26th Ray has another guest appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. You can listen to the Opry on the radio and on the internet but if you prefer to attend in person you can purchase tickets by clicking HERE. At the moment the page only has 3 performers listed for that date but there's going to be more performers scheduled by the middle of the month.

The first concert scheduled for October takes place at the SKyPAC venue on October 2nd. This is an acronym for Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center. A video clip debuted on YouTube earlier today promoting the upcoming concert and you can see it below...



The next day, October 3rd, he'll be in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to perform 2 shows at the Country Tonite venue. The first one being 3pm and the second being 8pm. You can read about it HERE.

6 days later on October 9th he'll be up in Ontario, Canada at the Casino Rama. You can read about it HERE.

Ray Stevens: 50 Years of Hits and Hilarity...

It's finally Friday!! I was not at my computer much on Thursday and so I missed the big DVD news from Ray Stevens and so I'm commenting on it now. Not one, not two, but Three brand new DVD releases have become available at Ray's web-store. First off there's the long awaited DVD release of Get Serious! that I wrote about in my previous blog entry on Wednesday...wondering when a DVD release would become available...then on Friday morning I'm alerted to the news that a DVD of that 1995 movie has finally saw the light of day in DVD format. The movie runs 110 minutes...that's 1 hour, 50 minutes...and it's a whimsical story that parallels a not too humorous situation that all kinds of comedians were facing by the early 1990's. Honestly, though, the situation facing many comedians by the early '90s had been slowly building since the mid to late '70s but it wouldn't be until around 1991-1992, that era, where the situation seemed to form like a noose around comedians, in general.

Well-established comics, whose popularity was originally obtained in a different time period but were by now viewed as legendary figures, were also being subjected to the mentality of a contemporary society and many legendary comics were tainted by the accusations of political incorrectness by a modern-day audience.

Get Serious!, in it's own way, addresses the concept of political correctness while a secondary plot addresses the music business and how industry conglomeration and predetermined airplay at radio stations destroys the chances for anyone creative or unique to make it given how similar radio programmers want the music to sound. In the movie Ray becomes a fugitive, of sorts, running from a local policeman whose formed a posse comprised of people that Ray's sang about in his songs. The music executive and his minions are also in pursuit because of Ray's refusal to get serious and stop singing comedy songs. Now that the movie has finally become available on DVD you all can purchase the film that I've glowingly commented on the last several years. The link will be at the end of the entry.

Secondly, there are the DVD releases of a concert filmed at The Welk Theater in Branson, Missouri. The concert is broken up into two parts and so the DVD comes into two volumes. The first volume is called Such a Night: 50 Years of Hits and Hilarity. As the more consistent readers of this blog are aware, 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of "Ahab the Arab".

The second part of the concert comes in a DVD titled Patriots and Politics. Those who attended the concerts down at The Welk Theater and those who read the reviews and saw some of the pics were let it on how the second half of the concerts were politically oriented. His Tea Party music videos had become popular on You Tube and so it was only natural that this part of his career would be showcased in a concert setting, too.

As you know, politics is a highly debatable subject matter. Some of the concert goers who hadn't necessarily paid much attention to Ray's career and were going because of the older songs they remember him for were genuinely surprised by the political segment. Some liked it and others did not. I assume the polarizing effect of politics is what led to the item description for this particular DVD release. When you click it's link you'll see what I mean.

There are CD versions of those DVD concerts...if you're budget minded you'll probably prefer the soundtracks since they're a bit cheaper than the DVD counterpart. However, Ray has always been a visual attraction...using a lot of sight gags and props in his performances...which is lost to a person listening to an audio CD.

Here's the titles of the DVDs once more:

Such a Night: 50 Years of Hits and Hilarity

Patriots and Politics

Get Serious!

The DVD main page can be found here at: Ray Stevens DVDs. Once there you can click each of new releases to read the information.

Ray Stevens and the Media: A further Examination...

