Search - Ray Price :: San Antonio Rose: A Tribute to the Great Bob Wills

It's just about impossible not to like an album that starts off, "Hi neighbors, this is our new album...," especially when it's followed by songs as friendly as those on San Antonio Rose, Ray Price's recently reissued "Tribute to the Great Bob Wills." Wills is worthy of the tribute: A Texas fiddler of the '30s and '40s, he earned his place in American music history when he and his Texas Playboys virtually invented western swing, the southwestern big band country sound that combines elements of jazz and blues into the hillbilly mix (and anticipates early rock & roll). And Price is just the man to do the honoring: A fellow Texan who began his country career in the early '50s as a Hank Williams disciple and imitator (he even took over fronting the Drifting Cowboys after Hank's 1953 death), Price came into his own in the after embracing Wills's Western swing sound while peppering it with more contemporary honky tonk stylings. By 1961, when Price and band (which featured a young Willie Nelson on bass) cut this album in two four-hour sessions, Wills's influence on the singer was well-established and had proved highly successful. With a classic country sound--twangy steel guitar, mournful fiddle, blue yodels--songs like the title track, "A Maiden's Prayer," and a handful of Fred Rose tunes originally done by Wills put today's Nashville product to shame. Though Price went on to make schlocky easy listening pop, San Antonio Rose remains the testament of a great singer to a even greater stylist. --Roni Sarig