Ray Stevens: CabaRay Nashville on YouTube E-8, S-2

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! I just finished watching the latest CabaRay Nashville upload on YouTube. This time it's Episode 8, Season 2. The guest stars are Darryl Worley and Lee Greenwood. The episode is a patriotic/Military themed showcase. In the audience there are numerous members of the Military. Ray opens the show with "Thank You", a salute to all Military branches. Ray co-wrote the song with Larry McCoy and it originated a few years after 9/11. If you check YouTube you'll come across the official music video of the song. 

Ray introduces Darryl Worley who performs his massive hit, "Have You Forgotten?". This song soared to the number one spot on the Country chart in 2003...in it's 5th week on the chart. It remained at number one for 7 weeks. The song was released at a point in time when it appeared that the public, as strange as it sounds, had began to put 9/11 in the rear view mirror. When the single was released bin Laden was still the most wanted man on the planet. The death of bin Laden wouldn't happen until 2011...nearly 10 years after the 9/11 terror attacks. The official date is May 2, 2011. After Darryl's rousing performance Ray speaks to him about the song and it's impact. He tells Ray that since that song hit in 2003 he's put on concerts at dozens of U.S. military bases...traveling internationally more than a dozen times. 

Ray's second guest is none other than Lee Greenwood. He performs "God Bless the U.S.A." and afterward Ray asks where the song's inspiration came from. Lee told the story of how he wrote the song in the middle of a massive touring schedule. He mentions that, at the time, all he was doing was touring the entire country and Canada and it didn't leave him much time for writing or much of anything. He wrote the song and then played it for his record producer at the time, Jerry Crutchfield. Lee said that he thought that it would be an album track and he was stunned when the record company wanted to put it out as a single. 

Ray closes the show singing "Dear America". This is the only time that he's performed this song on a television program. He put it out as a single-only and music video in 2016...and it's never appeared on any album, to date. The photo of Ray that was used to promote the "Dear America" single has become one of his most used publicity photos. The photo, as you can see, is featured below. It's a powerful song as is all of the songs performed on this patriotic/Military themed episode of CabaRay Nashville. 

2016

Ray Stevens featured on Rare Country...

Hello once more...it's nearing the 12pm hour on this 15th anniversary of 9/11. A time line of events on that day is broken into specific detail on a variety of websites all over the internet. The first hijacked plane hit the North Toer of the World Trade Center at 8:46am Eastern; the second hijacked plane hit the South Toer of the World Trade Center at 9:03am Eastern; the third hijacked plane hit the Pentagon at 9:37am Eastern; and the fourth hijacked plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania at 10:03am Eastern. As I touched on in my previous blog entry the fourth plane crashed during a struggle that took place as several passengers attempted to subdue the hijackers.

A couple days ago, back on September 9th, a website called Rare Country published an article promoting Ray's current 9/11 remembrance, "Dear America". You can read that article by clicking HERE. It's a nice overview of the song and it's creation. The article includes an embed of the music video. As you read their article it includes some commentary from Ray about the video and the choice of delivering the song in an intimate setting rather than using a full-scale, grandiose presentation. This is the only article, so far, to include more of a detailed look at the song and offers additional commentary from Ray on the immediate success of the video.

There have been all sorts of on-line publicity for "Dear America"...several radio station websites have shared the video, too. It seems like most on-line sites, with the exception of The Boot, picked up on the video on September 9th. The Boot had the exclusive debut of the video on September 6th followed by it's debut on Ray's YouTube channel not long afterward. One of the recurring themes in most, if not all, of the articles being published about Ray concerning "Dear America" is the writer's surprise of him 'being serious'. A couple of the articles I came across lead off with their opinion that Ray's supposed to be a funny man and their hearing him being serious is "unusual".

Naturally this sort of astonished response comes from casual music listeners that maybe only know of Ray Stevens for comical, non-serious material or just know of his image and his name but don't really know much about his music or career but yet associate his name with comedy nevertheless. All of this reminds of late 2009, early 2010...as so many people back then were startled to hear Ray singing a song called "We The People" via a YouTube music video. It startled many people because of their inability to come to the realization that 'funny man' Ray Stevens does have a serious, thought-provoking side which had been displayed on numerous recordings dating back to the '60s. It's funny, though, that 6 years later people are still baffled over the idea that Ray Stevens can be serious when he chooses to.

Never forget 9/11!

Dear America by Ray Stevens...

