Charley Pride Turns 70

Everyone made a big deal about Willie Nelson turning 75 yesterday. But you know who else just had a birthday? Dallas’ own Charley Pride. Did anyone notice? Zac did. Here’s the lead of a wonderful profile of Pride that Zac wrote for the June issue of the “print product”:

Charley Pride turned 70 on March 18. You should know this. Everyone should know this. When Johnny Cash hit that milestone in 2002, his record labels past and present staged a yearlong celebration. Virtually every album Cash had recorded up until that point was reissued, with previously unreleased songs included on the discs and glowing essays tucked into the CD booklets. Willie Nelson got the same treatment as he approached his 70th the next year. It was the proper way to celebrate the lives and legacies of two country music icons.

Charley Pride should have been treated to a similar celebration. He’s a country music icon, too. But RCA Records, his home for two decades, let March 18 pass without comment. No bonus tracks were unearthed. No appreciative treatises about his long and illustrious career were written. Nothing.

I don’t see any point in making folks wait till June. So we’re putting up the whole story now. Go read it.

photo by Allison V. Smith