"Western Strings" - Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys

[[e-mail] (Noah Tall)]

Hi

I was listening to Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys LP the other day, and
even though I believed it to be an instrumental LP, I was surprised to
find three songs with vocals, and was wondering if someone could
clarify what I think I heard.

I know in the past, several people have mentioned having this Ray
Price Box set, and I was hoping someone could take the time to read
the booklet that's always included on Bear family sets, and let me
know if my ears are accurate.

The three vocal songs are "Crazy Arms", "Burnt Fingers" and "Sing A
Sad Song".

Crazy Arms is just a re-issue of Ray's 1950s hit, BUT "Sing A Sad
Song", while sounding like Ray, is delivered in a most unusual Price
style, in that it's very understated, and the complete opposite of
many/most of Ray's recordings at the time, where he sometimes oversang
just a bit on occasion. He had so many imitators, ala Johnny Bush,
that it wouldn't be THAT surprising if it was one of his band members,
but it sounds enough like Ray to think it could be Ray, but I don't
think so

Which brings us to "Burnt Fingers", which DEFINITELY is not Ray, which
is why I have to question "Sing A Sad Song". Again, there's no mention
in the liner notes about who's singing on either cut, and I did a
lyric search and it said by Ray Price, BUT ... this isn't Ray Price.
It sounds like it could be Wade Ray, but again, there's no mention on
the LP, and I was wondering if someone could look that up for me.

Thanks so much in advance for any help anyone can give. Sounds like
one the BEST Country music Box Sets you could own. Ray Price in his
prime!Doesn't get much better than that!

[[e-mail] (Noah Tall)]

Post by ***@aol.com (Noah Tall)
The three vocal songs are "Crazy Arms", "Burnt Fingers" and "Sing A
Sad Song".
Crazy Arms is just a re-issue of Ray's 1950s hit, BUT "Sing A Sad
Song", while sounding like Ray, is delivered in a most unusual Price
style, in that it's very understated, and the complete opposite of
many/most of Ray's recordings at the time, where he sometimes oversang
just a bit on occasion.  He had so many imitators, ala Johnny Bush,
that it wouldn't be THAT surprising if it was one of his band members,
but it sounds enough like Ray to think it could be Ray, but I don't
think so

I just listened to it again, and the ONLY person it sounds anything
like off the top of my head is a little bit like Doyle Holly, but I
dodn't remember hearing about him playing with Ray. I know he was with
Buck Owens around the same time, but I don't have an exact time frame
off the top of my head. Somewhere around 1964 or 1965 I believe. Holly
would give it that Bakersfield/California connection, in that it's an
old Wynn Stewart song, but again he might have already been with Buck
Owens when this was done.

[Tom Kan PA]

"Burnt Fingers"

One lyrics site gives Harlan Howard credit as the composer, another
gives writing credit to R.Wright-C.Forrest.

[[e-mail] (Noah Tall)]

Post by ***@aol.com (Noah Tall)
"Burnt Fingers"
One lyrics site gives Harlan Howard credit as the composer, another
gives writing credit to R.Wright-C.Forrest.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Wright / Forrest is listed on the LP as the
writers. I didn't mean to infer it was written by Ray Price, just that
the site said he sang it, and I KNOW it's not him.

What makes it interesting, is that of the 12 cuts on the LP, 4 are
vocals, and the other 8 are instrumentals. If I remember correctly,
something like 5 or 6 of the instrumentals give credit to Ray Price
for producing, while the remainibg 2 or 3 do not. Which leads me to
believe that the instrumentals giving Price credit, were probably
recorded at the same time the Bob Wills' tribute LP was recorded 3
years earlier, because I think they're all Wills' related, as is the
other Ray Price vocal - "Your Old Love Letters" and were left off for
one reason or another.

My guess, is they had these laying around, and added "Burnt Fingers",
"Sing A Sad Song" and a couple of instrumentals, and then threw on
Ray's original version of "Crazy Arms" from almost a decade before.
Voila! A "new" LP!

One final thing, just to illustrate that these may not indeed have
been "The Cherokee Cowboys", on the "added" cuts, I think it was on
"Burnt Fingers" it sounds to me to be the unmistakenable "talking
steel guitar" of Pete Drake.

It seems pretty obvious they brought in some people to be able to add
a few songs to what they had in the can, and then credit it NOT to Ray
Price, but to the "Cherokee Cowboys" which would explain why Ray Price
is given producer's credit on the Wills' instrumentals, but not the
others, and also naturally explain the appearances of Pete Drake and
the mysterious vocalist(s).

Again, I'm pretty sure it's Wade Ray on "Burnt Fingers", but "Sing A
Sad Song" has me guessing, which is why I'd like to check that Bob
Wills box set booklet.

[Tom Kan PA]

Post by ***@aol.com (Noah Tall)
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Wright / Forrest is listed on the LP as the
writers. I didn't mean to infer it was written by Ray Price, just that
the site said he sang it, and I KNOW it's not him.

Eric, I wasn't implying that you said Price wrote. I just thought it
odd that two sites would give different writers for the same song.

[[e-mail] (Noah Tall)]

Post by Tom Kan PA
I wasn't implying that you said Price wrote. I just thought it
odd that two sites would give different writers for the same song.

Happens ALL the time, that's why WE'RE here! : )

I have no idea why lyric sites are so popular, but they seem to be.
Unlike some NGs : ) they just want your click, so the accuracy of
their information is usually less than reliable.