Ray Stevens: "Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene" update...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens!! You more than likely aren't going to hear much about it from what they call the mainstream media but Ray has quietly racked up 2.2 million plays of his performance on Larry's Country Diner of "Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene". The statistics come from the social media platform, Facebook. The Larry's Country Diner page over there has a video page and Ray's performance is by far the most watched. It was uploaded to Larry's page back on June 8. The song is a combination of satire, social commentary, comedy...with common sense battling a forced, bizarre alternate universe that the country finds itself in. The audio recording of "Bubba Changed His Name to Charlene", on YouTube, has racked up more than 32,000 unique views since it was uploaded. The full episode of Larry's Country Diner guest starring Ray Stevens, as of this writing, has more than 83,000 unique views. I'm not going to embed the video performance...rather, I'll embed the audio from the TV appearance...

As of now there still isn't any word on when the new songs Ray performed on that episode will become available on an album. Given the way music is heard/discovered there might not even be a future album.. the songs could simply exist as audio tracks on sites like YouTube, Spotify, etc. I hope that isn't the case...yes, I'm old fashioned and love full albums of songs being released on an actual CD rather than simply visiting some online music site and listening that way. Sure, the online way is convenient but I like officially released hardcopy discs as back-up just in case of internet glitches or some music site goes offline. I bet people don't think of that...if a site that contains all your music vanishes from the internet it'll all be gone...so it's always smart to have the music on a CD that a record company has issued. If a record company doesn't offer a CD then download the songs onto a blank CD, of course. The idea of having your favorite songs stored away in some online file, either it be on a computer or a cell phone, is mystifying to me. I know you'll love the song...another great one from legendary Ray Stevens!

Ray Stevens: New Music Videos on the horizon...

Well, now, it's me again!! You can say I'm playing catch up...going through some of the social media posts from Ray Stevens during what turned out to be an election day stretching out to nearly an election week. The media projects a winner but it's not official yet...so the counting of ballots goes on...as to potential lawsuits and recounts. In the meantime Ray Stevens will debut a pair of new music videos in the coming days. Well, actually, it'll be tomorrow since it's past midnight here (November 8th). On Monday November 9th Ray will debut a music video for the reworked rendition of "Everything is Beautiful" (which became available as an Mp3 download on Amazon back on October 30th) and he'll also be debuting a second music video, the "Everything is Beautiful" / "United We Stand" medley. The videos, as of now, are scheduled to be uploaded at 8am Central, 9am Eastern. Ray posted a sneak preview of one of the videos but rather than posting a snippet of a video I'll instead post a screen cap from the upcoming music video...

I have several other screen caps but I decided to post that one. Why? Well, it resembles a photo of Ray from the back of an album cover for a Greatest Hits album Barnaby Records issued on Ray in 1972. The photo was in black and white and Ray was clean shaven at that time but it shown him looking very studious at the piano. I'll be posting that photo a little later on in this blog entry. A lot of commentary on Ray's social media pages centers around the piano. Ray has appeared on stage and in video with a very distinctive red piano...he has numerous red pianos. One of them appears in his music video of "Freddie Feelgood". The red piano became very popular with his fans back in the early 1990s when he owned and operated his own theater in Branson, Missouri. Millions of people came through Branson during that time period and the red piano was certainly an eye catcher. The millions that purchased his 1993 VHS tape, Ray Stevens Live!, seen the red piano for the first time. He has also appeared with the more traditional black colored piano in some of his music videos but it's rare that he appears behind a white piano. If you remember some of the early publicity photo's at the CabaRay showroom there's some photos of him sitting behind a white piano. He changed it to the more familiar looking red piano soon after. I think the audiences/fans began asking him during autograph and photo sessions at the CabaRay of whatever happened to the red piano. When the two music videos debut tomorrow morning at 9am Eastern I'll be embedding them in a blog entry. I'll also be sharing that blog on social media sites in addition to adding commentary about the music videos on Ray's social media sites. It's playing out to be a very busy Monday morning! Here's the photo of Ray Stevens from the early '70s and I put it in a side-by-side frame with the photo of Ray from the 2020 music video...