Welcome to the Ray Stevens Music Journey!! It's an early Sunday morning here and this week mark's Ray's finale in Branson, Missouri...for now. I wouldn't be too surprised to see Ray return to Branson at some point again in 2011 given how successful his run at The Welk Theatre played out. Typically any artist wants to play to their strengths and once again it looks as if one of his strengths is the concert stage. The last group of concerts begins on October 20th and it'll be one of the two show days on both the 20th and 21st...a 2pm and an 8pm concert. In other words, fans and concert goers will be able to catch Ray four times in two days. On October 22nd and 23rd Ray will do just one concert each night at 8pm and that'll wrap up his month long series of concerts at The Welk Theatre which had started in mid September.

One of the trends, I guess, when it comes to Ray Stevens and the general public of today is that there's not a lot of research that goes into Ray's latest happenings or if he's appearing at a venue somewhere. I'll guess and say there's probably some out there that didn't know that Ray was appearing in Branson, Missouri and for those who come across this blog entry weeks or months from now and are stunned to learn that Ray was in Branson, Missouri for a month of concerts and you missed your chance of seeing him...well, I hope it becomes a learning experience to pay attention to Ray's career and his music releases.

If a person pays attention then there wouldn't be a situation where you didn't know of a concert appearance or a CD or DVD release.

I speak about the general public, of course. The die-hard fans obviously are on top of what Ray Stevens is currently up to and are aware of music videos, CD releases, or concert appearances, etc. etc. The more passive audience, on the other hand, often find themselves out of the loop and learn about concert appearances and music from Ray Stevens months down the road...long after a concert has happened or a song/music video was released. Mind you, I'm not complaining about this kind of thing, but it is something I'd noticed over the last several years. The reason I bring it up is because those who stay out of the loop often end up complaining about not being informed on what's happening. I know that sounds ironic but for the most part it's true.

I've read posts from people on various message boards through the years who might be curious about Ray Stevens' latest activities; some wonder if he's going to appear in concert anywhere. When I see message board posts such as that I always wonder why they never think to check Ray's own web-site. Of course, some may not think an artist of Ray's longevity would actually have an active web-site...but he does!! His web-site offers a lot of information about tours, available CD's, a store section where people can purchase Ray's merchandise, and the news section. There's even a message board there where fans can read the comments from other fans of Ray Stevens and post comments of their own. It isn't a premium site, either, it's free to join...

Ray Stevens Web-Page

There's a link on the Main page to join Ray Stevens Backstage. This particular area is a premium based offer and once a month a person who subscribes will receive an on-line "newsletter" not available to the public at large. The newsletter typically features several segments that aren't included in the free web-site and sometimes they highlight pictures from Ray's past or show exclusive video or free download content.

As a fan of Ray Stevens I feel that we should be active in our fandom. I think a lot of us are active in it and remain in the loop...but my advice for those who are out of the loop is to become pro-active. Let's face it: we're not going to see stories about Ray's music or his concerts plastered all over the newspaper entertainment sections and we're not going to see write-up's and reviews from music critics in any great abundance anymore, either.

A lot of people only act upon things they see or hear about on TV or in a magazine/newspaper...and because coverage of Ray's career by those outlets isn't what it used to be it creates this false belief that Ray hasn't been active in years. The early '90s, for a lot of people, was the last time they heard about Ray Stevens...back when TV commercials for his home videos were showing all over television. We all know Ray continued to record and do concerts on into the late '90s and into the next decade but because it wasn't publicized all over the news the general public had no clue.

So that leaves the Ray Stevens fandom to be pro-active given the reality that the newspapers or television outlets aren't going to cover Ray's career. The media, it seems, decided on their own that Ray didn't deserve much ink anymore what with the emerging pollution known as political correctness hanging over the country like a thick layer of smog. Even though we all feel the politically correct crowd unfairly take jabs at Ray's comedy the reality is the politically correct attitudes that were taking shape on a small scale in the late '70s and raging on throughout the '80s and early '90s to the point of out of control wildness by the mid '90s, in my opinion, created this split in coverage of Ray Stevens music and I explain how...

