Ray Stevens: Rayality TV webisode 3...

It's that time once again...time to embed the latest webisode from Ray Stevens. Today's upload if you're keeping track is Webisode 3. It keeps the chicken theme from the previous week but spotlights several beloved scenes from the early-mid '90s. If you're familiar with Ray's direct-to-video movie from 1995, Get Serious!, then you're in for a treat as a certain performance from that movie is inserted into this week's webisode. The memories that is brings back!!! I have the movie, yes, but it's fun to see performances from the movie inserted into a different setting.



Don't forget about the 9-CD box set sale...you all have 16 more days to get your order placed to ensure a price of $39.99! The regular price for the box set is $79.95 but you'll be getting it for $40.00 less until April 20th. As I pointed out in my previous blog entry this is perhaps going to be your only chance to get this incredible collection at such a low price.

Ray recorded more than 60 songs exclusively for the box set...his versions of classic novelty songs ranging from the 1930s through the 1980s and he even did a cover of Toby Keith's song, "I Wanna Talk About Me". The only place to find it is on the 9-CD box set. Some of the other songs that Ray recorded include a couple of Roger Miller classics "Chug a Lug", "Kansas City Star", and "Dang Me" plus his renditions on Spike Jones classics...he does additional recordings of many of The Coasters songs, too, and even tackles the funky half-sung, half-spoken classics of Phil Harris ("The Preacher and the Bear", "That's What I Like about the South", and several more).

A lot of the novelty songs predate the mid '50s and a lot of the time 'novelty song' simply meant 'unusual' or 'offbeat' rather than exclusively 'humorous' or 'laugh out loud hysterical'. Over the course of the last 30+ years, 'novelty songs' have come to be synonymous with any recording meant to entice laughter and so the original concept of the 'novelty song' has become murky and muddled over time.

Here's a link to the 9-CD novelty song extravaganza once more...

Ray Stevens 9-CD box set Sale

Ray Stevens: Rayality TV webisode 2...

Here's the second installment of Ray's weekly sketch series. It hit You Tube around 1pm Eastern this afternoon but I was not at the computer at the time to post it when it became available...this particular webisode focuses exclusively on chickens. In the opening sketch you'll see Ray and the nurse (Sabrina Blanton) catch a resident at The Encore sitting with his back to the camera (the vocalization is provided by Ray, impersonating Wolfman Jack). The 'DJ' is pulling pranks on people...



If you didn't see episode 1, check my previous blog entry or visit Ray's You Tube channel.

There's hasn't been any news whatsoever about any upcoming CD releases. Around the latter half of 2013 there had been several announcements made about a couple of CD's being on the not too distant horizon for 2014 (he even appeared on several interview programs to spotlight an upcoming gospel project) but it's been almost 4 months into 2014 and there hasn't been any talk of any upcoming release dates...yet. Of course, once I learn of any information about a CD release I'll make a blog post about it.

I came across an internet site earlier this morning and there happened to be a small blurb that stated that Ray was going to take part in a television taping, as part of a religious program, in early April. There wasn't any information on when this as yet to be recorded footage would air on TV, though.

If this information is legitimate and nothing happens from now until then to cancel his involvement or postpone his involvement, I suspect that this future appearance may...may...indicate that the gospel CD he'd been talking about for a couple of years is at long last going to become available with a release date sooner rather than later...but that's just my theory. For those out of the loop, Ray is at some point going to issue a couple of diverse CD's. He spoke about them in the latter half of 2013. One is a gospel project called Onward Christian Soldiers. The second project is going to be titled Melancholy Fescue (a bluegrass oriented CD).

The Ray Stevens You Tube webisode...

Hello all...I just got back from Friday errands and found out that Ray Stevens uploaded the first webisode of his brand new You Tube series. The installments are apparently going to run a little more than 6 minutes each and a different installment will appear on his You Tube and Facebook pages each Friday.



The Judge is played by Louise Mandrell. The sheriff (Dudley Dorite a/k/a Bubba) is portrayed by Buddy Kalb...a long time friend of Ray's and since the early-to-mid '80s he's been a songwriter for Ray, too. Look for a cameo appearance by Darrell Waltrip.

I can't wait to see each webisode every Friday!!

Ray Stevens to Issue You Tube series...

