Surely You Joust

Surely You Joust
Studio album by Ray Stevens
Released	June 1986
Recorded	Ray Stevens Studio, Nashville, Tennessee
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.

• 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
1986	"People's Court"	70