{"id":2992,"date":"2014-07-21T06:59:34","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T12:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=2992"},"modified":"2014-07-22T21:01:32","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T03:01:32","slug":"for-charley-pride-white-sulphur-festival-will-be-a-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2014\/07\/for-charley-pride-white-sulphur-festival-will-be-a-homecoming\/","title":{"rendered":"For Charley Pride, Red Ants festival will be a homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pride\"<\/a>

Courtesy of Charley Pride<\/p>

Charley Pride, left, played with a band called the Night Hawks in the 1960s, when he lived in Helena,<\/p><\/div>\n

Baseball brought Charley Pride to Montana. This week, music is bringing him back.<\/p>\n

The country-music legend will be the closing act on Sunday for the four-day Red Ants Pants Music Festival<\/a> in White Sulphur Springs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spent 7\u00bd years in Helena, and then 2\u00bd years in Great Falls,\u201d Pride said in a recent interview. \u201cIt was about a month short of a total of 10 years in Montana. I believe it was from April of 1960 to when we left in 1969. My two youngest were born up there. I\u2019m blessed with a good memory, going back 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pride was born on March 18, 1938, one of 11 children, on a sharecropping cotton farm, in Sledge, Miss.<\/p>\n

When he was 14, Pride bought a guitar from a Sears Roebuck catalog and then taught himself the riffs he heard on country music radio.<\/p>\n

Music, however, took a back seat to his dream of becoming a professional baseball player.<\/p>\n

In 1952, Pride pitched for the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League. A year later, he signed a contract with the Boise Yankees, the Class C farm team of the New York Yankees. Pride pitched for several other minor league teams in the Negro Leagues throughout the mid-1950s, before serving two years in the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n

After his discharge, Pride returned to baseball. But in 1960, after just three games with the Missoula Timberjacks of the Pioneer League, he was released.<\/p>\n

Dejected, Pride followed a tip that there were a couple of semi-pro teams in Helena. He moved there and immediately found work in construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put down sidewalks and things like that,\u201d Pride said. \u201cI helped a man named Oscar Jones. That was my first job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within days of his arrival, postmaster and baseball manager Kes Rigler showed up at Pride\u2019s YMCA room and offered him a chance to play for the East Helena Smelterites. He also offered him a job at the Asarco smelter.<\/p>\n

Pride was a pitcher and outfielder for the Smelterites and batted a state Copper League high .444 in his first season.<\/p>\n

Realizing that Helena could turn into a long-term residence, Pride made arrangements for his wife and young son to join him. In 1956, he had married Rozene Cohran.<\/p>\n

Charley and Rozene lived in Helena from 1960 to 1967. They first rented an apartment on Fifth Street and then at 825 Madison Ave. Rozene worked as a technician at the Hawkins-Lindstrom Clinic in Helena.<\/p>\n

At 76, Pride\u2019s memories of the dust and danger of the smelter linger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would unload the cars, and I\u2019d send the coal up to feed down into the furnace,\u201d Pride said. \u201cIt was 2,400 degrees. It would get the nickel and gold out of the slag, and process the zinc out of it. My job was to keep the mouth of the furnace open, so it could breathe.<\/p>\n

\"Pride<\/a>

Charley Pride<\/p>

An old poster for a Charley Pride show.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWhen you were done tapping the slag out of the furnace, you would take it to the hill and dump it. You wore glasses, and it would fry your skin. You would still get just a little bit on you. It would hit you on the arm, or up above the glove.\u201d<\/p>\n

While living in Helena, Pride earned tryouts for the California Angels (1961) and New York Mets (1965), but they declined to sign him.<\/p>\n

With the prospect of baseball fading, Pride turned to playing more music, performing in local bars and entertaining at Asarco picnics on McClellan Creek.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would work at the smelter, work the swing shift and then play music,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d work 11-7. Drive. Play Friday. Punch in. Drive. Polson. Philipsburg.\u201d<\/p>\n

After work, Pride played at various saloons and clubs, frequently solo and other times as part of a four-piece combination called the Night Hawks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Night Hawks lasted until I started singing on my own,\u201d Pride said. \u201cEverything segued into the record and all that. We always had a good crowd. My waistline then was a 32, but I wouldn\u2019t be able to get into them outfits now. I wasn\u2019t too good of a guitar player, but I always could sing. I still don\u2019t pick worth a hoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Prides settled at 638 Peosta, a few blocks west of Carroll College. Two of Pride\u2019s three children were born while they lived in that house. His oldest son was born in Colorado when Pride was in the Army.<\/p>\n