Hello fans of Ray Stevens...if you've been visiting Ray's Facebook page then you'll already be aware that starting next Friday (March 21, 2014) Ray is to start issuing 'webisodes' of his television series from last season, Rayality TV. According to the promos, there are a couple on his Facebook page, each episode is to be uploaded onto his You Tube channel every Friday. This cable-TV series as put together throughout much of 2013 and it aired on the re-launched Nashville Network, which has since been re-titled Heartland TV. This digital sub-channel is still not available in many markets and for those, such as myself, that have been curious since day one about how the show come across and it's contents can now see for ourselves starting March 21st. There hasn't been any time given to each episode's release and so my guess is you should check his You Tube channel several times throughout each Friday to see if an upload has become available or you can visit his Facebook page and see if it's posted there, too. If more news breaks between now and then, of course, I'll comment about it on this blog. Ray's You Tube channel can be accessed HERE. Save his You Tube channel and his Facebook page in your Favorites folder, or simply bookmark them, if you hadn't done so already.

Ray Stevens 1970 Summer Program...

An early Monday morning...and a reminder that those that may want to purchase any Ray Stevens item and have it potentially arrive before Christmas, place your orders by December 18th...that's this coming Wednesday! Ideally, these orders are for credit/debit card holders. If you don't mind if something arrives after Christmas then simply send a money order or a check through the mail.

In all likelihood, though, if you plan on placing an order today, tomorrow, or Wednesday but mailing in the payment (check or money order) then that payment more than likely is going to arrive at Ray's office after the 18th of December cut off date (unless you live local). The reason for the December 18th cut off date is because that's the latest one can place an order and have it in transit ahead of Christmas.

Ray's web-store has their annual shipping disclaimer posted in red letters at the store's Main Page.

My CD suggestions for those last minute shoppers are: The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music; The Spirit of '76; We the People; both of the Christmas CD's; plus Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What??; New Orleans Moon; and Bozo's Back Again. There's a DVD section, too, that you should explore.

Several days ago I received in the mail my copy of a magazine titled Southwest Georgia Living. I purchased this magazine because Ray Stevens appears on the cover and the hype surrounded the accompanying article and obscure pictures. It's a delightful article/story, featuring several pictures of Ray that you can't find anyplace on the internet. The magazine's cover has Ray as Santa during a photo session for his 1997 Christmas CD. If you visit their Facebook page you'll see the magazine's cover. This is a time sensitive comment so if you come across this months from today chances are their Facebook page will be showcasing the current issue at that particular time but for now it's the Ray Stevens issue. Is this magazine for sale on-line? The answer is no! Is this magazine available at all book stores? The answer is no! How did I get a copy of it? The answer is simple: I took the initiative and e-mailed the magazine's office staff as soon as I found out that the magazine existed and asked how could I get a copy of this magazine considering that I don't live in Georgia. I received a reply that provided a mailing address and total cost and so being the obnoxious fan that I am, I didn't hesitate...and off I sent a check to the magazine. I would not be surprised, though, if the issue with Ray turns up on eBay at some point...magazine back issues often do.

Ray Stevens makes the cover of the Pasadena, California issue of TV Week, June 14, 1970. This is the first time I have seen this and as a result it's the first time it's been posted on this fan created blog. As soon as I seen this on-line I immediately saved the image thinking that it'll soon become unavailable and just as obscure in months, years to come just as it's been since 1970. Thankfully there are those such as myself and others that deliberately collect and save any image of Ray they come across because of just how obscure his vintage appearances truly are. Speaking of his 1970 summer program for Andy Williams...you can still take in all the fun and laughs on his You Tube channel. The clips from his summer program continue to be discovered daily but if you haven't seen these clips yet, go to You Tube or better yet click This Link and explore his videos. His most recent uploads are the first 2 and then the various clips from the 1970 summer program are listed. I posted most of the clips back in the late summer/early fall of this year but there had never been any sort of national publicity campaign from Ray about those clips being available for You Tube viewing and so for those most part the clips have garnered less than 2,000 views a piece. There are 3 uploads from the summer program that have gotten more than 2,000 and those are the performances of "Gitarzan" (4,684), "Ahab the Arab" (3,715), and "Everything Is Beautiful" (4,352). This, if anything, demonstrates perfectly the power of familiarity...those three songs are among his biggest recordings and so it's no surprise that the performances of those specific songs from his 1970 summer program would net the most viewers. Technically, "Ahab the Arab" is performed along side a cast performance of the Beatles "Let It Be" but it goes to show that out of all the clips posted from his summer program, the familiar song titles are the ones that captured the most action.

Ray Stevens 2007 CD...