For awhile there were favorable reviews of Ray's latest projects in the early '90s but as time went by and political correctness took over more and more of the country's intelligence and independence it seemed as if critics were afraid to giggle and laugh along with Ray's exaggerated humor for a fear of backlash from the political correct advocates. Newspaper publishers, advertising executives, as well as the top people in television broadcasting also became victims of political correct advocates. These advocates would threaten boycotts, protests, and all kinds of other mayhem and disruption if their social views weren't met. As I've written about elsewhere, the politically correct people deemed "Ahab the Arab", a song Ray wrote in 1962, as politically incorrect, offensive, and they collectively made the grandiose and sweeping statement that the song was hostile to "all Arab-Americans" and "Arabs all over the world".

In a lot of ways it was like Ray had become something of a dirty little secret that well-known music critics wanted to distance themselves from. That's the way I took it when noticing the change in media coverage of Ray's career. Perhaps a lot of that was out of their control. Critics and writers are often at the mercy of the publisher, whose often at the mercy of a special interest group of some kind. For example, if a publisher is being manipulated by a special interest group, in this case political correct advocates, then it'll be highly unlikely that anything that shows the special interest in a negative light will be published. In 1995 Ray released his direct-to-home video movie, Get Serious!. The video was promoted through TV commercials as two of his previous home videos had been...but the newspaper coverage was relatively slim. I wonder if the movie's overall plot of skewering political correctness had anything to do with the less than enthusiastic coverage? The home video nonetheless sold hundreds of thousands of copies over the course of the next two and a half years.

Since December 2009 Ray has almost exclusively utilized the unique service of You Tube to promote his music. The media, in general, had stopped covering him long ago and it would really be a tall order to get the media behind a song that questions Obama Care which is what "We The People" does. There's this little thing called media bias but that's an entirely different subject for an entirely different blog. Anyway...ever since the release of the "We The People" music video Ray has since returned to the spotlight and there's been some mainstream coverage as well...something that had been lacking since the mid '90s. Although there's been a steady stream of blogs both from the right and the left of the political spectrum focusing on Ray Stevens, the traditional newspaper columnists and music critics have yet to really offer an opinion...except two instances. There was actually a write-up by The New York Times of Ray's political/patriotic career shift. I don't necessarily recall it being negative or unfair. However, at the same time, there was a scathing review by some other writer for another publication, whose name will remain anonymous, and whose negative review I feel was over-the-top in it's unfairness and quite frankly the 'review' was uncalled for. I've yet to come across another unfair review of that magnitude and I hope I never will. There have been unfair criticisms since then, of course, but none quite like that particular review.

In the meantime, the latest You Tube hit count for "God Save Arizona" is 466,864. It's officially been available on You Tube for two months. The single, available as an Mp3, is also 2 months old. There is also a physical CD single available at Ray's web-site store. To get there you click the URL that I posted several paragraphs ago and once at his web-site click Buy and "official store". Once there everyone will be able to purchase CD's, t-shirts, hats, and DVD's.

Expressing the Ray Stevens fandom!!

With Ray Stevens being so busy in Branson, Missouri for a few more weeks I've actually decided to write a blog that simply celebrates the Ray Stevens fandom with pictures of some of my Ray Stevens items! I tend to write these blogs for those who are new to his material and want to see what he's all about. Perhaps someone discovers a song by Ray from the 1970's and may want to learn about it? Well, after that person checks Ray's own web-site for information I hope they also find this blog helpful, too. These blogs about Ray, from a fan's perspective, are also here for die-hard fans who like to read the opinion and or commentary from another Ray-fan. Of course, this Ray Stevens blog is also for those who keep up with Ray on a fairly frequent basis and pay attention to his latest projects. If you happen to be one of the ones that pay attention and keep up with Ray then that's wonderful! If you stop by just to read my quirky commentary and read about Ray Stevens songs then that's wonderful, too!

