Ray Price (musician) 1940s-1950s success What happened in the early 1940s? After the war and college, Price rethought his decision to continue schooling to be a veterinarian. What success did Ray have? He was the first artist to have a success with the song "Release Me" (1954 First artist out of who? his band, the Drifting Cowboys, Did he release an album? I don't know. What were some of those hits? "Talk To Your Heart" (1952) and "Release Me". How did those do?? I don't know. Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? He relocated to Nashville in the early 1950s,
Why did he do that?
Why did Ray Prince relocate to Nashville?
After the war and college, Price rethought his decision to continue schooling to be a veterinarian. For one thing he was considered too small to work with large cattle and horses, the backbone of a Texas veterinarian's practice. While helping around his father's ranch he also began singing at various functions around the Abilene, Texas area. This eventually led him to begin singing on the radio program Hillbilly Circus broadcast on Abilene's KRBC in 1948. He joined the Big D Jamboree on Dallas radio station KRLD-AM in 1949, and when the show was picked up for broadcast on the CBS radio network soon afterward Price had his first taste of national exposure. It was around this time Ray Price became friends with Lefty Frizzell. The two first met at Beck Recording Studio in Dallas, and Price ended up writing the song "Give Me More, More, More Of Your Kisses" for Frizzell's use. A few demos recorded by Price at Beck's caught the attention of Bullet Records in Nashville, Tennessee and he was signed to his first recording contract. However, his first single released on Bullet, "Jealous Lies" failed to become a chart hit. He relocated to Nashville in the early 1950s, rooming for a brief time with Hank Williams. When Williams died, Price managed his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and had minor success. He was the first artist to have a success with the song "Release Me" (1954), a top five popular music hit for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967. In 1953, Price formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Among its members during the late 1950s and early 1960s were; Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Darrell McCall, Van Howard, Johnny Paycheck, Johnny Bush, Buddy Emmons, Pete Wade, Jan Kurtis, Shorty Lavender and Buddy Spicher. Miller wrote one of Ray Price's classics in 1958, "Invitation to the Blues", and sang harmony on the recording. Additionally, Nelson composed the Ray Price song "Night Life". Price became one of the stalwarts of 1950s honky tonk music, with hit songs such as "Talk To Your Heart" (1952) and "Release Me". He later developed the famous "Ray Price Shuffle," a 4/4 arrangement of honky tonk music with a walking bassline, which can be heard on "Crazy Arms" (1956) and many of his other recordings from the late 1950s. CANNOTANSWER
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Noble Ray Price (January 12, 1926 – December 16, 2013) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone is regarded as among the best male voices of country music, and his innovations, such as propelling the country beat from 2/4 to 4/4, known as the "Ray Price beat", helped make country music more popular. Some of his well-known recordings include "Release Me", "Crazy Arms", "Heartaches by the Number", "For the Good Times", "Night Life", and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me". He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. He continued to record and tour into his 80s.

Early life
Ray Price was born on a farm near the small former community of Peach, near Perryville, Wood County, Texas. He was the son of Walter Clifton Price and Clara Mae Bradley Cimini. His grandfather, James M. M. Price, was an early settler in the area. Price was three years old when his parents divorced and his mother moved to Dallas, Texas. For the rest of his childhood he split time between Dallas and on the family farm, where his father had remained. Price's mother and step-father were successful fashion designers and wanted him to take up that line of work but it had little appeal to him.

Price began singing and playing guitar as a teenager but at first chose a career in veterinary medicine. He was attending North Texas Agricultural College in preparation for that career when his studies were interrupted by America's entry into World War II. Price was drafted in 1944 and served in the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater. He returned to the college after the war and, in 1972, was honored as a distinguished alumnus.

