Ray Stevens: Nostalgia Valley, Part 24...

The latest music video from Ray Stevens, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", has risen to 111,038 unique views...this is an increase of 2,436 views in a couple days time.

We take a trip back 30 years to 1981 to highlight another great album from Ray Stevens. It's an album that I can write things about without getting tired of doing so. So far I think I've written 3 or 4 other blog entries about this unheralded gem of an album...the title of which is One More Last Chance.

Unheralded may be an exaggeration but based upon the passage of time it's clearly become an obscure album even though at the time of it's original release it boasted two major country hits for Ray in the form of the title track, "One More Last Chance", which reached the country music Top-40, and "Night Games", which had reached the country Top-20 late in 1980. Based on the fact that it's first single hit late in 1980 and the title track hit in the early half of 1981 and no other singles were released means that for the bulk of 1981 there wasn't anything new being promoted on Ray Stevens in relation to this album. An unconventional source of publicity, however, came along later in 1981 when Ray made a guest appearance on the soap opera, Texas. Ray had some dialogue in the soap opera and he was written in as the celebrity appearing at a fictional night-club. Ray performed "One More Last Chance" in the show.

The albums first single, "Night Games", dealt with singles bars and it fit in perfectly with the Urban Cowboy craze in country music during that time period. Those not familiar with the phrase "urban cowboy" need to read up on the movie starring John Travolta and it's impact on country music sales and mainstream popularity during 1980-1983.

Ray, as some outside of the loop may not be familiar with, used to appear in concert wearing a cowboy hat during the early '80s...and the Western fashions that you see him wearing on the 1981 album was commonplace for nearly all country singers who were affiliated with, or supported, the Urban Cowboy trend.

Depending on who you ask there's all kinds of opinion on the fad...the more devout traditionalists in country music have nothing but contempt for Urban Cowboy while the more commercially aware country singers credit the craze with either boosting their careers or affording them some publicity outside of country music. There's a popular misconception that if a singer is commercially aware, or trendy, that they're not a legitimate "artist". This belief is something I don't agree with...but it's a belief that's popular nonetheless. The way I see it, a singer can be in it for the music but still have the desire to want their music to be commercially successful, too. Some people out there take the attitude that singers must be in it "for the love of the music" and any hint of commercial aspirations from a singer will result in that singer being treated like the plague. I know that sounds harsh but I've read commentary for years from those who hold those similar kinds of views so I know what I'm writing about.

Ironically, "Night Games" closes out the 1981 album. "One More Last Chance" opens up the album. In between those two songs lay a wealth of country ballads and mood music. In hindsight one of the songs that should have also been issued as a single is "Let's Do It Right This Time". When you hear it you'll wonder why it wasn't a commercial single, too. Perhaps this is why it was chosen in 1985 to be part of RCA's Collectors Series release that they did on Ray. "Certain Songs" has a power ballad feeling...the arrangement is similar to the style popularly associated with Barry Manilow. Elsewhere on the album is the slow ballad "Just About Love" as well as "Take Your Love", another song that should have been a commercial single in my opinion!! "It's Not All Over", a song about a man who won't let a woman leaving him confine him to loneliness, is another example of a song that should have been issued as a single.

The only song that breaks the slow to mid-tempo pace of the album is the wild, Mexican-Spanish arrangement on "Pretend", the slow ballad pop hit popularized by Nat King Cole. The atmosphere created by Ray successfully causes you to forget, during the course of the performance, what the original sounded like.

1. One More Last Chance
2. Just About Love
3. Certain Songs
4. Melissa
5. I Believe You Love Me
6. Pretend
7. It's Not All Over
8. Let's Do It Right This Time
9. Take Your Love
10. Night Games

Although I know that this 1981 album hasn't been issued digitally, either on CD or Mp3, I nonetheless am aware that vinyl copies still come up for sale at on-line auction sites. I purchased my copy of the vinyl album from an auction site.

Also, purchasing a turn-table isn't such a difficult thing to do, either. There's a couple of places on-line that sell record players and I'm sure you can find them in shopping stores around Christmas time as a "nostalgia" item from the very same companies who sell their items on-line during the rest of the year.