Ray Stevens performs "Can We Get To That?"...

Now, now...before anyone says that my fan created Ray Stevens blog lacks coherency because it jumps from one era of his career to another at random I'd like to point out that's why it's fun to write them. It's fun writing a blog entry about Ray Stevens and his contemporary activities and then following it up with a blog entry pertaining to one of his recordings from 20, 30, 40, 50 plus years ago and then following that up with a blog entry centering around Ray Stevens screen caps or photo's of vinyl single releases. All aspects of his lengthy career are spotlighted in this fan created blog. Earlier this morning on the Ray Stevens social media sites an upload of his 1971 performance of "Can We Get To That?" was posted.



The powerful song appears on his 1970 album, Unreal!!!. That particular album was released later in the year following the Everything is Beautiful album. Unreal!!! featured "Sunset Strip" and "America, Communicate With Me" as single releases...both were big hits on the adult radio format, Easy-Listening. That radio format later changed it's name to Adult-Contemporary. The format had also been previously known as Middle-of-the-Road. If you look inside vintage editions of Billboard magazine you'll see that radio format abbreviated as MOR. "Can We Get To That?" is what you'd call a topical song...but with a timeless message.

Ray was very aware of the social commentary contained in the song...first of all he wrote it...and it was a sentiment that he captured in other songs he wrote during the socially turbulent late '60s/early '70s time period. "Mr. Businessman", "The Great Escape", "The Minority", "Everything is Beautiful", "America, Communicate With Me", and "Monkey See, Monkey Do". In addition to writing songs with a social commentary bent he also recorded his versions of contemporary songs: "Get Together", "Hair", "Aquarius", "Help", "Games People Play", "Hey Jude", and "But You Know I Love You". Ray's brother, John, recently passed away but he had written a song, "Talking", that Ray recorded for the 1970 Unreal!!! album. It's a fabulous song and fit the mood of the time.

Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" nearing 200,000 unique views...

Ray Stevens; 2020

The "Quarantined" music video from Ray Stevens continues it's viral success even as I type. In my previous blog entry I noted that the music video had gotten 114,777 unique views so far. I published my previous blog entry yesterday evening at 6:24pm Eastern. As of this writing "Quarantined" has a unique view total of 160,001 for an increase of 45,224. The way the unique view amount keeps going up in such a rapid fashion, I'd say, by later this evening or possibly by tomorrow there's a good possibility that the video will surpass 200,000. If you can believe it there are 69 people who dislike this video...but this is countered by the more than 5,000 that have given the video a thumbs up. I've always found it interesting when it comes to the overall statistics of video content regardless of the video hosting site that it's on. Usually a video will receive a lot of views...followed by a strong amount of like/dislike reaction...and a lot of user comments. The funny thing is in each situation the number of participants decline. To explain it in more detail: "Quarantined" has 160,001 unique views. In my way of thinking shouldn't the video also have at least 160,000 reactions of whether it was liked or disliked? When I watch a video I always rate it and leave some kind of a comment. It's gotten around 5,800 like/dislike reactions. The comment section, as of this writing, sits at 299 comments rather than in the hundreds of thousands of comments to mirror the amount of unique views it's received. I've always been curious as to why there's usually a large gap between the amount of unique views, the like/dislike reactions, and the number of comments. It's a possibility that some people prefer not to write commentary about the video they've just watched...others prefer just to like or dislike a video and leave it at that...while others might not even be on YouTube at all but are accessing a YouTube clip on a social media site that's shared it and they leave their comment on whatever site's shared the video. It's really not that big of a deal, of course, it's just something I've always found interesting...the bottom line is the video's being seen by hundreds of thousands of people!!

Ray Stevens: Monument Singles CD...

