Ray Stevens: Larry's Country Diner final episode nearing 100,000 unique views...

Hello once again all you fans of Ray Stevens! I was doing some browsing over on YouTube and my eyes caught the unique view totals for the final episode of Larry's Country Diner. The series aired it's final first-run episode in the latter half of 2022 and Ray had the honor of being the program's final guest. The final episode with a guest star was followed by a clip-filled retrospective of the program. The episode was uploaded onto the YouTube channel of Larry's show earlier in March of this year and as of this writing the unique view total is 95,771. I am certain that it will reach 100,000 unique views in time but perhaps with my focusing on that episode in this blog post it'll reach that milestone sooner rather than later this year. 

The episode had aired on television back in August of 2022...but it didn't find it's way onto YouTube until March 2023. In the episode Ray sings a couple of songs that haven't been put on any album yet and he also sang a song from and spoke of his 2021 comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. In the episode Ray sings "The Gambler and The Octopus", "Cup Holders", "Where Are All The 12 Year Old's?", and "Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene". The latter song, if you check the details of the video of the final episode of Larry's show once you visit YouTube, curiously refers to it as "Homecoming Queen" even though Larry's YouTube channel had previously uploaded the performance as a stand-alone under the "Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene" title. The upload of that one performance has received more than 50,000 unique views... whereas the full episode containing that song has over 95,000 unique views to date...

Ray Stevens: Larry's Country Diner October 2022 appearance...My Overview

The photo of Ray Stevens off to the left is from the latter part of 2022 when he was inducted into Nashville's Musicians Hall of Fame. I decided to use this photo because I wanted to promote Ray's inclusion into that particular Hall of Fame which honors musicians/performers in all types of music. Now...about this particular blog entry! It's been almost half a year since this 2022 episode of Larry's Country Diner originally aired...but if you remember I wasn't able to catch the episode the first time around. So, in the meantime, I'd been awaiting the time when the episode aired as a repeat. I counted the repeat airdates from October 2022 and calculated that the episode would repeat sometime in March 2023 and it did...this past Friday. If you caught my previous blog entry you'll know that the repeat wasn't promoted on any of Ray's social media posts and therefore I wasn't aware that Friday (March 31st) was going to be the airdate. I discovered that RFD-TV would repeat the episode a couple more times over the weekend and so I set my DVR to tape Ray's episode airing at 11pm last night (April 1st). I just finished watching it for myself and enjoyed the performances...and then kept thinking about how it was the final first-run episode of the series. Well, I should say the final first-run episode with an in-studio guest. The series officially came to an end following a 2-part look back (part 1 and part 2 aired in back to back weekends in late November). It's always a sad or melancholy feeling whenever a series comes to an end...especially one that's long running. Larry's show began on RFD-TV in 2009 and after 13 years (14 seasons) it wrapped up in 2022. It was one of, if not the only, nationally airing programs in production that regularly spotlighted established, and in most cases, legendary, recording artists. There are other programs on RFD-TV that feature legends, too, but Larry's Country Diner happened to be the only one currently in production (as opposed to repeats of Pop! Goes the Country, Porter Wagoner, and Marty Stuart) and because of the show still being in production it had a contemporary flair to it. Ray was a guest on numerous episodes of Larry's show over the last 14 seasons.

Prior to Ray being introduced in this episode the announcer, Keith Bilbrey, joked about the show's host, Larry Black, auditioning in 1974 to play the part of a real-life streaker. A reference to Ray's single, "The Streak". Larry remarked that he ran down Broadway with no clothes on but nobody took him up on his offer to become a professional streaker. He said that he's loved Ray ever since "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" (1957 release). Larry brings up an old quote attributed to Ray where it stated that recording artists should never discuss religion or politics. Ray, to great laughter, remarked that if he said that then he was way too young to understand much of anything and that it's perfectly okay for recording artists to discuss politics or religion. It perfectly illustrates that opinions change with time. As Larry spoke more of religious aspects Ray discusses being on Barnaby Records at the time of "Everything is Beautiful" in 1970 and one of the executives, Mike Sheppard. The record company's headquarters was located in Los Angeles but it had a Nashville office. 