As most of you are aware, this is the latest CD from Ray Stevens. It's a CD and DVD collection...it opens up like a typical DVD would only that there's a CD in addition to the DVD inside. The CD/DVD became available in the spring of this year exclusively at Ray's web-site store. It was released nationally in June of this year and there have been a series of music videos stretching back to December 2009 that follow a similar theme of politics and patriotism. Those music videos are featured on the DVD extra...they can easily be seen on You Tube as well. I still feel that there are several more songs on this collection that deserve music video treatment: "We Are the Government", "Solar Powered Song", and "Obama Nation". There will be a DVD of his concert footage from Branson, Missouri as most of you regulars know...and as soon as Ray announces it's release date of course I'll make a big deal about it here! I predict it'll be available for the holiday season without a doubt.

I checked Amazon a few minutes ago and they have A Funny Thing Happened in Church Today listed among the available CD's even though for awhile it wasn't listed among those available. It states that the CD is available but alerts customers that "there are only 3 copies left in stock...order soon...more on the way." So, judging by that, my theory that there wasn't enough copies seems to prove accurate. As of now there isn't an Mp3 digital version and so those who purchase the collection must get the physical CD. Another theory is with Mp3's pretty much replacing the physical CD there's going to come a time where on-line stores aren't going to offer physical CD's and everything's going to be digital when it comes to music. I know that it may sound strange or bizarre to some out there but people still purchase actual CD's. I still purchase CD's at times. I purchase vinyl albums and vinyl singles as well. I'm not an avid buyer of vinyl albums, though. As many could guess the only vinyl albums and singles that I have are Ray Stevens, obviously, and a few other singers...but Ray's material greatly out-numbers other artists that I like listening to.

One For the Road, a CD that Ray released during the middle of 2009, is a CD that I've written about in my archives. I remember being very antsy and excited when I learned of this CD being upcoming and then the dismay of learning that the Pilot truck stops would have exclusive rights to the CD for a few months. There are a couple of those truck stops in my area but none of them carried the CD. So, like a lot of people, I waited until the CD became available at Ray's web-site store and across the internet. The CD, for those not aware, features quite a list of songs. Several of them are aimed at truckers and others are not. Some songs are simply about loneliness or escapades while out on the road such as the wild "Bon Temps Roulette". There's a very good ballad entitled "Hangin' Around" which is superb. I also love "Retired", "Cooter Brown", "The Right Reverend Road Hog McGraw", and especially "Convoy". The CD kicks off with the majestic, melancholy "Concrete Sailor" and I swear you'll be able to see the song play out in your head when listening to it...much like on "Convoy"!

You Tube at a glance...his Greatest...

1. We The People: 3,725,657 hits.

2. Come to the USA: 4,139,628 hits.

The current music video, "God Save Arizona", is sitting at 458,034 hits. "Throw the Bums Out!" enjoys 544,875 You Tube hits. A music video uploaded onto You Tube in 2009 but originating in 2001, "Osama Yo' Mama", is sitting at 649,409 hits. It was around this time 9 years ago that the Osama single was released. I believe the actual release was in November of 2001. It was a top selling single for Ray throughout the rest of 2001 and into early 2002. The album of the same name reached the Country Top-30 in early 2002 and the single was certified Gold. It's b-side was his version of "United We Stand". Doing the math 2011 will mark the 10th anniversary of that single's debut along with the 10th anniversary of 9/11 obviously.

Ray Stevens Fall Concerts...Get Ready!!

Alright all you Ray Stevens fans out there...Lend Me Your Ears...Ray Stevens is kicking off his fall concert series on September 11th in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The show starts at 7pm Eastern time. He'll be appearing at the Alabama Theatre for one show and then on September 15th he'll kick off his lengthy stay at the Welk Resort in Branson, Missouri. Well, lengthy as in September 15th through October 23rd. Those able to attend any of his concerts should cherish them...there's no telling if Ray will do any concerts in 2011...only time will tell. He's been semi-retired from the road and any appearance he gives usually turns into a big event among his fan base. Ray's concert series in Branson will feature gaps between show dates. A link to two promo pages for his Branson concerts is featured in this blog but I'll manually write out the concert dates:

September 15th and 16th: Two shows each day; 2pm and 8pm
September 17th and 18th: One show; 8pm
September 22nd and 23rd: Two shows each day; 2pm and 8pm
September 24th and 25th: One show; 8pm
September 29th and 30th: Two shows each day; 2pm and 8pm
October 1st and 2nd: One show; 8pm
October 6th and 7th: Two shows each day; 2pm and 8pm
October 8th and 9th: One show; 8pm
October 13th and 14th: Two shows each day; 2pm and 8pm
October 15th and 16th: One show; 8pm
October 20th and 21st: Two shows each day; 2pm and 8pm
October 22nd and 23rd: One show; 8pm

In the second link you'll see a couple of short video commercials for Ray's upcoming concerts in Branson.

