R.I.P. country singer Ray Price

Country singer Ray Price has died at the age 87, after suffering from pancreatic cancer. Though Price might not have the mass-market name recognition of someone like Johnny Cash or Merle Haggard, Price was one of the most influential honky-tonk singers in country music. He landed 100 songs on the country charts throughout his career, including “Release Me,” “Crazy Arms,” “Night Life,” and “You’re The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me.” Price was inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1996, and had continued to work and tour up until his final days.
Price was born in Perryville, Texas in 1926, and began singing for Abilene, Texas radio station KRBC when he was 22. He moved to Nashville in the early ‘50s and lived with Hank Williams, who would later lobby for Price’s induction into the Grand Ole Opry.
In 1953, Price formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Members included Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck, Roger Miller, Darrell McCall, Van Howard, and others. Miller would go on to write a hit for Price, 1958’s “Invitation To The Blues,” and Nelson would write another, “Night Life.” Together with his group, Price developed a signature sound, the “Ray Price Shuffle,” which features a 4/4 beat, walking bassline, and single-string fiddle, and can be heard on tracks like “Crazy Arms,” a track so popular that it stopped the country charts for five months in 1956.