As many of you may already be aware of, Country & Western singer Charley Pride passed away today (12/12/20) from COVID related complications. My condolences go out to his family and to those who knew him well.
I’ve been familiar with Pride all of my life, though I’ve honestly never taken the deep dive into his music that he deserves. The man was the country music’s first black superstar and, for a time, was the second highest grossing artist on the RCA label. Second only to Elvis Presley (more on him later).
I’d like to share a story that my grandparents used to tell me and my siblings about Charley. For a spell, my grandparents lived in a nearby North Dallas neighborhood and my grandmother taught Sunday school to Charley’s kids.
One day Charley was mowing his lawn when a woman came up to him and, mistaking him for a landscaper, asked him how much he was getting paid for his services. Without missing a beat, Charley replied “The lady inside lets me sleep with her!”
Charley then proceeded to mow the lady’s lawn for her (obviously at no charge).
Later on, Charley dropped by the house again to invite the woman and her family to a dinner at his house where the other guest was none other than his RCA label mate Elvis Presley, who apparently got a real kick out of the story.
(Please note that, over the years I have heard this story many times and, while I believe Elvis makes the most sense and seems to be the consensus of those who heard the story most often, there are some in my family who thought the guest was George Jones and I originally thought the guest was Willie Nelson. Regardless of who the guest actually was, Pride’s response to the situation is what speaks volumes and has always stuck with me.)