Vince Gill & Paul Franklin - Sweet Memories: The Music Of Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys

 

Vince Gill & Paul Franklin reunite to honor the music of Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys!

Country Music Hall of Fame member Price earned multiple Top 10 hits and recorded more than 50 albums

A decade after 22-time Grammy winner Vince Gill and steel guitar virtuoso Paul Franklin (who has more than 30 CMA Awards nominations to his credit) crafted Bakersfield, which paid homage to the central California country sounds made famous by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, the two musicians have reunited to shine a light on the music of Country Music Hall of Famer Ray Price on Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys.

The album chronicles Price's life and career, pairing Gill's illustrious tenor and fleet guitar fretwork and Franklin's nimble steel playing.

"I've told everybody that in the making of these records, it's more about the musician in both of us than it is about me as the singer," Gill says. "We chose the songs we chose because it gave us more freedom to play than maybe we would have had on some of those big ballads."

Between 1952 and 1989, Perryville, Texas native Price entered more than 100 songs on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, earning 46 top 10 hits and eight No. 1s, including "Crazy Arms," the Bill Anderson-penned "City Lights" and the Kris Kristofferson-penned "For the Good Times." Price also recorded more than 50 albums during his career.

Gill and Franklin eschewed recording many of Price's biggest hits; instead, Sweet Memories largely favors more obscure Price recordings.

"I gotta be honest, there were several songs that I didn't know who wrote them. I didn't know 'Kissing Your Picture' was a Mel Tillis song, and I didn't know Bobby Bare had a part in writing ‘Walking Slow and Thinkin' About Her.' I knew Willie Nelson wrote ‘Healing Hands of Time,'" Gill told Billboard magazine.

Longtime on-air personality and music scholar Eddie Stubbs, who retired from his roles as WSM Radio personality and Grand Ole Opry announcer in 2020, played a key role, pointing Gill and Franklin to more arcane songs.

"I'd just call him up out of the blue and say, ‘Play me something,' and I would take notes and write down some of the songs he would play. He was a big part of pointing me toward some stuff that was not the obvious choices," Gill says.

During his career, Price helped usher in two major sonic innovations in country music, beginning in the 1950s with his signature "Crazy Arms," written by Ralph Mooney and Charles Seals. That song introduced what would become the signature "Ray Price Beat," a 4/4 shuffle, spearheaded by Buddy Killen's bass line, bringing a ferocity to his brand of honkytonk that would influence country music for decades.

A decade later, Price was again prominent as country music recalibrated into the pop-aimed, string-laden sounds of the 1960s. Sweet Memories includes a rendition of the traditional song "Danny Boy," which became a Top 10 country hit for Price in 1967, representing a shift from hard-charging honky-tonk singer to countrypolitan crooner.

 

Disc 1

One More Time

I'd Fight The World

You Wouldn't Know Love

Walkin’ Slow (And Thinking ‘Bout Her)

The Same Two Lips

Weary Blues From Waitin'

Disc 2

Kissing Your Picture (Is So Cold)

Sweet Memories

Danny Boy

Your Old Love Letters

Healing Hands Of Time

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