Hello all the Ray Stevens fans!! I've just returned from reading up on social media sites searching for any of the latest comments and, or, news surrounding Ray. I am here to announce that there's going to be a compilation CD featuring the single releases of Ray Stevens during the time he was on Monument Records as a recording artist (1965-1970). The CD is being offered on a United Kingdom site called Ace Records. The title of the CD is Face The Music: The Complete Monument Singles (1965-1970) and it features a clean-shaven Ray, arms folded, looking as if he's about ready to bust out laughing at something he's hearing or seeing. The CD focuses only on the 12 single releases issued by Monument, presenting each A-side and B-side in chronological order, for a total of 24 recordings. It isn't a complete collection of recordings from that time period (his 1969 album, Have a Little Talk with Myself, has yet to get released on CD) it's just a collection of the single releases. There are three specific recordings from the 1969 album that make their CD debut here. "Little Woman", "The Fool on the Hill", and "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight". Several other Monument recordings mark their debut on CD here: "A-B-C", "Make a Few Memories", and "There's One in Every Crowd". The CD's selling price in the United Kingdom is 11 pounds, 50 pence. I visited a currency converter site and if I entered the numbers in correctly it equals $16.39 in U.S. dollars before shipping and handling. Do not take my message about the price of the CD as a guarantee that it's accurate. I'm going to post a link to the on-line store that's selling this CD and once there you'll find contact numbers and addresses for specific questions you may have regarding the CD's price in American dollars and the shipping method, etc. etc.

To see more information about the above CD, such as all 24 recordings, click HERE. The CD's release date is February 26th. As of this writing there isn't any indication that it'll become imported to America and sold on domestic music sites and so for the time being it'll only be available for purchase through on-line music sites headquartered overseas.

Ray Stevens sings "Merry Christmas": My Review!

Multifaceted/versatile, multi-talented, creative genius, comedic talent, political observer, singer-songwriter-musician-arranger-producer-music video star...so many nicknames apply to the legendary Ray Stevens. In this Christmas season that we're right in the latter stages of the remarkable Ray Stevens has issued a socially provocative and all-too-true look into the now frowned upon tradition of wishing someone a "Merry Christmas" in favor of a generic 'happy holidays' or 'seasons greetings'.

The sentiments expressed in the song make it clear that people should have a right to choose how they celebrate the season but what's been happening is the eroding of the religious aspect of the holiday and how the phrase is, in essence, banned in favor of Happy Holidays, etc. etc.

In "Merry Christmas" Ray makes a constitutional point as well when he mentions that people are suppose to have the freedom of religion instead of the freedom from religion. The opening lines of the song tell you right away that we're going to hear a pro-Merry Christmas message from good ol' Ray Stevens.

It's a wonderful song!! You get a sense that Ray Stevens is perhaps the only artist willing enough to address issues of this magnitude and a lot of that probably has to do with the lighthearted and jovial way his music videos are put together and the overall feeling of "it's us against the loonies" found in a lot of the lyrics of his latter day recordings. I bet you all didn't think a song with the unassuming title of "Merry Christmas" would carry such a strong message. There are quite a few social issues brought to the forefront in this song and it's a real treat. It's a seasonal slice of goodness from Ray Stevens.

The video's become another hit and it's gotten more than 7,000 unique views in less than 24 hours. I imagine it'll reach the 10,000 level within the next couple of hours or by Monday. The messages in the song resonate with so many people, religious and otherwise, that it'll be surprising if it doesn't go beyond 10,000 unique views rather quickly. I've seen this song called "Merry Christmas- I Stand With Jesus" from various people on Twitter but the official video at Ray's You Tube channel doesn't provide such a title. The official song's title is "Merry Christmas" and that's the title I'll use in my blog writings and here is the official music video... 

Ray Stevens: Nostalgia Valley, Part 16...

I decided to shine the light on these collections once again. Collectables Records, in 2005, issued 6 vintage Ray Stevens vinyl albums onto CD format. Even today there are some out there who aren't aware that these collections exist and so I like to highlight them from time to time. This particular release features the two 1970 Ray Stevens albums Everything Is Beautiful and Unreal. I've posted the front of the CD's before and so for a change of pace I decided to post what the back of the CD's look like. The picture of Ray seated at the piano comes from the back of the Unreal album while inside the fold-out cover there's a picture of Ray and Andy Williams which comes from the back of the Everything Is Beautiful album. Actually, the picture of Ray on the back of the CD is a computer generated reversal of the way he appears on the back of the Unreal LP. Also, the audience seated around the piano in the original picture is cropped out. Originally the picture was taken during a performance on Andy Williams' television show. In the fold-out cover you'll be able to see what appeared on the back of each original LP.