A quick question to all of you devout fans of Ray Stevens (of which I include myself, too)...can you contain the excitement?? I can't! One more day to go and the upcoming single from Ray Stevens, "Dear America", hits the on-line music stores!! Up until now there's only been the YouTube teaser featuring a snippet of the song and some details about it's creation...but all of this changes tomorrow, September 6th, for it is on this day that the Mp3 download of "Dear America" becomes available for purchase!! Here's that image of Ray once more...

Available September 6, 2016

I'm the one that added that caption underneath the photo...you aren't going to see that personal touch anywhere else...and so if you come across this image and see the availability date posted underneath then you'll know that other people on the internet found the image right here on this fan-created blog page. As soon as I purchase "Dear America" tomorrow from Amazon's Mp3 Store I'll, of course, be listening to it several times and then make my official commentary/review of the song on this blog page and then I'll copy/paste my review over onto Amazon's page.

For those of you that hadn't seen the Behind the Scenes teaser video clip currently posted on YouTube here it is...


The single is being released through a brand new imprint, CabaRay Entertainment. This imprint/label is named after Ray's upcoming CabaRay complex...set to open in 2017...a massive entertainment complex which is going to consist of recording studios for audio, television, and video productions and a performance venue for live concerts. So it's almost like a Ray Stevens Universe all under one roof.

I'm sure there's also going to be space reserved for a gift shop, too. I live multiple states away from Tennessee so it's unlikely I'd ever be able to visit the place in person but I'd love to go there...and should the place also contain a gift shop I'd no doubt spend some time in there searching for souvenirs exclusive to the venue.

In the time machine we visit 1976...a sort of hectic year for Ray Stevens. This is the year that seen several changes...the first happened to be the change in record labels. After a lengthy and highly successful run on the Barnaby Records label (1970-1976; a label owned by Andy Williams), Ray moved to the much more mainstream Warner Brothers label following the release of the non-charting single, "Mockingbird Hill", officially the fourth single release from his 1975 Misty album (following "Misty", "Indian Love Call", and "Young Love"). Ray's interpretation of "Mockingbird Hill" is very good and the performance is catchy and memorable once you hear it. My guess is the publicity department at Barnaby Records didn't care to promote the single (given it being Ray's last for the company) and obviously the personnel at Ray's new home, Warner Brothers, weren't about to promote a song on a competing record label...so it more or less didn't have a chance. So why release it in the first place if Barnaby knew going in that Ray was headed for a different label!? Maybe Ray as under contract for one final single release? That's a pretty common occurrence in the music business.

Unfortunately Warner Brothers, at that time, had very little impact or interest in seriously publicizing the artists on their country music roster. Country music legend Buck Owens found this out, too, once he joined the label right around the same time after a lengthy and iconic run with Capitol Records. Having said that, in Ray's case, he did enjoy some success in 1976 after moving to Warner Brothers...largely because the label's publicity department did their job promoting his music. The same couldn't be said for the next couple of years, though, as his single releases hardly gained any notice at radio. It's a shame, too, because if you have the music Ray issued during that time period on Warner Brothers (as I do) you'll be dumbfounded as to how this great music failed to click with listeners and why it's become so overlooked and under-appreciated in the decades that have passed. After the single release on Barnaby of "Mockingbird Hill", Ray issued two singles from his Just for the Record Warner Brothers debut album: "You Are So Beautiful" and "Honky Tonk Waltz". Neither single hit the Hot 100 Pop chart but they both hit the Top-40 of the Country chart...but then, during December 1976, Warner Brothers issued "In the Mood"...a single from Ray in which he chicken clucks the entire performance of the Glen Miller instrumental classic.

Issued as a single-only and released under the pseudonym The Henhouse Five Plus Too the novelty single became a hit recording in the blink of an eye. The single spent several weeks on the Hot 100 and the Country music chart early in 1977 (entering the Top-40 of both charts). In the United Kingdom the single was issued under Ray's name instead of it being issued under the chicken group pseudonym. It became a novelty hit in the United Kingdom, too, as well as in Canada. Even though the various chart placements for this hit didn't rate as high as the chart peaks of "You Are So Beautiful" and "Honky Tonk Waltz", this chicken clucking novelty became one of his best-remembered songs recorded during his Warner Brothers stay. A lot of that, obviously, has to do with the sheer bizarre nature of the recording and the fact that it had international impact, as unbelievable as that seems to those that "take their music seriously". In Ray's memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville, he remarked that the recording has long since become rise and shine music for many low watt, rural AM radio stations.

Ray Stevens...Dear America...

Hello once more!! As the calendar hits September the one and only Ray Stevens has offered a look into his next music project. No doubt a lot of you may have already seen the advertisements on his Facebook page and on other social media sites but, of course, I want to hype and promote the upcoming single release, too. This blog entry centers around a song entitled "Dear America". Ray uploaded a brief clip of himself performing a part of the song and that clip is located below...