Yesterday evening I checked my mail box and the item that I ordered from the Ray Stevens store had arrived. I had purchased 2007's New Orleans Moon and the first thing I noticed when I opened up the CD's case is that there is no picture of Ray. Obviously I knew that the image on the front of the CD shown the New Orleans night life but all this time I had thought Ray's picture perhaps appears on the back of the CD or at the very least inside the fold-out sleeve but, surprisingly, his face doesn't appear anywhere. I had the songs on my previous computer from the time I had bought the digital download but I never had a physical copy of the CD until now.

The Fall Clearance Sale at Ray's store is still going on. It lasts through September 30th and you can visit Ray's store by way of his official web-site or by clicking HERE to visit the store directly. There's a 'free gift' being sent with every order. I don't know if the gift is the same for each order or if every order receives a different free gift and so I'm hesitant to state what came along, for free, with my order just in case it isn't the same as someone else.

The unique views for the latest on-line music video from Ray Stevens, "Nashville", is a little more than 2,000 at 2,151 and climbing. The video is great but you all don't need to just take my word for it. I assume those that are reading this have either already seen the video by now or have heard of it but in case you hadn't seen it yet you can see it HERE.

Ray Stevens brings us The Dooright Family!!

I have one of the funniest Ray Stevens songs to spotlight in this particular entry. The hilarious story of "The Dooright Family" is a classic from the mid-point of Ray's lengthy music career. The song was never a gigantic radio hit or anything but shrewd placement of the song by numerous record labels, both domestically and internationally, on a wide variety of compilation releases has made the song familiar to many latter day fans of Ray Stevens who perhaps otherwise would never have known of it's existence. The album it debuted on in 1980 has long been out of print and hadn't seen the light of day on CD or Mp3.

I've complained numerous times about the lack of commercial availability of Ray's RCA years (1980-1982) on this blog and elsewhere but for now, and maybe forever, the RCA songs will never become available for a new audience to discover. The only chance to hear an abundance of the early '80s period in Ray's career is to track down the vinyl albums on eBay. He recorded three studio albums for the label between the years of 1980 and 1982. The label issued a Greatest Hits project on him in 1983. Two years later they issued an eight song compilation titled Collector's Series. Given that the 1985 release is RCA material exclusively I consider it to remain an absolutely vital project given how scarce his early '80s recordings happen to be.   

The debut album for RCA was titled Shriner's Convention. The title track reached the Top-10 on the Country Singles chart. The album itself reached the Country Album Top-10. The "Shriner's Convention", as well as "The Dooright Family", became music videos in 1995 when they were featured as part of Ray's direct-to-video movie, Get Serious!.

The music video of "Shriner's Convention" had been uploaded onto You Tube in 2009 and has gotten more than half a million unique views. Meanwhile, "The Dooright Family" had remained exclusive to the movie until a couple of days ago. "The Dooright Family" official music video be seen HERE. There are a few lyrical changes in the 1995 recording but the overall feeling of the song and it's storyline remain the same. The three studio albums that Ray recorded for RCA are: Shriner's Convention (1980), One More Last Chance (1981), and Don't Laugh Now (1982). It was during this RCA period that Ray became involved in the soundtrack of the Cannonball Run movie. He performed the movie's theme song, "Cannonball", as well as the love ballad, "Just For the Hell of It".  

While looking through the archive section of this blog I came across an entry that I wrote back on July 1, 2009. The entry had mostly to do with the 40th anniversary of Ray's 1969 recordings. I included a picture sleeve of the "Have a Little Talk With Myself" single and then I moved into discussion about 1970's "Everything Is Beautiful" but the actual title of that entry focused on a magazine titled Challenge and the CD he had out at the time, One For the Road. You can read that particular entry HERE.

Ray Stevens has a Guilt For Christmas...

Welcome to the month of May! I ended up taking a hiatus during the month of April from this particular blog because there wasn't much Ray Stevens news or activity to comment about. Ray emerged with a new music video yesterday titled "Guilt For Christmas". So far the video's gotten a little more than 400 views. The video is publicly listed. In late April, Ray uploaded the video for "The Pirate Song". The video's a classic but it hadn't been officially released to You Tube until April of this year. So far the video's gotten 2,614 views.



The music video that was uploaded in March, "Red Hot Chili Cook-Off", was originally an unlisted video on You Tube. It's publicly listed now and as of today it's gotten 23,477 views!

Obviously this isn't the holiday season but "Guilt For Christmas" speaks of a much larger topic than the actual holidays. It's nice to see a visual and an alternate vocalization not found on the audio recording. The song first shown up on his Christmas Through a Different Window release.

Ray Stevens 9-CD box set, Part 4...

YES!!! RELEASE DAY IS AT LONG LAST HERE!!!

