RIP...
Posted on 12/16/2013 3:49:35 PM PST by Doogle
Ray Price, one of country music's most popular and influential singers and bandleaders who had more than 100 hits and was one of the last living connections to Hank Williams, died Monday. He was 87.
Price died Monday afternoon at his ranch outside Mount Pleasant, said Billy Mack Jr., who was acting as a family spokesman. Billie Perryman, the wife of family friend and spokesman Tom Perryman, a DJ with KKUS-FM in Tyler, also confirmed his death.
Price was discharged last week from the East Texas Medical Center in Tyler, where he had been in and out in recent months as he was treated for cancer and its complications. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2011 and it has recently spread to his liver, intestines and lungs, the hospital said.
Perhaps best known for his version of the Kris Kristofferson song "For the Good Times," a pop hit in 1970, the velvet-voiced Price was a giant among traditional country performers in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, as likely to defy a trend as he was to defend one. He helped invent the genre's honky-tonk sound early in his career, then took it in a more polished direction.
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I can vividly remember listening to Ray Price in the 1960s when he started using violins, and not fiddles on his recordings. I remember one specific occasion where the DJ was introducing one of his songs and he said, “Here’s Ray Price and a football field full of violins with his new song.” I don’t remember which song it was but will never forget the impression it left.
My favorite Ray Price song is “Crazy Arms”.
ping
...just think..a penny for every Ray Price tune to play on the radio in tractor rigs going across country over the years....*smiles*.....we lose another
"For The Good Times"
Don't look so sad, I know it's over
But life goes on and this old world will keep on turning
Let's just be glad, we had some time to spend together
There's no need to watch the bridges that we're burning
Lay your head, upon my pillow
Hold your warm and tender body close to mine
Hear the whisper of the raindrops blowing soft against the window
And make believe you love me, one more time, for the good times
I'll get along, you'll find another, and I'll be here
If you should find, you ever need me
Don't say a word about tomorrow, or forever
There’ll be time enough for sadness, when you leave me
Lay your head, upon my pillow
Hold your warm and tender body close to mine
Hear the whisper of the raindrops blowing soft against the window
And make believe you love me, one more time, for the good times
"You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me"
I've had my share of life's ups and downs
But fate's been kind, the downs have been few
I guess you could say that I've been lucky
And I guess you could say, it's all because of you
If anyone should ever write my life story
For whatever reason there might be
You'd be there between each line of pain and glory
‘Cause you're the best thing that ever happened to me
You're the best thing that ever happened to me
Oh, there have been times when the times were so hard
But somehow, some way I'd made it through
And for every moment I've spent hurting
There's been moments spent loving you
If anyone should ever write my life story
For whatever reason there might be
You'd be there between each line of pain and glory
‘Cause you're the best thing that ever happened to me
You're the best thing that ever happened to me
"Danny Boy"
Oh, Danny Boy
The pipes, the pipes are callin’
From Glen to Glen
And down the mountain side
The summer's gone
And all the roses fallin’
It's you, it's you
Must go and I must bide
Oh, Danny Boy, oh, Danny Boy
The pipes are callin’
From Glen to Glen
And even down the mountain side
The summer's gone
And all the roses fallin’
It's you, it's you
Must go and I, I must bide
Well come on back
When summer's in the meadow
When the valleys hushed
And even white with snow
Hey, I'll be there in sunshine
Or in shadows
Oh, Danny Boy, oh, Danny Boy
I love you so
Oh, Danny Boy, oh, Danny Boy
The pipes are callin’
From Glen to Glen
And even down the mountain side
The summer's gone
And all the roses fallin’
It's you, it's you
Must go and I must bide
Well come on back
When summer's in the meadow
When that valley's hushed
And even white with snow
Hey, I'll be there in sunshine
Or in shadows
Hey, Danny Boy, oh, Danny Boy
I love you so
Oh, Danny Boy, oh, Danny Boy
I love you so
Oh, Danny Boy, oh, Danny Boy
I love you so
Bye Ray, see you down the pike—
Rest in peace.
In 1953, Price formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Among its members during the late 1950s and early 1960s were; Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Darrell McCall, Van Howard, Johnny Paycheck and Johnny Bush, Buddy Emmons, Pete Wade, Jan Kurtis, Shorty Lavender and Buddy Spicher.
Heartsick.
RIP...
Thank you. Just. Thank you.
He was once asked why he didn’t get the old band back together to include Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck and Roger Miller. His response was “I can’t afford them.” I believe Johnny Bush may have been in his band at one time, too. (For those who don’t know, Johnny Bush was the first to do “Whiskey River”. Not Willie.)
That 4/4 shuffle, which is now consider neccessary to do the Texas Two-Step, is what I used to call “South Texas” style music. The great ones start out with the fiddle for a few notes then the other instruments come in.
Ray will be missed. He was the greatest.
Johnny Bush played about a mile from my house last summer and the date slipped by and I missed it. He’s one of favorites. WHISKEY RIVER!
He’s the first of the next three.
Having said that, I just finished listening to the duet album with him and Willie Nelson.
Nothing better.
Ditto!
had an uncle who was dancin with the love of his life to Auld Lang Syne...maybe 5 minutes into the New Year in 2001 down in The Villages, man was 80 years young and wearing a tux for the evening....started going down in her arms, they say he never made it to the floor...
Ray was for the ages. He could sing anything, and he did. I loved evrything he did, don’t think he ever made a bad recording. The world is definitely a bleaker place without this classy, elegant man in it.
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