Charlie Pride Made It In Country Music

[Music] i bought me a guitar from cesaro buck when i was about 14 years old i just love to emulate all the singers not realizing i was preparing myself for something like this when people say that life is rough i wonder compared to what i don't know what it would be like being chartered pride i know it's hard enough me being dolly part he said i want to do country music and he didn't think anything was strange about it just being able to say i'm accepted just like everybody else and people like me for who i am that's a very powerful statement and of itself he's one of the first people to go here's my talent let's celebrate that oh by the way i'm a black man it's an angel good morning no person of color had ever done what he was doing charlie pride being the only one and thinking about that and what that must have meant um sort of knocked me out [Music] me charlie pride's prolific career in country music is brimming with chart-topping hits and millions of album cells what isn't noticed on the album covers is his uncharted pathway to success breaking through country music's color barrier i knew he grew up as a country boy and i knew that we talked a lot about uh you know about our upbringing about how poor we were fetching water and growing our own food and having to you know raise the food deep in the heart of the south charlie pride was one of the 11 children born into a rural home of poor cotton pickers in sledge mississippi in 1934. your hometown abbott is bigger than my hometown sledge no yeah we were only 500 populations it was bigger than that maybe now but it wasn't back then it was like 300 and something but oh okay and the the population never changes you know because every time a baby is born a man leaves town charlie's mother tessie was gentle and supportive of her son's interest and ambitions while his father mac was often strict and harsh see cotton can open under the leaves and outside the leaves too i'm picking beside my dad and he's got two rows and i got two rows but i'm keeping right up with him you see this time i'm gonna beat him when we go to the scales so we get to the end of the rows they weigh mine took mine on put my dads up there i pointed 30 pound different i said it can't be i look back my rose was just as clean as his he said now son let me tell you something he said there's an art to everything they put young people in those fields 11 and 12 and 13 years old you had to carry the sack and you drag it along and it got heavier as the day went along and yes there's burrs in cotton in its baking sun and there's no relief we're always with sharecrop you know sharecropping wasn't too hot like if you own the land we make 10 bales you automatically got your five bales and we got ours but you're in a continuous cycle of debt all the time so you never got out of debt my dad he bought a field call radio and that's what we listen to when we go out to in the field did nobody handle the knobs on that radio but my dad the development of high wattage radio stations like wsm were incredibly influential on rural communities during the 1940s these new airwaves would fuel the imaginations of isolated communities radio was theater of the mind i'm sure as a kid he was sitting there with his eyes closed going i can be this i can be that his daddy did not like rhythm and blues he liked ernest tub roy acuff he listened to the grand meal opry that had a great bearing on charlie the grand ole opry started as a radio show the wsm barn dance in 1925 and just very quickly it became kind of the place to be and perform if you were anybody in this new genre of music devoured bailly was a harmonica player grew up in nashville and was called the harmonica wizard they recognized that deford bailey gave the opry this really important flavor his way of playing reminded the audience of stuff that was very much a part of their lives especially the pan-american blues where he made the harmonica sound like a train speeding up and rushing past and blowing the whistle also born into a family of sharecroppers the legendary jackie robinson would break the baseball color barrier in 1947 by becoming the first african-american player in the major leagues [Music] when jackie robinson went to the major leagues i was picking cotton beside my dad and i said to myself i said here's my way out of the cotton field there would not be ample resources for a young man to pursue a baseball career in charlie pride's situation in sledge mississippi at that time even with jackie robinson as a constellation to point to if you didn't have the necessary equipment you made it up you you roll that that sock and you you put that aluminum foil into that sock and you rolled it up and you took your mama's broomstick or whatever it was necessary the desire to compete was just as strong with the support of his mother tessie eighteen-year-old pride headed to memphis in search of a baseball career and made his debut in the iowa state league in 1952. through barnstorming and other opportunities people were being introduced to this professional brand of black baseball and so i think it absolutely fueled some dreams for some young people aspiring to play black men have been playing baseball around this country forever to play in the majors was always going to be a challenge that jackie robinson path was rough somehow charlie was born with baseball inside him he probably didn't know it when he was a kid but as soon as it had a chance to come out it was in there and it came out there were a lot more obstacles in front of mr pride's