Good Tuesday morning...it's a Super Ray Stevens Tuesday!! The day's finally here...the day that Ray Stevens releases his 9-CD box set titled The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. You can order your copy at Ray's web-store by clicking the following link. I put my order in about half an hour ago. There is another page at the web-site completely devoted to the Encyclopedia project that features audio samples and a video hosted by Ray showing rare footage of him in the recording studio. You can see this by clicking the following link and because it was uploaded onto You Tube you can watch the embed below. You can purchase the Encyclopedia at that link, too, by clicking the Buy Now button at the bottom of the page or the Buy Now link up on the illustrated book shelf.



Now, to get you more In The Mood for the Encyclopedia here's that video clip of Ray and Kix Brooks one more time:

Kix Brooks and Ray Stevens.

I can't wait for the collection to arrive in the mail!!

Here is the track-list for the Encyclopedia:

CD 1:
Abba Dabba Honeymoon
Ahab The Arab
Alley Oop
All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
Along Came Jones
A Boy Named Sue
The Ballad Of The Blue Cyclone Part 1
The Ballad Of The Blue Cyclone Part 2
The Bricklayer’s Song
Bridget The Midget
Chantilly Lace
Charlie Brown

CD 2:
Chug A Lug
Cigareets And Whuskey And Wild Wild Women
Cocktails For Two
Convoy
Dang Me
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor
The Dooright Family
The Downtown Poker Club
Drop Kick Me Jesus
Dry Bones
Freddie Feelgood
Get A Job

CD 3:
Gitarzan
I'm Kissin' You Goodbye
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer
Harry The Hairy Ape
Haunted House
The Haircut Song
Henry The Eighth
Hello Muddah Hello Fadduh
Huggin' And Chaulkin'
How Much Is That Hound Dog (Doggie) In The Winder (Window)
If 10% Is Good Enough For Jesus
I’m My Own Grandpa

CD 4:
In The Mood
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
I Still Write Your Name In The Snow
Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
It’s Me Again Margaret
I Wanna Talk About Me
I Went To Your Wedding
Jeremiah Peabody’s Green And Purple Pills
Kansas City Star
The King Is Gone And So Are You
King Tut
Little Brown Jug

CD 5:
Little Egypt
Love Potion #9
Mairzy Doats
Makin’ The Best Of A Bad Situation
Maybellene
May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose
Mississippi Squirrel Revival
Monster Mash
Moonlight Special
Mother-In-Law
Mr. Custer
My Old Flame

CD 6:
No Help Wanted
Ode to The Little Brown Shack Out Back
Open The Door Richard
Osama Yo Mama
The Pirate Song
Poison Ivy
The Preacher And The Bear
The Purple People Eater
Rub It In
Running Bear
Santa Claus Is Watching You
Searchin’

CD 7:
Short People
Shriner’s Convention
Sittin’ Up With The Dead
Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette
Spiders And Snakes
Splish Splash
The Streak
Temptation (Tim-Tay-Shun)
That’s What I Like About The South
There Is Something On Your Mind
The Thing
Three Legged Man

CD 8:
Three Little Fishes
They’re Coming To Take Me Away! Ha! Ha!
The Too Fat Polka
Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport
Too Old To Cut The Mustard
Transfusion
Western Movies
White Lightin'
William Tell Overture
The Witch Doctor
Would Jesus Wear A Rolex
Yakety-Yak

Bonus material/CD 9:
The Camping Trip
Come To The U.S.A.
Cooter Brown
The Cure
Furthermore
Happy Hour
The Higher Education Of Old Blue
Hugo The Human Cannonball
Hurricane
Obama Budget Plan
The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore
Sucking Sound

Ray Stevens: Internet Video Hits, Part 2...

Uploaded onto You Tube on March 11, 2010 "Caribou Barbie", a video salute to Sarah Palin, is nearing half a million on-line views. The current number of views is 469,247. If you click on the video stats it'll give a break down of several on-line sites that have embedded the video. More than 28,000 people watched the video at Ray's web-site. More than 44,000 people discovered the video from a referral. A referral, for those who don't know, are the small thumbnail images of music videos that pop up on the video screen whenever the music video you're watching comes to an end. At the conclusion of "Throw the Bums Out!" there are video referrals and according to the statistics more than 44,000 people clicked "Caribou Barbie" after watching "Throw the Bums Out!". However, the greatest referral video is "Come to the U.S.A.". Statistics show that more than 60,000 people clicked "Caribou Barbie" when they finished watching "Come to the U.S.A.". "Caribou Barbie" is 30,753 on-line views away from an exact 500,000. An actress/impersonator named Lori Stegner portrays Sarah Palin in the "Caribou Barbie" music video.



