"Ray Stevens' Nashville" is much more than an extensive and entertaining biography of a Comedy Music Legend who brought us multimillion selling hits like "The Streak" and "Gitarzan" or the Grammy winning cultural classics "Misty" and "Everything is Beautiful" along with the all-time top selling "Comedy Video Classics." It is the story of how the sleepy southern city of Nashville grew and blossomed into the international music mecca that it is today. Ray Stevens was there as it all came together, whether playing on recording sessions with Elvis and singing backup for Waylon Jennings or as a part-time substitute background singer with the famous Jordanaires among many others. All of this in addition to winning the "Comedian of the Year" award, for his unique comedy music 9 years in a row. "Ray Stevens' Nashville" is an entertaining insider's behind the scenes look at Nashville with one of the architects and laborers who built it and constructed the world famous "Nashville Sound." This is a fun and informative read that will have you laughing and learning with the turn of every page.

The Fundamentals of Judo identifies the essential techniques that define Judo as a fighting art and looks at how students should practise and develop these key skills. The core techniques are analysed in depth and through step-by-step photography for the benefit of both beginner and experienced Judo players. The analysis of each technique reflects Ray Stevens' detailed technical knowledge and experience as a Judo player.

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'll 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 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.

PERMISSION TO FLY tells the true story of a boy born into a kind and happy family who grows to realize the executive world his father inhabits may not be his destiny. Thanks to his remarkable mother, Layng is given "permission to fly" early on as he begins his amazing journey of many painful-but-educational steps, and missteps, and love.

The Nashville Cats bounced from studio to studio along the city's Music Row, delivering instrumental backing tracks for countless recordings throughout the mid-20th century. Music industry titans like Chet Atkins, Anita Kerr, and Charlie McCoy were among this group of extraordinarily versatile session musicians who defined the era of the "Nashville Sound," and helped establish the city of Nashville as the renowned hub of the record industry it is today. Nashville Cats: Record Production in Music City is the first account of these talented musicians and the behind-the-scenes role they played to shape the sounds of country music. Many of the genre's most celebrated artists-Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Floyd Cramer, and others immortalized in the Country Music Hall of Fame and musicians from outside the genre's ranks, like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, heard the call of the Nashville Sound and followed it to the city's studios, recording song after song that resonated with the brilliance of the Cats. Author Travis D. Stimeling investigates how the Nashville system came to be, how musicians worked within it, and how the desires of an ever-growing and diversifying audience affected the practices of record production. Drawing on a rich array of recently uncovered primary sources and original oral histories,Âinterviews with key players, and close exploration of hit songs, Nashville Cats brings us back into the studios of this famous era, right alongside the remarkable musicians who made it happen.

"Ray Stevens' Nashville" is much more than an extensive and entertaining biography of a Comedy Music Legend who brought us multimillion selling hits like "The Streak" and "Gitarzan" or the Grammy winning cultural classics "Misty" and "Everything Is Beautiful" along with the all-time top selling "Comedy Video Classics." It is the story of how the sleepy southern city of Nashville grew and blossomed into the international music mecca that it is today. Ray Stevens was there as it all came together, whether playing on recording sessions with Elvis and singing backup for Waylon Jennings or as a part-time substitute background singer with the famous Jordanaires among many others. All of this in addition to winning the "Comedian of the Year" Award, for his unique comedy music 9 years in a row. "Ray Stevens' Nashville" is an entertaining insider's behind the scenes look at Nashville with one of the architects and laborers who built it and constructed the world famous "Nashville Sound." This is a fun and informative read that will have you laughing and learning with the turn of every page.