When speaking of Nashville he comments on the congested traffic and how it hasn't changed in the last 4 decades...and this leads into a conversation about huge trucks that haul around large lawn mowers...and how they're parked wherever a space can be found (causing even more congestion). Ray sings "Where Are All The 12 Year Old's?". He commented that he's been singing that song at the CabaRay but has yet to officially record it. He had previously performed the song on an episode of Huckabee. The song comes from the pen of Nick Sibley who, based on the other songs by him that Ray has recorded, tends to have a nostalgic bent to his lyrics. Nick had written "Safe at Home" and "Dear Andy Griffith" (recorded by Ray in 2000 and 2010, respectively). The song has several twists on phrases and just when you think you know what the song's overall message is about up comes another lyrical twist that gives the song a different meaning. You might come away with the opinion that "Where Are All The 12 Year Old's?" is about a lazy youth culture glued to hi-tech devices with no physical exertion or work ethic...but then you may come away with the opinion that it's a commentary on how something mundane and simple as lawn mowing as a teenager can instill work ethic and the value of earning money...ensuring that future generations of teens will become productive rather than attach themselves to Government handouts. 

Ray follows this performance with "Cup Holders", also from the pen of Nick Sibley. This song is fun to listen to...especially the music arrangement...but don't let the peppy arrangement prevent you from paying attention to the lyrics. I don't think I've heard Ray sing this type of love song in decades. You'd probably have to go back to 1989's "Another Fine Mess" or earlier. 

Shifting music gears Ray brings in the comedy...first in the form of "Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene", from the pen of Buddy Kalb. You could hear all types of laughter at various moments greeting this song...some of the laughter, to my ears at least, tended to be nervous laughter as if some members of the audience weren't too sure if they were allowed to laugh about the topical, controversial subject matter. Ray closed the show with another Buddy Kalb song, "The Gambler and the Octopus", from 2021's Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore. 

This concludes my overview of the Ray Stevens appearance on Larry's Country Diner. It was a great appearance and one that didn't dwell, too much, on previous recordings to the extent where there wasn't much time to promote current activity. Ray currently performs every Saturday night at his CabaRay showroom in west Nashville. In the episode that aired over the weekend he remarked that he does concerts twice a week but keep in mind the episode airing over the weekend was from October 2022. A second night of concerts for 2023 haven't been added, yet.  

Ray Stevens: "Wrapped in the Flag" Memorial Day 2022...

Hello once again Ray Stevens fans!! Earlier in the month Ray released "Wrapped in the Flag", a recitation by Larry Black. Ray produced the recording and played the keyboard. It received a lot of attention the day it was released and a few days ago it was spotlighted on the website, Music Universe. The video's been accessed by more than 24,000 people (24,126 so far) and I'm hoping that number grows in the next couple of days. The patriotic and military overtone of the visuals lends itself to Veteran's Day but this recitation is uniquely tied to Memorial Day as you listen and watch. I've embedded the YouTube video below this paragraph but if you want to visit Music Universe and watch the video there or share the video from their website you can do so by clicking HERE. The reason I say that is because I'd like for that website to get some traffic for their Ray Stevens post. Anytime I come across a website that promotes the music or the overall career of Ray Stevens I leave a link in this blog so that visitors will be able to read and possibly share those websites. It enables the website authors to know that Ray has an online presence...and by accessing, liking, commenting, or sharing content about Ray it lets the website authors know that they should continue to provide coverage of Ray's music.  

Memorial Day isn't officially until tomorrow (Monday) but this is considered Memorial Day weekend nonetheless and so I decided to bring back focus on "Wrapped in the Flag"...

Ray Stevens was in concert at the CabaRay last night. He performs there on select Thursday nights and regularly on Saturday nights. I don't know if he's inserted the recitation into his concerts or not. My guess is, if it's been added to his set-list, it's played on the jumbotron above the stage...if anyone's attended a concert at the CabaRay during the month of May let us know if it's part of his set-list. Larry Black is the host of Larry's Country Diner which airs on RFD-TV. If you're familiar with Ray's music video, "The Dooright Family", Larry plays the role of Virgil Dooright.  