The music video is cute and filled with sight gags as you can tell. The video's release, on March 11th 2010, created a stir among those who viewed it on You Tube. 11 days later Ray uploaded another music video, "Throw the Bums Out!", on March 22. Since that particular video/song had a much more timely connection to the mid-term elections that year it overshadowed the "Caribou Barbie" video considerably. "Throw the Bums Out!" currently has 838,695 on-line views...compared to 469,247. I typically compare and contrast these two videos because of their release dates: March 11th and March 22nd 2010.

Those who want to watch 10 of Ray's political music videos on one DVD can purchase Internet Video Hits at his web-store. On the back of the DVD there are small thumbnail images taken from the various music videos. There is also a message from Ray commenting on the DVD's release and why he wanted to offer the music videos on DVD even though they're on You Tube, too.

Ray Stevens and Christmas Comedy...

Christmas Day is just 1 week away...and coincidentally I came across a particular comment today. The comment centered around "Santa Claus Is Watching You". The comment wasn't very flattering and we'll leave it at that. As usual I'm always baffled why some people get all worked up and annoyed over comedy songs...but that's a discussion for another day. Nevertheless Ray Stevens is primarily known for his comical recordings and anyone who doesn't "get" why Ray would do a Christmas CD of comedy songs just doesn't "get" Ray Stevens...period!

In his career he's recorded just two Christmas CD's and a couple of holiday themed single releases. A lot of fans probably don't know that Ray, in 1960, released an instrumental version of "White Christmas". It was backed with another instrumental called "Happy Blue Year". The single was released on the NRC label. Then, in 1962, Mercury released the original version of "Santa Claus Is Watching You" in which the lyrics were aimed at children. That version is whimsical and cute but as many fans know Ray re-wrote much of the song and re-released it in 1985 while with MCA...along with a music video (his first).

However, it wouldn't be until 1997 that Ray released an actual album of Christmas songs: Christmas Through a Different Window. It would be joined by a companion piece in 2009: Ray Stevens Christmas. The 2009 release features non-comical Christmas songs.

Meanwhile...

You Tube at a glance...

Mr. President - Mr. President:
12/16/11: 389,507
12/18/11: 394,781

Obama Budget Plan:
12/16/11: 966,505
12/18/11: 974,302

Nightmare Before Christmas:
12/16/11: 177,305
12/18/11: 180,214

Santa Claus Is Watching You:
12/16/11: 198,480
12/18/11: 203,343

On the horizon for Ray Stevens is the long-awaited Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. In an interview Ray gave several weeks ago he mentioned that the collection will be released at some point in January 2012.

In late February of 2012 Ray will be in Florida for four concerts.

February 21: Peabody Auditorium (Daytona Beach)

February 22: The Lakeland Center (Lakeland, Florida)**

February 23: The King Center (Melbourne, Florida)

Each venue has their own web-page and all the information can be found there. The Lakeland Center appearance will contain 2 separate concerts. Ray will appear first at 2:30pm and again at 7:30pm. You can visit this link to read about Ray's two concerts at the Lakeland Center.

For information about the King Center appearance visit this link. I'm sure those who are able to attend these concerts will truly enjoy them!

Ray Stevens and the Spirit of '76, Part 8...

After having been uploaded on Wednesday September 28th I'm excited to report that the latest on-line music video from Ray Stevens, "Mr. President - Mr. President", has obtained more than 70,000 views during the last 5 days. The exact numbers at the moment are 72,946. It'll need a little over 27,000 additional views to reach 100,000 and I feel it'll accomplish this within a matter of days. The song, as I mentioned in a previous blog entry, comes from his current CD titled Spirit of '76.

This CD already boasts several other songs that have become music video hits: "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", "Obama Budget Plan", and "God Save Arizona". It's anyone's guess if there will be more music videos to emerge from the collection but there's certainly several more that would make funny videos, though, but for now "Mr. President - Mr. President" is the big video at the moment.

Ray began his phenomenal on-line music video success in the late winter of 2009 when he issued a music video of "We The People" which called out Obama Care for what it is. Since the release of that music video in December 2009 Ray's been asked to appear at numerous political fund raisers and political gatherings generated largely by local and national Tea Party groups.

In addition to these appearances he's also been a frequent guest on several programs on the Fox News Channel and it's sister station, the Fox Business Network. Sometimes he'll give an interview but sometimes just a snippet of his latest video will be shown. Earlier in the year he made the rounds on a couple of Fox Business programs promoting the "Obama Budget Plan" video. That video's gotten close to 755,000 views since it's arrival back on April 25, 2011!