I got a turn table for Christmas this past year...right off the racks of a local shopping store! So, it's highly possible to come across turn tables if you look for them. eBay and other places enable a person to substantially add vinyl albums and singles to start their collection or add to their collection. Again...there are ways for people to get vinyl and to get record players and it's no longer an excuse for some out there to say "I can't find a record player anywhere!!". This sentiment was accurate maybe 20 years ago during the huge proliferation of the CD market but nowadays it's rather easy to find reputable on-line companies that offer record players. The brand name of two of my record players is Crosley. This marks the third record player I own. My first one was built into what appears to be a suitcase which is model number CR249 at Crosley's web-site. The second one I bought is from a company called Detrola and the third one in the picture you see above is from Crosley.

Each of the record players are still in working condition...the reason I wanted multiple record players is just to have them. You don't want to wear out a record player and then not have a back-up ready. A record player will last as long as it's taken care of...and you don't really want to wear one out from excessive plays...so what I do is use them sparingly. The image off to the right that shows the picture of Losin' Streak, a 1973 album from Ray Stevens, is an image of my Detrola record player with it'd lid raised. This particular record player comes with a cassette attachment, radio, and CD player.

Let's Discuss Ray Stevens, Part 28...

Good Friday evening all Ray Stevens fans!! One thing is for sure...some topics come and go while other topics seem to dig in and grow. The topic of Arizona has certainly become enmeshed with Ray Stevens for nearly a year now. In May 2010 Ray issued his illegal immigration music video, "Come to the USA", on You Tube. The video was released during a time when the Arizona border wars were becoming a national issue once again due to the illegal immigration bill that was being written in the Arizona State Government...ultimately signed into law by Jan Brewer. The video quickly became a major internet hit...surpassing the unique views of "We The People", a video Ray issued late in 2009 about ObamaCare which had by May 2010 amassed 3,000,000 unique views. To date, "Come to the USA" has gotten 4,982,169 unique views in 10 months time. May 2011 will mark the video's 1 year anniversary and by that time the totals will perhaps be more than 5,000,000!!

Several months later, in contrast to the humorous "Come to the USA", Ray delivered the stark, serious "God Save Arizona". This video was in response to the Federal Government's intrusion into State matters. The video plays like a documentary...recalling events from World War Two (The U.S.S. Arizona sinking of 1941) and using footage from war news reels as well as images of Eric Holder and other faces of the Arizona debate. The video's gotten 665,619 unique views during the last 7 months. It was uploaded in August 2010.

"The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", the current Ray Stevens music video spoofing the TSA, now has 109,449 views. This is an increase of 3,202 unique views over the last three days. This video puts a humorous spin on a lot of the security procedures that the non-flying public may not be aware of. The video also speaks to the non-flyer in that, through exaggeration and humor, we're told of the experiences of a couple brand new to flying. Airport security and the TSA probably doesn't register with those who don't even step foot into an airport...but I'm sure people are exposed to security and scanners as they walk through their work place. I'm sure people, at times, may be approached by security or greeters in shopping stores if an alarm goes off due to some sort of malfunction where an item wasn't appropriately scanned at check-out. Although the video specifically spoofs airport security and the pat-downs that take place at airports I feel there's something to take away from the video if you happen to be a recipient of over-the-top security procedures at your own work place.

The times we live in require a lot of security...but when that security becomes invasive and infringing on a person's dignity it's impossible to remain easy-going and go "oh well, that's the price we pay to be safe.". If people adopt a passive response to a lot of stuff then how can a free society recognize when their Government has gone too far? I'm sure a lot of people feel the way I do in that we feel the Government takes advantage of a person's fears (and anxieties) in an effort to ultimately control a person's livelihood. The real threat of terrorism and the threats that come almost daily from terrorist organizations provides cover for a lot of unnecessary liberty-stripping policies.

Ray Stevens and the TSA, Part 11...

Ray Stevens called into radio station KZNE today and did one of his more in-depth interviews. I didn't clock the interview but it seems to me that it lasted a good 15 minutes. The program that Ray called was Chip Howard's which airs 5-7pm Eastern time, 4-6pm Central time. Ray's interview began during the show's second hour and judging by the radio station web-site the shows become archived at some point here. It'll be the March 8th archive. As of this writing the archives are updated through March 7th...so it'll be imperative for us to keep checking the archive page and select "Hour Two" for the March 8th show. I listened to the radio interview as it was happening thanks in large part because of a tweet several days ago by Chip Howard making mention of Ray Stevens calling the show today. There was another tweet posted today mentioning Ray's call-in so it wasn't difficult to miss the announcement...that is...if you happen to check Twitter frequently.