dream than there might have been mine or somebody from my generation so i didn't see a lot of rolls royces in that part of the country so you had to want to get there and you had to go for it segregation is segregation and the south was particularly brutal and i just feel like when you have a gift and people help you nurture that gift so that it can rise above because you didn't find a lot of charlie prides charlie quickly moved up to pitcher outfielder for the memphis red sox in the negro american league there he pitched well enough to get signed by the yankees class c team in boise idaho the baseball field was almost their sanctuary their challenges came traveling the highways and by ways of our country not knowing where they can stop to get a meal not knowing where they could use the restroom those were the hardships i think for charlie having played in the negro leagues perhaps toughened him many people argued that the negro leagues were actually full of more talent than major league baseball what i'd like to do is break all their records and said when they say who hit the most home run not babe rube charlie brad who's the last 400 hitter not ted williams charlotte pride that's what i would have liked to do in 1956 still pursuing his love of the game charlie returned to memphis for another season sporting a newly developed knuckle ball he went on to win 14 games make the all-star team pitching against baseball superstars willie mays hank aaron and ernie banks meeting lifelong baseball fan and love of his life roseanne cohen who was a little skeptical of her new suitor i didn't talk to him at first no so what i did i went and bought a record james bros it only hurts for a little while that's what they tell me and i call her back until i left a record over there she kept that record all the way up until i went in the army charlie's baseball career was interrupted in late 1956 when he received a draft notice and was ordered to report to fort chaffee arkansas for basic training did you miss me or what yeah oh he thought i was going to go out with somebody else because i would try to call and she wasn't they didn't answer i said i want to shout with somebody else they let me come home for christmas married on my dad's birthday december 28th with rosine and charlie being a team and an economic team they were following in a powerful black tradition of seeing partnerships marriages as vivid partnerships that are inclusive and mutually respectful as a teenager i said i would never marry a athlete or entertainer i got both in one never said [Music] of my never it sure is cold today and here i am walking down 66 wish he hadn't done me that way sleeping under a table in a roadside park a man could wake up dead but it sure seems warmer than it did just living in our king-sized after basic training charlie was stationed at fort carson colorado where he was assigned to quartermaster duty played on the fort's baseball team and sang at the officers club at night to entertain the troops released after 14 months and having never been deployed he rejoined the memphis red sox for one more baseball season but the compensation wasn't enough to support his growing family so charlie answered an ad in the sporting news he said baseball players capable of playing a ball right this time and i got a reply from missoula montana and he says get in as good of shape as you can i borrowed 400 and left 200 with her and took all in the early 60s charlie pride wanted to play for the missoula timberjacks a minor league baseball team he decided to drive all the way out there from memphis on his own when baseball is in your soul you just go to where you need to go so that you can keep playing it charlie was cut after just four games with the timber jacks at that time montana had the lowest african-american population in the united states but offered pride a chance to avoid the segregated south it gets a job and a smelting plant out there and the smelting plant kind of has a semi-pro baseball team which he joins and he's able to play baseball albeit not on the track to be in the major leagues the working conditions at the smelter were rough but spirits on the field and in the locker room were high after games the team would frequent local bars where charlie would be encouraged to pick up a guitar and sing a few songs life there led him to discover that music could transcend the worst of human nature his land lady hears him singing and thinks you're really talented singing between innings and so she gets him his first gig at a helena montana nightclub [Music] i started off by myself uh in a little club called the main tavern i'm making about 20 bucks a a beautiful day but she don't care about me i graduated from there to anaconda the guy said he'd pay me 40 bucks how to drive 80 miles from anaconda singing his club [Music] you have to do that apprenticeship you have to play the clubs at least in that era that was absolutely part of coming up with uh the grind and the that's putting in the ten thousand hours and you know how to reach an audience and how to handle hecklers [Applause] montana would probably be the most unlikely place to start a country music career but it worked for charlie pride merle haggard recalled once he had a concert in montana he needed an opening act and he got charlie pride to be his opening act i didn't like the cold cold weather but i loved the people there and kind of got ahead there in 1962 montana's local dj tiny stokes arranged for charlie to audition for a couple of well-known country music performers red foley and red sovine