Meanwhile...there is some commentary floating around on-line surrounding these CD releases...I consider the commentary from some of the other consumers to be petty because the general public isn't going to care about the kind of detail that some of the consumers go into detail about. I'm not saying everyone's opinion is petty but there are quite a few who go into detail about stereo verses mono and go out of their way to mention that there's vinyl detection heard in a song or two, etc etc. All I ask is the sound quality be clear and listenable...in my way of thinking bad sound quality is when a song sounds as if the singer is singing with a piece of cardboard over the microphone and the words sound muffled and unintelligible. Believe me...if I felt the sound quality of these CD's was as bad as some would have you believe I'd be the first to warn people. Nowhere on these collections is there a proclamation that the music is digitally remastered and so if you go into it thinking you're going to hear music that's crystal clean as if it was recorded today you'll obviously be disappointed. The bulk of the songs up until the time of the 2005 release had never been issued in CD format before and so there's going to be traces of vinyl origination.

This particular CD features the 1972 release, Turn Your Radio On, along side the Misty release of 1975. The only studio album that Ray recorded for Barnaby Records to not get re-issued on CD in 2005 is 1973's Losin' Streak. It's a mystery as to why the 1973 album was over-looked but in previous blog entries that I've written I've come to the conclusion that Collectables Records simply wanted a nice, even number...and with three CD releases that comes out to six LP's altogether. A seventh LP is the "odd man out". Excluding compilation releases, Barnaby issued seven albums on Ray Stevens between 1970 and 1975. The label would issue a couple of compilation projects on Ray during the same time period. One of the things that doesn't get a lot of coverage is that Barnaby Records was able to purchase the rights to the Monument recordings of Ray Stevens. This is why on the compilation albums that Barnaby and it's subsidiaries issued you'd find recordings that originated on the Monument label.

In this CD release we have the 1973 Nashville album and 1974's Boogity-Boogity. This was the third and final 2-LP on 1-CD release. It's catalog number is COL-CD-7688. Turn Your Radio On / Misty has a catalog number of COL-CD-7687. Everything Is Beautiful / Unreal has a catalog number of COL-CD-7686. One of the criticisms of these CD's, in addition to the intellectual debate over sound quality, is that the songs don't appear in the same order as they did on the LP's. As far as Nashville and Boogity-Boogity are concerned the tracks appear on the CD in the same order as they did on the LP. The other two CD releases all feature randomly placed songs out of order with their LP counterparts. For example...the LP version of Unreal opens up with "Sunset Strip" while the 2005 CD version opens up with "America, Communicate With Me". On the LP, "Talking" and "Islands" are the final two tracks. On the 2005 CD "Islands" is the 6th song while "Talking" is the 10th song among the Unreal selections. So, yeah, when it comes to the songs on four of the albums not being in the same sequence as they appear on the LP I can understand that kind of a criticism...but it shouldn't take away from the fact that the material is at long last available on CD and Mp3 format. "Losin' Streak", from 1973, still needs to get the CD re-issue treatment though!

I've since uploaded all of the songs onto my on-line music program and rarely play the physical CD's anymore...but as a collector of Ray Stevens items I won't discard the physical CD's that I own. Here is a list of the seven studio albums Ray recorded for Barnaby Records:

1. Everything Is Beautiful; 1970
2. Unreal; 1970
3. Turn Your Radio On; 1972
4. Nashville; 1973
5. Losin' Streak; 1973
6. Boogity-Boogity; 1974
7. Misty; 1975