Music career

1940s–1950s success

After the war and college, Price rethought his decision to continue schooling to be a veterinarian; he was considered too small to work with large cattle and horses, the backbone of a Texas veterinarian's practice. While helping around his father's ranch he also began singing at various functions around the Abilene, Texas, area. This eventually led him to begin singing on the radio program Hillbilly Circus broadcast on Abilene's KRBC in 1948. He joined the Big D Jamboree on Dallas radio station KRLD (AM) in 1949, and when the show was picked up for broadcast on the CBS radio network soon afterward Price had his first taste of national exposure. It was around this time Ray Price became friends with Lefty Frizzell. The two first met at Beck Recording Studio in Dallas, and Price ended up writing the song "Give Me More, More, More Of Your Kisses" for Frizzell's use. A few demos recorded by Price at Beck's caught the attention of Bullet Records in Nashville, Tennessee, and he was signed to his first recording contract. However, his first single released on Bullet, "Jealous Lies", failed to become a chart hit.

He relocated to Nashville in the early 1950s, rooming for a brief time with Hank Williams. When Williams died, Price managed his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and had minor success. He was the first artist to have a success with the song "Release Me" (1954), a top five popular music hit for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967. In 1953, Price formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Among its members during the late 1950s and early 1960s were Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Darrell McCall, Van Howard, Johnny Paycheck, Johnny Bush, Buddy Emmons, and Buddy Spicher. Miller wrote one of Ray Price's classics in 1958, "Invitation to the Blues", and sang harmony on the recording. Additionally, Nelson composed the Ray Price song, "Night Life". Price became one of the stalwarts of 1950s honky tonk music, with hit songs such as "Talk To Your Heart" (1952) and "Release Me".

1960–2000s: Nashville sound to gospel

During the 1960s, Ray experimented increasingly with the so-called Nashville sound, singing slow ballads and utilizing lush arrangements of strings and backing singers. Examples include his 1967 rendition of "Danny Boy", and "For the Good Times" in 1970, which was Price's first country music chart No. 1 hit since "The Same Old Me"  by Kris Kristofferson, the song also scored No. 11 on the popular music chart and featured a mellower Price backed by sophisticated musical sounds, quite in contrast to the honky tonk sounds Price had pioneered two decades before. Price had three more No. 1 country music successes during the 1970s: "I Won't Mention It Again", "She's Got To Be A Saint", and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" (the last of which was a pop hit in Canada, and would gain greater fame a year later when Gladys Knight & the Pips covered it).

Price's final top ten hit was "Diamonds In The Stars" in early 1982. Price continued to have songs on the country music chart through 1989. Later, he sang gospel music and recorded such songs as "Amazing Grace", "What A Friend We Have In Jesus", "Farther Along" and "Rock of Ages". Price briefly made national news again in 1999 when he was arrested for possession of marijuana. According to Price in a 2008 interview, old friend Willie Nelson — no stranger to marijuana arrests — phoned and told him he had just earned $5 million in free publicity with the drug bust.

In 2009, he made two performances for the Fox News show Huckabee. The first was with the Cherokee Cowboys and host Mike Huckabee, and he performed "Crazy Arms" and "Heartaches By The Number". Weeks later he performed with the Cherokee Cowboys and Willie Nelson (again with Huckabee playing bass guitar). This time they performed duets of "Faded Love" and "Crazy". Price worked on his last album, Last of the Breed, with fellow country music singers Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. This album was released on March 20, 2007, by the company Lost Highway Records. The two-disc set features 20 country classics as well as a pair of new compositions. The trio toured the U.S. from March 9 until March 25 starting in Arizona and finishing in Illinois. This was Price's third album with Nelson and first album with Haggard. After the tour, Haggard remarked, "I told Willie when it was over, 'That old man gave us a goddamn singing lesson.' He really did. He just sang so good. He sat there with the mic against his chest. And me and Willie are all over the microphone trying to find it, and he found it."

Cancer and death
On November 6, 2012, Price confirmed that he was fighting pancreatic cancer. Price told the San Antonio Express-News that he had been receiving chemotherapy for the past six months. An alternative to the chemo would have been surgery that involved removing the pancreas along with portions of the stomach and liver, which would have meant a long recovery and stay in a nursing home. Said Price, "That's not very much an option for me. God knows I want to live as long as I can but I don't want to live like that." He told the newspaper, "The doctor said that every man will get cancer if he lives to be old enough. I don't know why I got it – I ain't old!"