the reds were impressed and invited him to perform on stage later that night he said something to them to the effect could you tell those people back in nashville about me in 1963 during an uninvited tryout with the new york mets in clearwater florida charlie accepted that his childhood dream of a career in baseball was over i got the chance but i was so desperate i think i was so nervous and tried to look so good when i first got in camp so all in all i think that was a lot against me he got a bus ticket back home to montana with a stop in music city in nashville the civil rights movement was intensifying and charlie took a chance and knocked on doors to see if red so vine and red foley's endorsement of his music had gotten through charlie went to cedarwood publishing company and he speaks to a very nice lady on the front desk and he looks past her and he sees webb appears he had dominated this business at one time he said charlie practically leaped over her desk i said is that mr pills he said yeah then i speak to him and so i went and spoke to him and went back and said mr pierce my name is charlie pride and i'm from montana and i sing country music and i've come to sing for you and webb said well i'm not happy to meet you charlie but i do my own singing i said no no so i you know how you say something to say or i just remember it coming off like that webb pierce a country music star of the era was known for his silver dollar studied cars guitar-shaped swimming pools and 13 billboard chart topping singles webb told me that he called for one of the guys that worked there jack johnson he said take this kid down to the studio and record him and i'll listen to the tape after a quick demo recording session johnson surprised by the characteristics in charlie's voice he said sing in your natural voice charlie responded this is my natural voice recognizing the precarious but enormous opportunity jack johnson offered to manage pride's career and personally drove him back to nashville bus station to ensure he would knock on any other doors on music row when i got back home there was a contract wait to be a black kid coming to nashville the civil rights movement was in full swing you know the sit-ins and and all the protests that were going all over the country and start knocking on doors of country music labels saying i want to sing country music and that's huge he had turned me over to jack clement they picked out seven songs to give to me when i come through nashville when jack starts producing me jacqueline he says who is charlie fry what what do you want i said well i want to go in the studio and make as good of records as i can go out on stage and do them even better get my own publishing come he said i got a publishing company i said yeah but you asked me what did i want to do i said dude i'm telling you well he said might be your downfall what i knew about jack clement was jack was one of those guys that if he thought the odds were against him that made him happier than if they were for him [Music] well i moved here in the 60s and at that time there wasn't a whole lot of players here there was a couple of bands full or two or three but uh there was not nearly the players here then as there are now but there were some real good ones and some good studios and things were happening pretty good in the 60s actually that's when i first did charlie pride he chose most all of the things that we recorded especially way up into just about all the while we were together but he would always let me give my opinion on which song i like or didn't like cowboy jack clement was the perfect producer for mr pride that stretch of records that cowboy jack clement and mr pride made together along with nashville's finest musicians and the songs as the centerpieces of those things they they're all masterful events what you saying just between you and me for me yes we'll dedicate this to cowboy jack clement so i feel so blue sometimes i want to die and so i've got a broken heart so what they say that time will heal all bones in mice and men cowboy jack would be responsible for launching some of the most unique musical careers including george jones waylon jennings and johnny [Music] johnny cash probably got cowboy on the right rails to produce charlie because it was a low voice had a lot of dimension it had a lot of overtones and nuances there isn't a lot of road work between charlie pride's heart and his vocal cords it's a that's a straight and narrow shot at the railroad station there's people getting known some are going north and some are going south i'm just going to be gone some people are born to be taken others just want to give some people ill just to love but i just love to live to be exactly what you see [Music] nothing i just [Music] if an artist had his own sound and style with a band and they were cooking i want to get that in the studio i've always tried to deal with artists in terms of where they're at what their music is right now and the studio is like where you started going and harvest it this is gloria green which when i first went in the studio he was jack clement's number one steel player and mine for a long time the musicians quite frankly were as important as the artist in those days they were contributory to the success or the sound of the record jack clement he was a character i had only had been in the studio maybe once or twice in my life when he said to jack johnson he said i think he's ready chet atkins a powerhouse producer guitar virtuoso and rising executive at rca's country music division became convinced to pride's