Cyrus "Buddy" Kalb
Cyrus "Buddy" Kalb Jr. (born July 15, 1938) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for hits such as "Mississippi Squirrel Revival", performed by Ray Stevens, and "Frog Kissin'", which was performed by numerous artists, including Chet Atkins. Several of Kalb's songs were co-written with his wife, Carlene.
Kalb's songwriting career is connected almost exclusively to Ray Stevens in that the two of them are often co-writers as well as acting partners in Stevens' long string of music videos. Kalb plays the straight-man in almost any situation but often comes off as the comic foil when Stevens plays it serious. Kalb plays the role of Harve Newlin in the music video of Mississippi Squirrel Revival. In addition to this, Kalb can be seen playing the part of a donut eating policeman in the It's Me Again, Margaret music video; Kalb is seen as the music video director in The Streak; Kalb appears in drag on Stevens' Surfin' USSR music video; Kalb portrays the head of Mission Control in the Virgil and the Moonshot music video; He portrays the vibraphone player in Juanita and the Kids. Kalb portrays the character of Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol in the music video and in the direct-to-video movie, Get Serious!. In the much anticipated music video of The Blue Cyclone, Kalb plays the part of the title role.
This is just scratching the surface, though, as Kalb has appeared in many more music videos with Ray Stevens and currently appears alongside Ray in the web-exclusive sit-com, We Ain't Dead Yet, which stars Ray as a resident of a retirement home. Kalb has supplied Ray Stevens with numerous songs over the last 25 years...often at times being the main writer on various albums Stevens released in the early '90s. One album in particular, #1 With a Bullet, issued in 1991, featured ten songs and all but one was written/co-written by Kalb.
References
- McClelland, John & Bratic, Deyan. (2004) "Chet Atkins in Three Dimensions". Pacific, MO, Mel Bay Publications. ISBN 0-7866-5877-0