The 100th Birthday of Ray Price Celebrated in Austin

The second portion of the presentation included the incomparable Jake Penrod who puts the old soul magic on everything he sings, the ravishing Brennen Leigh who they smartly saved “Funny How Time Slips Away” for, The Queen of Sagebrush Paige Plaisance who performed “Make The World Go Away,” throwback country artist Christopher Seymore whose hair was almost as impressive as his rendition of “New Heartache,” and the recently-unretired 2nd incarnation of George Jones, the one and only Jason James, who closed the shindig out with “Crazy Arms.”

You couldn’t be a lightweight and take the stage Sunday afternoon. Ray Price was iconic for his incredible country music crooning, and that’s what each player brought to the stage. Just as much as the singers, the stand-in Cherokee Cowboys were lights out, including two fiddler players—Katie Shore and Blake Whitmire who both also sang multiple songs—as well as the double steel/lead guitar accompaniment of Kevin Skrla and Caleb Melo—two of the best on the planet.

At the Sagebrush in Austin Sunday afternoon, it was like the Golden ’60s of country music never ended. The two-steppers were out in force, as were a lot of other Austin country musicians wanting to show their support for the memory of Ray. Steelradio.org was also there, as was a tattoo artist inking Ray Price-specific tattoos, along with custom “Everyday I’m Shuffling” merch available to mark the occasion.

Summer Dean had played a packed headlining show at Gruene Hall just the night before, but stood on her head to make it all come to life. Ray Price passed away in 2013. But he was brought back in spirit on Sunday through the uncommon showcase of talent. The 100th birthday of Ray Price is officially being observed on Monday, January 12th—the day he was born in 1926. See more photos below. To see video clips of the performances, check out Saving Country Music on Instagram. – – – – – – – –Ray Price was born in Perryville, TX and served in the United States Marine Corps for 3 years before joining the “Big D Jamboree” show in Dallas in 1949. He then went on to manage Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboy band after the untimely death of Hank in 1952. In 1953, Ray Price formed his own band, the Cherokee Cowboys, which had many notable members over the years, including Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, Johnny Paycheck, Johnny Bush, and steel guitar player Buddy Emmons amongst others.

Ray scored his first #1 hit in 1956 with “Crazy Arms,” and later became seminal to the 1960’s “Nashville Sound,” scoring a total of eight #1’s, including “My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You,” “City Lights,” “The Same Old Me,” “For The Good Times” in 1970 written by Kris Kristofferson, and “I Won’t Mention It Again” in 1971. One of his most well-known songs is “Heartaches By The Number” released in 1959.

Price released over 50 albums over his career and became a legend of country music, being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. – – – – – – – – – – –

Blake Whitmire, Brennen Leigh, BUddy Emmons, Caleb Melo, Christopher Seymore, Eliza Thorn, Garrett T. Capps, Jake Penrod, Johnny Bush, Johnny Paycheck, Kathryn Legendre, Katie Shore, Kevin Skrla, Paige Plaisance, Ray Price, Roger Miller, Sagebrush, Summer Dean, Theo Lawrence, Tyler-James Kelly, Willie Nelson

For as legendary as Ray Price is, he still might be underrated, both as a singer and for his important contributions to country music. Between the Cherokee Cowboys introducing us to numerous genre greats and the 4/4 shuffle, it is simply impossible to tell the story of country music without Ray Price.

I can not agree more with this. Ray gets overlooked by so many (notably the Burns documentary) despite having one of the longest careers which included a successful re-invention from a honky tonker to a powerful ballad singer of well written songs (several Kris classics included).

Willie has continued to champion Ray, and Vince/Paul Franklin did a wonderful tribute album, but he doesn’t get the love or attention that others do.

Some of this could be self induced. Ray was not the most warm personality and he jumped around smaller labels after leaving Columbia. There were many fine records and many decent radio hits but this period is not well anthologized and practically non-existent on CD.

That’s exactly why I wanted to highlight this event and the folks who participated. There are artists and fans who still care, are still working to keep the legacies of these artists alive. This event doesn’t happen if Summer Dean didn’t take the initiative, and the venue didn’t see the value in it, and knew people would show up.

Also there’s an incredible Raul Malo solo album that’s in the same. vein as Ray Price’s Nightlife- country/crooner stuff. Raul was such a great voice for that sound that Ray pioneered.
He does an absolutely incredible cover of For The Good Times and there’s a great live version of him singing it to it’s writer Kris Kristofferson on youtube .

Sounds like an amazing show – I see Caleb Mayo was on steel – I got to see him play with Merle Haggards sons last summer – that guy is a hell of a old school steel player! Some of these reviews of impromptu shows in Texas make me want to move there!

Wish I could have seen this show. But I’m grateful to Summer Dean, and now Trigger, for helping to keep Ray Price’s name alive, for the good times.

Great Ray Price tribute was on the Country Family Reunion series shortly after his death.
Here, retro-honky tonker David Ball sings “Invitation to the Blues,” but not before challenging the host Bill Anderson to explain just what he meant when he earlier spoke of wearing a Nudie Suit.

Accompanying Bill is Ray Pirce’s widow. Jeanie Phillips Price. From searching on Google, it appears she’s still with us.

Source: savingcountrymusic.com