From: Colin Kilgour Date: Fri Jan 7, 2005 7:40am Subject: Scan Do - Ray Smith Ray Smith - by Adam Komorowski as published in New Kommotion Issue 22, 1979 The figure emerged from the dim recesses of the theatre and ambled towards me. Clad in a tight pair of worn jeans and a bomber jacket with red flashes down the sleeves, and clutching a half empty can of Colt malt liquor in one hand, he pulled up in front of me. I introduced myself but instead of the anticipated conventional reply he pointed to a spot on his sleeve just below the shoulder, inquiring pleasantly if I had seen where the horse bit him. I moved closer and peered down at the indicated locality in that gloomy foyer. Next second, to coin a phrase, Kpow! A searing pain just below the abdomen left me doubled up and I dimly perceived through the tears that were welling up in my eyes that the perpetrator of this foul deed was likewise doubled up, only in his case with mirth! When we had both recovered he clapped me on the shoulder intoning, "no offense, son, just my little joke!" Such then was my first introduction to Ray Smith on a bleak November day in the Roxy Theatre, Harlesden. From there it was but a short step to the nearest pub, where suitably fortified by foaming tankards of Carlsberg lager Ray proceeded to tell his story. Based on this and subsequent interviews, much appreciated information from Tommie Wix (of the Ray Smith Fan Club) and Bernard Hink, this then is the Ray Smith Story: Melber is a small suburb of Paducah, Kentucky, and it was there that Raymond Eugene Smith was born on 30th October 1934 the seventh son of James A. Smith, himself a seventh son. The Smith household ran to six daughters and two sons, so in fact Raymond was the seventh born as opposed to the seventh son. James A. Smith was a farmer and it was his wife who provided the childrens' first taste of music with her piano playing. At the age of six came Raymond's only musical performance, when at the behest of his teacher he stood up in front of the class and sang Gene Autry's You Are My Sunshine. "Felt like a goddam fool, didn't wanna do it, but I did it. I didn't need a drummer, my knees were shaking so hard." And with that Ray bursts into a verse of the song just to prove he wasn't kidding. Paducah, nowadays perhaps more famous for producing Pierre Smirnoff (late of Moscow and Lvov) original recipe vodka, was where Ray spent his youth. His father, working as a sharecropper moved from Melber to the County Line Road in Graves County to another sharecropper's farm whose name was Dowell. Next the family moved out in the country near Mayfield, Kentucky before moving on to St John's which lies on Highway 45 west of Paducah. By the time Ray was 9 the family had moved again to a farm halfway between Paducah and Mayfield. "From there we moved to Loneoak, Kentucky which is three miles west of Paducah where I attended school from the fourth to the eighth grades, at which time my father bought a farm which was called Pepper's Farm, 7 miles outside of Loneoak, at which I didn't reside as I had left home by the time I was 12 years old. After that my father sold the farm and moved to Paducah, which I would visit frequently while doing a job as a helper on a Coca Cola truck and rode bicycle to work at Kirchoff's Bread plant in Paducah, where I worked as an oven operator. From there I went to the International Shoe Company doing the job of a sole back tacker and also as a tack machine operator." Among his earlier jobs was one working as a curb hop at Price's Barbecue on 34th Broadway in Paducah, where he got to shine the shoes of Alvin W. Barclay, vice-president of the USA to Roosevelt and Truman, and the man responsible for the location of an enormous atomic bomb plant in Paducah, at which Ray's father worked for a while as a sheetmetal worker. Swimming proved to be the big turning point in Ray's career. At the instigation of a friend he went swimming which in turn as he put it, "brought my resignation or otherwise being fired from the International Shoe Company and led to the enlistment to the USA Air Force in 1952." "After 19 months in Metz, France stationed at Chambley Air Force Base I was returned to the USA, New York City where I was discharged with honours and medals beyond the call of duty and accepting my original discharge June 22nd 1960 which is eight years of service in my country ......... which I am proud of." So concluded Ray Smith when talking about his stint in the service of his country. It began at Sampson Air Force Base doing basic training, whence he progressed to Fort Knox, Kentucky. From there he transferred to George Air Force Base, Victorville, California before moving to Metz with 21st Fighter Bomber Wing as a medic. After that he did 4 years reserve duty from 1956-60. The period he spent in the Air Force, Ray recalls with obvious joy. "I think my hitch in the service