The Welk Resort

Ray Stevens Welk Resort Advertisements

Ray Stevens: Let's Rewind and Fast Forward...

Good Friday mid-morning to all Ray Stevens fans out there. Today I felt like playing rewind and fast-forward. As a child of the '80s I'm all too familiar with cassette tape...although CD's also have a rewind and fast-forward feature, no two words, specifically "rewind" and "fast-forward", had ever caused so much annoyance...that is, if it pertained to a cassette tape. I remember many times rewinding and fast-forwarding various cassette tapes, pausing ever so often, and writing down the words. Way back in the old days for me that was how I could remember song lyrics...I'd write them out on a piece of paper. As time went by I learned to remember lyrics through repetitious playing of the songs. Even though I don't memorize songs anymore I still remember the lyrics to all of the Ray Stevens songs that I learned...but nowadays it isn't something that I do. Admittedly, though, as an adult I simply don't have the time or desire to consume myself with songs over and over...it's something most kids and teenagers participate in still...but I've passed that stage. When it comes to Ray Stevens, though, I find myself remembering lyrics here and there of his modern material but as far as knowing lyrics word for word it doesn't come as easy.

Let's rewind now...I know all of the lyrics to the songs on the above Collectors Series release. I happened to obtain this collection while I was a teenager in the early '90s. The songs on this collection all come from RCA Records...the label Ray recorded for during the early '80s. This is still the only compilation release featuring exclusively RCA material. His RCA albums have yet to be re-issued in CD or Mp3 format and if you come across a CD version of this grab it! The collection was originally released in 1985 and then it was re-issued in 1987 which is what you see here. As I mentioned in previous blog entries the only difference between the 1985 and 1987 versions is "One More Last Chance" is featured in the 1985 release while "Put It In Your Ear" takes it's place in the 1987 re-issue.

Let's fast-forward now...over 20 years later...2010 marks the year that Ray returns to Branson, Missouri. This time around, as I mentioned in a previous blog, he's the headliner at The Welk Theater for a month of concerts starting on September 15th and running almost non-stop through October 23rd. He'll have some breathers, of course...there's a couple of times where he isn't in concert there for 4 days and then there's another stretch where he takes almost a week off...so there will be plenty of days off...but for the most part he'll be busy as ever as he gets back into the routine of stage shows once again. Also, 12 of the concert dates will feature two shows...there will be a 2pm concert and an 8pm concert. The other 12 concerts will start up at 8pm. Below is a You Tube commercial promoting the concert series...



A few months ago there was another video commercial promoting Ray's upcoming concerts but in that commercial it used audio clips and other related material. In this commercial, as you can see, Ray participated in it. For those who don't know...the name of Welk carries a certain, distinct image for a lot of the older age bracket and so in the commercial Ray plays up that upper-crest/affluent image. A lot of the younger people may not know of Lawrence Welk and so it helps to know that bit of information when you watch the commercial. I shouldn't know who Lawrence Welk was...given my age...but I'm a nostalgia nut and that explains that.

Ray Stevens and the Music Video Market

To date the hit count for the most current Ray Stevens music video, "We The People", is sitting at 2,726,020. The play count that I'm using is for the official music video release from Ray Stevens' You Tube channel, also known as Ray Stevens Music. There have been other people who have uploaded the music video but I'm only citing the numbers from what is considered the official video release by Ray Stevens Music.

