Today we lost a Great American country music singer who broke new ground in the 1960s
Mr .Charlie Pride Mar 18, 1938 -December 12, 2020

Eternal Rest grant him, O Lord, and let Perpetual Light shine upon him.

I love his voice. You always know with the first note if he’s singing.

and of course, complications from covid was the cause of death ... actually was a tad surprised he was 86...thought maybe 5-6 years younger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw7VYF8hM8s

Yep. alot are bashing the AMCs for even having the awards, that was his last place to sing, Nov 11th

This is just another reason why I can’t wait for 2020 to be over.

May he RIP.

Okay, I have nothing against Charlie Pride, but what exactly is "groundbreaking' about his work? Is it just that he was a black guy singing ostensibly 'white' music? If so, isn't that really condescending and even racist? What about Ray Charles, who started performing country music in 1962 and stayed in that genre until 1986? I can assure you that Charlie Pride is far from the only black guy who grew up listening to the Grand Ol Opry.

It’s “Charley,” folks. Not “Charlie.” I really wasn’t going to “be that person,” but I really thought folks would have caught on by now. If y’all are gonna keep on about how great he was (and he was great), at least spell his name right!

perhaps you can answer my question about what was 'groundbreaking' about his music? I'm no expert but I have heard a few of his songs and they sound like the 'Nashville style' that was popular in the late 60's and early 70s. But he was more innovative than I am aware of

I think there are others more qualified than I to answer, but Charley Pride was groundbreaking because he was the first black member of the Grand Ole Opry since founding member DeFord Bailey, achieving this in a time before such accomplishments were cheapened as a result of selection committees suddenly becoming “woke.” His voice was distinctive; as I mentioned before, you can tell it’s Charley Pride’s voice when you hear his first note.

It’s funny that you say his music “sound[s] just like the Nashville style...” because he’s always been considered a country/pop crossover artist, rather than the usual Country/Western. His influences are reflective of his native Texas and Montana, where he lived and performed before being signed by RCA Victor. In fact, the only country artist to sell more records for RCA Victor than Pride was Elvis Presley.

That's exactly what the Nashville style is! Perhaps you're not familiar with the term? It refers to a trend in the late 60s and early 70s to incorporate pop music stylings into country music. It really came from the country albums by Ray Charles, 'Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music volumes 1 and 2' which were wildly popular with country music audiences of the time, and every country artist adopted his style from those albums. This is why the popularity of country music exploded during that time period, reaching its peak around 1980. The counter-attack came from Willie Nelson et al and the 'outlaw' movement, who stripped out the pop music stylings to try to return country music to its primitive roots.

Local music historians would choose to disagree with you, doom: https://theculturetrip.com/north-americ ... lle-sound/

The Nashville sound comes from Ray Charles' country albums, he incorporated big band and other pop stylings into many country standards by Hank Williams, Ernest Tubbs etc, it is a very ornate, poppy style, lots of orchestration, complex production values etc just like the pop music of the time.

But you seem to have confirmed what I suspected, that Pride was 'groundbreaking' because he was black, but that seems to minimize the significance of his accomplishments.

I've known about him for decades, but never listened to anything by him. So today I listened to a good 2 hour mix of his music on Pandora, and I have to say that I liked it. He was a good singer, and assuming that he wrote at least some of the songs I heard (I'm sure that like any country artist he did his share of covers) then he was an excellent song writer as well. He certainly wasn't popular due to his race. It is obviously true that he was lucky that he began his career right around the time that the Civil Rights movement started making advances, meaning that white audiences were more open to him than they might have been in 1940 or 1950 when black musicians were largely ignored by white audiences. He was lucky to be treated the same as his white colleagues, being invited to the Grand Ol Opry and even making an appearance on Hee Haw. He probably did experience discrimination at some points, but it didn't limit him. He definitely beneffited from the fact that he rose at a less prejudiced time so white country fans were more willing to accept him, but to call him 'groundbreaking' because of his race seems almost insulting.

You clearly chose to put your own spin on what I wrote. To call Charley Pride groundbreaking because of his race is indeed insulting. My whole point is that he achieved what he did. He didn’t do it because he was black, nor did he get where he got because he was black. He was a success who just happened to be black unlike today, when the first thing people want to know is one’s race or other “protected minority” status — or lack thereof.