Several times throughout the latter half of 2017 and into this year local PBS stations aired an hour long documentary on Ray Stevens with narration provided by Bill Cody. The special, part of PBS pledge break programming, aired twice on the local PBS affiliate that carries Ray's television show and as a result of their airing his TV series I decided to make a one time donation with my thank you gift from them being a DVD copy of the pledge break documentary. You can tell from the photo on the left that I've since received the DVD in the mail but I hadn't watched it yet. I plan on watching it later today. The special, as mentioned, runs one hour but there's additional footage (nearly half an hour's worth) that wasn't aired during the pledge break special. This is where it may get confusing but read carefully and you'll be able to follow along. In the original presentation aired on PBS stations, as a pledge break special, Ray is seated next to a host and in between the broadcast of the documentary he answers a lot of questions about his career and the CabaRay. Those segments aren't part of the actual documentary since they were exclusive to the pledge break itself where Ray, the segment host, as well as long time collaborator, Buddy Kalb, and harmony singer, Sabrina, ask for donations to support PBS and speak about the numerous Ray Stevens thank you gifts offered...one being a DVD of the documentary. Those pledge break segments featuring Ray; the host; Buddy; and Sabrina aren't part of the actual documentary.
If you're familiar with the television series then you'll know that Bill Cody introduces Ray and provides the voice over during the opening and closing credits. Bill, rather fittingly, narrates the documentary. A brief overview: Bill's been heard on radio in Nashville ever since the mid 1990s (April 1995) as the morning host on 650 WSM but that was following a lengthy career on radio stations from neighboring state, Kentucky, and on radio stations as far west as Texas. His radio career dates back to the mid 1970s but his 23 years (and counting) at WSM is more than likely where he'll eventually retire from broadcasting.
In the photo, even though it doesn't show up clearly, there's an As Seen on Public Television publicity stamp on the lower right hand side of the DVD case. The documentary features performances taken from episodes of the television series...including the one of a kind performance of "Mr. Businessman" featuring Ray on piano and B.J. Thomas singing lead. Ray sings one of the verses but B.J. performs the majority of the song. It's from Season Three. The performance of "Georgia on My Mind" by Ray and Con Hunley (from Season Two) is also highlighted in the documentary as are other performances and some music videos of "Santa Claus is Watching You", "Shriner's Convention", and "Mississippi Squirrel Revival".
This is a collage I created this morning centering around all things CabaRay. In the first panel there's an early photo I took spotlighting the CabaRay Nashville Special but some some of the lights in the room got into the scene and the glare streaked right across the photo of Ray in the process. I took a second photo...the one I led off this blog entry with. Now, in panel two, it's a photo I'd posted before. It's a coffee cup promoting Ray's television series. I purchased this at the Ray Stevens gift shop at the CabaRay. I remember it like it was yesterday but the actual concert I attended at the CabaRay was more than a month ago on March 1st! In panel five it's an official CabaRay Showroom brochure. On the back of the brochure there are photo's of the interior of the CabaRay in addition to the street address, ticket information, phone number, and internet address. When you open up the brochure you'll see a photo of the CabaRay and a time table listing the hours of operation of the Piano Bar and when the Dinner seating begins and the concert gets underway. Event times may change in the future but at the time of my concert attendance the Piano Bar opened up at 5pm while the Dinner seating began at 6pm. Balcony seats are for those that didn't purchase a dinner and just wanted to attend the concert. The concert itself began at 7:30pm. After the concert the Piano Bar re-opened for the rest of the evening. If you search the internet you'll see photo's of Ray and the fans inside the piano bar. Throughout my evening at the CabaRay we (my brother and I) were often told that Ray likes to make appearances after the concert inside the Piano Bar for interaction/photo's with the fans and sometimes brief performances at the piano. If we weren't on such a tight schedule with that next day being a Friday we would've stayed longer but instead we took one last look around the place and then got in the car and headed for home...but back to the collage...
In panels three and four are the Season One and Season Two DVD releases of his television series based upon their chronological air dates on public television. As many of you know the first 26 episodes of Ray's television program aired on RFD and they were reran on PBS beginning in January 2017 with some episodes airing in different order from when they aired on RFD. The title of the show had also changed, slightly. During it's RFD airing it ran as Ray Stevens' Nashville. Once it moved to PBS, coupled with the planning and ultimate construction of the future CabaRay venue, the title of the show was changed to Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville.
The taping of the television show at the future showroom was probably already under consideration by Ray and so why not promote the upcoming showroom within the title of the television series? The showroom opened in January of this year and taping of television episodes began the following month. A marathon taping session for sure considering material for 13 episodes were recorded throughout the month...sandwiched between regularly scheduled concert performances at the showroom.