As the calendar flips over from February to March we're still eagerly anticipating a full-length CD of songs which will contain "We The People" among other selections. Given that there wasn't a new CD available in February it leaves me to think that March is the magic month. The music video will reach it's third month anniversary on the 11th...it was December 11, 2009 that the music video made it's debut on You Tube. Music videos go hand in hand with Ray Stevens...his music videos, as I've commented on in previous blog entries, have gained millions of views on You Tube over the last decade. Ray, himself, only last year created a You Tube site but fans and the public in general had long since uploaded Ray's various music videos to where his music videos are commonplace on a myriad of video hosting sites.

This connection with music videos goes back to 1992 and the release of Comedy Video Classics. The 1990's were very successful for Ray Stevens in a way that could not have been predicted in the previous decade. In the 1980's Ray revamped his career and his image into that of a country comedian full-time. In the 1960's, 1970's, and the first half of the 1980's he fought against the comedy/novelty image in spite of his commercial successes and his seemingly natural comic abilities.

As the 1990's dawned Ray set in motion the music video era of his career. It began after he opened up his popular theater in Branson, Missouri in the summer of 1991. He decided to open up the theater after sensing that Branson was on the brink of becoming a major tourist attraction. Also, the idea that the fans would come to see the artist instead of the artist traveling all over the country to see the fans, may have had something to do with it, too.

He made a series of comedy sketches and music videos to play on the large screen at his theater and they became so in-demand that a home video was released and sold at his gift shop. This spawned Comedy Video Classics...a home video collection of eight music videos from Ray Stevens. The collection was sold on television and in newspaper advertisements throughout the latter half of 1992 and into mid 1993. The collection sold over two million copies and became a landmark in the mail-order industry. In the late summer of 1993 Ray issued two home videos: Ray Stevens Live! and More Ray Stevens Live!

The first collection was sold exactly the way Comedy Video Classics was sold. The live home video of one of his Branson concerts would go on to sell over a million copies at both television and retail outlets. The second live home video was exclusive to Ray's fan club and his theater gift shop. Sad news in the fall of 1993 arrived when Ray announced that the 1993 season was his final at the theater he opened in 1991. Ray remained visible in Branson, Missouri off and on throughout the rest of the 1990's, however, appearing at other theaters. He did a series of concerts at Wayne Newton's theater and then, if I'm not mistaken, did a series of concerts at the Grand Palace Theatre. Wayne's theater was formerly known as The Five Star Theatre.

In the meantime Ray had filmed and released another home video. This one, released in 1995, was titled Get Serious! and it followed the sales successes of his previous two mail-order collections. In the last few years of the 1990's Ray remained busy doing concerts at the Acuff Theater, which was across the street from the Opryland attraction in Nashville, Tennessee.

Opryland was in operation for 25 years: 1972-1997. As far as I know there are road signs in Nashville that point the way to where Opryland used to be but in it's place is OpryMills, a string of shopping stores, that opened to the public in the summer of 2000. I've heard stories that tourists who aren't terribly in the know when it comes to all things Nashville see those Opryland road signs and become baffled when it leads them to a shopping mall and not a theme park. I don't know if those signs are still up, though. The closing of Opryland wasn't well publicized, neither, which only adds to the confusion that exists. The lesson here is to those who don't pay much attention to country music. Since the mainstream media doesn't report on the goings-on in Nashville and they don't report on country music unless a country singer does something embarrassing, the lesson to be learned is to rely on your own research and rely on your own findings because you're not going to learn much from the mainstream media when it comes to country music.

However, this blog page as well as Ray's web-site, will teach you all you have to know when it comes to Ray Stevens.

By the way, the Acuff Theatre, where Ray did those series of concerts in the late 1990's, is now called the BellSouth Acuff Theatre. BellSouth is the name of a phone company that services the south. As always, this blog site is not affiliated with Ray Stevens. It's simply a fan-generated site. In whatever small way I feel as if I'm doing my part at promoting Ray's music and career, which is what I like doing.

Ray Stevens returns to Branson...