was the best thing that happened to me. First off, I realised then when I got out I would have to be on the ball, and since music was the only thing I really cared about I knew I'd have to stick with same. I found the time and the instructors to help me musically and I owe those people and Uncle Sam a great debt of thanks. Ray enrolled on July 22, 1952, and it was in the same year that the first significant event occurred that was to shape his destiny. With the sounds of such favourites as Eddy Arnold, Ernest Tubb and Gene Autry in mind, Ray and some of his buddies whiled away their spare time singing and playing country music. One fateful day, just as he was emerging from a shower clad only in an oversize pair of khaki shorts and shower clogs, a sergeant came in and enquired if there was any one who could sing. Back came the unanimous cry, "Smith can." "Can you sing, Smith?" asked the sergeant. "No, sir", came the reply. "I'm giving you a direct order, sing, Smith." Faced with this assertion of authority, Ray launched into Lovesick Blues. "That sonofobitch let me go halfway through the song and then said, 'O.K. you'll do, be at the orderly room tomorrow at 1 o'clock." The next day he duly reported at the orderly room to find that the Major in charge of the base concert, a woman ("and a good lookin' woman too"), had organised a backing group for him comprising of guitar and bass. "I won and so I got brave and I entered the next contest in pop singing." Singing Indian Love Call he came second. The good lookin' Major offered him a permanent posting at the Sampson Base in Syracuse, New York, entertaining the troops, but by this time Ray knew that he was due to be posted to Fort Worth, Kentucky. "Fort Knox is mebbe 150 or 160 miles from Paducah, I could go home for the weekends....mebbe I should have stayed 'cause I went on and got married.... l married April 3, 1953. We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this year, and now we're busted up....but I think .... aw hell! ...you never know." Ray was 18 at the time of his marriage and his wife Lilly 16. Next came California, and the George Air Force Base in Victorville. "Ken McConnell, the world triple jet ace, I was there when he got killed. He was testing a plane, he got down too damn low - he tried to bring it in and save the plane and he got too low and ejected his seat. They made a movie of it called The McConnell Story. June Allison played his wife, Alan Ladd played Captain McConnell." Around this time Ray started playing together with Lee Standerford and steel guitarist Armand Whitman (Slim's brother). Ray credits Standerford with being primarily responsible for ever getting him started in music, and indeed, named his second son Johnny Lee after him. As a kid, Ray pursued a variety of activities; "My father-in-law, Louis, he lived in Mashville, Kentucky and I went with him as a kid hauling moonshine whisky, and I got a bullet hole right here in this damn leg." (At this, Ray rolls up his trouser leg and points.) "You don't think I'm bullshitting you, see that hole there? I was a kid and I got buckshot in this arm, and it's still there, you can feel it." "The first radio show I did was in Barstow, California with Lee Standerford, Chuck Brannin and myself. We worked at Norse Desert Inn, Barstow and this was the first job I ever did for money, $12.50 a night." Then came the move to Metz in France. Whilst there Ray performed at Collen Concern in Metz, in Nancy, Verdun and Chambley. He also took in Frankfort in Germany and Basle in Switzerland. Discharged from active duty in June 1956 and back in the States, Ray formed The Rock And Roll Boys. James Webb, bass and rhythm guitarist and Raymond Jones the lead guitarist both hailed from Bardwell, Kentucky whilst steelie Dean Perkins came from Mayfield, Kentucky and drummer Henry Stevens from Metropolis, Illinois. It wasn't long before the outfit were making their debut on radio. "My first radio show was WHOK, Metropolis, Illinois. The announcer was Ed Hills and it was the original Ray Smith and The Rock And Roll Boys." Other radio shows followed in Benton, Kentucky, Paducah, Mayfield, Louisville, and New Port, Arkansas with Ray and his band playing a mixture of rock'n' roll and upbeat country. In the latter part of 1956, Ray walked into Beardsley Chevrolet in Bardwell, Kentucky and asked them to sponsor a TV show. They agreed and the Ray Smith Show took to the air on WPSD Channel 6 out of Paducah. It ran for 6 months going out every Monday between 7 - 7.30pm with Bill Green as the announcer, until Beardsley Chevrolet pulled out to sponsor another country show. However only two days later things looked up. "I was called by the producer of WPSD asking if I would like to keep the show, but with no sponsor and they would produce it themselves which I accepted. The show lasted 2 and a half years." It changed from its