Ray Stevens and Larry Black: "Wrapped in the Flag"...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! A new video production from Ray made it's debut about an hour ago. The video is titled "Wrapped in the Flag" and it features Ray playing the keyboard underneath a recitation is by Larry Black. The words were written by Buddy Kalb. The recitation is 2 minutes, 8 seconds give or take a few seconds. When the news broke that there was to be a video debut from Ray featuring Larry Black I had thought it would be a song from Ray but have it feature Larry at some point so I was surprised to find out that it's instead a recitation from Larry featuring Ray Stevens playing the keyboard. I like it and I'm sure you all will, too. This recording is on Curb Records and so it may be part of a future release from Ray Stevens but it might remain as a video-only release...but since there's a Curb Records credit it has me thinking this might appear on a future album from Ray this year. I know that Ray will make a guest appearance on Larry's Country Diner in the not too distant future...and those that run Larry's social media pages hinted at this "Wrapped in the Flag" being among the performances during Ray's guest appearance.      

Ray Stevens CabaRay: August concerts...

Well, hello once again...I hope you all caught the latest airing of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville last night on RFD-TV. The channel is nationally broadcast on your local cable system or through satellite television and so it should be available on millions of cable-TV line-ups across the country. Last night's RFD episode, which aired at 8:30pm Eastern, guest starred Deana Carter. In my area I also get an episode of the show on a local PBS station...and those episodes air at 8pm Eastern. The particular episode airing last night on local PBS guest starred Moe Bandy.

As I've often pointed out it's been fun to have an hour of Ray Stevens each Saturday night from 8 to 9pm on two different networks airing different episodes of the series. I visited the local PBS affiliate's webpage for Ray's television series to get a look ahead of the upcoming episodes they have scheduled to air. The local PBS affiliate in my area is KET, which stands for Kentucky Educational Television, and they have several sub-channels in their umbrella. Ray's show airs on KET2 which is broadcast through television station WCVN but on-air it's identified as KET2. As I looked over the KET webpage for Ray's show I noticed that it will be pre-empted a couple of times in the coming months. The first pre-emption will be on August 24th. The station will air the episode guest starring Micky Dolenz on August 17th and then after the series returns on August 31st it has the Micky Dolenz episode re-airing. As of this writing I don't know what the station will be airing the night of August 24th but I'll look further into the schedule once I post this blog entry. The September 7th airing reverts all the way back to Season One of the series. The show isn't scheduled to air on September 14th but it'll return on September 21st and it'll continue airing Season One through early November. The webpage has November 9th as a cut-off as far as the upcoming air-date schedule is concerned but as we get closer to November I'm sure they'll be adding more air-dates and on the show's webpage and we'll see if they continue airing Season One or if they'll skip around and air episodes from other seasons at random. I don't know why the remaining Season Six episodes won't be re-aired on KET2, though. Those episodes aired on KET2 for the first time back in July/August of 2018 but during this current rerun cycle they're not going to be repeated. KET2 is scheduled to air episodes guest starring Linda Davis (August 3rd), CeCeWinans (August 10th), and Micky Dolenz (August 17th and a repeat on August 31st) before returning to Season One on September 7th.

Such is the minor frustration when it comes to locally syndicated broadcasts.

The episodes that air on RFD-TV do not feature a different episode in each market as the PBS broadcasts do. Someone in Texas watching RFD-TV on Saturday night at 8:30pm Eastern, for example, will be seeing the same episode of CabaRay Nashville as someone in Nebraska, Florida, or Ohio or anywhere else. Such is the advantage of national broadcasts vs. locally syndicated broadcasts...but let this not be a slam against syndicated broadcasting...if you have a television series you'll more than likely accept any broadcast method since the bottom line is exposure. Ray has two series airing on RFD-TV: the music/interview show, CabaRay Nashville, and the sketch/clip-filled series, Rayality TV.

Those of you planning on visiting the CabaRay showroom in Nashville during the month of August you'll have plenty of opportunity. In addition to the usual Friday and Saturday concerts from Ray Stevens you'll also be able to catch a concert on a Thursday. In the month of August you can see him at the CabaRay on the following days: 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, and 31. The days in bold indicate Thursday night concerts. In addition to the Ray Stevens concerts at the CabaRay there are also Wednesday taping sessions for Larry's Country Diner. These will occur on August 7th and August 21st. Ray will be a guest on an episode of Larry's television show...how ironic that the owner of the venue upon which many episodes of Larry's show has been taped will be a special guest. Ray's taping occurred a couple of days ago on July 24th and I can't wait to see it and see the inevitable conversation over the irony of Ray appearing at his own venue as a special guest. I can picture both Ray and Larry trading one-liners back and fourth over the irony. I don't know how long post-production takes...so I'm assuming the recent episodes being taped of Larry's Country Diner will air on RFD-TV this coming fall (early or late September). You can visit the CabaRay website for all the information you need by clicking HERE. If you click that link during the remaining days of July you'll see the July calendar and no scheduled concerts...obviously due to this being the final week of the month. Click the forward arrows above the calendar to see the August dates.

