Ray Price and The Cherokee Cowboys



Marcella came in Saturday from working all day and baby sitting all Friday evening and she was pooped. I told her Ray Price was singing at Yukon, and she didn't want to go. I did, because I wanted Mr. Cecil's class to experience what it was like to go see and hear a Country Music Traditional, historical, and successful recording artist.

At the age of 80, last December, which makes him an octogenarian. Look up that word with your computer dictionary.

"You really want to go," she said.

"Yes, and I think you would like it. How much cash do you have?" She had 40 dollars and I had 20 dollars, plus about 10 dollars in cash that we were honored with at the pow wow, last Saturday night. The pow wow is another story, that I will share with you in a special report just for your class, later.



So we headed out on the beautifully scenic route going through, Gracemont, where we bought our Mazda S6, and then turned by the Caddo Tribal World Headquarters, a very rich tribe, and went by Salyer's Lake. If you get to Oklahoma, we will take you that route, even though we hit a jack rabbit on the way back. Those suckers are big, but our car was bigger. Marcella didn't want to stop and get it, so we could have eaten it. No road kill for her. We also just missed an armadillo on the way back as well.. Do a google on jack rabbits and armadillos.

So we got to Yukon, and began searching for the Gymnasium. It was supposed to be an out door thing, but we had lots of rain and it was changed to the gym. We got there in plenty of time.

We pulled out our "pow wow" chairs and sat down in the handicapped section. Great gym. You will see pictures of the Steinway Grand Piano that he had and see the 4 violinists, 3 who came up from their homes to play. One was from Oklahoma City. They read music. The piano player played by ear, which is okay, if you do the same songs over and over, but, ... trying to play Classical Music without reading is like trying to push a dump truck up a hill, by yourself.

Two kids got up and sang. One harmonized, and they had just got back from Nashville with a "paid for" CD. We could see their mother so proudly videoing them. It was neat, but Chance and Chad has about as much luck as a snow storm in an Oklahoma in July.

One could harmonize and faked playing the harmonica, and bombed on playing his banjo. I mean the kid couldn't even play the thing. And the harmonica, well, I would have blown him away. I should have brought my harps and we could have done some double harmonica stuff. But, they played about 40 minutes. AND THEN, ... RAY PRICE'S ORCHESTRA CAME OUT. YES, that is right, ... an orchestra.

I kid you not, they had the grand piano, an upright base, his son Cliff playing a guitar, somewhat, a drummer and a fiddle player. The last 40 minutes, he had three more "free lance" violinists come in and play. They were professionals and all read sheet music. (See Picture>



It was a great show. Enjoy the pictures when I get them up. I want all of you to go to iTunes and do a search on Ray Price. He started singing in 1948, fronting for Hank Williams and at 80, his voice sounded the same.

Where they get their money, is under the table. They had sponsors that probably paid their 40,000 dollar show fees, and then the 20 dollars a pop for two different CDs, they made some big time bucks. There was probably 300 people there, most of them the same age as Ray. I will be putting Marcella's picture with him in the local newspaper. Marcella had fun.



After the program, they set up a table and signed audographs for all the CDs that they were selling. The retarded kid sitting next to me, asked to save his lawn chair and left. He went to Hastings and bought a Ray Price CD for 4 dollars. Who says that if you are retarded, you are dumb?

So, I took a bunch of pictures. Have fun looking at them. I went down to try to get a picture for the Anadarko Paper, but these idiot guards wouldn't let me go out and take a picture. So I went back up, grabbed my camera bag that has a "Press Pass" sign hanging on it and went back down to show the guards the press pass and said, "Because of you, this picture will not show up in the Anadarko Daily News. I may write a letter-to-the-editor to the Yukon Paper, and tell them thanks for the show, and no thanks for the rude ushers. Hee, Hee.

Now, what I want you to do, is go to iTunes and do a search on Ray Price and see how many downloads they have. Then I want you to go to WalMart.com and run a check through them to see how many CDs that they have.



See if you can find out on the web if Ray Price is a member of the Grand Ol' Opery and is in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Have fun with it, because music is fun. I will learn his "A Lifeless Mansion on a Hill." Great song. Now it is time for a signature and a smile for the students in Bangkok!