Fresh off Blake Shelton’s Ten Times Crazier tour, Neal McCoy recently took the time to talk to New England Country Music about his next project. McCoy who is best known for his number one hits ‘No Doubt About It’ and ‘Wink,’ has teamed up with Cracker Barrel Old Country Store to release a Charley Pride tribute album. The album, ‘Pride: A Tribute to Charley Pride: Deluxe Edition,’ is set to release on November 3rd.
Neal McCoy and Jim Burnett, the owner of Slate Creek Records, were looking for a project they could do that they were really passionate about. Neal said he wanted to do a Charley Pride tribute album because, “I mean the guy that got me started in country music in 1981 was Charley Pride. I researched it and no one had ever done an album of his music and I thought somebody ought to be doing this and who better to do it than me.”
Charley Pride is a Grammy award winning member of both the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Pride had 29 number one hits and 52 top-ten songs between 1966 and 1990 and Neal McCoy toured with Pride from 1981-1986. Neal said that touring with Charley was an amazing experience and he didn’t really realize how good it was until he left the tour and went out on his own. He said the best advice Charley gave him was to “put on a great show and to be nice to people.”
Picking just thirteen of Charley Pride’s songs for the album was the most difficult part of the whole process. Neal, along with Jim Burnett and producer Garth Fundis, worked together to pick the songs but ultimately they let Neal decide which ones made the cut because Neal was on tour with Charley and would know what songs meant the most to him. Neal said that he wanted to pick the hits that he thought people would remember the most while also picking the best variety of different tempos.
When asked which song was the most intimidating he said that he didn’t think any one song was intimidating but ‘Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’ was going to be the measuring stick. That song has been heard by millions of people for almost fifty years and he said if people heard that and if he was able to hold up vocally to Charley’s version he thought he’d be alright. Neal also says that just knowing that Charley was going to be listening to the album was intimidating.
When asked what to expect from this album Neal said he doesn’t really know what to expect but he hopes people enjoy it, “if they like good country music, they’re gonna love it.” It was really important for Neal to introduce people to Charley Pride’s music because he said there are a lot of people that still haven’t been exposed to his music. He said that people are going to enjoy it because “these are just classic country songs.”
McCoy is excited about the opportunity to work with Cracker Barrel to get this album out. He said, “that’s huge for us they have a lot of great albums in their places and a lot of success. We’re just flattered and honored that they chose to have our album represent them.” He went on to say, “we hope that people will find out about it and everyone will go pick it up and let’s just sell every Cracker Barrel out over and over and over again, and the album will do well and everyone will hear about it.”
Neal seemed really excited about the opportunity to do this album he said it was “a labor of love.” Charley Pride was the guy that gave him his first break in country music and he wants people to hear Charley’s music because it really is classic country music.
The album ‘Pride: A Tribute to Charley Pride: Deluxe Edition’ will be available November 3rd exclusively at all 633 Cracker Barrel locations and online at crackerbarrel.com. The digital version will be available at select digital retailers.