Although we're hearing only a brief clip it's a safe bet to predict that the entire song is just as compelling. As soon as I heard of this release and seen that publicity photo of Ray highlighting "Dear America" I wanted to start doing cartwheels and black-flips but I realized that would look rather silly and physically impossible and so I'll contain my excitement to the written word. There hasn't been any information beyond the single's release date. The song is only going to be available as a digital download. I imagine a physical CD of songs is going to hit the market and I'm assuming that photo of Ray featured in the video clip is going to be used as the CD's cover...but for now it's being used as a promo picture for "Dear America".

As seen in the video clip you'll be able to purchase the song this coming Tuesday September 6th. I prefer Amazon and so I'm posting this LINK to the product page. At the moment you can pre-order the single. It sells for 99 cents. I'm going to wait until Tuesday to make my purchase but you all can pre-order if you choose to. Ray posted a larger image of the publicity photo for the "Dear America" song and I know the fans of Ray Stevens are going to love seeing this...so here it is in all of it's glory...

Available September 6, 2016

Ray Stevens: Golden LP Series, Part 33...

We're now up to studio album 33 in the career of Ray Stevens. Issued in 2004, this particular album features wall to wall ballads and not a whisper of a novelty or comedy lyric in sight. Thank You contains 11 tracks...10 vocal and 1 instrumental. The closing track, the instrumental, is titled "Boogie Woogie" and is played on the piano by one named Clarence Smith. This is the first studio album from Ray Stevens since 1983 to feature ballads only and it's also heavy with songs he wrote. The title track, "Thank You", is a salute to all the branches of the military. Ray made a music video of the song and it's one of the songs that gets a standing ovation at his concerts. Ray wrote the song with a writer named Larry McCoy. Ray's picture appears on the inside fold out cover in a still shot taken from the "Thank You" music video. The image of the American Eagle is a perfect cover photo to describe this kind of CD. In a departure we hear several songs that feature opening narration from Ray...setting the stage for the plot of the songs. "Come on Home to Baseball" is a nostalgic song, written by Ray, encapsulating a baseball game into a slice of everyday life. One of the more deep songs from Ray Stevens in quite awhile comes in track three, "Blue Angel". It's almost entirely a spoken dialogue recording interspersed with singing dealing with a man's final days with his wife.

"Pledging My Love" is one of the few mid-tempo recordings on the CD. It had been an R&B hit several decades earlier and Ray's version is outstanding. The performance features the bagpipes on prominent display...something you don't expect to hear...but it adds to the song. "It Won't Be Easy", written by Don Silvers, is a love ballad that deals with a man's anguish and sorrow in the aftermath of a relationship breaking up. When I heard the song for the first time I instantly thought of Ray's 1981 album and how much this song sounded as if it would've fit right in with the songs on that particular release.

In "Let's Roll", Ray crafts a patriotic ode of military solidarity and anti-terrorism inspired by the phrase from Todd Beamer during the flight in Pennsylvania on 9/11. Ray references many catch-phrases and battle cries made famous throughout U.S. and World History while the phrase "Let's Roll" is heard in the background. Updating a couple of gems from the past Ray offers "Be Your Own Best Friend", originally recorded in 1978. The original recording was a Top-40 Country hit for Ray as well as the title of one of his albums that year. Then there is "Love Will Beat Your Brains Out", originally recorded in 1983, which tells the story of frustration and emotional turmoil that faces practically everyone whose single or just starting out a relationship only for it to all come crashing down.

One of the other mid-tempo songs, "When I Get Over You", uses irony in it's quest to inform a woman that she'll always be on the man's mind forever. Ray co-wrote the song with a writer named Doug Gilmore. The thing I find interesting about this pairing is Gilmore's name appears as a songwriter on an early '80s Ray Stevens album. There's a possibility that this song was written by Ray and Doug at that particular time but it wasn't until the making of this 2004 CD that Ray recorded it.

The 10th song, "Stand Up!", is an inspiring power ballad written by Ray and Buddy Kalb. In songs like this there are several ways to interpret the lyrics. I've always taken the song to be a criticism of those who choose to ignore the realities of what it takes to keep a nation free and question what they consider worth standing up and fighting for. It's a powerful song to be sure.

Ray went into what he called semi-retirement and he reduced his touring. He continued performing at select venues every so often but the self-imposed, semi-retirement kept him out of the mainstream public eye for a number of years. He continued recording, though, and studio album 34 arrived in 2007, a salute to a certain city in the southern portion of the United States...details in the next Golden LP Series installment!

