Ray Charles with Kenny Rogers,
Dottie West and The Oak Ridge Boys.
In early 1979 Kenny Rogers toured in the U.S. One of the tunes on his setlist was Oh Lady Luck. This set was one of the elements in a variety TV show titled A Special Kenny Rogers, where Kenny "returned to his home town of Crockett (TX)", directed by Rocco Urbisci or Stan Harros, and aired on April 12, 1979 by CBS. The show, directed by Stan Harris, had been taped in February. Ray's segments were recorded on stage at the Opryland Auditorium in Nashville (see comment to this article); other parts were produced at the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show (source here).
The guest stars - Ray, Lightnin' Hopkins (with an impromptu appearance), Dottie West and the Oakridge Boys - helped Kenny to "display the sights and sounds of East Texas which left their imprint on young Rogers".
Their duet on Oh Lady Luck wasn't great, but it certainly looked and sounded spontaneous. The song was written by Kenny Rogers and one of his band members, Steve Glassmeyer (cf. comments).
After this, Ray solo'ed with a great version of It Ain't Easy Being Green (using an orchestra tape).
"If it's really something good that was not on the record, that's okay, because when I perform I can make the performance of the song better than the record was."
The Genie
Ray Charles at the Apollo (Apr. or maybe Oct. 1959), working on his Wurlitzer. Photo by Alex Harsley.
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About
The Ray Charles Video Museum is a research project, documenting live performances by The Genius.
This blog is above all aMediagraphy. It's also a discography (or, more correctly, a trackography), aggregating all tunes that Ray sang and/or played - including the "canon" of 700 tracks listed on the official Ray Charles website, but also identifying the songs that have never been officially released, and e.g. the recordings of other artists, where Ray backed them on piano. Thirdly, this blog has evolved into a multimedia Chronology (click the years in the panel al the top of this page) of Ray's productive live.
I also try to do some justice to the more than 1,000 great musicians and singers who contributed to Ray's career (1, 2).
The Quotes page lists the wisest, craziest and funniest things that the Genius ever said. If you want to read more about Brother Ray, go here.
The availability of the streaming video and audio content on this blog is constantly under pressure. Some rights owners still think that sharing these videos damages their sales. I'm keeping disfunctional clips as placeholders - to show that the footage exists, and to replace them when new uploads appear on the Web.
The articles in this blog are continuously updated and improved. Your help is more than welcome.
The Bishop seduces the world with his voice
Sweat strangles mute eyes
As insinuations gush out through a hydrant of sorrow
Dreams, a world never seen
Mounded on Africa's anvil, tempered down home
Documented in cries and wails
Screaming to be ignored, crooning to be heard
Throbbing from the gutter
On Saturday night
Silver offering only,
The Right Reverend's Back in Town
Don't it make you feel all right?
Ray Charles performed on "A Special Kenny Rogers" on stage at the Opryland auditorium in Nashville with Dottie West, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Kenny.
ReplyDeleteIt was written by Kenny Rogers and one of his band members, Steve Glassmeyer.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Was it ever released by KG?
Delete