A son, Dion, was born on March 23, 1962, followed by Angela on April 18, 1965. Both were born at St. Peter\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Pride looks back fondly on that first house.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe paid 7,500 bucks for it back in those days,\u201d he said. \u201cWe loved it. I never forget it. I hope it never goes away. That was one of the most proud moments of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>Pride\u2019s debut single, \u201cThe Snakes Crawl at Night,\u201d was released in 1966. That happened after Chet Atkins at RCA heard a demo tape of Pride\u2019s and signed the vocalist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always hear a rumor that there was no photograph because I was black,\u201d Pride said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not true. My biggest problem was that promoters were afraid to bring me in. But people didn\u2019t care if I was pink. RCA signed me, and all of the bigwigs, they knew I was colored, but unanimously, they decided that we are still going to sign him. They decided to put the record out and let it speak for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Just Between You and Me,\u201d released at the end of 1966, began a streak of successful singles that eventually led Pride into the County Music Hall of Fame. Only Elvis Presley sold more records for RCA.<\/p>\n

In the mid-1960s, Pride\u2019s engagements and bookings flourished.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started recording in Helena, but I couldn\u2019t get to a plane fast enough,\u201d he said. \u201cI needed a place to fly to and from my dates, so we moved to Great Falls. In Great Falls, I still sang. I got a job on 10th Avenue South at a club, and put a band together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before he moved to Great Falls, Pride left the Asarco smelter on amicable terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was there for five years,\u201d he said. \u201cI had taken all of the leave of absence I could take to sing. The superintendant said, \u2018until you are 45, you have job here. You are leaving the right way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pride<\/a>

Charley Pride<\/p>

A more recent photo of Pride in concert.<\/p><\/div>\n

In Great Falls, Pride befriended a businessman and native Texan named Louis Allen “Al” Donohue \u2014 who is often credited with giving Pride his start. Donohue was the majority owner of the Heritage Inn and the Budget Inn and co-owned KMON and KNUW radio stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe became very good friends,\u201d Pride said. \u201cHe was the very first one to play my record in Montana, and we were friends up until the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the 1960s, Pride remembers only the good, the formative days and friendships, the hard work and hope of tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cMontana is a very conservative state,\u201d said Pride. \u201cI stood out like a neon. But once they let you in, you become a Montanan. When the rumor was that I was leaving. They kept saying, \u2018we will let you in, you can\u2019t leave.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never did go fishing, hiking, or hunting,\u201d Pride continued. \u201cWe did go out to Canyon Ferry sometimes and hang out. My wife bowled with a lot of different people there. There are some who probably remember us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Occasionally, Pride drops in on his old town and residence. When the UBC store in Helena was built in 1982, he attended the grand opening. He took photos of the house in 2005.<\/p>\n

Pride said he and his wife also returned a few years ago to Great Falls, and while looking at their former rental house, they bumped into the present owner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pulled up and there was the fellow who was living there now, he was getting ready to back out,\u201d Pride said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t move, so he would have to get out and say something. I said, \u2018I want my house back,\u2019 and laughed. He took us through the house again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pride lives in Dallas now, where he is involved in theater, banking and real estate. He\u2019s also a part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team. He\u2019s feeling good these days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a few operations on my right vocal cord,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m pretty well in good shape. I just did my blood pressure. I\u2019ve got a 29-year-old heartbeat. And the fans say I\u2019m singing better now than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the years and all the miles haven\u2019t dimmed Pride\u2019s recollections of Montana.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will always think of that house on Peosta when I think of your state,\u201d Pride said. \u201cThat was our little darling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian D\u2019Ambrosio is a freelance writer who works with the Montana Film Office.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baseball brought Charley Pride to Montana. This week, music is bringing him back. The country-music legend will be the closing act on Sunday for the four-day Red Ants Pants Music Festival in White Sulphur Springs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[1030,1029,1033,1031,705,1032],"class_list":["post-2992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-montana","tag-asarco-smelter","tag-charley-pride","tag-country-music-hall-of-fame","tag-great-falls","tag-helena","tag-negro-leagues","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}