Although in February 2013 the cancer appeared to be in remission, Price was hospitalized in May 2013 with severe dehydration. On December 2, 2013, Price entered a Tyler, Texas, hospital in the final stages of pancreatic cancer, according to his son, then left on December 12 for home hospice care. Price died at his home in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, on December 16, 2013, aged 87. Price was interred at Restland Memorial Park in Dallas, Texas.

Personal life

After leaving Nashville, Price lived his time off the road on his east Texas ranch near Mount Pleasant, continuing to dabble in gamefowl, cattle and horses. Ray Price married twice. He and his first wife divorced in the late 1960s. Price married second wife Janie on June 11, 1970, and they remained together until his death. A son from his first marriage, Cliff Price, also survives.

Discography

Industry awards
Academy of Country Music
 1970 Album of the Year – For The Good Times
 1970 Single of the Year – "For The Good Times"

Country Music Association
 1971 Album of the Year – I Won't Mention It Again

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
 Inducted in 1996

Grammy Awards
 1971 Best Male Country Vocal Performance – "For The Good Times"
 2008 Best Country Collaboration with Vocals with Willie Nelson – "Lost Highway"

See also
 Country Music Association
 Academy of Country Music
 Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame (1996 Inductee)

References

External links

The "Ray Price Shuffle" with audio examples
at the Country Music Hall of Fame
Allmusic Ray Price with Biography, Discography, Charts

1926 births
2013 deaths
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
American acoustic guitarists
American country guitarists
American country singer-songwriters
American male guitarists
American male singer-songwriters
United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
Columbia Records artists
Country musicians from Tennessee
Country musicians from Texas
Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
Deaths from cancer in Texas
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Dot Records artists
Gold Star Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Grand Ole Opry members
Guitarists from Tennessee
Guitarists from Texas
Monument Records artists
Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee
Musicians from Dallas
People from Cherokee County, Texas
People from Mount Pleasant, Texas
People from Wood County, Texas
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee
Step One Records artists
Traditional pop music singers
University of Texas at Arlington alumni
Word Records artists
Drifting Cowboys members
"Llangollen Market" is a song from early 19th century Wales. It is known to have been performed at an eisteddfod at Llangollen in 1858.

The text of the song survives in a manuscript held by the National Museum of Wales, which came into the possession of singer Mary Davies, a co-founder of the Welsh Folk-Song Society.

The song tells the tale of a young man from the Llangollen area going off to war and leaving behind his broken-hearted girlfriend. Originally written in English, the song has been translated into Welsh and recorded by several artists such as Siân James, Siobhan Owen, Calennig and Siwsann George.

Lyrics
It’s far beyond the mountains that look so distant here,
To fight his country’s battles, last Mayday went my dear;
Ah, well shall I remember with bitter sighs the day,
Why, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?

Ah, cruel was my father that did my flight restrain,
And I was cruel-hearted that did at home remain,
With you, my love, contented, I’d journey far away;
Why, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?

While thinking of my Owen, my eyes with tears do fill,
And then my mother chides me because my wheel stands still,
But how can I think of spinning when my Owen’s far away;
Why, Owen, did you leave me? At home why did I stay?

To market at Llangollen each morning do I go,
But how to strike a bargain no longer do I know;
My father chides at evening, my mother all the day;
Why, Owen, did you leave me, at home why did I stay?

Oh, would it please kind heaven to shield my love from harm,
To clasp him to my bosom would every care disarm,
But alas, I fear, 'tis distant - that happy, happy day;
Why, Owen, did you leave me, at home why did stay?