potential chet called and said have you done anything with it and i i hate to use the term but that's what he said that colored boys songs and jack said no i'm pitching him though i might have a deal coming up and chad said well bring it by and let me hear it one more time he said you know i might be passing up another elvis chet atkins had to be a visionary to be the one to say i'm going to sign this person i know what this is probably going to mean but i think that chet really saw the gift and he took it out to monterey california all the big wigs and i looked all them looked around and said you saw a good voice it was me see now i don't know what he said he's covered or he showed the picture but it's it was like a pause you know unanimously they said we're gonna release the record we ain't gonna say nothing and that's what they did they said you're gonna be in the rca i said is that good and they laugh about it now this is the biggest label in the world just as branch rickey integrated major league baseball with jackie robinson chet atkins was determined to integrate country music with his new artists that's what they say [Applause] when the sun goes presuming the country music djs would be skeptical about playing a black artist on their stations in 1966 rca released charlie's first single without the standard promotional photo and biography if there was anything the country music business dreaded more than controversy it was a bad investment i was a disc jockey in mobile alabama and i'd gotten some rumors that what we were going to get you know a record from a black guy that sang country music and you know we didn't have any records of black guys so the fact that there simply was no knowledge there was not the mass communications there was no video there was no pictures the day that his music first came out they didn't put his picture on and so djs were playing his music all around the country and then when he went on the radio tour on television they're like oh well we didn't know that while on stage at the big d jamboree in dallas willie nelson had kissed charlie right on the lips in front of a packed house the indelible kiss along with the endorsement of other top country musicians helped charlie win over his new audience it's willy's way of saying if i'm kissing him on the lips you've got to be okay with listening to him oh you do it so well jack johnson my one and only manager i ever had he said charlie so we're going to nashville you're going to have to get by some folks everybody had told me that how the national music community reacted or accepted charlie pratt or didn't accept him was based on how fair and young reacted to him known as the hillbilly heartthrob and as an outspoken heart ass fair and young was one of country music's most successful and colorful characters we were playing pool one night in feren's place i think some bars and the governor tennessee was there farron had run the table down so just had one ball left the eight ball which is about this far from the pocket so he was talking about what a great friend the governor was you know and how proud and honored he was to have him in his place and and he said here governor make that ball for me and the governor missed it and he said well you walleyed son of a he said that yeah to the governor farron was a feisty little guy who got in fights he was unpredictable he was pretty redneck if he liked charlie then everybody was going to like charlie we get to nashville we go all these bars looking for him we finally found him see when you meet baron young he's probably going to be the n-word and everything jack ran up he said baron he says don't you meet charlie pry his shoulders went like that she's probably proud to sing a fine song i said you do too we did about maybe two or three songs a piece or something like that he he said you know what here i am singing with a jig and don't mind it no no that's what he said i said i see i said i was waiting for you to say the big one i said i was going to say you little pucker mount bounty rooster charlie pride must have an incredible ability to let things go and shrug things off his shoulders that would would or choke another person charlie's ability to win over audiences one by one was a combination of the early advice from his mother and his experiences in montana he remained steadfast and let his music be the vaccine to possible prejudices i didn't hear that much about it other than what i would hear in the papers or just somebody making a a deal about how could they let a black man be in country musical why not dolly parton had a pretty good way of disarming everybody before they could say a word or she knew what they were thinking and that it was her job to make him think that then she was her job to make him you know think another way and mr pride i think had a lot of that same genius about him but just between you and me i've got my doubts about it but just between you and me you're too much to forget with charlie's third single just between you and me breaking the top 10 on the country charts the pride team of cowboy jack chet atkins and jack johnson were ready to put charlie on the road charlie pride's first big stage show was in detroit he had three singles out but people didn't know he was black his name was announced and there's this huge amount of applause then he steps into the spotlight silence the day i introduced charlie pride in detroit has remained in my memory to this day i remember charlie coming out he didn't attempt to sing at first he had his guitar strapped over his shoulder he was