Some of the discussion in the interview consisted of Chip asking Ray several questions about the comedy songs he's known for and he asked what Ray thought about the social media's advantages in promoting music. Ray commented that it's an advantage because once something becomes uploaded onto a social media outlet it's got the potential to be heard or viewed by thousands of people in a matter of hours...hundreds of thousands in a matter of days. This speaks to a concept that I made mention of last year where I remarked that Ray's music videos are seen by more people in one day than your typical song on a radio station is heard in a week's time. Ray commented that "Come to the USA" is nearing 5,000,000 unique views and that "We The People" is over 4,000,000 views. His current video, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", has gotten 106,247 unique views on You Tube in 2 week's time...by comparison the #1 song on Country radio, for example, may have around 11,000 plays nationally during the same 2 week time period.

At another point in the interview Ray's asked if he's ever felt non-creative...in other words was there ever a time where he didn't feel like being in the studio or putting on concerts. Ray commented that he's never had feelings like that and that he doesn't plan on retiring...ever. In the past Ray had always commented that he loves making records...and one time he said that he'd always make records...whether he's on a major record label or not. Ray commented that a lot of people in the business feel that comedy/novelty songs have always been a "fast burn" and that there's no future (i.e, success) in making a career out of comical recordings. As far as radio airplay goes comedy is a fast burn...and it's something Ray addressed in 1995 when being interviewed on TNN's Music City Tonight program during the Get Serious home video publicity. Yet, as far as longevity is concerned, his particular comedy recordings have endured and continue to remain in print...and therefore there's no fast burn to speak of when discussing longevity.

Chip asks Ray, specifically, about "The Streak", "Everything Is Beautiful", "Misty", and "Ahab the Arab". Ray remarked, when asked about political incorrectness charged at "Ahab the Arab", that those who charge the song with being politically incorrect are ignorant about the song's original intent. Ray spoke about his time in Branson, Missouri in the early '90s and the host mentioned that Ray was there on three separate occasions (a reference to the series of concerts late last year at the Welk Theatre). Ray talked about music videos and how he went against the traditional conventions of marketing when he began selling music videos on TV. Ray pointed out that before he had his initial success with Comedy Video Classics in 1992 that the thinking in the music business was that music video's were nothing more than promotional tools to encourage sales of the audio recording. His home video proved that there was an audience who loved watching music videos so much that they'd be willing to buy them...whereas in the past nobody had thought to sell music videos to the public. Nearing the end of the interview Chip mentioned the current TSA song and Ray spoke about the We The People CD and the upcoming Spirit of '76 CD. The host played a snippet of "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" as the segment came to a close.

Ray Stevens and the TSA, Part 10...

This Sunday morning blog entry finds "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" with 102,596 unique views. As of now there isn't any radio call-in's posted at Ray's web-site. Whenever there's a call-in they usually get posted in the Tour section simply because it's a radio call-in tour. It began in early February...actually, late January, right around the time the TSA song was still in it's infant stages as I call it. At that time there was no CD single, Mp3 single, or music video available...and in those earliest radio interviews he'd comment that the single would be available soon and that he was working on a music video. As we all know the commercial availability happened in early February as the CD and Mp3 single became available for purchase at Ray's web-site and at Amazon and Itunes. Following the commercial release the music video became available on February 17th.

Since the month of February has fewer days than the rest of the months of the year it enabled the calendar to flip over to March in a week and 4 days time. The time span that the music video's been available is 17 days. The only reason I break all of that down is because some people will see "February" as the video's release month, paying no attention to the actual upload date, and with it now being March there will no doubt be some out there who'll say the video's been out for "2 months" when in reality it's only been available on You Tube for a little over 2 weeks...and so it's still in the early stages. The music video won't be a month old until March 17th.

In the meantime, though, continue to be on the look out for The Spirit of '76. As soon as it becomes available I'll write a blog about it and as soon as I'm able to hear it I'll write a review. Although a lot of you could've guessed as much it never hurts to remind people. I'm currently in the process of writing a review of Ray's We The People album from last year. I have a review up on Amazon but this new review is at a different on-line store. I had noticed that an existing review at this other on-line store didn't really say a whole lot about the CD...and with a CD that contains 22 songs the review should at least have some length to it...and so I'm writing a brief, lengthy review. Brief lengthy?? Well...it'll be a lengthy review as far as size goes but it'll be brief on specifics.

Ray Stevens: The TSA music video, Part 2...