Let's also not forget that last month Larry Black began taping his television series at Ray's showroom. His long running series, airing on RFD, is titled Larry's Country Diner. The diner set was re-constructed on the stage and so, on camera, it'll still appear as if it's at a diner even though the tables will be floor level while Larry and the guests will be stage level. The show has long had a reputation for airing practically anything captured on camera...whether it be flubbed lines, dropped dishes by waitresses, Larry or one of the guests losing track of time, etc...and this kind of loose atmosphere led to the show's motto of "where the camera keeps rolling and we don't care".
First-run episodes of the television series began airing on PBS in June 2017 with the first 13 episodes promoted as Season Three. Halloween and Christmas themed episodes that had originally aired on RFD were placed among the Season Four episodes airing on PBS in the latter half of 2017. Season Five got underway the first week of January this year and it's nearing the end of the current season...and if you've been following along you all know what Season Six means!! Season Six is scheduled to begin airing the weekend of April 21st. Yes...you read that correctly...the next season is to begin airing in local PBS syndication later this month and this season's episodes were taped at the CabaRay earlier this year. Ray, on social media sites, announced that Season Six taping sessions were underway back on February 5th and the resulting 13 episodes are to begin airing on local PBS stations later this month. There hasn't been an episode list of the upcoming season but based on social media posts from Ray's staff I know that Linda Davis, Lee Roy Parnell, Ronnie McDowell, and Mickey Dolenz are some of the guest stars for the upcoming season. By the way...art work by Ronnie as well as Bobby Goldsboro are on display at the CabaRay.
In a previous blog entry I made mention of a certain funky instrument being played by a member of Ray's band on a recent episode of the television show. Ray was performing "Your Bozo's Back Again" and I noticed the instrument due to it being prominently featured throughout the performance. It's from Episode 12 which was Part Two of John Rich's appearance. I made mention in that blog entry that once I found the name of that instrument I'd share it with all of you; although I'm sure a lot of you already knew the name of that instrument long before I did.
Well, I found out that the instrument is called a melodica and you can also find it listed as a pianica. Do an on-line image search and you'll see various versions of the instrument. It's a piano/harmonica hybrid kind of instrument. My assumption as to why an actual harmonica wasn't used in the performance is because there isn't a harmonica player in Ray's house band but given the melodica can be played like a saxophone it made more sense to just have the saxophonist play the melodica since the distinct sound of a harmonica was the lead instrument in the original recording.
Make plans to attend a concert at the CabaRay...here's all the information...
Hello all once again...I just finished watching the latest episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville. This time around the special guest happened to be Tony Orlando. The episode originally aired for the first time in local PBS syndication last weekend (March 31st).
Ray opens the show performing "I Remember You". He walked out on stage and spoke about the song having been a hit in 1962 by Frank Ifield (I had to look up his name for proper spelling). I had heard the song, in bits and pieces, for years but never knew who sang it. Once I heard Slim Whitman for the first time I mistakenly thought he must have been the singer of that song. The song is from the pen of Johnny Mercer and perhaps it'll be on this Great American Songbook CD that Ray made mention of several months ago in an interview.
Tony is brought out and he speaks about a tour he happened to be on in 1961 which featured Ray and several others. Tony recalls a comical situation in which Ray was getting tired of sleeping on a chair inside the tour bus and, according to Tony, decided to sleep up on the luggage rack. Apparently after several hours of sound sleep the bus had to make a quick stop and Ray slid off the luggage rack to a rather rude awakening. The conversation shifts to current day and Tony credits Ray with all the success he enjoyed in Branson, Missouri. Tony opened his theater, called The Yellow Ribbon Theater, in 1993 and performed there for the rest of the decade. The first song that Tony performed on the show happened to be "Knock Three Times". He made mention that he couldn't call Ray's backup singers The Raelettes or Dawn so maybe he'll refer to this impromptu group as Tony Orlando and Dust. He asks if any of the harmony singers were born when the song was a hit.
A thoroughly engaging performance ensues as Tony has the audience in his hands...giving instructions as to what lyrics come next during the sing-a-long portion.
After the performance of "Knock Three Times" he is asked by Ray to perform his first hit, "Candida". Tony asks if the audience remembers it.
A lot of people forget that Tony had a massively popular recording career throughout the bulk of the '70s. A lot of this is due to the internationally recognizable imagery of his act at that time and a couple of songs which tend to overshadow everything else he did that decade...including a variety show that ran three years (1974-1977).
The enormously successful "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" is performed next. Tony delivers a brief history of the song and it's impact on his career...stating that he's performed it all over the world at various USO events as well as political events over the decades. This is the song that came to identify the act for decades to come. It hit the top of the charts in eight countries and sold millions upon millions of copies. Of all of the picture sleeves and music books advertising the single I chose the picture sleeve from it's release in Australia to spotlight in this blog entry. I happen to like this one the best out of all the others I'd seen. For this performance Tony engages the audience and harmony singers as he did with "Knock Three Times" earlier. Near the end of the song he pulls Ray into the spotlight to help him finish the song. Ray and Tony take turns trading lyrics with Ray adding sing-a-long harmony vocals with repeats of "tie a yellow ribbon, tie a yellow ribbon". Tony ad-libs a brief portion of the song to acknowledge his appearance on CabaRay Nashville and asks if he can appear at the actual CabaRay showroom when it opens. Ray thanks Tony for appearing and as Tony makes his exit Ray humorously calls him Mr. Shyness.
Ray closes the show with a performance of "In the Still of the Night"...but during this episode Tony Orlando is brought back to finish the song with Ray. The two of them share the spotlight as they trade scat singing phrases such as shoo-wop and shooby-doo. Having made mention of this I should also mention that the song they perform is the pop standard from the '30s and not the pop hit from the late '50s...even though the arrangement of the song by Ray recalls the late '50s pop hit by the time the performance ends. Ray opened and closed the show with his versions of pop standards...so maybe these songs are kind of like sneak previews of this pop standards project that Ray's cryptically referred to, albeit briefly, over the last couple years.
Up next in the series is the episode guest starring Jamie O'Neal. Earlier in the year they had this episode airing the weekend of April 14th but it's actually airing this weekend on local PBS stations. So, if you're keeping track, her appearance is Episode 14 of Season Five. If no PBS stations carry his television series in your area you can subscribe to his video site and watch the episodes on-line. You can visit his video site by clicking HERE. You can either subscribe for half a year or a full year. I subscribed for a full year back in November 2017. If you're a dedicated/serious fan of Ray Stevens you should think about becoming a subscriber.
Hello once more!! I just finished watching Part Two of Episode 11 of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville guest starring John Rich. The episode's dialogue didn't make any reference to it being a 'part two'...in fact it played like a typical episode. Ray opened the episode singing "Game Show Love". Now, for those not aware, this happens to be one of my favorite songs of his. I had never, ever seen him perform the song and so you could guess my excitement at seeing him on camera and singing the clever break up song using game show catchphrases and titles in the lyrics. The song itself goes back to his 1983 album, Me, but he re-recorded it fairly recently for a CD titled Bozo's Back Again.
Ray re-introduces John Rich. The first thing Ray asks about is John's work as a record producer. John tells of how he's produced some of Kenny Rogers' later recordings as well as those from John Anderson. John Rich describes John Anderson was "the George Jones of my generation...nobody can sing like John Anderson and you immediately know it's him when you hear his voice". John tells of how great it is to make music in America because you're free to do whatever you want. He speaks of visiting a local bar in Nashville and frequently encountering a bartender there trying to get into the music business. He told her to make a demo, etc. etc. and the next thing he knew his discovery became a big hit...that discovery being Gretchen Wilson. Ray demonstrates visible enthusiasm over John's house containing a showroom complete with a bar.
John also speaks of discovering an act going by the name of Cowboy Troy, a rapping country entertainer. Ray then asks how John and Big Kenny met and formed their duo, Big and Rich. John remarks that his first impression was one of concern because here he was dressed a bit more conservative by comparison to Kenny's wild hair and rock 'n' roll attire. John tells of seeing Kenny tossing small, wrapped pieces of bubble gum into the audience...and one happened to land in the middle of John's forehead. He speaks of their success as a duo before speaking about his grandfather and World War Two. He mentions that his grandfather received 6 Purple Hearts during his military service and this sets up the performance of "The Good Lord and the Man".
After this performance John starts to talk about the 2009 market crash and the bailouts of the banks. John commented that the news angered him so much that he literally threw one of his boots at the television. This inspired him to come up with "Shuttin' Detroit Down", a collaboration with one of his music idols, John Anderson. John Rich performs the market crash/bailout song to wild applause.
Ray then closes the show singing "Your Bozo's Back Again", arranged in the manner that you hear on the Bozo's Back Again CD from 2011 instead of it's original arrangement on 1989's Beside Myself. I should point out the difference in arrangement is very subtle but if you're as familiar with 1989's recording as I am then you'll notice the subtle differences in the 2011 re-recording. Unlike "Game Show Love", "Your Bozo's Back Again" happened to be a song that I've seen him perform on television before...but only once. One of the band members was playing an instrument that I have to admit I'd never seen before. It was a handheld instrument that had the appearance of a piano but it was being blown into as if it were a member of the horn family of instruments. If I come across the name of that instrument I'll make note of it in my next blog entry. Speaking of which...my next blog entry should be this coming weekend sometime...it'll be a re-cap of episode 12 guest starring Tony Orlando! I can't wait to hear the things the two of them discuss!!