References

Welsh folk songs "Why Did You Do That?" is a song recorded by American singer Lady Gaga for the 2018 film A Star Is Born and released on the soundtrack of the same name. It was written by Gaga with Diane Warren, Mark Nilan Jr., Nick Monson and Paul "DJWS" Blair, and produced by all but Warren. The song appears in the film during a sequence when Gaga's character, Ally, performs on Saturday Night Live, watched by her husband Jackson (played by co-star Bradley Cooper). Later Jackson berates Ally for selling out with the song's trite lyrics, but she defends it. "Why Did You Do That?" was written to evoke both a retro and a modern feel, and was recorded while Gaga was on her Joanne World Tour.

The song is interspersed with the sound of a xylophone and a repetitive chorus and post-chorus. After its release, the track received a great deal of attention for its lyrics, which some critics and fans felt were a critique of pop music. The songwriters defended the track, saying it was specifically written to emphasize that Ally's career was on the rise as Jackson's was declining.

Recording and composition

"Why Did You Do That?" was written by Gaga with Diane Warren, Mark Nilan Jr., Nick Monson and Paul "DJWS" Blair; all but Warren produced it. The singer had first collaborated with Warren on the 2015 sexual assault-themed song, "Til It Happens to You". Wanting to create a "cool and fun Gaga song", Warren wrote the lyrics of "Why Did You Do That?" against a backing track. Gaga wanted a "retro/modern feel" to the song and wanted Warren to get out of her comfort zone of writing alone. Monson had worked with Gaga on her third studio album, Artpop (2013), and was called in to write songs for A Star Is Born in early March 2017. Around two and a half years before, Paul "DJWS" Blair asked Mark Nilan Jr. to come to The Village West studio in Los Angeles and do a songwriting session with Gaga and Warren, resulting in the initial version of "Why Did You Do That?".

Cooper and Gaga began working with producers on the songs for A Star Is Born in a recording studio in Los Angeles. Once Gaga embarked on her Joanne World Tour (2017–2018), they created a recording studio on the tour bus. Every night after her show Gaga would return to the studio bus and record the tracks. Further recording was carried out at Woodrow Wilson in Hollywood, California, and Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California. "Why Did You Do That?" was mixed by Tom Elmhirst at Electric Lady Studios in New York and was mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound Studios. The song opens with Ally singing the lines, "Why do you look so good in those jeans? / Why'd you come around me with an ass like that?" Warren had thought about the line and Gaga agreed to include it as the opening lyric. The composition is interspersed with xylophone music and the word "damn" in the mix. The chorus is repetitive with Gaga singing the words, "Why did you do that, do that, do that, do that, do that to me?" against a house beat.

Warren clarified that the intention was not to write a "bad" pop song, but something that was fun and less serious, showing Ally's change into a pop artist. She added: "I love that [Ally] defended her music. It doesn't have to be what he thinks music should be – music can be everything. It can be a serious song, it can be a pop song, it can be a song about an ass." Blair also defended the lyrics in an interview with The Washington Post, saying that it was written to specifically portray Ally's career "taking off", and hence it had to be "more bubbly and mainstream". He felt whatever the song Jackson would have resented it since he was upset at Ally's success and his failing career. Gaga on the other hand was vague about whether "Why Did You Do That?" is a bad song saying: "When we see her on Saturday Night Live and she’s singing a song about why do you look so good in those jeans, it’s almost the antithesis of where we started," Gaga said. "That is relatively shallow."

Use in film
In A Star Is Born, "Why Did You Do That?" is performed by Lady Gaga's character Ally on an Alec Baldwin-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live. The performance represents Ally's transformation from a simple singer-songwriter into a "full-fledged radio pop star". Cooper's character, Ally's husband rock musician Jackson Maine, watches her perform it. This drives him to start drinking again. According to Refinery29, Jackson's disbelief and disappointment stems from his feeling that Ally is "selling out". Later, when Ally receives a Grammy Award nomination, a drunken Jackson berates her for "letting go of the person he thought she was happiest being". Ally defends the song and they quarrel.