Revisiting Ray Stevens, Part 12...

Continuing on with the patriotic/military slant for today's blog entries I thought it would be nice to put three Ray Stevens CD's on display. As mentioned in an earlier blog entry Osama Yo' Mama: The Album was released early in 2002. The exact date was February 12, 2002. The song, "Osama Yo' Mama", reached the Country singles charts in December 2001, peaking in the Country Top-50 based pretty much on the airplay it got on morning radio programs where playlists are a little bit looser. It also hit the Country Single Sales list in December as well as the Hot 100 Single Sales list. It made it's debut on the country singles chart during the last week of 2001. Based upon sales of the "Osama Yo' Mama" / "United We Stand" CD single it remained charted on the Hot 100 Single Sales list for more than 15 weeks (peaking in the Top-10) while on the Country Single Sales list it remained charted for more than 30 weeks (peaking at #1). The music video of the song came along in early 2002 and lastly, the full-length CD in February 2002. The sales of the CD single, as mentioned in a previous blog entry, enabled it to be named the fifth most popular selling country song of 2002. As noted previously, all of this success was accomplished with little to no significant airplay on country or pop radio. The album which Curb Records issued in February 2002 consisted of 10 recordings. The unique aspect of the CD is that 7 of the 10 tracks had previously appeared on an exclusive CD that Ray released in 2000. I say exclusive because it was only available for purchase through his web-site and as a result the general audience was unaware of it's existence. That CD, Ear Candy, is listed in his discography at his web-site but it's no longer available for purchase at his web-site store. The tracks from Ear Candy that didn't make an appearance on Osama Yo' Mama: The Album were "King of Christmas", "The Dog Song", and "No Lawyers in Heaven". "The King of Christmas" and "The Dog Song" would later make an appearance on the more widely distributed Box Set in 2005 but "No Lawyers In Heaven" has never made an appearance beyond it's debut on the 2000 Ear Candy release. The song was written by two legendary writers: Paul Craft and Billy Edd Wheeler. In Bluegrass circles the song became a big #1 hit for the artist, Charlie Sizemore, during this past summer. It's his version that gets airplay on the local classic country radio station in my area. It was funny, though, because I knew of this song from Ray's recording of it 11 years ago but some people out there believed it to be a brand new song.

Osama Yo' Mama: The Album track list:

1. Osama Yo' Mama (2001; music video available)
2. Hang Up and Drive (2000)
3. Safe At Home (2000)
4. Freudian Slip**
5. Deerslayer (2000)
6. Bon Temps Roulette (2000)
7. The Hustler (2000)
8. The Lady on the Radio (2000)
9. Gone For Good (2000)
10. United We Stand (2001)

"Freudian Slip" made it's debut on this 2002 CD. However, I'm not sure when it was actually recorded. It could've been recorded in 2000 for the Ear Candy CD but cut out at the last minute but it also could've been recorded in 2001 prior to 9/11. It has a 2001 copyright date but that can be misleading due to the fact that "The Lady on the Radio", which appeared on the 2000 CD, shows a 2002 copyright date within the credits of the 2002 CD. A sequel to "Osama Yo' Mama" appeared in 2003, "Hello Mama". This song was available as a single only and a music video came along the same year.

In spite of the success Ray was having in 2001, 2002, and into 2003 it would take the release of a 2009 music video and this 2010 CD before a national audience took notice once again. In the wake of this CD's release much of the comments from music listeners and music critics alike was that this was Ray's first release in many years and in some articles the writers made it sound as if Ray hadn't put out anything since his home video projects in the early '90s. Since those projects were sold using TV commercials that aired nationally chances are that was the last time they heard of anything new from Ray Stevens!? That's just a theory, though. In previous blog entries I've deliberately highlighted the projects that Ray released between 1996 and 2008. Why? Well, it's because of the overwhelming belief by some that Ray was in retirement before "We The People" came along in 2009. The "We The People" music video became an enormous viral hit on You Tube. It was released in early December 2009 and by February 2010 it had surpassed 2,000,000 on-line views. The song, all about opposing Obama Care and the damaging effects it'll have on the country's medical programs, enabled Ray to become known as a political entertainer. The viral success of the music video led to the ultimate release of this CD in the spring of 2010. The We The People CD features 22 songs and it includes a bonus DVD of 4 music videos. Since 2010 was a mid-term election year the music and the videos from this collection resonated with a segment of the country and suddenly Ray Stevens found himself participating in Tea Party functions both large and small performing the political songs that people discovered on You Tube. "We The People", "Caribou Barbie", "Throw the Bums Out!", "Come to the USA", and "The Global Warming Song" are just four of the music video releases on You Tube connected to this 22 song CD. "Thank You", Ray's patriotic song and video from 2004, was placed on this 2010 collection because it fit the mood of the CD and it had the potential to reach an entirely new audience the second time around thanks to You Tube. "Thank You", for instance, is one of the songs Ray released in 2004 which was during that point in time, 1996-2009, in which music critics and many bloggers said he was in retirement! In fact, some critics used headlines suggesting that Ray came out of retirement to tackle the political issues of the day. That's how out of touch they were! The CD would reach the Top-60 on the Country album chart but would go on to reach the Top-10 on the Comedy Album chart. All of the commercial success and popularity of this collection is tied to his music video successes on You Tube which advertised the music to millions of people. The collection was in the Top-10 on Amazon's various top sellers rankings for several months.

