Surely You Joust Explained

Surely You Joust
Type:	studio
Artist:	Ray Stevens
Cover:	Surely_You_Joust.jpg
Released:	June 1986
Recorded:	Ray Stevens Studio, Nashville, Tennessee
Genre:	Country, novelty
Label:	MCA Cassette (MCAC-5795), LP (MCA-5795)
Producer:	Ray Stevens
Prev Title:	I Have Returned
Prev Year:	1985
Next Title:	The Very Best of Ray Stevens/Roger Miller
Next Year:	1986

Surely You Joust was Ray Stevens' twenty-third studio album and his third for MCA Records. The album's front cover shows Stevens disguised as a medieval knight with a horse standing next to him. The album's back cover shows Stevens in the same costume but in a junk pile with two junk men. Three singles were lifted from the album: "Southern Air" (featuring Jerry Clower and Minnie Pearl), "People's Court", and "Can He Love You Half as Much as I", the last of which did not chart.

Album credits

Per liner notes.^[1]

• Ray Stevens – producer, arrangements, art direction
• Stuart Keathley – engineer
• Ray Stevens Studio (Nashville, Tennessee) – recording location
• Glenn Meadows – mastering at Masterfonics (Nashville, Tennessee)
• Susan Lawson – production coordinator
• Slick Lawson – art direction, photography
• Barnes & Company – design
• Camille Engel Advertising – CD design

Musicians

• Ray Stevens – vocals, backing vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, trumpet
• Shane Keister – vocoder programming
• Mark Casstevens – rhythm guitars, banjo
• Steve Gibson – electric guitars, dobro, mandolin
• Jack Williams – bass guitar
• Jerry Kroon – drums
• Johnny Gimble – fiddle
• Denis Solee – saxophones
• Norro Wilson – armpit sounds
• Lisa Silver – backing vocals
• Wendy Suits – backing vocals
• Diane Tidwell – backing vocals

Chart performance

Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions
		US Country
1986	"Southern Air"	63
1986	"People's Court"	70

Notes and References

1. Surely You Joust . Ray Stevens . 1986 . CD booklet . MCA Records . MCAD 5795.