Ray Stevens on Larry's Country Diner

Howdy there all you fans of Ray Stevens! Well, I didn't have any advanced warning to promote an upcoming Ray Stevens appearance because I found out about it at the last minute. Ray appeared on the RFD-TV program, Larry's Country Diner, a program hosted by Larry Black. It's set inside a diner and it has a reality feel to it. Throughout an episode people walk around and cut in front of the camera, etc etc. It has an intimate feeling at the same time. Keith Bilbrey is the show's announcer and he remains on-camera throughout. A regular character is a woman named Nadine. Her appearances and interactions made the scene come off like a Hee-Haw sketch.

On Thursday's episode with Ray Stevens, the first episode of Season Two, it featured a couple of long-time friends and associates of Ray's who were seated at the same table in the diner. The two men were songwriter/record producer Norro Wilson and Ray's long-time songwriting and business partner, Buddy Kalb. The three of them sat at a table eating and conversing back and fourth with Larry and Keith for much of the show's first 3 or 4 minutes. Larry did a short interview with Buddy and Norro prior to turning the focus on Ray. Larry mentioned that he loved the song about the Squirrel going berserk in the church and for laughs he praised Buddy for using the town 'Spartanburg' in the song. Buddy said it was 'Pascagoula' and Ray quickly shot back that Buddy used the name of the town because it was the only thing that rhymed with 'hallelujah!' and everyone laughed.

After this segment, Ray sings "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" at the keyboard. Larry and Ray talk about "Sgt. Preston the Yukon" and Ray talks about the story behind that song. Elsewhere in the episode Larry plays a vintage clip of Minnie Pearl and Rod Brasfield. Ray remarks that he once produced a recording on Minnie but the record label was too afraid to release it. The recording was of Minnie singing "Tutti Frutti". Ray performs the song, "Safe at Home". Elsewhere, Larry recites the opening verse of "Mr. Businessman" and Ray talks a little bit about the song and how it took him an hour to write it because the lyrics came flowing out of him real quick. He doesn't perform the song, though. Throughout the episode Larry often named off his favorite Ray Stevens songs. Ray told the story about "Misty" and Larry mentioned that it won an award. Ray specifies that it won a Grammy for Best Arrangement. The regular character, Nadine, becomes a factor in the episode and she gushes over Ray and gets a hug out of him as well. She mentions "We The People". He mentions O'Reilly's program and mentions that the music video is usually what gets played in bits and pieces on talk-shows that he's appeared on. He apologized at the start of the song in case he messes up the lyrics since he'd never sang it live before. He sang the opening verse and the chorus.

He remarked that he'd be appearing at a Tea Party later in Nashville in which he'd be singing the song in it's entirety and he thanked Larry for allowing him to use the opportunity to rehearse part of the song prior to the National Tea Party convention. The convention took place during the first weekend in February and so this episode had to have been taped at some point in late January because on the 15th of January that's when Ray appeared on The O'Reilly Factor. Larry brought up Get Serious, the direct-to-video movie that Ray starred in. Larry played the part of Virgil Dooright in the music video, "The Dooright Family". Larry asked Ray to sing "Turn Your Radio On". Ray and Larry discuss Ray's web-page and they talk about the backstage portion, simply called RayStevensBackstage.

All in all it was a wonderful appearance and I loved that Ray was featured off and on throughout the entire hour. If you all want to know more about Larry's show you can check out his web-site or his Facebook page. Search: Larry's Country Diner on the internet and you're bound to find the web-page.

Ray performed the following songs:

1. Mississippi Squirrel Revival
2. Safe at Home
3. We The People {partial performance}
4. Turn Your Radio On

If I'm not mistaken this episode will repeat Saturday night, March 6th, at 11pm Eastern time on RFD-TV.