We The People track list:

1. We The People (music video available)
2. Caribou Barbie (music video available)
3. Stand Up
4. Three Fractured Factions
5. Dear Andy Griffith
6. The Global Warming Song (music video available)
7. Let's Roll
8. Solar Powered Song
9. Fly Over Country
10. We Are the Government
11. The Fallen Ones
12. Come to the U.S.A. (music video available)
13. If 10% Is Good Enough For Jesus
14. Kings and Queens
15. Obama Nation
16. Throw the Bums Out! (music video available)
17. Sucking Sound
18. Safe at Home
19. Thank You (music video available)
20. Pledge of Allegiance/Star Spangled Banner
21. Mr. Businessman (live version)
22. Midnight in Baghdad

DVD videos:

1. We The People
2. Thank You
3. Caribou Barbie
4. Throw the Bums Out!

This particular collection is the current release from Ray Stevens. It was initially issued in the spring of 2011 with limited availability. The collection wasn't released to wider distribution until the summer of 2011. It was in February 2011 that Ray issued the music video, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", and he embarked on a mostly talk radio tour. He visited several morning shows on FM radio, too. The song/music video spoofed the TSA and the invasive security procedures taking place at airports. The song dealt with a topical issue that was all over the news for a period of several weeks. To date the music video's gotten over 200,000 on-line views. In my opinion this is due to the fact that the topic of the TSA and the idea of spoofing the airport security procedures requires some sort of personal experience from the video watcher in order to fully enjoy the song. There's a large segment of the population that doesn't fly and therefore they have no experience with airports and so a song about airport security isn't going to connect with that part of the population no matter how funny the song and music video are. Still, it's a top notch performance from Ray and his music video co-stars. Upon the release of the Spirit of '76 CD it was discovered that the previously released "God Save Arizona" is among the track list. This bit of information technically makes the song the lead-off single while "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" becomes the second release from the collection. "God Save Arizona" had only been available as a single and an on-line music video prior to it's inclusion on this CD. That particular song/music video deals with the Federal lawsuit between the United States and Arizona over illegal immigration. The video's gotten over 800,000 on-line views. After "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", Ray released the "Obama Budget Plan". This music video, to date, has 671,155 on-line views. The video, obviously, saw a dramatic increase of views during the peak of the debt ceiling debate several weeks ago. It was just above 500,000 views in mid August and now it's approaching 700,000 in less than a month's time. This CD didn't reach the national charts largely due to the limited advertising that it received. Who knows what 2012 holds in store, though. It being an election year we may see further publicity arise from this collection. There are a couple of songs on here that will fit the election season next year.

Spirit of '76 track list:

1. The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore (music video available)
2. Mr. President - Mr. President
3. God Save Arizona (music video available)
4. Cap'n Trade the Pirate
5. My Uncle Sam
6. November Storm
7. Mi Casa Su Casa
8. Grandpa Voted Democrat
9. Obama Budget Plan (music video available)
10. News Machine
11. New Normal

Let's Discuss Ray Stevens, Part Nine...

It's me again all you Ray Stevens fans! You all know who you are...I'm one of the biggest. A few days ago Ray was mentioned on The O'Reilly Factor once again. This marks the third time this year that one of Ray's music videos has graced the top-rated Fox News program. This time around "God Save Arizona" was highlighted. Previously "Come to the USA" and "We The People" were highlighted. If you all recall, the first time Ray was mentioned on O'Reilly's program it resulted in Ray's web-site crashing. The highlight of "God Save Arizona" worked wonders because over the course of the last several days the music video jumped to 320,017 hits on You Tube. Prior to the O'Reilly highlight the video was in the mid 260,000 range which is still respectable but it goes to show you what exposure on a nationwide television program can do. There was probably hundreds of thousands of people unaware of the video's existence...but not anymore judging by the spike in hits.

The song is still only available as a digital download and physical CD single...there hasn't been any announcements made of any upcoming album that "God Save Arizona" will be part of.

Ray started his month long stay at the Welk Theatre in Branson, Missouri this week. The opening night was yesterday, September 15th. I should say opening day and night since he did two shows yesterday...one show at 2pm and another at 8pm. He'll be doing several dates with two shows a day and other dates with just one show. I posted the concert days and times in a previous blog. You can see the schedule at Ray's web-site in the Tour section or at the Welk Resort web-page in the Theatre section.

Nashville Cat Ray Stevens, Part 2...

The Nashville Cats program was everything I had hoped it would be. There was a lot of discussion about Ray's years as a session artist and as a music arranger...as well as his songwriting and music publishing. The program was hosted by Bill Lloyd and it ran an hour and a half. Practically every facet of Ray's career was touched...a lot of the conversation as I mentioned was directed at Ray's behind-the-scenes work. Ray spoke about all of the important people in his career from Bill Lowery to Chet Atkins and all of the artists whom he produced and did sessions with. Throughout this special program they would show pictures of Ray at various times in his career and they'd also show pictures of album covers and 45 RPM's. One of the recurring segments was the audio sample. The host played audio clips of 1957's "Silver Bracelet" and 1958's "Cat Pants". Ray's years on NRC was mentioned and this led into a discussion about Bill Justis and Ray's almost hit single, "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon". Shelby Singleton and Jerry Kennedy were spoke of frequently during this portion of the program...which brought us to 1961 and Ray's signing with Mercury Records. The host brings up the recording sessions that were increasing as well as Ray's move to Nashville in January 1962. Ray mentioned that in one recording session he was part of three future hit singles: Joe Dowell's "Wooden Heart", LeRoy Van Dyke's "Walk on By", and his own recording, "Ahab the Arab". 

The host, as well as Ray, remarked how amazing and unusual such a feat is especially compared to today when a musician might play on 30 recordings and maybe 1 or 2 in that stretch of session dates becomes a hit. The host plays audio clips of some of the songs being talked about and remarks to the audience that "Jeremiah Peabody" was Ray's first national hit song. Some new information that I wasn't aware of was discussed as well...during Ray's talk about his career as an A&R man he informs everyone that he discovered the song "Don't Go Near the Indians" which would become a huge hit for Rex Allen. Ray relates a story about how when he was at the studio he was wearing some badly worn shoes and Rex happened to take notice of them. After Rex had a hit with the song Ray found, according to Ray's recollection, Rex bought Ray a brand new pair of shoes as a gift. The conversation then turns to Brook Benton...specifically a song Ray and Margie Singleton wrote, "My True Confession". The host plays an audio sample of the song and this leads into a segment about the other songs Ray had a hand in creating for other artists. There are audio samples of a Dusty Springfield recording, "If Wishes Could Be Kisses" and then a Charlie Rich recording in which the string arrangement was put together by Ray. The conversation next turns to Chet Atkins...the host brings up "Frog Kissing", a song Chet sang with harmony from Ray. Ray talks of Chet's influence and how Chet would keep him busy on recording sessions. They play an audio sample of Skeeter Davis' single, "Sunglasses", in which Ray was the piano player on the session. Chet was the producer and one of the guitar players on the song...the others were Ray Edenton and Jerry Kennedy. The session happened in the summer of 1965. A year earlier, at another Skeeter Davis session, Ray shared piano duties with Floyd Cramer on the song "Let Me Get Close to You". Also on that session was Jerry Reed, Ray Edenton, and Wayne Moss on guitar. Pete Drake on the steel guitar and Buddy Harman on drums. The connection to Dolly Parton was brought up around this same time. The host plays an audio sample from a Dolly session that Ray produced. The host brings up Elvis Presley and this leads into discussion about the only Elvis session that Ray played on...a song that enlisted the talents of Charlie McCoy as well. 