Monday slot to 8 - 8.30pm Wednesdays. Ray and the group also toured extensively doing one-nighters, concerts and night clubs all over Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois and California. In 1958 Charlie Terrell, the owner of a lime and fertilizer company in Sikeston, Missouri and formerly manager to Onie Wheeler (Jump Right Out Of This Jukebox) saw Ray's TV Show and offered to manage him. Ray was unconvinced, after all he was working 7 days a week had his own TV show, what did he need a manager for? Terrell was not discouraged, and after three attempts got to see Ray. Eventually he persuaded Ray to accept him as his manager providing he got him a recording contract with a leading label. "Three days later he returned from Memphis, Tennessee with a contract from Sun Records signed by Sam Phillips. Charlie Terrell was my manager for 15 years." The first session for Sun took place May 9, 1958 in Memphis and was arranged by Bill Justis and engineered by Jack Clements By this time Raymond Jones and Henry Stevens had been replaced by Stanley Walker and Gary Diamond in the Rock And Roll Boys, and it was they, with the exception of James Webb who was missing, who backed Ray. Stan Kesler stepped in as a replacement for Webb on bass, and pianist Charlie Rich augmented the ensemble. Four tracks were cut, two of which went to make up his first single So Young / Right Behind You Baby. The other two tracks, a first attempt at Why Why Why and Break Up remain unissued. Whilst he was away touring, Jerry Lee Lewis cut Break Up and it was issued in August 58 on Sun 303. When he got back to Memphis and discovered what had happened, Ray was disappointed and tackled Jerry Lee, who replied that he didn't know that it was Ray's song. Where then had he learnt it from if not from his tape? Composer Charlie Rich didn't cut his version until some two years after Ray. Later Ray and Jerry Lee were to become good friends with Ray going out on the road with Jerry Lee and playing piano for him. An experience that obviously influenced him as echoes of Jerry Lee are apparent in his style and stage act. In September of the same year came the second session which resulted in 6 titles being recorded. James Webb reclaimed his rightful spot on bass otherwise the band was the same as on the first session. Why Why Why / You Made A Hit were issued as the next single, but the self penned Shake Around / Willing And Eager remained unissued until last year when they appeared on a French Sun single and a Charly album. This was something of an exception as most of the numbers Ray recorded were Charlie Rich compositions. "I was standing by the piano and Charlie Rich was going over the songs he had wrote and I was picking out the ones I was going to record, I wanted that song Whirlwind but he wouldn't give it to me, held onto it said he was going to do it himself, and he did." Also cut at the same session was Ray's third single Rockin' Bandit / Sail Away. The topside was written by a 13 year old kid who worked down in the leather factory in Memphis by the name of Ivor Lichterman. He had done a demo tape without any accompaniment other than the rhythm of him slapping his thighs which had come to Bill Justis. Justis told Ray they were going to record the number, and record it . they did despite Ray's protestation. Contrary to popular belief the harmony vocal on Sail Away is not Charlie Rich but Ray's guitarist Stanley Walker, Ray clearly recalls having to hunt out some books for Stanley to stand on so that he could . reach the microphone! Ray and Stanley played and sang together for 13 years, and Stanley went on to play guitar for Jean Shepherd for a couple of years, and is still playing the clubs in and around Paducah today. Ray Smith was virtually the only artist that Sam Phillips ever signed without first seeing. As a result of Charlie Terrell getting Ray the contract (on 5% royalties), Ray also never saw Sam Phillips; this led to an amusing sequel. "Sam Phillips come walking through into the studio. He had a pair of bright red pants and a jacket and a beard, he'd just been up in the mountains somewhere, anyway he come walking through and he walked up to me and said, 'Hi, how are you'. He didn't know who I was, I didn't know who he was!" Eventually somebody rectified matters by introducing them to each other. Ray failed to get any big hits on Sun, and this must be in some measure due to Sam's habit of issuing several singles on the same day with the result that the dee-jays tended to pick out the better known names. In addition few artists got much in the way of promotion as the company's main effort went into promoting Jerry Lee. All of Ray's Sun material was recorded in the period 1958/9, although his last two singles were not issued until after he had left Sun and were an effort to capitalise on his success at Judd. The difference in the sound is