Ray Stevens and Comedy Music...

A few days ago a brief article on Ray Stevens appeared in a newspaper. The article gave some spotlight on the upcoming comedy song Encyclopedia that Ray's working on plus it mentioned the enormous success he's been having on You Tube with his political music videos. I wasn't going to spotlight it because it is a brief write-up but then I decided that since I want this blog to be rather thorough then I should include any write-up I come across, large or small, that's been written about Ray since late 2008.

Upon reading that article return here and click the following links to hear audio interviews from Ray.

The first interview is what I'm calling a contemporary classic that took place on WSM radio with Eddie Stubbs earlier this month. The Intimate Evenings series featured Ray as a special guest on August 1st and the audio archive is available below. The show ran 2 hours in real time, including commercial breaks. The archives don't include commercials but there are edits where commercials originally aired...

Ray Stevens: 8-1-11.

In a previous blog I mentioned a recent interview Ray gave...that recent interview took place on WLAC radio on Devon O'Day's program entitled Plain Jane Wisdom. The audio link is below...

Ray Stevens: 8-15-11.

Strangely enough Devon O'Day co-wrote one of Ray's songs but it wasn't brought up in the conversation. Devon co-wrote the love ballad "Meanwhile" with fellow DJ Gerry House and singer Billy Dean. The song can be found on Ray's 1993 CD, Classic Ray Stevens. It was during the WLAC interview that Ray named quite a few of the songs that'll be on the Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music.

Ray Stevens plays the Piano...

Hello Ray Stevens fans!! It's been awhile since I submitted a blog entry but it's not from having nothing to say...I'd been side-tracked by all the news surrounding Ray's latest happenings and the fact of myself being more active on Facebook than I usually am took me away from here for a few days. I came across this video upload several days ago on You Tube and now I'm embedding it here. It's a performance by an unlikely duo: Ray Stevens and Loretta Lynn...and the two of them are performing several Patsy Cline songs. Barbara Mandrell is seen at the start of the video making the introduction. The performance comes from 1983 during the Silver Anniversary of the CMA's 1958 founding.

The songs performed during the clip are "Faded Love", "I Fall To Pieces", and "Back In Baby's Arms". This clip marks a series of firsts for me: first of all it's the first clip I've seen of Ray Stevens performing on a CMA telecast; it's the first time I'd seen Ray and Loretta sing together (probably the only time!); and it's the first time I'd seen Ray perform songs made famous by Patsy Cline. Ray's appeared at the Hall of Fame museum and performed at the Hall of Fame's Ford theater rather recently...and we all know the CMA is associated with the Hall of Fame...but this is the first time I'd seen him perform on a CMA telecast.



For those who hadn't been keeping up to date with Ray's latest happenings the place to find out what's happening is right here at his own web-page. Within the last several days news has become available that Ray signed contracts with a couple of companies that'll certainly help 2011 become just as successful as 2010 was. It was announced on April 5th, as the article in the link goes into more detail about, that the Bobby Roberts Company has become Ray's representative for concerts/personal appearances and that a company called Absolute Publicity is now in charge of PR (public relations).

On April 7th the web-page added a story commemorating the collective 15,000,000+ unique views that all of his You Tube music videos have obtained over the last year and a half. The total number of combined views of his videos is now approaching 16,000,000. A quick look at his You Tube channel shows 15,998,966. Also, he has more than 11,000 subscribers to his channel.

The April 7th article also announces the upcoming May release of a brand new music video. This music video, in my opinion, more than likely will coincide with the physical CD release of The Spirit of '76. It isn't everyday we get advance warning (a full month ahead of time) of an upcoming music video...usually the video's are mentioned a few days prior to their You Tube release...but given that this upcoming video was mentioned weeks before it's arrival indicates, to me at least, that Ray and his people are planning a big opening week for the physical CD and they want a brand new music video to be hitting the internet at the same time. His current single, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore", is on The Spirit of '76 and technically that TSA song is his first release from the collection.

On May 7th Ray will appear on Huckabee's program on the Fox News Channel and on May 11th Ray will take part in a Conservative function titled Conservatives on the Move which will take place in Franklin, Tennessee. A write-up of Ray and how much the organization is looking forward to Ray's appearance can be found here at their web-site. I believe I posted a link to this in one of my March blogs due to the fact the article was written on March 16th but it never hurts to bring back articles and news reports in an effort to keep the news on the front burner.

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... "We the People" hits 4 million...

Congratulations! For the second time, Ray Stevens has enjoyed a You Tube music video surpassing the 4 million mark. "Come to the USA" pushed past 4 million hits several months ago and it's still going strong with 4.6 million hits to date. The latest video upload to surpass 4 million hits is "We The People", the video about Obamacare that started it all. The play count for the video is 4,002,094. A few days ago the video was sitting at 3,991,212 hits and now it's moved beyond the four million mark. "We The People" set in motion the You Tube era in Ray's career...prior to this music video Ray had uploaded a few music videos from his various home video/DVD collections onto You Tube. "We The People" marked the point in time where Ray began to release new music, in the form of on-line music videos, and reach hundreds of thousands of people in a rather short amount of time...often in a matter of hours...which is something radio airplay can also do but on a much more stricter scale.

The You Tube method of getting music exposed to the masses isn't anything new but it's especially useful to those artists who have a difficult time getting their products exposed to the masses in a more conventional way: radio airplay. As Ray remarked in recent interviews he feels that his politically themed music videos of late, which have gotten hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of You Tube hits, is a big reason why his recent concert appearances have attracted an even more diverse audience than usual. A typical Ray Stevens concert has an audience make-up of parents and their kids plus in some markets you'll find teenagers and younger adults as well as the older audience that probably have followed Ray's career for decades...an audience who vividly recalls 1970 and his summer TV show and the massive #1 success of "Everything Is Beautiful".

Those who want to join Ray's Facebook page need to look no further than this Facebook link. He's got over 7,000 followers so far.

The souvenir book I included in this blog entry is from 1970...it's a booklet filled with song lyrics in addition to the actual sheet music of those songs. There is also a mini-biography of sorts and quite a few pictures. I've scanned a lot of pictures from that booklet and they're on my computer. I haven't added too many of those picture scans to my blogs because I've always felt that the contents inside the booklet should remain exclusive to those who actually own a copy of the booklet. But...I also realize that it's a 40 year old publication and the chances of a modern-day consumer lucking out and getting a copy on eBay or any other on-line music shop is 1 in a billion. I happened to be one of those who did in fact luck out and I purchased my copy on-line several years ago.

The asking price for the booklet in 1970 was $2.50! If this booklet were released with 2010 prices the selling price would no doubt be close to $10.00 or more. I'm sure $2.50 was a hefty price in 1970...I think TV Guide was less than sixty cents in 1970? Of course, today, most people wouldn't complain at paying just $2.50 for a booklet of this size and depth.

Ray Stevens and ObamaCare...One Year Later...

It was around this time one year ago that Ray Stevens emerged with the ObamaCare song, "We The People". The news of the song was released in November of 2009 and this ultimately led to an Mp3 availability not long afterward. The breakthrough came in December when a music video was released on You Tube and then a CD single and Mp3 became available on Amazon and other on-line music stores. The music video quickly obtained over a million hits by the end of December and during the next two months of early 2010 the video steadily continued to climb. The sensation crossed over into the blogs and cable TV...appearances on a variety of radio and TV programs followed. Given that the song has a political overtone...speaking out against ObamaCare...it's to nobody's surprise that the radio and TV programs requesting Ray as a guest were by and large conservative programs. The lone exception was The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel which gives a forum to all opinions. Ray appeared on that particular program a second time, later in 2010, when "Come to the USA" hit.

The fact that Ray's song was embraced by various Tea Party groups and that it was publicized on various Fox News programs gave the political left-leaning blogs and pundits ammunition(?) to marginalize the music video's success and the song's message, too. Throughout the early half of 2010 the "We The People" music video, and Ray Stevens in particular, were vilified by the political left to such extremes that those who'd never even heard of Ray Stevens before were following the lead of various high-ranking liberal blog sites and taking pot-shots at him. The attacks and smear tactics were something new to this Ray Stevens fan. I had never experienced reading awful things being written about my favorite singer before.

I had always knew that not everyone's a fan of Ray but I hadn't really read anything too sinister from non-fans until I saw the comments on-line pertaining to "We The People". Prior to the release of this song the only times I had read anything borderline negative about Ray were by those hyper-sensitive political correct advocates...and given their position on life their criticisms weren't a surprise. But those criticisms pale in comparison to the vilification that came on the heels of "We The People"...and to a large extent that vilification from left-leaning bloggers continues.

