{"id":13941,"date":"2026-04-10T19:13:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=13941"},"modified":"2026-04-10T19:13:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:13:35","slug":"country-music-legend-87-breaks-neck-and-is-rushed-to-hospital-ahead-of-new-album-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=13941","title":{"rendered":"Country music legend, 87, breaks neck and is rushed to hospital ahead of new album launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ray Stevens should have been celebrating. Instead, the 87-year-old country legend lay injured in Nashville with a broken neck, raising a frightening question: could this be the end?<\/p>\n<p>Rushed to the hospital after a recent heart scare, it looked like his comeback might be over. But unexpectedly, doctors found no paralysis or catastrophic damage\u2014only the need for a brace, rest, and time to heal.<\/p>\n<p>True to form, Stevens returned home determined to recover, staying active and optimistic. Rather than canceling plans, he pushed forward. His new album, <em>Favorites Old &amp; New<\/em>, is still set for release, turning a health scare into a statement of resilience.<\/p>\n<p>For fans who remember hits like \u201cEverything Is Beautiful,\u201d this moment feels less like an ending\u2014and more like proof he\u2019s not finished yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Ray Stevens should have been celebrating. Instead, the 87-year-old country legend lay injured in Nashville with a broken neck, raising a frightening question: could this <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=13941\" title=\"Country music legend, 87, breaks neck and is rushed to hospital ahead of new album launch\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13943,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13941\/revisions\/13943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}