accounted for by the fact that the tapes were remixed by Bill Fitzgerald who also overdubbed girlie choruses in an effort to modernise the sound. Five titles remain unissued including Three Pennies And A Little Red String (and not Two Pennies And A string as has been listed). Love Is A Flower, also credited to Ray Smith in the Sun Label Session Files, is definitely not him according to Ray. He asserts that not only has he never recorded that number but he has never even heard of the song! Had he any other recollections from his Sun days? Sure he had; "Jerry Lee came in one night, he was sitting there at the piano playing Great Balls Of Fire and all that, Jerry had just come off of tour and I said to him 'how many pieces did you have?' And do you know what he said? 'To tell you the truth I don't even remember their names!' I was talking about musicians! Now Gary Diamond, he was my drummer, Jerry offered him a job to go with him but he decided to stay with me which he did. We did a recording session one night and next day Johnny Cash came in. Anyway I was the first one to start that 'sooey' thing. I was doing a song and I couldn't think of anything else to say so I just yelled out 'sooyah', and next day they played the tape and ever since he's been singing 'sooey'. 'Sooey' means for a cajun get out of your way. Now Mickey Gilley, he's Jerry Lee's cousin, he made his first TV appearance on my show." In 1959 Ray switched to the Judd label, run by Sam's brother Judd Phillips, commenting that it was all in the family. Judd took him down to the RCA studios Nashville, and backed by some of the top session players including Hank Garland on lead, he recorded a Jimmie Rogers composition entitled Rockin' Little Baby which he changed to Rockin' Little Angel. On the flip side he cut That's All Right and the two tracks were issued in June 1959. Not much happened at first, and it was some 5 months before the record started taking off, but when it did take off it fairly flew up the charts reaching #22 in Jan 60 and clocking up a 16 week tenancy in the charts. It also became an accredited million seller ("it has now sold 5 and a half million"). It saved the Judd label from financial disaster and for Ray it opened new doors. He appeared on American Bandstand, toured on the Dick Clark Caravan Tours, headlined a concert in Louisville, Kentucky in 1961 in front of a crowd of some 45,000 people. He toured extensively with some of the top artists of the day; Jerry Lee Lewis, Brenda Lee, Jack Scott, Bobby Day, Robin Luke, Johnny Cash, Dickie Lee and many others, An album was recorded in Nashville, the bulk of it being done in one session and was released under the title Travelling With Ray. The front of the sleeve features a picture of Ray in front of his travelling bus at the Toronto Exhibition. "My travelling bus was a home on wheels complete with running hot maids and water. My wife says the bus was known as a "Whore House On Wheels'" The follow up single Put Your Arms Around Me Honey just crept into the Top Hundred at #91 in May 1960. Another couple of singles were issued but neither made the charts. Bill Justis, by then fired from Sun, produced the Judd sessions for Ray. Judd Phillips eventually sold out to Bill Lowery's National Recording Corp., and Ray went on to record a couple of singles for the Infinity label who operated out of Beverly Hills, California. Bill Justis once again acted as producer both in Nashville for After The Night Is Through, with Boots Randolph on sax and in Memphis where Ray returned to the new Sun studio to cut Johnny The Hummer. During the early to mid 6O's, Ray recorded for a host of labels; after appearing on a TV show with Tony Bellus and hearing him perform his Robbin' The Cradle (NRC 023), Ray recorded his version of the song coupled with Rockin' Robin with Ray Stevens on piano for VeeJay. "I went to Smash Rec ords with Shelby Singleton and it was also recorded at Owen Bradley Studios on which I also used a Canadian guitarist who worked in my band by the name of Albert Agristane." Around 1963/4 Charlie Terrell got a tie up with Bill Lowery in Atlanta, Georgia and Ray recorded a number of sides there for several labels. Freddie Weller, now a country artist in his own right and one time guitarist with Paul Revere and the Raiders, played lead guitar on most of the sessions. One single came out on Warner Bros and one on Tollie, but the bulk were issued on BC, a label formed by Charlie Terrell himself and now constitute among the rarest of Ray's singles. In the mid 60's Ray recorded Cash's I Walk The Line which Terrell produced and subsequently had strings dubbed on for Celebrity Circle and reunited with Bill Justis on Diamond for Everybody's Goin' Somewhere. Nice Guy a track recorded for the Rita label somehow found its way onto the Goldies label. By the mid 60's Ray had become disillusioned with the recording