Zoneboy
06-30-2009, 02:48 AM
Link (http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090629/TUNEIN/906290303/1005/ENTERTAINMENT/Ray+Stevens+keeps++The+Streak++alive)
Ray Stevens recently turned 70. It's an age when many people start slowing down, thinking about retirement. But, apparently, nobody told Stevens.
This year marks the musical comedian's 52nd year in the business. But with a new album, One for the Road, already available in Pilot gas stations, a sitcom in the works, national TV appearances booked and a backlog of recording ideas that could keep him busy for the next 50 years, Stevens has no plans of slowing down any time soon.
"I'm just having fun doing everything," says Stevens, who has sold 25 million records and 4 million videos over the past five decades. "I've never prioritized things much. My first love is making records. I get a kick out of doing that."
Stevens' new collection is a theme album aimed at truckers. The 15 tracks are a mix of classic trucker songs such as "Convoy" and new songs including "Hang Up and Drive," as well as some of the singer's biggest comedic hits — "Mississippi Squirrel Revival," "It's Me Again, Margaret" and "The Streak."
"It's tailored for the truckers, but it's really an album anyone can relate to," Stevens says. "I've been working on any concept that entered my mind for an album in the last few years. I made a list and have been working on recordings to fill these albums."
When Stevens isn't in his Music Row music studio, he says he can be found right up the street at his production studio filming We Ain't Dead Yet, his sitcom, which also features his buddies Darrell Waltrip, George Lindsey, Louise Mandrell and Phil Everly in some episodes. The show is set in a retirement home for entertainers. Stevens describes it as "Hee Haw with a plot."
Not all fun and games
To hear Stevens tell the story, the acclaim associated with his comedic career is really just a big fluke. After all, his two Grammys were for recordings that weren't funny, and he attributes the media's focus on the hysterical aspect of his talent for its popularity.
"I'm still trying to realize I'm funny," he says. "I always wanted to be a musician. My mother made me take piano at 6. At that age, I didn't want to do it. I wanted to go out and play baseball with the rest of the guys. As it turns out, I think I would be a lousy baseball player and I'm an OK piano player, so it worked out."
In 1960, Stevens got his first inkling that funny might sell. He wrote a single called "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon," based on a radio character, but since he didn't get permission to use the name, he had to remove the song from the market just as it was gaining attention to avoid a lawsuit.
"It was a funny song," Stevens says. "Then I knew what to do."
In 1961, the singer wrote "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills." A year later he had "Ahab the Arab," which was his first big hit.
But "The Streak" — a comedy song about running around naked that landed at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 Country Songs of All-Time — is his most successful country cut. He got the idea from a magazine article about a college kid who took off his clothes and ran through a crowd. Stevens wrote a few lines of the song, took it home and forgot about it. Then he saw something on the news about streaking.
"I got out my notes, finished the song, and went into the studio and cut it real quick," he says. "A lot of people think my song kind of brought about the phenomenon of streaking. Of course, a lot of people know better, too. People came up to me and said, 'You really started a great funny fad,' and I said, 'I didn't start it. I just played on it.' "
Today, the 11-time Grammy nominee is thankful for all of his success, whether it came thanks to a comedy song or not. He says he just hopes to spend more time in the music business recording topical, relevant songs that make people think, or at least laugh.
"Everyone has their own body clock and brain clock and their own frame of reference with time," he says. "I'm 70 — let's face it. Our physical bodies are going to wear out one day, but I feel fine. I don't feel 70. I feel like I did at any age."
Ray Stevens recently turned 70. It's an age when many people start slowing down, thinking about retirement. But, apparently, nobody told Stevens.
This year marks the musical comedian's 52nd year in the business. But with a new album, One for the Road, already available in Pilot gas stations, a sitcom in the works, national TV appearances booked and a backlog of recording ideas that could keep him busy for the next 50 years, Stevens has no plans of slowing down any time soon.
"I'm just having fun doing everything," says Stevens, who has sold 25 million records and 4 million videos over the past five decades. "I've never prioritized things much. My first love is making records. I get a kick out of doing that."
Stevens' new collection is a theme album aimed at truckers. The 15 tracks are a mix of classic trucker songs such as "Convoy" and new songs including "Hang Up and Drive," as well as some of the singer's biggest comedic hits — "Mississippi Squirrel Revival," "It's Me Again, Margaret" and "The Streak."
"It's tailored for the truckers, but it's really an album anyone can relate to," Stevens says. "I've been working on any concept that entered my mind for an album in the last few years. I made a list and have been working on recordings to fill these albums."
When Stevens isn't in his Music Row music studio, he says he can be found right up the street at his production studio filming We Ain't Dead Yet, his sitcom, which also features his buddies Darrell Waltrip, George Lindsey, Louise Mandrell and Phil Everly in some episodes. The show is set in a retirement home for entertainers. Stevens describes it as "Hee Haw with a plot."
Not all fun and games
To hear Stevens tell the story, the acclaim associated with his comedic career is really just a big fluke. After all, his two Grammys were for recordings that weren't funny, and he attributes the media's focus on the hysterical aspect of his talent for its popularity.
"I'm still trying to realize I'm funny," he says. "I always wanted to be a musician. My mother made me take piano at 6. At that age, I didn't want to do it. I wanted to go out and play baseball with the rest of the guys. As it turns out, I think I would be a lousy baseball player and I'm an OK piano player, so it worked out."
In 1960, Stevens got his first inkling that funny might sell. He wrote a single called "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon," based on a radio character, but since he didn't get permission to use the name, he had to remove the song from the market just as it was gaining attention to avoid a lawsuit.
"It was a funny song," Stevens says. "Then I knew what to do."
In 1961, the singer wrote "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills." A year later he had "Ahab the Arab," which was his first big hit.
But "The Streak" — a comedy song about running around naked that landed at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 Country Songs of All-Time — is his most successful country cut. He got the idea from a magazine article about a college kid who took off his clothes and ran through a crowd. Stevens wrote a few lines of the song, took it home and forgot about it. Then he saw something on the news about streaking.
"I got out my notes, finished the song, and went into the studio and cut it real quick," he says. "A lot of people think my song kind of brought about the phenomenon of streaking. Of course, a lot of people know better, too. People came up to me and said, 'You really started a great funny fad,' and I said, 'I didn't start it. I just played on it.' "
Today, the 11-time Grammy nominee is thankful for all of his success, whether it came thanks to a comedy song or not. He says he just hopes to spend more time in the music business recording topical, relevant songs that make people think, or at least laugh.
"Everyone has their own body clock and brain clock and their own frame of reference with time," he says. "I'm 70 — let's face it. Our physical bodies are going to wear out one day, but I feel fine. I don't feel 70. I feel like I did at any age."