Ray Stevens' Nashville
By: Ray Stevens
Contributors: Kalb, C.W., contributor; Cusic, Don editor
Publisher: Father & Son Pub
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Tallahassee, Fl
Language: eng
Number of pages: 253
ISBN-13: 9781935802228
Subjects: Country musicians; Biography; Composers; Comedians
Description: Ray Stevens' Nashville is a Nashville you will love, too. Ray takes you behind the scenes into the recording sessions and into the dressing rooms and shares his Nashville with us in a very entertaining way. It's fun, informative and funny. If you are a fan of Ray Stevens, country or pop music, or the city of Nashville, you will love Ray Stevens' Nashville. Ray Stevens was recently described in the Nashville Tennessean newspaper as the most talented man on Music Row. Not bad for a guy who moved to town in 1962 with all of his worldly possessions in the smallest U-Haul trailer available at the time, and as he will tell you, it wasn't full. A Hall of Fame songwriter, Grammy award winning vocalist and arranger with numerous Gold and Platinum Records, and nine consecutive Comedian of the Year statuettes, Ray says he is a piano man in a guitar town, which makes the career of this imaginative and prolific musician even more notable. Many Nashville recording artists have a couple of country hits, buy a few new flashy cars and a hillbilly bus and go off performing around the country to make room for, you know, the new kid in town, the next big thing. But Ray Stevens didn't have a couple of hits, he had a string of them and he didn't buy a bus and leave town, he rented a plane so he could fly home and sleep in his own bed every night. He didn't view his success as a fast burn, but simply the natural result of doing his job well, and he never got tired of that job. His is an American dream story of humble beginnings, talent, and hard work. He has always gotten up every day and gone to work, just like his folks taught him to do, and the way his mill employee father modeled for him. Part of the answer of his long success is that he has never been comfortable with being a Star. In fact, he is a very reluctant celebrity, always shunning limos, presidential suites, and the star treatment in general. When told a production company would send a limo for him he replied, Just tell me the address, I have a car and I've been driving since I was 16. He loves Nashville, it's his adopted hometown. He likes breakfast with old friends every Saturday morning at a small neighborhood restaurant, and being able to be at work after just a 15 minute drive. He loves the architecture, the people, the business, and being surrounded by the best musicians in the world that he can call on at a moment s notice to come to one of his state of the art recording studios and help him create that most elusive of all things-- a Hit Record.
Notes: On cover: with C.W. "Buddy" Kalb.

Contains index.
Table of contents: title: Clarkdale; title: Albany; title: Atlanta : the new kid in town; title: Learning the music business; title: In-laws and lawyers; title: Good-bye Atlanta, hello Nashville; title: Country humor; title: Rock 'n' roll record promotion; title: Studio work; title: Hello, it's Hollywood; title: Fun backstage; title: Andy Williams and Barnaby Records; title: Music publishing and real estate; title: The Nashville sound; title: Comedian of the year?; title: Warner Brothers-R.C.A Victor-MCA; title: Dog jokes; title: Branson calling; title: A comedy video classic; title: Branson performers; title: Branson encores; title: Pigeon Forge; title: I'm not dead yet; title: An encyclopedia of recorded comedy music; title: A piano man in a guitar town; title: Name dropping; title: The Nashville breakfast club.