kind of like this and he put his arms up on his guitar and he said i realize i've got that permanent tan but my name is charlie pride and i am from mississippi my daddy was a farmer down there and uh i've seen country music and i want to entertain you if you'll let me then he started singing the applause came back [Music] if i can get in front of them they don't care nothing about no pigmentation tied to a big tall tree and my mama and me the clock free papa jumps to his feet already mama cooking papa something to me [Music] that never did happen i've never had one cat called iota like jackie robinson went through my whole career this very moment when that question is asked and i say no i haven't i get that i can't believe look up you got to be kidding me i don't believe you he was accepted by audiences his career blossomed very rapidly once they started putting records out on rca before the end of the year charlie released his first full album that was a decision to call me country charlie pride i think that was a a point too to to emphasize fully that i wasn't by looking at the pigments it wasn't no fluke or that sort of thing at that time if you really wanted to hit the big time you came through me i laughed to myself they put on the record country charlie pride and i'm sure that they want all the disc jockeys to know that he was a country singer it's just one of those wonderful country records of the era that defined country music when it didn't require more than one definition it's crazy the cowboy jack at that time would go this could work you know it's crazy to think but the thing that charlie had that was undeniable and he still has was that voice oh the snakes call ignite that's what they say when the sun goes down then the snakes will play games he would just pick songs that were different and unusual like who would have thought of the snake squirrel at night you know talking about just wild mean people getting out doing terrible things country music hadn't included a single african-american performer since steve ford bailey life and inspiration would come full circle with charlie's debut performance on the grand ole opry stage january 1967. ernest tub brought me on the stage i was scared it really wasn't until he walked out on the opry stage and i think that audience saw him for the first time see they called mama reed and my daddy jackson a little baby brother on the floor that's nice i know it was a big time for him it meant a lot to him probably more than he would have even said because that is what he grew up with but still guitar player and friend lloyd greene by his side charlie made his network tv debut on one of the top prime time variety shows we think you will enjoy our special guest this evening a gentleman who really knows how to sing country songs charlie pride let's give him a nice welcome [Music] [Applause] [Music] american music is made up of gospel country in the blues those three and i think each one borrowed from the other over the years that i've grown up and listened to the music and i know that someday i'll forget and look again but just between you and me i've got my doubts about it cause just between you and me you're too much to forget on april 4th 1968 dr martin luther king was assassinated while supporting striking workers in memphis tennessee african americans across the country were rallying memorials and marches were punctuated by sporadic violence tanks passed through the neighborhood streets of nashville the grand ole opry canceled its first performance in 43 years and charlie pride scheduled to perform contemplated what to do i was in big springs texas i was touring with a guy by the name of guy mitchell we were at the hotel and it came down that it happened guy mentioned when he heard he said ah i can't go we're sold out this is on me am i going to go and do the show i said i'm going to do the show i got me a cab on the way out to the show the dispatcher told the driver he said they got him that's uh martin luther king said he said yeah really so i got one here i'm taking to a show right now i got one here so i didn't say a word i got out of the cab i got on stage nobody said nothing but they it i got a standing ovation i didn't say nothing about nothing pertaining to what had happened but it was hanging there what had happened and me the only one there with these pigmentation you don't forget nothing like that by 1969 charlie was celebrating the number one billboard country single are you doing everything i have is standing here in front of you to see [Music] all i have to offer you is me after it's amazing seller and everybody loves it and so i'm talking about well it's that voice sticking out that gave it a little extra fullness fact that he's saying so much better than so many of the good country artists were at the time them good old white boys and charlie just really gave them a run for their money it scared them people around here get scared sweetheart i'll give you all my love in every way i can but make sure that's what you want while you're still free in elvish were so significant to rca records that they paid careful attention because they were selling millions of records while acclimating to the lifestyle that comes with being on the road and touring internationally charlie was hospitalized after experiencing bouts of paranoia insomnia and confusion first i didn't have no idea what it was and it started in germany over to entertain the troops and i thought i just was overworked you know i stayed up doing two shows a night sometime he got a startling diagnosis