Ray Stevens’ remarkable winning “streak”

I got some nice responses to my recent column about a dearly departed friend, and our mutual love of Ray Stevens. I was heartened to learn that many of you share my opinion of this Country Music Hall of Famer.

So, I took a day drip to Nashville to visit the Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom, and talk to the man himself.

Ray is one of those guys who does so many things, people aren’t sure what adjective to use to describe him. Comedian? Singer? Musician?

He’s okay with that. He said, “Some people think I’m a comedian because I’ve put out some funny records. Other people think all I do is sing. Younger folks see me at the piano bar and figure that’s what I do. I’ve never really had a plan in my career, I do whatever feels good at the time. I just hope people think I’m a good entertainer.”

Here’s what I think. Ray Stevens deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Willie Nelson, Frankie Valli, Brian Wilson, Cher, and the surviving Beatles and Stones. When I told Ray that he, along with Willie and Frankie were among a select few who have been entertaining Americans during 8 different decades, even he was skeptical. He counted on his fingers, and realized the numbers don’t lie. He’s been making records since his teenage days in the 1950s, and he’s still recording today. His showroom is filled with giant photo murals depicting the friendships he has made over the years. Since moving from the Atlanta area to Nashville in 1962, he has crossed paths with practically everyone in the music business.

From the 1960s through the 1980s, radio listeners got a steady diet of Ray’s funny side. From “Gitarzan” to “The Shriner’s Convention” and “The Mississippi Squirrel Revival,” we never knew what was coming next. He didn’t either. His biggest selling record came together in 24 hours, with no planning or advance notice.

One day in 1974, Ray was reading Newsweek magazine on a flight from Los Angeles to Nashville. “Back then,” he said, “they would run these little blurbs in the back of the magazine, just odds and ends from across the nation. Some UCLA student was running around naked, and they called it streaking. I didn’t have anything else to do, so I started writing a song about it on a napkin. I hadn’t quite finished when the plane landed. But I thought I had something, so I booked a studio for the next day, and I was still writing it while we were recording it. It turned out okay.”

Just days later, the records were pressed and sent to radio stations, and “The Streak” debuted at number 84 on the Billboard charts in mid-April. A month later it was at number 1, and stayed there for three weeks until Paul McCartney (“Band on the Run”) unseated it. Record stores struggled to meet the demand, and almost fifty years later Ray can’t enter a room without someone saying, “Don’t look, Ethel!”

Ray also struck gold with his peace and love anthem “Everything is Beautiful,” and a country-flavored remake of the 1950s ballad “Misty,” (of which he says, “We were just playing around in the studio and in two takes, we somehow made a hit record.”)

And then there’s the one that got away. He said, “The great songwriters Hal David and Burt Bacharach asked me to record one of their songs for some cowboy movie (“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”) I said thanks but no thanks, because another great songwriter, Kris Kristofferson had given me a surefire hit called “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” So I went with Kris, and I think about twelve people bought it. Meanwhile B.J. Thomas sold a few million copies of that other song, which was “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.” I’d like to have that one back!”

The CabaRay complex also houses Ray’s recording studio and offices, which he relocated from Nashville’s Music Row in 2017. Ray’s longtime musical collaborator Buddy Kalb is just across the hall, always ready to “punch up” a song with an extra joke or two. That’s Buddy in the “Mississippi Squirrel Revival” video, playing Harve, the guy who has the squirrel run up his pants.

Ray spends his Saturday nights doing what he loves: performing a 90-minute, hit-filled concert with a full orchestra in his own 700-seat venue, ten minutes from his home.

After a two-year COVID hiatus, the crowds are back. “I’m thankful,” he says, “truly blessed.” Like all of us, Ray experiences pain from time to time: personal, professional, and physical. But when the curtain opens on Saturday nights at 7:30, his body clock turns back a few decades. “It’s the adrenaline rush,” he said. “Seeing those smiling faces in the audience is the best feeling in the world.”

The theater is beautiful, the food is great, and at Ray’s insistence, the parking is plentiful and free. “Have you been to downtown Nashville lately?” he asked. “Nobody should have to pay $35 parking to have dinner or see a show.” Just another reason to love Ray Stevens.