scene having been ripped off on numerous occasions and decided to concentrate on live performances. But he found that "my bookings were getting too far apart, from Canada to California and to Las Vegas, to Florida, and I got tired of travelling and found that I could sit in one spot in Canada and not have to travel so far, and so much. I like Canada and Canada likes me. Second, Canada has a real interest in my kind of music." And so around 1966, as he put it, Ray headed up to Detroit and turned left buying himself a home in Burlington, Ontario. "I moved to Canada by car and Mayflower Moving Van, and I've been residing there now for 13 years." He continued performing in Canada until 1972, when he returned to Nashville to cut some modern country material for the Cinnamon label. Only his first record A Tilted Cup Of Love made the country charts. All the records were cut at the Fireside Studio in Nashville, owned by Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton. Then in 1975 Ray switched to the Corona label who in turn licensed their material to Boot in Canada. An album of this material was issued in Canada on Boot and recently leased by the Rockhouse label in Holland who have now issued the record in Europe. Ray likes his country music but does not want to be considered Exclusively as a country artist. "I sing a little bit of everything. I like gospel music very much, but when it comes to rockabilly, I'm doing what I love best. It's going to be one of the biggest things you wait and see." However it was solely due to the activities of fan club president Tommie Wix and her husband John that Ray got back to recording rock' n'roll. As a result of continuous requests coming into the fan club for Ray to record this type of material, they decided to ask Ray to record some material for their Wix label. On 12th April 1978 they rented a studio in Elmira, Ontario and got together three musicians; unable to get the lead guitarist they wanted due to touring commitments they settled for Garfield McDonald, augmented by Keith Baumgardner on bass and Erwin Giles on drums. all of whom were paid at the rate of $30 an hour. There was then the matter of a pianist; it took all of Tommie Wix's persuasive powers to convince Ray that he was the man for the job, and so it came about that Ray played piano on one of his sessions for the first time ever. Within three hours they had recorded four numbers, the tapes were mixed the same night and the four titles have since been issued on a couple of Wix singles. Interestingly enough the first single combined the unissued song that Ray had recorded almost exactly twenty years earlier, Break Up with Room Full Of Roses. Both sides rocked along impressively despite some incongruous lead guitar from McDonald. The record met with considerable critical acclaim and did much to re-awaken interest in him. A second session was booked for the 10th September 1978 in order for Ray to record an album for the Wix label. This time McDonald was replaced by David Dafoe and Bob MacEarchen. It lasted 6 hours, in which time 17 numbers were done. One omission that Ray intends to rectify next time around is to record I'm In Love Again. After the session was over Ray suggested going back in the studio and playing some more, which is exactly what he did, carrying on even after the engineer had switched off the lights. Eventually John Wix had to lift him off the piano stool and carry him out! In mid November, at extremely short notice, Ray came over to the UK to appear at the Rock'n'Roll Festival at the Roxy Theatre in London. Topping a bill that included Warren Smith and a myriad of UK acts, Ray's appearance was, for a variety o reasons, far from a rip-roaring success. Forced to spend hours cooped up in his small dressing room, being given an electric piano, having the power cut off in the middle of his act, all contributed in their way to deflating what should have been an explosive performance. A few days later in front of a much smaller crowd at Dingwalls, Ray showed just what he could do. At the recent Eindhoven Festival in Holland, Ray had a sizeable multi-European audience in the palm of his hand as he rocked his way through the evening. A mere mention of the Harlesden fiasco brought forth a torrent of apologies; "Say I'm sorry about that, tell the folks I'm sorry", was just the start of it! Whilst the Wix records are selling well, they are unlikely to ever hit the national charts, but this doesn't bother Ray; "I like to do what I want to do, I never went for the big stardom bit." His popularity in Canada is sufficient to guarantee him work 50 weeks a year and he sums up his feelings thus; "I've had a helluva life, if I die tomorrow I can't be sorry", and then adds with that typically infectious zany humour of his, "Don't stick no fork in me...l ain't done yet!!" ===================== posted by Colin Kilgour: