Remembering Ray Price - 12/19/2013

My one and only time seeing Ray Price live -
"Last of the Breed" tour at Mohegan Sun, 2007
(Photo courtesy of Dave Orlomoski)

This time of year, the students are gone from UCONN, and so, generally, several of their airshifts are vacated and need to be filled by community members.  It's during these semester breaks that I can usually find a few different times to do fill-ins and devote my playlists to the classic country sounds that I enjoy. This past Wednesday afternoon, I learned that a two-hour Thursday morning shift was available, and since the wonderful Ray Price had died earlier in the week, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to pay tribute to him on WHUS.

Noble Ray Price (or, Ray Noble Price, depending on which resource you're reading) was born on January 12, 1926 in Perryman, Texas, and was pretty much responsible for changing the course of country music twice during his long career.  After making his recording debut in 1950, Ray Price moved from the Dallas area to Nashville, and for a time, he worked with Hank Williams (and even lived with him for a brief period of time).  Price's music ran so close to Hank's for a little while that it became difficult to tell the two performers apart.  After Hank's death, though, Ray Price began to move towards his own sound, eventually hitting on that distinctive 4/4 shuffle timing that earmarked so many of his wonderful honky tonk classics from the 1950s, starting with the March 1, 1956 recording of "Crazy Arms."  While Ray Price moved away from the shuffles in the late 1960s when he embraced the sounds of a full orchestra backing his smooth vocals, we concentrated most on a good number of those wonderful honky tonk gems from the 1950s and into the 1960s during Thursday's fill-in show.  Sure hope you enjoyed 'em, because I definitely enjoyed sharing them with you.

In the end, it seems like Ray Price lived the "good life," and got lots of accolades during his 87 year long life.  That's about all anyone can expect, and we should all be so lucky.

Enjoy the weekend, and be sure to join Jim for a shortened Bluegrass Cafe on Sunday beginning after UCONN Men's Basketball (probably sometime around 5:30PM), and TONIGHT (Saturday, December 21st) from 8-10PM as he and Marti fill-in for another WHUS program.

Merry Christmas!

Amy O.


SONG / PERFORMER / ALBUM / LABEL

• For The Good Times / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• Heartaches By The Number / Ray Price with Vince Gill / Last Of The Breed / Lost Highway
• Jealous Lies / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• If You're Ever Lonely Darling / Ray Price / I'll Be There:  The Legend Begins / Country Stars
• Weary Blues (From Waiting) / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• Talk To Your Heart / Ray Price / I'll Be There:  The Legend Begins / Country Stars
• Release Me / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• Move On In And Stay / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price, 1951-1962 / Columbia
• I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me) / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• I Could Love You More / Ray Price / I'll Be There:  The Legend Begins / Country Stars
• I'll Be There / Ray Price / In A Honky Tonk Mood / Jasmine
• Much Too Young To Die / Ray Price / In A Honky Tonk Mood / Jasmine
• Crazy Arms / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• You Done Me Wrong / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price, 1951-1962 / Columbia
• Falling Falling Falling / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price, 1951-1962 / Columbia
• I've Got A New Heartache / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price, 1951-1962 / Columbia
• Curtain In The Window / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• Invitation To The Blues / Ray Price / In A Honky Tonk Mood / Jasmine
• Wasted Words / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• Heart Over Mind / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• City Lights / Ray Price / In A Honky Tonk Mood / Jasmine
• The Same Old Me / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• Heartaches By The Number / Ray Price / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• Faded Love / Ray Price with Willie Nelson / The Essential Ray Price / Columbia
• Some Other World / Willie Nelson, Ray Price, Merle Haggard / Last Of The Breed / Lost Highway
• Lost Highway / Willie Nelson & Ray Price / Last Of The Breed / Lost Highway
• Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy / Buck Owens & His Buckaroos / Christmas With Buck Owens & His Buckaroos / Sundazed
• I'll Be Walkin' The Floor This Christmas / Ernest Tubb & His Texas Troubadours / Hillbilly Holiday / Rhino
• The Reindeer Boogie / Hank Snow / The Goldrush Is Over / Bear Family
• Christmas Schottische / Buck Owens & His Buckaroos / Christmas Shopping / Sundazed