Now, following the release of "We The People", Ray gave us a variety of songs aimed at specific aspects of the sociopolitical spectrum. "Caribou Barbie" is a Pro-Sarah Palin song which has fun with her public image; "Throw the Bums Out!" is a more pointed commentary on the heels of ObamaCare being signed into law; "Come to the USA" takes on illegal immigration; "The Global Warming Song" pokes fun at environmentalist extremists; and "God Save Arizona" takes on the Federal Government's stance on illegal immigration and it's lawsuit against the State of Arizona.

Following the November 2010 mid-term elections there was a seismic power shift in the House of Representatives and a modest power shift in the Senate. Republicans gained even more seats in the Senate while in the House they gained a large majority. I don't have the official numbers in front of me. The sentiments/views expressed in the series of topical Ray Stevens music videos proved to the naysayers that Ray really is speaking to the majority of the general public. We, the fans, never really needed any convincing, though...but it's wonderful to see a national midterm election turn out the way we all had hoped and anticipated.

The Ray Stevens Web-Site...have you visited it Yet??

At the start of this particular blog entry there's 90 minutes left until NFL football kicks off at 1pm Eastern time...watching football on Sunday is something I've did for years and something I'll always do each Sunday during the season. Something else that I've been active in for a number of years is the official message board at Ray's web-site. You can find the message board here at Ray's official web-site. The message board is titled "Web Board" up in the top right hand side of the page. The official title of the board is "The Piano Room". There's bound to be some topics that'll perk anyone's interest. As far as message boards go there's much more reading that goes on and once you visit the site you'll understand what I mean right away.

Even though there's a message board the majority of the traffic, I assume, visits the site to either shop at his web-site store or read the latest news headline(s) and they probably don't even think to visit the message board area. Those who do happen to visit the message board read the messages but seldom make comments. This is evidenced by the fact that a lot of topics have hundreds of hits but fall short of that total in actual replies.

His web-site is free to join by the way. The only things that cost money is the Ray Stevens Backstage feature and, of course, the items for sale at his web-site store. Aside from those two exceptions everything else about the site is free.

I often encourage people to visit Ray's web-site because it's one of the only places where you'll find all of the up to date information about Ray. Those who visited his web-site were aware of his Branson, Missouri concerts in advance. Those who visit his site are informed about the latest music releases and video releases. Those of you who are fans of his and haven't visited his site owe yourselves to check it out and check the message board, too.

Have any of you visited his web-site yet?? If not, what's the delay?? You can visit it here.

Ray Stevens at 1.5 million and Climbing

The success of the latest music video from Ray Stevens, "Come to the USA", continues to build as it shows 1.5 million hits on You Tube. It's no longer a distant possibility of the video topping 2 million hits in a month's time considering that the actual play count of 1,583,982 has been obtained in 2 weeks time...who's to say the music video won't obtain the 400,000+ hits in another 2 weeks time? If it does go beyond the 2 million mark in a month's time it will match "We The People". In a recent interview Ray remarked that a lot of people feel the latest music video, "Come to the USA", will actually top "We The People". Time will tell...that music video is currently resting at 3.1 million hits and practically every other day someone pops up on Twitter, for example, with a link to the music video and using language to suggest the person just came across the video on You Tube all these months later. The "We The People" video was uploaded on You Tube early in December 2009 but without fail someone discovers the video almost on a daily basis. This isn't a bad thing, either. I imagine a singer with music videos on You Tube doesn't mind which videos of theirs are being viewed...just as long as they're being viewed.

Ray's emphasis is primarily on the music videos that have become viral hits on You Tube...songs that are featured on his current album, We The People. Lost in the overwhelming success of the You Tube videos is the actual album itself. It's been a Top-10 Mp3 success on Amazon's web-site for a couple of weeks now but there's not really been any official sales numbers released and as of this writing it hasn't charted in Billboard. I have no idea if it's because the album is released on an Independent label or if it's because of policies at Billboard which prevent it from gaining exposure on their national music charts. I had these same scenarios playing around in my mind earlier this year when Ray issued the "We The People" single and how successful it was at the various on-line music stores, achieving Top-5 sales rankings for several weeks, but yet it never shown up on any digital single chart published in Billboard. Perhaps this album needs to be issued to retail stores at some point? I remember back when Ray was selling the home videos on television those projects never entered Billboard's video charts until they became available in retail stores nearly a year later. His 1992, 1993, and 1995 home video projects charted in 1993, 1994, and 1996. If there is a retail plan in the works I don't think Ray will wait until 2011 to re-release We The People, though. If I were in charge of product release I'd wait until August/September and then try and get the collection into retail stores...that way it would be in stores a couple of months before the mid-term elections. We'll wait and see what actually happens, though.