bipolar disorder they told us but he didn't accept it and it took a couple of episodes when he became very manic and then he realized that he had to take the medicine there have been many people who have come to us and said i decided to take my medicine because you did fame can take you out there and dance in a strange way sometimes and it's wonderful to have somebody at home to go we need to go to the car watch you know and let's see about this and but i applaud him for taking those steps because you know just to exist in this business you know it's a full-time squirrel job with the closest major airport 90 miles from their home in helena a growing international tour schedule and a family of five charlie desired to simplify charlie said everywhere i go i gotta leave a day early because i have two or three stops flights and i can't make it work in the same way getting back and i want to move to some place he didn't want to move to nashville i suggested they ought to consider dallas when he went off to texas he staged his campaign from down there from behind his own curtain and i thought that was pretty splendid that was pretty wise it's good to have you know a place of retreat where you can see things clearer the country music male vocalist of the year is charlie pride the 70s started with the run of awards and string of hit records that would catapult charlie into bonafide super stardom in 1971 he would release his soon-to-be signature song you've got to here's an [Music] throughout the 1960s and 70s country artists like johnny cash patsy cline tammy wynette and charlie pride would achieve a new level of success by crossing over into the pop charts charlie was a country act he didn't get played on pop radio until he had a song called kissing angel good morning which was a huge record for him in the pop world morning charlie's faith and spirituality would present itself on his two-time grammy award-winning album did you think to pray [Music] we relate in the same way to god we've talked about that a lot too we don't believe you have to cram it down somebody else's throat i mean if it's working for you personally then that should be how you relate to god everybody should do it in their own way my bride i called my bride she said why don't you call dolly parton and see if she got a good gospel son i said i'm not gonna call dolly she well i'll do it that's a true story she called me to say that he loved my song god's coloring book and he said would you let me record it i said only if you let me sing it with you i'm the multicolored rainbow stretched across the sky and the purple haze at sunset just before the night and the more i [Music] he understands god he knows what what he's doing here why he's put here where he's going and that's always good place to be he is all around me he's everywhere i look and each new day is over the years i've just admired her so much she's a songwriter businesswoman i mean the whole bit man like i said on stage and she's rich too recognizing the multiple talents of his contemporaries charlie set out to put his skills to use and conquer the business side of country music i always wanted to be as good a businessman as i was entertaining jack johnson but we were the best one-two punch managing artist in the business we thought about starting a publishing company and he was a gemini and i was pisces so we call it pie gym in our world there's songwriting and then there's publishing if you're a writer artist both of them are incomes for you so you know why not start a publishing company and hire some songwriters and make some money off some songwriters and it was a genius meal for him i think he respected what they did and he wanted to cultivate that so you got a little money why not buy into something that you love i said i noticed a long time into my career that i wasn't a songwriter charlie pride with his talent probably enhanced a lot of songs while he was recording them by making the lyric more him or making it work better and not took any credit either but that again that's what great artists do over the span of his 50-year career charlie amassed more than 52 top 10 country hits and went on to sell tens of millions of records worldwide i'm a very blessed person i'm telling you i've got to i record about 400 and some songs 497 to be exact if you did them all you'd be up here 24 hours and 38 minutes i'll pull out some other stuff to show you i got all this japanese i don't read japanese and this is a hong kong issue of your very first album i think i showed you this once before that's yellow vinyl they misspelled here the sankey's crawl at night s-a-n-k-e-s [Music] this is from chili chili with our twitter memory you're my jamaica dallas cowboys that's that that was a good that was a good cut down on the farm let a little love come in best there is love on a blue rainy day every rca single yeah jimmy carter had all those made now i won't first crack it if you know if you go before i do and we'll work out something it's like a children's book but it just it's just talks about him that papa there when he was in the cotton fields back home it reminds me of what i don't ever want to go back to doing because it hurt my fingers and my back and my knees and it goes like that when i was a little [Music] going back and listening to all the songs that i recorded they much much better than i thought they were when i was doing it i mean it's it's just that i listened i did pretty good i worked with him and a special when we did country at the white house it was the first african-american president and here we