The irony of the whole situation is Ray and Charlie were called on to play instruments neither were noted for. The two of them played trumpets! Ray is a multi-instrumentalist but the piano family of instruments is what many people associate him with...while Charlie McCoy is noted for his harmonica playing. The host plays the recordings where the trumpets can be heard. We've made it up to the late '60s where Ray and the host have been discussing more session work, the Monument years, as well as "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down". One of the most unique things that happened was the presentation of a black and white clip of Ray singing "Everything Is Beautiful". The performance was taped in 1973 for a Dean Martin program. The short film featured Ray and a bunch of kids near a lake or a beach...it was sort of like a music video. I had never seen the footage until then. They discuss the song and the Andy Williams summer show that Ray hosted. It's mentioned that the song won Ray a Grammy. The host names off several more hit songs from Ray prior to showing a video clip of Ray from 1975 singing "Misty", another Grammy winner. It's the video from the Pop! Goes the Country DVD collection. It was right about then when the host named off several more of Ray's hit songs for Warner Brothers, RCA, and MCA and then the second part of the salute was underway...Ray singing several songs. He sang "Everything Is Beautiful"; he sang a line of "Have a Little Talk With Myself" which an audience member suggested...a song Ray wrote/recorded in 1969 and perhaps had never sang in concert since the early '70s I might add!! Predictably, Ray didn't know the words since he hadn't sang the song in decades but he did sing a line of the song and thanked the audience member and remarked he was flattered that someone remembered the song. Ray also sang "Safe at Home", a shortened version of "Turn Your Radio On", and to close the show he sang "Mr. Businessman", dedicating it to Bernie Madoff. It was an outstanding program from start to finish!! Throw the Bums Out! We The People commercial

Ray Stevens: We The People...

"We The People" is the most recent single from Ray Stevens. As of now I have no idea if the song will be available commercially or not. It was posted on Ray's Twitter web-page. This particular song is all about current events and actual political figures are name-dropped in the song. The most controversial political ordeal going on right now is the health care issue. Obama-Care is what the critics are calling it and within this song you'll hear a lot about Obama-Care. It's a very topical song...and one that should have a cult following given that I don't look for this song to break into the mainstream due to the over-sensitivity awareness of modern-day programming in both TV and radio. I listened to the song a few times and liked what I heard.

I suspect those who are all for the over-haul of health care and see nothing wrong with the way things are being done in Washington will seethe or roll their eyes when listening to this song. I especially like the way it incorporates a few sound effects as censor bleeps...I imagine Ray may perform this song the next time he appears on Fox News Channel. Over the course of the last several months he appeared on Sean Hannity's program and Mike Huckabee's program. At the time he was promoting the re-issue of "If 10% Is Good Enough For Jesus", which, I might add, reached #1 on an Independent music survey recently. Is there future appearances on the cable channel on the horizon? It's likely...but probably at some point in 2010...the more I think about it the more I come to the conclusion that "We The People" will be at it's most popular in the next several weeks.

Today's date is Saturday November 21st...later on tonight the Senate will be casting a "vote" on the health care bill. This vote is more or less the ignition vote to jump-start the debate on the Senate floor over the health care bill. If the Senate gets 60 "yay" votes then the bill will be debated on the Senate floor several days after Thanksgiving. If the vote doesn't reach 60 then those who created/wrote this health care over-haul will have to go back to the drawing board and edit/delete things or add in things to please a majority of Senators. Until then, listen and love the latest Ray Stevens single, "We The People". The Music City News issue is from 1990...there's nothing comical, though, about "We The People" unless you find it a scream that politicians are name-dropped in the song.

Ray Stevens: Star Spangled Banner

On the eve of the 4th of July I wanted to touch upon a couple of patriotic/political songs in the career of Ray Stevens. I often cite a song that's found on Ray's 1989 serious-comedy showcase album, Beside Myself. This was, at the time, Ray's last album for MCA Records and it was the first time in six years that Ray had put love ballads and serious songs onto an album. The first five songs on this album were non-comical and the last five were comedy songs. Ray had a hand at writing nine of the ten songs found here.

Track number five is a song called "There's a Star Spangled Banner" about a man in the military whose been captured by the enemy and held prisoner. The setting is Beirut/Middle East and the song is written from a POW's perspective hoping that America/the flag will ride to his rescue. Ray gives some commentary about how the flag is not respected in other parts of the country but no matter how much the flag goes through hopefully it'll continue to remain a beacon for the values that America holds. I love the arrangement and the song...now, I know, in this day and time with everyone sensitive over just about anything, a song with this kind of pro-America sentiment causes a lot of our own people to be offended. Things used to not be that way. You can find this song on Beside Myself and At His Best, which is a CD re-issue of the 1989 album.

In 1991 Ray recorded an entirely different song, but kept the same chorus and song title, "There's a Star Spangled Banner". This version of the song isn't about a man being held prisoner in Beirut. This 1991 version is about the flag itself and all of the battles and wars that it's fought in. The Gulf War and it's aftermath was the reason for the alternate version...but don't quote me on that. This version of the song can be found on the 1991 Curb Records compilation, Greatest Hits, which was released in April of that year. Looking through history I found out the cease-fire was in February 1991 so that puts it about the time the Gulf War was still in the headlines.