Ray Stevens...Multi-talented musician, part four

The 1990's offered some changes in Ray's career. He made a couple of music video's for two songs on his debut album for Curb Records. Lend Me Your Ears was the title of Ray's 1990 album and on the cover he appeared as Julius Caesar. "Sittin' Up With the Dead" and his up-tempo version of "Help Me Make It Through the Night" were made into music video's. Another song promoted from the album was "Barbeque", a song about a man's obsession with barbeque. The album wasn't a chart hit for Ray as his previous MCA albums had been. Curb at the same time had issued a compilation album called His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits and on the CD cover he appears in costume singing "It's Me Again, Margaret". This album would achieve Gold status. He followed the 1990 album with #1 With a Bullet in 1991. This particular album contained two chart hits. "Working For The Japanese" hit in late 1991...reaching the country Top-65. The satirical tale is borderline serious, too, as it questions America's dependence on foreign products and the immigration frenzy. "Power Tools" hit in early 1992 and it was a comedy song about a macho man who is obsessed with power tools and the trouble he gets into with them. One of the big hit shows that year was ABC-TV's "Home Improvement" and that show focused on a power tool fanatic played by Tim Allen. "Power Tools" was written months before the ABC show hit the air so it's one of those coincidental things. The 1991 album also featured "Teenage Mutant Kung Fu Chickens" which was a spoof of a certain Saturday morning cartoon series I'm sure everyone's heard of called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. "Tabloid News", the fourth track, is a rip on tabloid news. There's a song on there that takes aim at the Hat Acts in country music, "You Gotta Have a Hat". The 1991 album was filled with nutty material...one song invovled pulling a fast one on the IRS with the help of an inflatable doll named Juanita. You'd have to hear the song to grasp it's nuttiness.

After the 1990 and 1991 albums, Curb issued Greatest Hits in 1991. This compilation was just a collection of mostly non-comedy recordings from Ray during the '60s, '70s, and '80s. It included an alternate take on "There's a Star Spangled Banner", a song originally recorded in 1989. 1991 was a busy year for Ray...as you previously read in the above paragraph...it became even busier when his theater in Branson, Missouri opened up.

The Ray Stevens Theater was one of the consistently sold-out venues in Branson. He played the theater during most of the year...performing two shows a day for six days a week. The theater was one of Ray's biggest commercial successes during the 1990's. His biggest success, though, came along in 1992 with the release of a home video called Comedy Video Classics. This landmark home video, sold over TV, and eventually sold in stores, introduced Ray to an even bigger audience than before. His 30 second TV commercial for the project ran at all hours of the day, on most TV networks...and on cable-TV late at night. I even heard a radio commercial for it. The work paid off because the home video eventually sold a million copies on TV marketing...the success of it would transfer into stores and sell half a million copies, which for a home video, was something rare. All in all, Comedy Video Classics would sell 1.5 million copies and become a #1 home video for half a year in retail stores. Billboard named it Home Video of the Year, which wasn't a surprise, but the sales took the industry by surprise...and it allowed Ray to claim success in four consecutive decades: '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s. Comedy Video Classics was released on his own label, Clyde Records, named for the camel in "Ahab the Arab".

Ray followed this home video in 1993 with Ray Stevens Live, a concert video shot at his theater. This one was not the blockbuster success of the previous one but it was a success. A little known home video sequel, More Ray Stevens Live, was issued in 1993 to fan club members and to those who visited his theater's gift shop. After the successes in home video's, Ray returned to audio with Classic Ray Stevens which in spite of it's title, featured 10 all-new recordings. Ray's face appears on a bust of Beethovan as to why the album has it's name. A couple of songs were promoted as singles. "If Ten Percent Is Good Enough For Jesus It Oughta Be Enough For Uncle Sam" was the album's lead-off song and the song being promoted the most at the start of the publicity. Later, focus was shifted to "The Motel Song" and then "Super Cop". One of the songs that didn't get much attention but should have was "The Ballad of Jake McCluskey". That song was patterned after the scenario of small-town morals verses reality. Jake McCluskey was an adulterous man...and as the song plays out, so was almost all the other men in town, including a local policeman and local politicians.

