Search - Ray Stevens :: New Orleans Moon

Adam M. (redbaronredsoxfan) from BURLINGTON, VT
Reviewed on 6/2/2020...

interesting album from the singer who Recorded hits like Ahab The Arab and The Mississippi Squirrel Revival. Love the cover of Hank Williams Jambalaya (On The Bayou). check it out!

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Way Down Louisiana Way...

Jerry McDaniel | 08/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In this collection of songs, 11 in all, Ray Stevens does a wonderful salute to the state of Louisiana. The first song, "Basin Street Blues" sets the mood but then the mood shifts up-tempo with his cover of Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans". Ray delivers a ballad that sounds very good and one that makes me think of the early '80s when Ray was on RCA singing love ballads. "Do You Know What It Means To Miss Orleans" continues to paint a picture of the Louisiana scene...the Dixieland music and the magnolia blossom references. One of the real treats is his cover of Hank Williams classic "Jambalaya"...before slowing down the tempo again on the ode "Louisiana", a song about Evangeline...and the flood. The hook of the song is the phrase "they're tryin' to wash us away". The song comes complete with sound effects of storms.



The mood goes up-tempo again on the sing-a-long classic cajun song "Louisiana Man", made popular orginally by Doug Kershaw and recorded by nearly everyone in country music in the '60s. The longest song on this on-line collection is "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans". It's a great song as well complete with R&B inflections with a Dixieland arrangement in the background...leave it to Ray to combine Dixieland, R&B, and country! One of the hooks is the echo effect within the song. One of the highlights other than "New Orleans Moon", "New Orleans", and the others i have written about is the blues number "St James Infirmary" which blends into the gospel song "Just a Closer Walk With Thee". I like Ray's bluesy delivery on "St James Infirmary"...he sings the first few verses and then starts into the gospel song.



The song, "New Orleans", carries an R&B/early rock feel...the song even incorporates a saxophone, and an electric guitar intro one would associate with Bo Diddly or other guitar instrumentals of that time period.



The collection closes with the sing-a-long "When The Saints Go Marching In". The last two songs are what you'd call big ballads...that song and "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" are filled with Louisiana pride-filled lyrics.



The main song, "New Orleans Moon", is a wonderful ode to the famous Louisiana town...Ray even does a short little vocal imitation of Louis Armstrong with the line "...and i can close my eyes and hear ol' Satchmo singin' oh so sweet". "...There's nothing more pretty than my New Orleans city..." Ray goes onto sing. After hearing these 11 songs, Ray is so convincing and the songs delivered with such conviction one would think he was a Louisiana native which he isn't...but he was raised in that area, though. Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana are all kind of lumped together in a lot of ways as far as economics and geographic locale"

Best New Orleans Tribute Album

Charles Morel | KAILUA, HAWAII USA | 07/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love everything about this tribute album. I have Harry Connick's CD, "My Nola", and it doesn't come close to the emotional impact "New Orleans Moon" has on me. The album paints a picture of New Orleans and Louisiana in music. The musical arrangements, the backup musicians and singers, even the order in which the songs were recorded are perfect. If you are not hooked after the first two songs you don't have an ounce of red beans and rice flowing through your veins.



New Orleans Moon pays tribute to Dixieland music with "Basin Street Blues", as well as in "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans"; Gospel and Dixieland in "When The Saints Go Marching In"; Brass Band, Blues and Gospel in the "St. James Infirmary/Just A Closer Walk" medley and Cajun music in "Jambalaya" and "Louisiana Man". The Randy Newman composition "Louisiana" will give you goose bumps. The ninth and tenth cuts, "New Orleans", a 1960 top 40 song by Gary U.S. Bonds and "The Battle Of New Orleans", a Johnny Horton tune from 1959/60 are more in the "novelty" class of songs, but definitely fit in this New Orleans tribute album. Ray does a great job with them. Even if those two songs bring the emotional level of the album down a notch, the last cut, "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans", quickly brings you back to the misty eyed level of emotion and could not be a more fitting ending to the album. The only new song is the title cut "New Orleans Moon" and it could easily become a favorite and standard with New Orleaneans.



What impressed me so much about "New Orleans Moon" is that these new versions of old standards, done with such heartfelt emotion, are not different from the originals, they are just better.



Thank You Ray Stevens!!!

"