Country Charley Pride

Since the late 1950s, Charley Pride has gone from picking at guitar strings to pulling at heartstrings.

Pride taught himself how to play guitar at age 14 with a guitar purchased from Sears Roebuck. This purchase was no small matter, as Pride was born in the Mississippi Delta in

Although Pride comments, “Touring the States, Canada, and Europe, is still a favorite thing to do,” Mississippi is not very far from his heart.

“That’s where I was born and raised. That’s what I am, that’s who I am.”

His love for his native state can also be heard in past songs such as “Roll On Mississippi,” speaking about the Mississippi River, singing, “You’re the childhood dream I grew up on, roll on Mississippi, carry me home, now I can see I’ve been away too long.”

Pride’s origins and surroundings played a large role in his start in the music industry. His music career began as he played baseball for the Negro American League’s Memphis Red Sox, where he sang and played guitar for the team on bus rides. These trips led to Pride joining numerous bands throughout the country.

While traveling with the team, Pride stopped in Nashville, Tenn. Music veteran Jack Johnson promised him a management contract. A year after this stop in Music City, he returned and met with producer Jack Clement. Clement was so impressed with Pride’s renditions of songs; he had Pride record “The Snakes Crawl At Night” and “Atlantic Coastal Line” within two hours time. This meeting would prove to be beneficial throughout Pride’s career.

After decades of gold albums and No. 1 smashes, Pride has yet again returned to Nashville to create a new album for adoring fans. He is working on the album at Clement’s Cowboy Arms & Recording Spa.

Pride also has a feature film in the works. The film will be shot in Memphis and Nashville during 2010, and Craig Brewer, of Hustle & Flow fame, will direct it. Award-winning actor Terrance Howard has been cast to portray Pride after Howard suggested the idea for the movie to Brewer.

Even with the new album, touring, and film, Pride remains humble.

“I’m where I’m supposed to be in life,” he says. “Everybody is born to do something other than just get up, eat, sleep, lay down, get up, sleep and eat. If somebody said you think you’d be a member of the Grand Ole Opry and have 30 No. 1 songs, and in the Country Music Hall of Fame? No.”