Ray Stevens is making a return to Branson, Missouri beginning in September and running through late October. The official time frame is September 15 - October 23. He will be what I call a resident singer of The Welk Theatre and judging by it's appearance it appears to be a rather elegant setting. The actual venue is called The Welk Resort Theatre. I mentioned this concert series in my previous blog celebrating his birthday but a video commercial was uploaded onto You Tube on Tuesday and so I thought that I'd copy and paste it here so that it could get some publicity through this blog, too.

It's my understanding that the publicity for these concerts are starting quite a few months early is because there's an anticipation that the tickets will go quickly and if they were to wait until the middle of summer to offer tickets there could potentially be a situation arise where the ticket office would be swamped with orders and have a little window of time to mail the tickets out in a timely manner. So, by starting the publicity 7 months in advance it eliminates any problems with ticket delivery caused by "last minute shoppers". I assume this video upload plays locally in Branson, Missouri and all points in between. I don't think it will air up in my part of the country and so I'm glad that the video commercial/promo was uploaded for the country and the world to see. I like that publicity picture they use with Ray in the red jacket.

2,506,382 is the play total for "We The People". The music video has officially been on You Tube for 1 month and 16 days. It was uploaded on December 11, 2009 and as a result of this song Ray thrust himself into the national spotlight. For those who have been long-time fans of Ray you may become annoyed or irritated by the mainstream music critics who make it appear that Ray's been quiet for decades. We all know that isn't true...Ray's been active in country music and country comedy for years and I suspect because those music formats aren't closely covered on a national level that's why the mainstream audience genuinely assumes Ray has been silent for years and years. It's annoying to me to read those kinds of statements and if it's annoying to me then chances are it's annoying to a lot of you as well.

I hope those who are able to see Ray in concert this year at whatever venue will enjoy the experience! In one performer you'll get an array of musical styles in a fast-moving show that, as the cliché goes, will leave you begging for more. I've been to a couple of his concerts and I know that feeling well.

Ray Stevens: Branson, Missouri era

Long-time co-host of Hee-Haw, Roy Clark, is often the one given credit for the music theater boom in Branson, Missouri. In the early 1990's, according to an interview with Roy Clark, he theorized that his own music theater gave some artists the idea to open up their own place and slowly but surely that's what happened. By 1991 the theater business down there was enormous. Roy Clark, Mickey Gilley, Mel Tillis, Jim Stafford, Ray, and several local acts all had theaters. A bird's eye view could show just how clustered the theater's were. It was like Music Row except in this case the street's are lined with theaters instead of recording studio's. I was never one of the fortunate millions that was able to catch Ray Stevens in person when he was in Branson, Missouri. The distance from here to there is simply too far and even worse was I was in high school in the early 1990s and so I had no way of going down there in the first place.

So, I was happy when Ray released a home video in 1993 called Ray Stevens Live. My parent's bought the video for me for Christmas. The television commercials had stopped airing by that time and so I found an ad for the video in a newspaper of all places. It had a mailing address and the cost, etc etc, and so during the holiday season of 1993 I finally got into my possession Ray Stevens Live. I had no access to the internet in 1993...was it even in existence back then? I also had no access to chart information, neither, so I was clueless at how commercially successful this video was. Below you will see an actual TV commercial for the home video...featuring snippets of the performances done at his theater.

During his time in Branson, Missouri his show was one of the consistently sold-out venues. His stay down there lasted two calendar years: 1991-1993, three consecutive years technically. While the theater was up and running he would perform two shows a day, six days a week. He'd take a break during the winter months but then according to his own words in no time at all he found himself having to gear up for the next season's program. In other words he felt it exhausting and monotonous and so after the 1993 tourist season wrapped up he shut down the theater and would eventually rent it out to whoever wanted to use the facility during the interim. After the rest and relaxation period he began working on his innovative direct-to-home video movie, Get Serious, which saw it's release in 1995 and just like Ray Stevens Live and Comedy Video Classics, the Get Serious home video became a top seller.

The place that was once the Ray Stevens Theatre is now the RFD-TV theater even though they still have the big road sign proclaiming it to be Ray's theater. This image is located at the start of this blog. They also kept the stage design as well...the only changes they made were to the building itself...putting up the big RFD-TV Theater logo on the building and painting some of the building a different color.