Hits flowed like wine from a drunkard's bottle. Such exposure - and with songs such as the 1956 country song of the year, "Crazy Arms" - helped make Price a superstar. The first night I wore one of them on the Grand Ole Opry, I got a full picture in color in Life magazine." I told him what I wanted, and he did it, and it worked out great. They'd come out with rhinestone suits, and the crowd would just go wild, so I thought, 'hmm, maybe I ought to do something.' Nudie and I were friends. I never wanted to wear rhinestones until I'd be on some shows with the Wilburn Brothers. "They weighed 16 pounds they'd burn you up. "I liked 'em a whole lot except they'd almost get me in a fight a lot of times with some redneck," Price says. Texas Tyler to Faron Young.Īnd of course, Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys. Most every country singer of the 1950s wore them, from Webb Pierce to T. Why pay dearly to see someone who dresses just like you?Enter Nudie Cohn's rainbow-colored rhinestone suits, Nudie suits. Long before today's video-conscience warblers, country singers crafted images for themselves that at least visually separated themselves from those who paid to see them. Learn what the other guy does, then go out and do it your way.Īdditionally, image played a large part in the making of a music career. Songs such as 1956's "I've Got A New Heartache" and 1959's "Heartaches By The Number" featured his commanding voice out front a fiddle and steel mix that came to be called the country shuffle.Įver the stylist, Price came along when singers were expected to make their own mark, not copy from each other. Ray Price forged his career on iron strong country. That's the way I want to record."īack to style. I've been screamin' that for years: 'You're doin' it wrong.' You're really cheatin' the act, and you're cheatin' the musicians because there's no way you can get a little excitement going (otherwise), and you've got to have that if you have a great record. "If you can stir the players up to where they're really into it and enjoying what they're doing, you're gonna get a good record if the songs are good. "Well, first of all when you do it live you capture something on record ' that you can't get piecemeal," Price says. Hank Williams did not require multimillion dollar recording budgets and months to make classic records, and neither does his one-time protŽgŽ.Ĭonsequently, "Time" offers a more "real" sound, a warm feeling that creates a bond with whomever listens. computers, samples, drum machines and vocals tweaks - Price approached this one with the idea of getting it done and getting it done quickly. Recorded live sans studio razzmatazz - i.e. Buddy seems to have something really special." And, of course, Buddy Emmons - not knocking any other steel players - is the greatest steel player in the business. He's just like a rock the way it starts is the way it ends. "Of course, Buddy Harmon was on the session of 'Crazy Arms' when we did the first shuffle record (back) when I told him what I wanted, and he come up with it. "Oh, they are great players," Price says. The result: an album that hearkens to the late 1950s. Pete Wade, Jimmy Capps and Harold Bradley play guitar, while Bob Moore plays bass like only Bob Moore could. Buddy Emmons offers still strong steel guitar. Buddy Harmon, country's most recorded musician of all time, slaps the skins. Price, whose famed Cherokee Cowboys band has included such names as Johnny Paycheck, Willie Nelson, Johnny Bush and the late Jimmy Day, also embarked upon his latest with all-star support. Fortunate for me, we're friends enough that they all decided that we could get together and do it, and we did." My friend, Fred Foster, produced it, and I told him what musicians I wanted. So, thank goodness most all of us are still alive. "I think everybody thought I didn't know how to do that anymore. "Nick Hunter (the head of Audium), when we made the deal for the record, I asked him what he wanted, and he said he wanted a pure country album," Price, 76, says by phone from his Mt. With "Time" (Audium), Price recaptures the style that spread his sound through many a country home over the past 50 years. Though he never ditched the sound entirely on the road, on record it's been mostly missing for nearly 40 years. Time was when Price, the king of the country shuffle, was as hard core country as anyone. The Drifting Cowboy drifted on, Webb's gone, and Mr. Hank Williams and Carl Smith and Webb Pierce and Ray Price sang like no other. Steel guitars wept as beer joint junkies cried in their beer. TTime was when country was country, and that was that.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |