#STAR WARS ALLEGIANCE CLASS FULL#

I absolutely worship him for that reason. He could have sung anything he wanted, but he chose country music. He seemed to be the only guy who really didn't have an issue with it, you know what I mean? It just seemed natural to him.Īnd what I loved about last night, too, when you talk about all artists that can sing any format, you're going to see them do this and that. And in the places it should matter, it did. So, in the places where it shouldn't matter, it didn't. But it mattered so much that Charley Pride was a Black man. This is the statement that I made last night, and I need everybody to hear the whole thing: When it comes to Charley Pride being a Black guy, it did not matter. It's funny, because when you say that - when you talk about Charley Pride and his music - the fact that he was a Black guy is nothing.

It's crazy to me that Charley Pride got any grief for being a Black man in country music, when Black people invented that style of music. This interview has been edited for clarity. presented Charley's RIAA Lifetime Achievement Award to his son - CMT October 27, 2021

#STAR WARS ALLEGIANCE CLASS FULL#

caught up with Brooks to discuss his appearance at the National Museum of African American music, what Pride means to him and his 2021/2022 touring plans - which, yes, will require proof of full vaccination to behold in person. And about the roadblocks Pride faced due to his melanin content: 'How much bravery, how much courage, but how much confidence in yourself you must have to survive that and still have the attitude that you have!' This tribute included Brooks' renditions of songs made famous by Pride, including 'Mountain of Love,' 'Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'' and 'Is Anyone Goin' to San Antone.' Regarding Pride's uncanny range, Brooks says the latter song is nothing short of an endurance test: 'You just push the pedal all the way to the floor and try to hang on to that song for as long as you can.'Īll in all, Pride's gargantuan talent, whole-hearted humility and aw-shucks sweetness doesn't just make Brooks a fan: 'I absolutely worship him,' he says. Read More: For Charley Pride, Black Country Music Was A Self-Evident Truth There, Brooks paid homage to his fallen hero. 25 at the National Museum of African American music, where the RIAA honored Pride with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award. As the first anniversary of his tragic death loomed, Brooks took the stage on Oct. 12, 2020, Pride passed away of complications from COVID-19, just a month after appearing at the CMA Awards.

Such was and is the beauty of Pride, the country music icon and three-time GRAMMY winner. The first thing he asked Brooks? 'Hey, you're an Aquarian, ain't ya?' - because he had researched his birthday in advance. 'And Charley Pride comes and seeks you out, with that beautiful gap-toothed smile. You just try to melt into a wall somewhere,' the two-time GRAMMY winner recalls to over FaceTime, illustrating his impostor syndrome. 'You're at the CMA Awards as a new guy, man. But at the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1991, it was Pride who assured Brooks that he was meant to be there - not the other way around. Garth Brooks is the biggest-selling solo artist of all time in any genre Charley Pride was unfairly, bizarrely viewed as an outlier in country music due to being a Black man.

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