The 100th Birthday of Ray Price Celebrated in Austin

Not all birthday bashes are built the same. When you’re paying tribute to a country legend on their 100th birthday, you pull out all the stops, or at least that’s what the current Queen of Texas music Summer Dean did on January 11th at Sagebrush in Austin. Summer rounded up some of the best traditional country talent in town and beyond, put an incredible band behind them, and did the legacy of Ray Price right for the revelers who assembled Sunday afternoon.

“We all did this because we love traditional country music, and we’ll do anything to keep it alive!” Summer Dean proclaimed from the stage, and that’s what the audience witnessed as a carousel of crooners cycled in front of a hot shit house band singing the songs of Ray Price as two-steppers twirled away on the Sagebrush dance floor.

The top line talent assembled included Theo Lawrence who recently signed with Warner Records, throwback singer Eliza Thorn who turned in a spectacular version of ‘Night Life,” Rhode Island’s Tyler-James Kelly who was in town and did “Just Destroyed” justice, Austin’s honky tonk sweetheart Kathryn Legendre, and cosmic cowboy Garrett T. Capps from San Antone, who surprised a few by breaking out the fiddle while playing “I’ll Be There” and “Pride.”

The second portion of the presentation included the incomparable Jake Penrod who puts the old soul magic on everything he sings, the ravishing Brennen Leigh who they smartly saved “Funny How Time Slips Away” for, The Queen of Sagebrush Paige Plaisance who performed “Make The World Go Away,” throwback country artist Christopher Seymore whose hair was almost as impressive as his rendition of “New Heartache,” and the recently-unretired 2nd incarnation of George Jones, the one and only Jason James, who closed the shindig out with “Crazy Arms.”

You couldn’t be a lightweight and take the stage Sunday afternoon. Ray Price was iconic for his incredible country music crooning, and that’s what each player brought to the stage. Just as much as the singers, the stand-in Cherokee Cowboys were lights out, including two fiddler players—Katie Shore and Blake Whitmire who both also sang multiple songs—as well as the double steel/lead guitar accompaniment of Kevin Skrla and Caleb Melo—two of the best on the planet.

At the Sagebrush in Austin Sunday afternoon, it was like the Golden ’60s of country music never ended. The two-steppers were out in force, as were a lot of other Austin country musicians wanting to show their support for the memory of Ray. Steelradio.org was also there, as was a tattoo artist inking Ray Price-specific tattoos, along with custom “Everyday I’m Shuffling” merch available to mark the occasion.

Summer Dean had played a packed headlining show at Gruene Hall just the night before, but stood on her head to make it all come to life. Ray Price passed away in 2013. But he was brought back in spirit on Sunday through the uncommon showcase of talent.

The 100th birthday of Ray Price is officially being observed on Monday, January 12th—the day he was born in 1926.

See more photos below. To see video clips of the performances, check out Saving Country Music on Instagram.

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Ray Price was born in Perryville, TX and served in the United States Marine Corps for 3 years before joining the “Big D Jamboree” show in Dallas in 1949. He then went on to manage Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboy band after the untimely death of Hank in 1952. In 1953, Ray Price formed his own band, the Cherokee Cowboys, which had many notable members over the years, including Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, Johnny Paycheck, Johnny Bush, and steel guitar player Buddy Emmons amongst others.

Ray scored his first #1 hit in 1956 with “Crazy Arms,” and later became seminal to the 1960’s “Nashville Sound,” scoring a total of eight #1’s, including “My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You,” “City Lights,” “The Same Old Me,” “For The Good Times” in 1970 written by Kris Kristofferson, and “I Won’t Mention It Again” in 1971. One of his most well-known songs is “Heartaches By The Number” released in 1959.

Price released over 50 albums over his career and became a legend of country music, being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996.

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