For the dance sequence during the song, Gaga enlisted her long-time choreographer Richy Jackson, who choreographed all the performances in the film. The singer wanted the choreography to be "jerky". Jackson described the choreography he created for the song as having "pop/R&B style with a 90s feel to it". Since Ally's style and movements are not supposed to be like Gaga's, Jackson created an individual aesthetic for Ally as she performs "Why Did You Do That?" and the other uptempo songs like "Heal Me" and "Hair Body Face".

Critical response and analysis
After the soundtrack was released, "Why Did You Do That?" divided critics. Many reviewers assumed it was purposefully written with trite lyrics, to underscore Jackson's point of view about pop music compared to his country-rock songs. Critics found Jackson's dismissal of "pop music" to be caused by the character's short-sightedness and inability to go beyond his own rock music. Others believed that the "bad" song led the character reverting to his "rampant alcoholism".

Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone felt that the first time Gaga performs the song in the film it "is meant to be jarring on many levels" since it is the first time the audience sees Ally as a pop star. Spanos believes "Why Did You Do That?" presents "an argument against pop, which inherently feels like an argument against Lady Gaga herself, one of the biggest advocates for the delectably catchy dance-pop Ally embodies".  However, she does find the song "intoxicating" and "actually pretty great", comparing it to Gaga's early work from The Fame (2008) era, "a vampy flirt with a penchant for a hook you won't forget for years". Alejandra Salazar of Refinery29 described the track as a "campy, over-the-top pop track with ridiculous lyrics about texting and praying, and also about butts". Salazar wondered whether the song was purposely "engineered to be not-so-good", to portray rock music as a more authentic genre in the film.

Writing for The Daily Dot, Brenden Gallagher noted that "Why Did You Do That?" was not submitted by Warner Bros. for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, although it was popular among fans for its lyrics. Gallagher listed a number of Internet memes based on the song. Hazel Cillis of Jezebel contends that although "Shallow" and "I'll Never Love Again" "might be the Oscar bait" of Cooper's movie, "Why Did You Do That"  is a "mindless pop song that embodies all that Ally has become in the movie".

Nate Jones of New York magazine characterized "Why Did You Do That?" as "the song about butts", noting how the song's opening line had become a central point of discussion of the film's portrayal of pop music against rock. Jones felt the general perception about the track "often boils down to how you feel about [it] – is it terrible, is it a bop, or is it a terrible song that's also a bop?" He found a number of "ear-candy" elements in the composition which grabbed the audience's attention, especially after the line about buttocks. Writing for The New York Times, Kyle Buchanan confessed to having the lyrics stuck in his head. He added that the track can sound shocking initially since "it forgoes the timelessness of 'Shallow' and its ilk in favor of what feels like pop disposability", but noted its rising popularity on social media. Dianne Warren noted the track has its "revenge, because it sticks in your brain. And then you end up saying, 'Why did you do that, do that, do that'."

Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of A Star Is Born.

Management
 Recorded at Saturday Night Live set in NBC Studios, Woodrow Wilson Studios (Hollywood, California), The Village West (Los Angeles, California) and Shangri-La Studios (Malibu, California)
 Mixed at Electric Lady Studios (New York City)
 Mastered at Sterling Sound Studios (New York City)

Personnel

 Lady Gaga – primary vocals, songwriter, record producer
 Diane Warren – songwriter
 Mark Nilan Jr. – songwriter, producer, keyboards, programming
 Nick Monson – songwriter, producer, keyboards, programming
 Paul "DJWS" Blair – songwriter, producer
 Benjamin Rice – recording
 Alex Williams – recording assistant
 Rob Bisel – recording assistant
 Tom Elmhirst – mixing
 Brandon Bost – mixing engineer
 Randy Merrill – audio mastering
 Tim Stewart – guitar

Charts

References

2018 songs
Lady Gaga songs
Song recordings produced by Lady Gaga
Songs written by Diane Warren
Songs written by DJ White Shadow
Songs written by Lady Gaga
Songs written by Nick Monson
Songs written for films