"The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" has surpassed the 100,000 unique view total and at the moment it's gathered 100,482 views at the 2 week mark. I've noticed that a lot of people have visited my blog page recently via on-line searches of the title of Ray's current music video...this is one of the rare moments where I get visitors based solely on a song title search. I caught a Tweet the other day from a sports radio station...a talk-show host named Chip Howard tweeted that Ray Stevens would be calling in next week (technically this week...now that it's Saturday). I have no idea if the radio host is referring to our Ray Stevens (The Singer) or someone else with the same name. There's a radio DJ who goes by the on-air name Ramblin' Ray Stevens...there's also a couple of athletes with the name of Ray Stevens...so it's difficult to know exactly which 'Ray Stevens' the talk-show host was referring to. Usually whenever I see a tweet from someone at a radio station mention 'Ray Stevens' I automatically assume it's our Ray Stevens...but KZNE radio is sports-driven and so it's wise to try and find out exactly which Ray Stevens will be calling into the station this week. I sent a tweet inquiring about the specifics...as soon as I find out anything I'll of course post about it here.

My Twitter name is also ACcountryFan and a lot of my tweets are about Ray Stevens. I'd say 99.5% of my tweets are built around Ray Stevens...either me tweeting something about him or my re-tweeting something he's tweeted.

Starting with this blog entry, as all of you frequent visitors can tell, I've changed the design/template of the page. I liked the design I'd been using but I decided to change the design...I like how the lettering is much more crisp looking and the information isn't so compact as it appeared in the previous blog design. Also, the pictures that I insert in the various blog entries will look like Polaroid pictures...with a white trim/border fitted around the images to give it an authentic look. That sort of thing was missing in my previous blog design. Also, it's much more clearer reading the labels, the blog date, and the title of the blog entries. I'll stick with this updated look for awhile. I'll probably go with something else later on.

While writing this blog I opened up a separate internet browser and seen that "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" has risen to 100,739 views on You Tube. When I started this blog entry the totals were 100,482. I believe You Tube updates their numbers every half hour or every hour.

Ray Stevens and the TSA, Part 9...

Welcome one and all to this fan-created blog page where I give commentary and talk about the great music and comedy videos of Ray Stevens...not necessarily in that order! Also...welcome to March! As we turn the calendar we see that the success of the latest music video, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", has risen over 6,000 unique views since my previous blog post. The video currently has 85,553 unique views in nearly 2 week's time. The TSA video was uploaded onto You Tube back on Thursday, February 17th...technically the video's been around for only a week and 5 days...not quite officially 2 weeks...and here it is knocking on the door of 90,000 unique views! Could we see 100,000 views greet this video by this weekend?? It's certainly possible! I think it's highly possible that it'll reach 90,000 views by the end of today.

This song will be part of The Spirit of '76...which at the moment doesn't have a release date yet. I assume we'll hear something at some point this month regarding the release of that CD...I can't wait to hear all of the material that'll be included on it. On a recent TV interview on the Fox Business Network he mentioned one of the songs will be about Obama's budget plan. At C-PAC last month Ray performed a song which asks the President to offer his solutions to the problems facing the country and the world. That song should be on The Spirit of '76 too.

The Mp3 single reached #13 yesterday on Amazon's Comedy best-seller list and that was a new high...previously #16 had been the highest that the single had charted on that particular best-seller list. Earlier this morning it was ranked #22 indicating that it hadn't moved much over the course of the last 12 hours and is holding steady among the Top-30.

Let's Discuss Ray Stevens, Part 26...

Ray Stevens called into the Daybreak USA radio program this morning and the interview with Scott West was uploaded onto You Tube...



Ray's current music video, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", also shown a strong jump in unique views as it rose from a little over 71,000 unique views Sunday morning to 78,189 unique views Monday afternoon. By the time I post this blog entry the view totals probably have gone higher! The Mp3 also shown a jump on Amazon's best-seller list, too. This hour the Mp3 had risen to #13 among best-selling comedy Mp3's.

Ray Stevens: Nostalgia Valley, Part 22...

Good Sunday morning all! I'd been on vacation from work this past week which explains why my blog updates appeared with much more frequency than usual. I return to work on Monday and more than likely I'll blog once or twice a day, or every other day, depending on what's going on in Ray's career at any given moment. Tonight Ray Stevens appears on a 1972 episode of Hee-Haw on the RFD-TV channel. The show airs at 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central. I'll be writing a re-cap of the episode here and over on Ray's official message board later tonight. One of the burning questions is: will Ray Stevens be clean-shaven or will he have a beard? It's difficult to predict because I've seen pictures of him from as early as 1969 with a beard...and then there were pictures taken of him in 1973 with a glorious beard that you could lose your hand in...then in 1975 he had a beard part of the time...so tonight's 1972 episode of Hee-Haw should answer that question.

The big song that Ray had out in 1972 was "Turn Your Radio On". The single had been released late in 1971 but reached it's peak in early 1972. The gospel single was just one of the several gospel-flavored recordings issued by Ray during that time period. "All My Trials", "A Mama and a Papa", and "Love Lifted Me" were released as singles, too. That same year Ray released his Turn Your Radio On album. The single reached the Top-20 on the Country chart in America and the Top-10 on Canada's Country chart. On America's Pop chart, the Hot 100, it reached the Top-70. In the United Kingdom the single reached the Top-40. On Easy-Listening radio the single reached the Top-30 in America and the Top-5 in Canada. Judging Ray Stevens based upon exclusive chart statistics for one format or another doesn't truly represent his popularity. One song may not connect with a country audience the way it may connect with a more wider pop audience. Also, a song that fails to connect with the American public may have become a big hit in Canada or Europe. This is why it's never fair to focus exclusively on the pop chart in America or the country chart in America. To get a sense of his overall popularity it's best to focus on all the weekly commercial charts that are or, were, in publication during the time the songs and albums were released.

There was a point in time when several of his singles were hitting in Canada but not connecting with people in America to the point of pushing the song into the radio-oriented Top-40. A 1963 single, "Funny Man", reached the Top-20 in Canada but on America's pop chart it ranked in the Top-90! Radio listeners in America weren't hearing that wonderful ballad from Ray Stevens but Canadian radio listeners were.

You'll never see his Canadian chart stats quoted much...but there were plenty of times where a song of his hit in Canada but didn't hit as big in America. "Unwind" reached the Top-20 in Canada and "Mr. Businessman" reached the Top-10...by comparison, in America, "Unwind" reached the Top-60 and "Mr. Businessman" reached the Top-30 on the pop chart. This same thing holds true with the various radio formats in America. Several of Ray's singles in the mid '70s hit with country audiences instead of pop audiences. One single in particular, "Love Lifted Me", didn't reach any of the American or Canadian based music charts...but it managed to obtain a Top-5 ranking in Bangkok of all places in the fall of 1972. Apparently the music buyers there appreciated Ray's aggressive, rock-oriented take on the gospel song. You won't see that chart statistic quoted much, if at all, by the numerous authors of liner notes, the biographers, and music historians of the world who either want to focus exclusively on the American pop music chart or the American country music chart.

"Love Lifted Me", as mentioned, didn't make the charts in America or Canada...and it didn't reach the United Kingdom chart, either. A particularly scathing write-up, punctuated with crass and cynical observation, appeared in a July 21, 1972 UK newspaper. Apparently, and of course I have no proof, but the critic seemed annoyed that Ray's biggest hits were happening in America and not in the United Kingdom...something the critic pointed out in his own kind of way. Either that or the critic was marginalizing Ray's popularity as an artist. In hindsight Ray made the United Kingdom charts 7 times as compared to his American chart appearances...which boasts more than 50 appearances altogether when you factor in song, album, and home video releases.

Shifting gears from 1972 and landing 39 years later, in 2011, we find that Ray Stevens' latest music video on You Tube, spoofing the TSA, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", has obtained 71,114 unique views during it's first 10 days on-line! The video was uploaded during the late afternoon on February 17th and it looks as if it'll obtain 100,000 views any day now. I often use the term "hits" when referring to "unique views" but recently I discovered that the phrases aren't interchangeable and that unique views is the proper term to use. I'm sure a lot of other people use those words interchangeably, just as I do, but for the purposes of specificity I'll use the phrase unique views from now on.

Reminder: Those who get RFD-TV, Ray Stevens will be a featured guest on tonight's 1972 episode of Hee-Haw!

Ray Stevens and the TSA, Part 8...

The music video, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", gained 14,760 hits over the last couple of days to bring it's overall total to 62,137! The video's been on-line for just 1 week and has gotten more hits than the previous release, "The Nightmare Before Christmas", during the same time period. The Christmas music video had pulled in a little more than 21,000 hits during it's first week...and it needs to be mentioned that the Christmas music video was uploaded on November 3, 2010...a full month and a half before Christmas so that by the time the Christmas rush was underway the video was more than a month old and difficult to find in public listings of Christmas-related videos (unless a person knew the name of the song and did a specific search).