had with first african-american artists in country music on the bill welcome to the white house tonight we celebrate country music we are thrilled and honored to be joined by brad paisley and charlie pride playing the white house for the first african-american president with really the first sort of mega successful african-american country music singer who had been a friend of mine since i was a teenager it was very poetic that you can't pick a very much cotton fields back home guess it they both are down in louisiana just about [Music] charlie's a fighter for what he's not afraid to kind of do things his own way kind of be a a trailblazer when i was a little bitty baby my mommy put a rock me in the dorado in their mood hot and feels like a home yes when i was a little bitty baby my mommy would rock me in the cradle in [Music] charlie pride might not have made it to the baseball hall of fame at cooperstown but ironically when the country music hall of fame was first established in the 60s they used cooper's town as the model charlie might not have gotten his dream to be in cooperstown being in the hall of fame is right up there charlie's unique contribution to country music has continually been recognized receiving the academy of country music's pioneer award a trumpet award which celebrates african americans who achieve greatness being inducted into the grand ole opry having a charlie pride star added to the hollywood walk of fame and receiving a lifetime achievement award alongside the father of country music jimmy rogers whose music filled pride's childhood home on that old field co radio back in sledge mississippi everything he's accomplished as a human being and as a singer and as a groundbreaking uh african-american country singer we're talking about a person that deep down was the most helpful and kind of anyone that i that i met i think the history books unfairly will mostly note that charlie pride was a great country singer who was african-american you can take off the african-american part he's one of america's great country stars he is americana personified he is exactly what an american master should be he is a true traditional country singer and he's sincere about it and he loves what he's doing that's what he is that's what he wants to be remembered as one of the country singers who was truly loyal to the business he loves other country artists exactly want to see nobody knows how charlie pride felt in this town with this [Music] dream he had a plain country music where there wasn't a lot of charlie brides in country music and i i just got to say that that's a fight i can't even give you an answer for or relate to i don't know if he sees himself as this modern-day hero the way that the rest of us see him because i think we understand the magnitude of what it was that he was able to accomplish and whether or not he sees himself as a pioneer we all too i can't imagine what it was like you know 30s and 40s were such a tough time for african americans can imagine a sledge mississippi what that was like tough as it was it made him see the world in a very unique and beautiful way there are still a lot of people growing up in mississippi who need to know that story of what charlie pride did in music and what he represents there are people in mississippi today who don't know that story still we have to keep reaching out and reminding the young men and women of the state every generation that there is hope there's always been a handful of people with global appeal that was beyond just the face value of the culture of country music mr pride is absolutely one of those folks all i do is [Music] i can't imagine anybody with her eyes shut listening to a pair of speakers when that man starts singing you don't go oh my god that's an artist right there and it's a country music you bet your ass is country music that's the career you want when you're starting music you want a career that's lasted decades and you've had your your shining moments and and when you're on the back end of that career people still want to come hang out with you this fellow that took a chance he wound up with 69 chart records 52 in the top 10 and 29 number one records a lot of people raised like charlie pride the same background as charlotte pride but didn't become that other why you stand beside me i don't know [Music] there's so many places a girl like you could go i hope you see enough in me to make you wanna stay [Music] cause it seems i'm always standing in my way as a black man looking up to the only black male in country music was a huge thing for me i see country music opening up to a lot more diversity and cultural differences thank you for not quitting thank you for being courageous because you have inspired me to step out and join the country music family he's like hank senior he's like willie he's like dolly he's just part of the history and part of what's important in country music the biggest legacy is left behind a cache of music that is just awesome that's divine it's it's it's it's country music royalty what jack clement used to tell me he says charlie he says the songs we recorded now said 50 years from now they're going to be going to him and we're going to be wanting it they're going we want you to sing them and he's just about spot on i'm always there wherever i am they're between what i'm reaching for and the fingers on mine [Music] but it seems i'm always

Channel: Classic Country Music Medic SVG

Views: 289,923

Keywords:

Id: DzNb-dm8rSc

Length: 52min 3sec (3123 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 20 2020