Ray shut down his theater in 1993 after three consecutive years there: 1991, 1992, 1993. In 1994 there was a Ray-drought. There was no CD or home video released...later it was revealed that Ray was working on a movie. The results surfaced in 1995...a direct-to-home video movie called Get Serious which is more like a musical because in addition to the spoken dialogue, there are 10 music video's interwoven throughout. It, too, was a commercial success. It featured cameo appearances by several country music personalities: Charlie Chase, James Gregory, George Lindsay, Johnny Russell, Chet Atkins, Williams and Ree, plus Jerry Clower. The movie's plot was based on a song Ray had recorded in 1986 called "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol". In the song, Ray is pulled over by a cop for going 57mph in a 55mph zone.

In the movie, Ray is stunned to learn that a lot of the people he has sang about in previous songs actually exist and that Dudley Dorite turns out to be Bubba from the "Shriner's Convention". So, using the 1986 recording as a basis, the movie consists of Ray and girlfriend, Charlene MacKenzie, on the run from Dudley Dorite and his deputy, Coy. As a sub-plot, Ray's record label is bought out by a Japanese company and they want to re-shape Ray's image and want him to "get serious". Ray refuses and so the record company executive and a few of his pals dream up a plan to ruin Ray's career by planting protesters at various personal appearances Ray takes part in claiming that Ray is politically incorrect with his comedy. The movie takes aim at political correctness and it has a happy ending. One of the highlights is Ray's song "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" which he performs with co-star Connie Freeman. The two of them perform an all-out song and dance number in a chicken coop.

Ray's long-time friend and songwriting partner, Buddy Kalb, plays the Dudley Dorite/Bubba character. Ray plays a variety of roles. Tim Hubbard plays the hat obsessed Deputy Coy. The label executive is a hilarious parody of Paul Lynde. A lot of Ray's music video co-stars are in the movie, too.

In 1996 Ray returned to touring...something he had stopped doing in 1990 prior to the opening of his theater in 1991. Later in 1996 year he signed a new contract with MCA. Hum It was released in 1997 on MCA...marking his first full-length CD in four years. The comedy album featured 10 songs and of those ten, a few of them were made into music video's. "Mama Sang Bass" wasn't a music video but it was a parody of the Johnny Cash hit "Daddy Sang Bass". Appearing in the song as Mama was gospel singer JD Sumner. The song was about hormone injections of all things.

"Too Drunk To Fish" was patterned after Jaws but it told the story of two men fishing...and the problems that arise when one of the men get drunk. "Virgil and the Moonshot" is a parody of the Apollo-13 movie. Hum It contained a slap on the wrist on the airline industry...the funny "How Much Does It Cost To Fly To Albuquerque?" closes the album. "I'll Be In Atlanta" is a wonderful non-comedy song honoring the city and State of Georgia that is found on the album. Later in 1997 he released his first and only holiday album Christmas Through a Different Window. The album is chock-full of demented holiday songs...political correctness is targeted on "The Nightmare Before Christmas". "I Won't Be Home For Christmas" is a touching song about a man who can not stand his family because they are idiots and barbarians who trash his house. "Guilt For Christmas" opens up the album...setting the tone. "The Little Drummer Boy...Next Door" is a song about a kid who gets drums for Christmas and drives Ray crazy. "Home For the Holidays" carries the arrangement of a warm, glowing Christmas song but it's far from it when Ray tells us about how going home for the holidays is a terrible thing and that lots of medication needs packed for the trip. The office parties are given center stage on "The Annual Office Christmas Party". In a somewhat throw-back to Spike Jones, Ray delivers "Bad Little Boy", a narrative told in a little boy's voice.

Ray parted ways with MCA in 1998 after those two albums. 1998, 1999, and 2000 were quiet years for the most part. He began a Christmas series at the Acuff Theater at Opryland that ran in 1998 and 1999. He was the main attraction at the Acuff Theater throughout 1999. In 2000 he issued Funniest Video Characters which included the long-awaited music video of "The Blue Cyclone". The video was broken into two parts. The first part aired at the start of the home video...then there were six additional music video's...and the second part of the song closed the collection. On the home video it also included music video's of "Freddy Feelgood", "The Pirate Song", "The Haircut Song", "Juanita and the Kids", and the two music video's he did in 1997 "Too Drunk To Fish" and "Virgil and the Moonshot". On Clyde Records he issued a new audio CD, Ear Candy, in 2000.

