page_title: Eddy Raven
section_title: 1994-present: Independent
hierarchical_section_title: Eddy Raven / Musical career / 1994-present: Independent
caption_attribution_description: English: Jo-El Sonnier at the Liberty Theater in Eunice, LA, in 2006 Français&#160;: Jo-El Sonnier au Liberty Theater à Eunice, Louisiane, en 2006
context_page_description: Edward Garvin Futch, known professionally as Eddy Raven, is an American country music singer and songwriter. Active since 1962, Raven has recorded for several record labels, including ABC, Dimension, Elektra, RCA, Universal, and Capitol Records. After multiple albums which yielded few hit songs, his greatest commercial success came between 1984 and 1990, during which time Raven achieved six number-one singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. These were "I Got Mexico", "Shine, Shine, Shine", "I'm Gonna Get You", "Joe Knows How to Live", "In a Letter to You", and "Bayou Boys". Raven has a total of eighteen top-ten hits on that chart. Although his chart success diminished in the 1990s, Raven continued to record throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century. In addition to his own work, he has written singles for Don Gibson, Randy Cornor, Jeannie C. Riley, and The Oak Ridge Boys among others. Raven's music is defined by mainstream country, country pop, Cajun music, and reggae, and he wrote a large number of his singles by himself or with Frank J. Myers.
context_section_description: His next album, Wild Eyed and Crazy, was released on Intersound Records in 1994. The album included five new tracks, plus re-recordings of eight of his previous singles. The book MusicHound Country described this album as "an album of reworked hits that sound pretty much like they did originally, supplemented by new, decidedly lackluster material." This was followed by Cookin' Cajun, a collaboration with fellow Cajun country musician Jo-El Sonnier which was issued in 1996. The album included renditions of Raven's "I'm Gonna Get You" and "Colinda", along with Sonnier's "Tear Stained Letter" and "No More One More Time". Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it "a good-natured record that is a lot of fun while it's playing".
  While he continued to record independently, Capitol Records retained the rights to works he had recorded under their tenure. This culminated in the 1997 compilation 20 Favorites, consisting of singles, album cuts, and previously-unreleased content. The compilation included two singles: "Johnny's Got a Gun" and "Somebody's Tearin' the Flag", the latter of which was previously found on Right for the Flight. Both of these songs drew minor media attention to Raven, as many radio stations took "Johnny's Got a Gun" out of rotation in the wake of various school shootings, while the television network CMT refused to air the video for "Somebody's Tearin' the Flag" due to concerns that the song did not fit the network's intended programming demographics. At the time, Raven felt that the songs' failures were due to a preconception that artists of his age were not seen as suitable for mainstream country radio, combined with concerns over political correctness. Despite the lack of radio and television success from the singles, Raven promoted them through performances at an American Legion convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Flag Day (June 14), and as part of Nashville's Independence Day (July 4) festivities. Also in 1997, The Bellamy Brothers featured both Raven and Sonnier on their single "Catahoula".
  In 2001, Raven released Living in Black & White on the independent RMG Records. The album was produced by Ron Chancey, and contributing writers included Frank J, Myers, Earl Thomas Conley, and Lonestar lead vocalist Richie McDonald. One of the songs on the album, "Coldest Fire", was a song that Raven had begun writing in 1987 at the encouragement of Gant, but found himself unable to finish for a long period following Gant's death that same year. One single from the album, "Cowboys Don't Cry", charted at number 60 on Hot Country Songs. Raven has continued to perform throughout the 21st century, including an appearance on the Grand Ole Opry in 2007. Raven also co-wrote two songs on Toby Keith's 2011 album Clancy's Tavern, and made a cameo appearance at one of Keith's concerts in July 2017. In 2018, Raven released a bluegrass album called All Grassed Up, which features a mix of new songs and re-recordings of existing material, with accompaniment from the bluegrass band Carolina Road.
caption: Raven collaborated with Jo-El Sonnier on the 1996 album Cookin' Cajun.
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