At age 81, music legend Ray Price doesn't mind being referred to as a bridge between the worlds of old- and new-school country. "That's not country," he says dismissively over the phone, from a tour stop in South Dakota. "That's rock, and bad rock, at that.
Don't get me wrong, I think they should have the right to their own music. But just don't go callin' it country." And if there's anyone who's familiar with the concept of real country, it's Price, whose prodigious talents saw him signed to Columbia Records back in 1951, and who moved in with friend and frequent collaborator Hank Williams in 1952.
In fact, it was Price who first helped Williams gain admission into the Grand Ole Opry, and Price's backing band -- the Cherokee Cowboys -- were formed from the remnants of Williams' own Drifting Cowboys. Besides a friendship and a bachelor pad, the two artists also shared a number of the same struggles over the course of their respective careers. Williams -- while alive, anyway -- had trouble being accepted by the pop music community, while Price drew the wrath of country purists for daring to cross over to the pop realm in the late 1960s.
"I knew they were wrong," says Price, of the radio and industry types who turned their backs on him in the wake of his smash hit Danny Boy, finding its soaring vocals and sweeping string section an affront to their good ol' boy sensibilities. "But it hurt for a few years." Price, who helped redefine the country landscape by pioneering the use of drums, 4/4 bass and a shuffle rhythm throughout the '50s and '60s, finds it easier to compartmentalize music as either good or bad.
That said, he's delighted to have found favour with a whole new generation of fans, thanks in large part to his recent Last of the Breed collaboration with Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. "Right now, people are so sick of hearing this new country, that they're putting up a wall," says Price. "They're going to where they know they can get the country music they're being denied.
" And the outspoken old-timer, whose rendition of Crazy Arms knocked Elvis Presley off the top of the charts in 1956, isn't opposed to rock 'n' roll, either -- just so long as it's good. Another thing you can count on? His current tour won't be his last.
"They might have to tote me off the stage," he laughs, when asked if he's ever given any thought to retirement. "Nah, I'm not gonna quit until I start singin' bad. that's when I'll know it's time.
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