Those who I have mentioned here are not always genuine "drinkers". I know the name "drinker" should suit someone whom I want to pick up (sorry !), however, the next man who goes back from outlaws and Bakerfield in the context of hard-edged country music family tree is Ray Price, thanks to his huge influence. "Ray Price beat (shuffle)" from the mid-50s to the early 60s brought dancing cheerfulness and liveliness to country music in the era of rock'n'roll rising. The style from the introduction of fiddle counting "one, two" or "one, two, three" to the ending was so perfected that Ray Price himself was converted to standard ballad singer, after his trial and error for escaping from the style. Although there were arguments pro and con about his conversion, his tenor is still friendly and significant. His 2-disc compilation covering from '50 to '80 "The Essential Ray Price" or the compilation of his pre-ballad years "The Essential Ray Price 1951-62" tells you the transition of his music and voice.
Ray Price was born in a small village of Texas and stayed in Dallas in his youth except for military service. He polished his skill at the clubs and appeared on the radio or TV and cut some sides like Jealous Lies. He was then dubbed "the Cherokee Cowboy" by a radio station. And then he moved to Nashville and take a contract with major label Columbia. At first he was sort of disciple of Lefty Frizzell and sang Frizzell's If You're Ever Lonely Darling. And he made friends with Hank Williams. He was treated as a younger brother of Hank : not only living together with Hank but singing Hank's Weary Blues (From Waiting), having a hit of Talk to Your Heart with the help of Hank's Drifting Cowboys, or joining the Grand Ole Opry through the good offices of Hank. At last Ray filled in for Hank when he couldn't play and inherited the Drifting Cowboys after Hank died in '53. He had another hits like Release Me or I'll be There (If You Ever Want Me) . The hauntng image of Hank Williams are reflected on them clearly. Ray began pursuing his own music and said a goodbye with the Drifting Cowboys.
In '56 he had a huge hitCrazy Arms with a pop chart success. This song was backed by Ray's own band the Cherokee Cowboys and produced by Don Law who was concerned with Ray since his debut at Columbia until the 70s. What greatly changed him from the mere Hank Williams follower was as follows : Hank's way of emotional singing, sometimes moving to falsetto and trembling, was replaced by Ray's own clear and neat way. And then chorus got along with Ray's voice. And then rhythms got to be emphasized even if there were no drums. This tune and its flip side You Done Me Wrong poured new blood into honky tonk. The blood also contains light-hearted and joyful Western Swing of the 40s. And as you see I've Got a New Heartache や My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You、Curtain in the Window、Invitation to the Blues、City Lights、Heartaches by the Number、The Same Ole Me、One More Time, his music gradually got to be more confortable and buoyant with the back beat of drums and the revving-up of shuffle beat. These tunes might be said as monotonus like a Kintaro candy (Japanese stick candy which you can see a picture of someone's face anywhere you want to cut). But it cannot be denied that this style was so irresistible and enormously influential.
His music style faced a turning about when the influence of "Ray Price beat" calmed in the 60s. Walk Me to the River got stepped out of country; his shuffle rhythm is as it has been but steeped in strings and his voice becomes as clear as standard singers. And finally he put himself in the unique place of "standard balladeer in the country music scene" on and after Make the World Go Away in '63. Sometimes you can hear country instruments like fiddles, however, you also find he sings along with luxurious and elegant orchestra and his singing style changes suddenly. Those who loved his honky tonk should have not hidden their feeling of perplexity. Despite it, he totally met a greater success than the era of "Ray Price beat" in the 70s, with pop hits like For the Good Times written by Kris Kristofferson, I Won't Mention It Again, I'd Rather be Sorry or You're the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me , written by Jim Weatherly and also sung by Gladys Knight.
Unexpectedly, outlaw Willie Nelson also has such a tendency toword standards. Willie, who appeared at Ray's recordings around '60, and Ray co-wrote I've Just Destroyed the World , with the usual shuffle beat and the pure standard voice. Ray Price version of Night Life, which was also the unique blues among Willie's readings, is so strange that you can find sort of meeting of standards and country and the blues in a fog. Faded Love in '80, a duet with Willie, who managed to win a success with outlaw country, is originally a Western Swing tune of Bob Wills, who is the origin of "Ray Price beat". This ballad, rare for Bob Wills who played joyful dance tunes so well, is interesting for the contrast between Ray's balladeer style and Willie's unsettled style. The recent collaboration of Willie and Ray and Merle Haggard, "Last of the Breed" in 2007, tells you about the mutual respect, not the fusion, of a bearer of "contrypolitan", well-orchestrated Nashville sound, and successors of honky tonk and western swing. It happened when Ray Price was over eighty. Any musician seeks his own music and finally arrives in his favorite. Contemporaries of Ray Price often arrives in standard ballads. What he did might be a challenge in a sense. (2010/01/05)