So, there are two versions of the same song out there and my advise to you is to click on the song sample at the on-line music stores and listen and see which version you're buying...since the songs contain different verses but the same chorus, buy both songs.



Late in 2001/early 2002, Ray had out the patriotic/political comedy song, "Osama Yo' Mama". It came complete with a music video and a more serious b-side, "United We Stand". The commercial CD single, which wasn't distributed heavily, sold enough to push the single to #1 on the Country Single Sales chart...it would remain the Top-5 for several months. "Osama Yo' Mama" of course is about Osama bin Laden and the disappointed he must be bringing his mother. "United We Stand" was originally a peace and brotherhood hit in the early 1970's in the latter years of the Vietnam War. Ray's version comes complete with grandiose arrangement, which a song like "United We Stand" needs. These two songs opened and closed the Curb Records CD, Osama Yo' Mama: The Album in 2002. The CD became a Top-30 hit.

"Hello Mama" was a sequel to "Osama Yo' Mama" and it featured the same melody but different lyrics. "Hello Mama" was also made into a music video...it can be found on the 2004 DVD release, The Complete Comedy Video Collection, as a bonus music video. "Hello Mama" is about Osama on the run in the Middle East and he consistently calls his mother with fears of being caught and sent to Guantanamo Bay. He's using cell-phones to contact his mother but finds that he has to destroy each one he uses because "Dubyah" might be tracing the call. It's just as funny but not as well-known as "Osama Yo' Mama". Each song was written by Ray and Buddy Kalb.



In 2004, with the country still engaged in war and conflicts over-seas, Ray and co-writer Larry McCoy offered "Thank You", a song about the military men and women who are fighting overseas voluntarily. Typically during a war or any kind of conflict, the soldiers and the troops are often over-looked because the media and most talk-shows focus on the politics and the controversies surrounding a war and they often lose sight of the soldiers unless a body count is being reported. So, "Thank You" is a song about not forgetting the soldiers who voluntarily joined the military and thanking all parts of the military for what they do. There was a music video produced in 2004 as well as a 11 song CD.

Looking on the back of the CD they list the 11 songs. One of the songs is an instrumental called "Boogie Woogie", the final track on the CD. The CD is all-serious and Ray is credited as a songwriter on eight of the eleven tracks. Two of the tracks are re-recordings, though. "Be Your Own Best Friend", a hit single back in 1978, and 1983's "Love Will Beat Your Brains Out". The songs Ray didn't write are "It Won't Be Easy", "Boogie Woogie", and "Pledging My Love". The track list for the CD:

1. Thank You
2. Come On Home To Baseball
3. Blue Angel
4. Pledging My Love
5. It Won't Be Easy
6. Let's Roll
7. Be Your Own Best Friend
8. Love Will Beat Your Brains Out
9. When I Get Over You
10. Stand Up
11. Boogie Woogie

Several of these songs were later put on the 2006 Curb Records release, Box Set largely because the Thank You album wasn't highly promoted. Meanwhile, the Box Set became a Top-5 hit on the Comedy Albums chart...one of the alternative charts Billboard publishes. The project originally was issued on his own label in 2005 but Curb distributed it in 2006.

Backing up 30 some years to the early '70s, Ray recorded a couple of brilliant patriotic/political songs...songs that he wrote. One of them was "Talking" which was featured on his 1970 album, Unreal. In the song Ray sings about the war going on but all it seems that people in Washington were doing is talking and setting up conferences and meetings instead of doing any overt action. On this same album we have "Loving You On Paper", a love song about a man in the war who gets through the day writing love letters to his girlfriend or his wife. It's never explained if the woman is his wife or his girlfriend...but whatever the relationship, the song deals with loneliness.

The big song from that album, though, was "America, Communicate With Me". This single openly asks the country to explain it's actions and communicate in an open manner. It mentions the assassinations that took place and all of the protesting and everything else going on.



"America, Communicate With Me" became a Top-20 hit on the Adult-Contemporary chart. It peaked a few spots below the Top-40 on the Hot 100. These patriotic/political songs were grouped together under the protest song umbrella...although I wouldn't put Ray's war songs in that same category. While other war songs were pointed against the way the country was running, Ray's tended to be more about common sense...they were never in your face as far as political commentary goes...at least I don't think they were. Others may have a different impression. These 1970 songs were recorded during the time period Ray recorded "Everything Is Beautiful", which went to #1 and sold millions that same year.