My chat with Charley Pride
business history. Although it is still unusual today for a black artist to make it big in the country music field (Darius Rucker is a current exception), in the 1960s, it was seemingly impossible.
He would later become the first black member of the Grand Ole Opry, a 2000 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has performed at the Super Bowl, the World Series, and at concert venues worldwide. There’s a Charley Pride Highway in his home state.
More than fifty years after his first hit, he’s still performing. His Chattanooga show will also feature Collin Raye and Sammy Kershaw. He’s proud to be headlining in 2017. “No brag, just fact,” he says. “After my shows, people tell me, Charley, you’ve still got it. You know how that makes me feel? They say I sound just like I did in the 60s, and I’m proud of that.”
He then sang a couple of his favorite songs to me, on the phone. Believe me, his fans are right: he’s still got it. “I give credit to the man above,” he said. He’s blessed me with a good voice, and a long, healthy life.”
“Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for playing Ray Charles, and Reese Witherspoon got one for playing June Carter Cash,” he said. “I’d like to see somebody win one for playing me.”
It is way past time his life was celebrated on the big screen. Come on Hollywood, let’s do this!
David Carroll, a Chattanooga news anchor, is the author of “Chattanooga Radio and Television” and “Volunteer Bama Dawg,” a collection of his best stories. Books are available at ChattanoogaRadioTV. com, or by sending $23 each to David Carroll Book, 900 Whitehall Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You may contact David at 3dc@epbfi.com.