As many of you may know when you upload something onto You Tube or any other video hosting site it doesn't stay at the top of the search results indefinitely. Once other videos get uploaded it pushes (buries) the current videos further down the search results. If a person searches "Ray Stevens" on the You Tube site what typically comes up are the videos that have gotten the most hits or videos that have been embedded/shared more than others...what a person needs to do, obviously, is type "Ray Stevens" and next to his name type whatever music video you want to search for. Example: "Ray Stevens + The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" will come back with a couple of search results. Ray's video is the first one listed. Now, of course, you can always by-pass this and just visit his web-site and watch the video there.

On Sunday February 27th RFD-TV will air a September 1972 episode of Hee-Haw at 8pm Eastern. I watch Hee-Haw every Sunday but this particular episode will star Ray Stevens! This episode marked the first time Ray made an appearance on the program. Arlene Harden and Dizzy Dean will be the other guests on this particular episode.

Ray Stevens and the TSA, Part 7...

Good Tuesday morning all Ray Stevens fans! Throughout the night I was keeping track of the You Tube video hits of "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" and the numbers kept on flying higher and higher. At one point the play total was 20,110...another time the number was up to 23,859...and just a few minutes ago the most recent play total for the video was up to 31,649!! If all of this wasn't great enough I also discovered that the Mp3 digital single of "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" had cracked the Top-100 of Amazon's comedy single chart. 2 hours ago it was sitting at #48, 1 hour ago it had jumped to #36, and this hour it's sitting at #17! I'd been monitoring the Amazon rankings since the single became available back on February 8th, checking the product page a couple of times each day, and this was the first time it had been ranked on a Top-100 best-seller list. Coincidentally today marks the second week of commercial availability of the song which spoofs the TSA.

As the single and the music video continue to fly into the stratosphere of success it's worth mentioning that the mainstream music critics haven't really discovered the song yet. We all know the routine when it comes to a lot of the mainstream critics...prepare to see negative criticisms that label the song 'flighty', for example. Also, I can picture some of them using the expression 'I hope the song crashes and burns'.

It's scary when even I can predict how critics will react to something!!

Maybe a lot of the critics will surprise us and drop their preconceived negative idea's of who they think Ray Stevens is and listen to the song with an open mind? I don't think that will happen, either, so don't anyone out there hold their breath.

Ray Stevens and the TSA, Part 6...

There have been 12,495 You Tube plays for "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", referred to as The TSA Song. In a world where bird dogs get a free pass enjoy the latest from Ray Stevens...



The Spirit of '76 hasn't been given an official release date yet. My guess is it'll get released at some point in March and perhaps it'll be tied in with a future music video of some kind but it's anyone's guess as to what will happen. I'd definitely love to see a music video to the song that he performed at C-PAC earlier this month that I believe is either entitled "Mr. President" or "What Are Ya Gonna Do, Mr. President?".

Ray Stevens: The TSA music video...

What a wonderful treat Thursday turned out to be! Due to time zone issues I was unable to stay awake today and hear Ray's interview on radio station WSGI in Tennessee. The interview took place at 1pm central time which is 2pm here in the eastern time zone and given that I work nights I couldn't stay awake to catch it. If I had known ahead of time when the interview was to take place I could've gotten some sleep earlier in the day...but...when I woke up this evening I discovered that Ray had uploaded the much anticipated music video of his TSA song, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore".



The video, in my opinion, is quite hilarious. It's surely going to become another mega viral hit on You Tube. On Twitter it's been tweeted and shared and re-tweeted throughout much of the afternoon by various Tea Party and conservative bloggers in addition to Ray's core fan-base who've supported him for years. I don't know the name of the woman playing the airline passenger ahead of Ray and "Charlene". I know that Sabrina plays the role of Charlene and that Ray's longtime songwriting partner and business associate, Buddy Kalb, plays the role of the security agent. If you want to see the video on a much larger scale click the following video link and it'll take you to the video's page at You Tube. As most of you know, I don't embed videos at their original size simply because they're way too large to fit within the space provided and would mess up other features of the blog page and cause the page to load slower...therefore I re-size the videos.

On Friday morning February 18th (that's TOMORROW!) Ray will be interviewed on two radio stations. The first station, KSCJ, will have an interview at 9:30am Central time, 10:30am Eastern. The second station, KDWN, will have an interview an hour later at 8:30am Pacific, 10:30am Central, 11:30am Eastern. Those two interviews I'll definitely hear...they air earlier in the day, of course. KDWN is in Las Vegas...I'm sure Harry Reid will become a topic of conversation during the interview. The show's host is Heidi Harris. KSCJ is located in Sioux City, Iowa. Ray will be calling the Open Line program with Randy Renshaw. In both instances you can listen live from their web-site's.

