Surely You Joust

Surely You Joust
Studio album by Ray Stevens
Released	June 1986
Recorded	Ray Stevens Studio, Nashville, Tennessee [1]
Genre	Country, novelty
Label	MCA Cassette (MCAC-5795), LP (MCA-5795)
Producer	Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens chronology
I Have Returned (1985) Surely You Joust (1986) The Very Best of Ray Stevens/Roger Miller (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.

Track listing

Side A

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Southern Air" (Special guest appearances by Jerry Clower and Minnie Pearl)	Brent Holmes, Stuart Dill	5:25
2.	"People's Court"	C.W. Kalb, Jr., David Slater, Jack White	4:43
3.	"Bionie and the Robotics"	Stevens, Kalb	4:28
4.	"Makin' the Best of a Bad Situation"	Dick Feller	2:56
5.	"Fat"	Kalb	3:29

Side B

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Can He Love You Half as Much as I"	Kalb	2:50
2.	"Smokey Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat"	Kalb	3:21
3.	"The Camping Trip"	Stevens, Kalb	5:50
4.	"Camp Werthahekahwee"	Bobby Russell	3:53
5.	"Dudley Dorite (Of the Highway Patrol)"	Kalb	4:35

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

Album

Chart (1986)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	11

Singles

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

References

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