2001...the year is forever remembered for September 11th, or 9/11. The date of 9/11 is in reference to the terrorist attacks. Osama bin Laden became a household name on 9/11 and on the days, weeks, months, and years following...patriotic songs popped up in country music...some artists saw sales spikes in their older recordings, most notably Lee Greenwood and Johnny Cash. Newer songs included Charlie Daniels "This Ain't No Rag It's a Flag", Clint Black's "I Raq and Roll" which is pronounced "I rock and roll", and Alan Jackson's "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?". When it appeared the country had 'forgot' about 9/11, Darryl Worley came along with "Have You Forgotten" in answer to those who wanted to downplay 9/11 and push it aside. Ray was no exception...he released an Osama song in early 2002...Ray's single was "Osama Yo' Mama" which featured a sing-a-long style of lyrics and included vocal appearances from Osama's mama, Ray in his falsetto voice, as well as a broad vocal impression of President Bush, referred to as Dubyah in the song. The single caught on...mainstrem country radio didn't play it but it reached the country Top-50, making this the first single of his to reach the country chart in 10 years. Soon afterward, Curb Records issued a single "Osama Yo' Mama" backed with "United We Stand". The single, available mostly as an on-line download, but some music stores carried a physical copy of the single, the single ended up achieving Gold status...half a million in sales. The song hit #2 on the Country Single Sales chart and remained charted for nearly half a year.

Curb then issued an album Osama Yo' Mama: The Album to distingush it from the CD single of the same name and cover design. This 10 song album hit the country Top-30 in 2002. Seven of the ten songs were actually pulled from his 2000 Clyde Records release Ear Candy. The three songs that weren't from 2000 were "Osama Yo' Mama", "United We Stand", and "Freudian Slip". "United We Stand" was a pop hit in the 1970's and Ray's version of the song is spectacular.

In spite of the success in 2002 and early 2003, Ray remained low-key. I do not even know if he performed "Osama Yo' Mama" in concert anywhere. He re-opened his Branson theater in 2004 and did a series of concerts there as well as in 2005. Acclaim for his older material surfaced the same year as Collectables Records issued three separate CD collections spotlighting six of Ray's 1970's albums: Everything Is Beautiful, Unreal, Turn Your Radio On, Nashville, Boogity-Boogity, and Misty. He started to experiment with animated music video's around this time. The animation was limited. In 2007 Ray issued a new album on his label, Clyde. This album was a salute to New Orleans and it's music. New Orleans Moon contains the title track plus plenty more songs about New Orleans and Louisiana. Some of the songs are "New Orleans", "Louisiana", "Louisiana Man", "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans", "Battle of New Orleans", "Basin Street Blues", and others. The album wasn't promoted at all...

In mid 2008 he did a mini-tour...this was brought about to promote his music and re-introduce himself to the touring circuit again. He issued a comedy album prior to the start of the mini-tour...called Hurricane. This album featured seven all-new recordings and five re-recordings of earlier songs. "Hurricane" is patterned after "The Streak" but in "Hurricane" the action news reporter is replaced by CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who in this novelty song appears as Wolf Spitzer. Christiana Ammonpour{?} appears as Christiana I'm in a Downpour. Another reporter of the hurricane is Raegae Dreadlocks. In addition to "Hurricane", there's the topical "Sucking Sound" which brings to the forefront Ross Perot's messages during the 1992 Presidential campaign. Ray does a broad impression of Perot throughout the song "talking" to Larry King. "The Cure" is a song about enema's. "Hey Bubba Watch This" is a song patterned in the redneck theme. A little known album came along in mid 2008 called Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What?? where Ray offers his take on several Sinatra classics. Most recently he has issued a comedy album, Laughter Is The Best Medicine, which contains re-recordings of previous songs with a hospital or doctor's office plot. "The PSA Song" represents the only song that had never previously been available before.

And with that...i'll conclude this career look-back at Ray Stevens...the multi-talented musician.