KSCJ radio

KDWN radio

Ray Stevens: Nostalgia Valley, Part 20...

As I write this blog Ray should be back in Nashville or on his way back to Nashville after a successful appearance in Washington, D.C. over the weekend at C-PAC. He performed three songs while there as I mentioned in a previous blog entry. I'm looking forward to whatever comes of "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" as far as a music video is concerned. Judging from several previous releases the audio version of the song gets released first and later on a music video emerges. Ray is also suppose to continue making the rounds on radio stations giving call-in interviews. I suppose these radio interviews will pick up again once a CD collection gets released or a music video gets uploaded...

Meanwhile...

In Ray Stevens history 5 years ago, 2006, Curb Records issued two DVD releases of limited animation music videos from Ray. The collections are called Gourmet Restaurant and Teenage Mutant Kung Fu Chickens. 10 years ago, 2001, Ray issued the single "Osama Yo' Mama" which ultimately became the name of his top-selling 2002 Curb Records CD. 15 years ago, 1996, Ray's direct-to-video movie, Get Serious, was released to retail stores for the first time and would go on to spend almost half a year on the video chart in Billboard. Curb Records issues Great Gospel Songs which is actually a re-release of his 1972 gospel album with a few additional songs added. 20 years ago, 1991, Ray opened up his theater in Branson, Missouri and helped popularize the tourism industry in that area for 3 consecutive seasons. 25 years ago, 1986, Ray won his first of 9 consecutive Music City News Comedian of the Year awards. His 1985 comedy album, I Have Returned, reached the #1 slot on Billboard's Country Albums chart in 1986.

A single released by Ray 25 years ago in 1986 spoofed a well-known television program which went by the name of The People's Court. At the time of this recording the show was an established hit and Judge Wapner had the same sort of public fame and recognition as Judge Judy would have decades later. In this song the court room programs blend together as elements of The People's Court and Divorce Court combine. One element from Divorce Court, the soft-spoken narration by Jim Peck, is spoofed in Ray's recording. As far as the defendant and plaintiff Ray portrays Arlo and his wife, Myrna Louise. The wife is accused of becoming obsessed with the likes of exercising, health food consumption, and general neglect of her duties as a wife. Arlo, who runs a convenience store, has a difficult time changing his ways which causes friction with the wife who simply wants her husband to be healthy. The Judge grills Arlo and asks if a lot of the outrageous claims from Myrna Louise is true...to which Arlo gleefully admits to. You all can probably guess who the court sides with. Toward the end of the song each of them are "interviewed" by the court reporter and Arlo offers poignant advice about future marital endeavors.

Meanwhile...

30 years ago, 1981, Ray appeared on the soap opera, Texas, and was still genuinely promoting himself as a "singer of serious songs" with the release of One More Last Chance on RCA which featured his late 1980 hit, "Night Games". 1981 was also the year Ray's voice could be heard all over the world in movie theaters as he was picked to sing the theme song of the all-star ensemble comedy movie, Cannonball Run. Ray is heard singing "Cannonball" during the opening credits and during race scenes at various spots in the movie in addition to singing the ballad, "Just for the Hell of It", during a love scene. 35 years ago, 1976, Ray signed with Warner Brothers and had a string of hit singles culminating in the late 1976 release of "In The Mood", clucked like a choir of chickens. Earlier in 1976 Ray won a Grammy in the Best Arrangement category for his 1975 recording of "Misty".

40 years ago, 1971, Ray kicked off that year having a huge hit in England about a small woman named Bridget...Ray's hilarious "Bridget the Midget (The Queen of the Blues)" hit late in 1970, actually, but it didn't have it's impact until early 1971 where it reached the Top-50 on the America Hot 100 and the runner-up slot on the U.K. music chart. Later in 1971 he began a series of gospel releases: "All My Trials" and "A Mama and a Papa". Each of these songs would reach the Adult-Contemporary Top-10 while a late 1971 release, "Turn Your Radio On", would reach the Country Top-20 and serve as the title of his 1972 gospel album. 45 years ago, 1966, Ray reached the Hot 100 with "Freddie Feelgood" but most of his activity was behind the scenes producing/arranging and or playing on sessions by other artists on the Monument label. 50 years ago, 1961, Ray reached the Top-40 for the first time with the comical "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills".

23 years ago this month, February 1988, Ray Stevens found himself the focus of a column written by the late Paul Harvey. The column dealt with the public image and perception of religious figures in the wake of the televangelist scandals. Ray's single, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?", had long since reached it's peak by the time this column was written but the song was still getting exposure from those discovering it month's after it's original release. Paul's column and earlier mentions of it on his radio commentaries wasn't the only non-country music exposure afforded to Ray's song, either. The song found it's way into the pages of Newsweek as well as discussion on The Tonight Show and other pop-culture forums. The song was nominated for a Grammy in 1988, too!

The song hit during the spring of 1987...specifically the first week of May...and as you can see nearly a year after it's peak in the summer of 1987 it was still a topic of conversation on into 1988. Chet Atkins and Margaret Archer wrote the song and it appeared originally on Ray's 1987 album, Crackin' Up.

Ray Stevens and the TSA...

Hello all the Ray Stevens fans!! This is hot off the presses...well, 5 hours ago...but it's still very recent. It's an interview that Ray gave earlier today on KMOX radio in St. Louis promoting his latest song. I found out about it through Twitter and then I Googled "KMOX + Ray Stevens" and among the results was a link to a radio interview held today with Charlie Brennan.

I happened to enjoy the interview...Ray talked about some of his past recordings and his stay in Branson, Missouri. Political correctness was brought up which often becomes a topic of conversation in Ray's interviews given how some out there want to label some of his songs as being "politically incorrect" when there's no malice or vicious intentions behind any of his song's origins. The fact that "Ahab the Arab" is comical and an Arab is the focal point enrages some people. Also, the pronunciation of Arab as "ay-rab" instead of "air-ub" also enrages some people out there. Let's get real, though...Ahab and "ay-rab" rhyme...Ahab doesn't rhyme with "air-ub"...case closed, end of controversy.

Meanwhile, back to the interview...at the 4 minute 19 second mark, Ray and the host begin to talk about "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", the brand new Ray Stevens song about airport security and the TSA. The audio may stop, since it did for me, and if that happens you'll of course have to replay it and fast-forward to the point where it stopped so pay attention to the time clock in the lower right side of the clip. The interview includes phone calls to Ray and all of it is sandwiched between roughly 18-19 minutes.

The host, Charlie Brennan, plays the song during the interview. At the time of this writing the single hasn't been made available for purchase yet...but Ray mentioned that it'll become available on his web-site and other places on-line in the near future. My guess is it'll become available next week but that's just my guess. A lot of us were hoping that Ray would have a musical response to the TSA and the invasive security practices that are going on in the airports nationwide and in this song he delivers a home-spun tale of a couple who experience hands-on airport security. The link indicates that this song is on his latest collection, We The People, but it isn't part of that particular collection. Nonetheless for those who don't have the We The People CD you should get it because it's chock full of political and patriotic material including his latest string of music video hits: "We The People", "Caribou Barbie", "Throw the Bums Out!", "Come to the USA", "The Global Warming Song", and an earlier song, the patriotic "Thank You". In addition to those songs there's "The Fallen Ones", "Fly Over Country", "We Are the Government", "The Solar Powered Song", and "Dear Andy Griffith" among many more.

As I mentioned, there's not been a release date set for "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore".

The song is so new that I don't have any information on who wrote it and if it'll be on any future collection of songs. Once again, the brand new Ray Stevens song is called "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore". The Ray Stevens interview will be the third audio clip in the following link.

FYI: Ray skewered political correctness in his direct-to-video movie, Get Serious, in 1995. It often comes up for sale on eBay. It's hilarious! For those who've never seen the movie it's 110 minutes...1 hour, 50 minutes...and it's an actual movie but there's music videos inserted throughout as the story moves along. In the link I provided there's a close-up of his video, the front and back cover, and on the back there's screen-caps on a role of film. We see Ray in character as Gitarzan chatting with Jerry Clower; Ray dressed as Ahab the Arab; Ray as psychiatrist Sickmind Fraud decked out in Napoleon attire; Ray as a Calcutta rug salesman; and Ray as a Woogie Indian (a fictional tribe, of course!). I'm sure that eBay link will expire at some point once the item is either bought or the seller takes it off the market and if that happens you can always Google the video or look it up on eBay by other seller's. Ironically there's not a DVD version...so for now the only way to see the movie is on VHS.