Composers have been on the basis of European music since the Meiji era (since 1870s) and songwriters have written Japanese lyrics to the music with great pains. These craftsmen have provided songs for singers, and then singers have introduced them, having kept to unique deliveries including 'kobushi' vibrato. Although Enka, one of traditional music genres in Japan, had been born fresh and had been popular by itself, as time goes by it has come to a standstill and has become old-fashioned in its style and structure. Despite it, the dwellers in the Enka field have still stuck to the closed world for their living. I can remember classic or jazz had trodden such a path, and I also have such an impression on American country music. However, in the country scene some have worked for its revitalization : as country is the music put stress on strings like guitar, banjo or fiddle, it has made some exchanges with rock or pops. Moreover, now country is also sold by the appearances of macho nice-guy brothers or pretty and tough sisters. it is far more vigorous than Japanese Enka. Charley Pride, I take up here, is rather a symbol of country's 'closed world', though, he has been in quite a peculiar position.
When I got interested in music it was the golden age of the hit parade programs on the radio or TV, and I felt like being influenced in the Kayou-kyoku hits' coming into and going out of vogue. Some Enka tunes, which joined in these programs, made me feel a sense of incongruity and I had such a feeling more strongly when I saw them on the TV programs with the audience inside. Idol singers used to take loud cheers and Enka persons used to take some reactions as if cold air were flowing in as soon as they appeared. However, I still remember the melodies of Enka and such experiences in my childhood may give me some influences for the lest of my life. This should not be only for me. Charley Pride was a black man born in Mississippi of the south, so he should have met with church gospel or street-corner blues. But the radio stations of 1940s and early 50s in his young days were aired mostly for the whites and then country radio was his favorite. Percy Sledge, a southern soul singer of When a Man Loves a Woman fame, also used to listen to country stations, though, Percy went to soul music by forming doo-wap groups or doing something and Charley didn't do so. It was because, I guess, he had not aimed to be a singer from the start, not to mention that he has a deep baritone voice more suit for country. It is said that he had been a promising baseball player in the Negro League and had tried to get in the major. After his injury and collapse, he became a zinc smelter in Montana of the Northwest for the support of his family and began struggling for a singing career in Nashville.
Social advance of the black in the '60s was accompanied with civil rights movement and inter-racial friction. So Charley Pride, "a first successful black country singer ever", seems to be told in the context . According to the liner-notes of his compilation bests, however, his story is concluded chiefly with his simple love of country music and his voice convincing country fans almost dominated by the white. It's true that the tunes of his hayday from the late 60s to the early 70s are traditional country backed by strings and are nothing of curious compositions or lyrics. In addition, if he had been actively involved in the civil rights movement, the country field should have looked out for it excessively and should not have accepted him. Although I have said above, there are often some walls at the beginning. According to episodes of his debut, folks took strange cares not to present him on the stage or to publicity, or not to pick up lyrics for him particularly implying that a black man lures a white woman (his debut tune Snakes Crawl at Night was about a poor man who killed his wife during an affair with another man). He had a natural country voice in high quality. That was why those folks like Chet Atkins, a guitarist and man of figure at the corporate RCA, felt like supporting him.
It is said that there were many blacks who listened and sang country when Charlie Pride was a child. But today various radio stations play various songs. Little blacks should hit upon an idea of making their own living by singing country which is not the taste of those around them. And people in the music buziness could little afford to take care of black country singers who are hard to plan to be on sale. Almost none of black country persons have been successful since Charley Pride. That means his existence was not the least of serial matters. The atmosphere of tolerance in the late '60s, like "We accept what should be accepted", overlapped his existence which will be seen more scarcely.
Charley Pride's compilation bests like "RCA Country Legends" or "The Essential Charley Pride" contain orthodox strings-ridden country tunes, which should ease your mind earnestly with his stable baritone. His live recording of Hank Williams Sr.'s Kaw-Liga holds the audience spellbound with his relaxing and spreading voice, which is different from the original Hank's sentimental and thrilling strain. His own hits like All I Have to Offer You (Is Me), Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger, I'd Rather Love You have story-telling lyrics of country origin and he delivers them courteously. Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone, Wonder Could I Live There Anymore or Kiss an Angel Good Mornin' are fairly pop and joyful. Mississippi Cotton-Delta Town reflects his poor childhood but he sings as if he simply recalls the good past. His Busted, Ray Charles has once read, is accompanied with heavy fiddles and reminds me that it is a country tune. 'The closed world' needs music which is neither fresh nor exciting but as easy as it had been. If you want comfort of 'listening easy' before you seek any meaning in music, you will find it in Charley Pride. As for me, I am still stuck to rock or soul and I sometimes feel weary with it, though. (2005/07/10)(2007/08/04)