Charley Pride - New album "Music In My Heart" due 7-7-17

I'm happy to report that legendary country singer Charley Pride is releasing a new studio album, Music In My Heart, which is scheduled for July 7. Produced by Billy Yates, the album will be released by Music City Records and available on CD and digital formats. Charley seems to be getting back to the traditional country sound most longtime fans of his live shows and classic recordings from the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s have come to expect.

The project marks the CMA “Entertainer of the Year” winner’s first new studio release in more than six years, and features 13 all-new recordings, produced by traditional singer-songwriter Billy Yates. Music In My Heart will be released in the United States via Music City Records, and available at physical and digital retailers nationwide.

“It was fun getting back into the studio. My goal was to record the best traditional country album possible. But I also wanted someone else to handle all of the producer chores so that I could focus more on my singing,” said Pride. “Billy Yates and I started working together early last year. His self-produced albums show a strong respect for traditional country and he’s a good songwriter too. Finding the right songs took a while and we both keep busy schedules, so this album took longer to finish than I’m used to. But we did find some wonderful songs and I’m very happy with how everything sounds. I hope everyone will enjoy listening to the album as much as I enjoyed making it.”

The album marks a high-level return to form for Pride. Listeners will be taken on a musical journey that runs the gamut of traditional country and features songs by such acclaimed writers as Whisperin’ Bill Anderson, Tommy Collins, “Country” Johnny Mathis and Yates. One particularly poignant moment takes place as Charley reminisces about a year he actually lived through as a young man during “The Way It Was In ‘51” while simultaneously being able to pay tribute to his late friend, the great Merle Haggard. Another key moment occurs during Pride’s powerful performance of “Standing In My Way,” a song about the meditations of a deeply flawed man. Longtime fans will also be thrilled to know that a new Ben Peters (“Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’”) song appears in the album’s repertoire with “Natural Feeling For You.”

Working on the Music In My Heart album has also clearly reignited Pride’s inner muse. “The other good news for my fans is that they probably won’t have to wait quite as long for the next album” says Pride. “We’ve actually been working on a second project at the same time, which I hope to release sometime next year.”

Pride, a three-time GRAMMY® award winner kicked off the year with another career-defining moment, when it was announced that he would be recognized with a 2017 “Lifetime Achievement Award.” The country pioneer will accept the award this summer as part of The Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards, held in New York City. The award comes after Pride’s recent celebration of his 50th year in country music.

Fans can also catch the Grand Ole Opry member on the road this summer supporting the new album. In addition to playing some of his biggest hits like “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” and “Is Anybody Going to San Antone,” concertgoers will also get a first-listen to some of the new recordings from the upcoming project. The tour will travel throughout North America, including six stops in Canada, and will cross the Atlantic for both dates of the Harvest Country Music Festival in Ireland.

Music In My Heart Track Listing:
1. New Patches
2. Make Me One More Memory
3. Natural Feeling For You
4. All By My Lonesome
5. It Wasn’t That Funny
6. The Same Eyes That Always Drove Me Crazy
7. I Learned A Lot
8. You’re Still In These Crazy Arms Of Mine
9. The Way It Was In ‘51
10. I Just Can’t Stop Missing You
11. You Lied To Me
12. Standing In My Way
13. Music In My Heart

 

Great choices. Cant wait to hear it.

Folks he is one of the last of the greats. Im going to get tickets if I can and go see the man before its too late.

 

It's shaping up to be another great year in music!

 

Love Charley Pride. One of the best voices in country music ever.

 

To be honest, Charley has never recorded a "bad" album. All of his Gospel albums have been excellent and his 2 previous secular albums (from 2003 and 2011), contained some weaker material, but that was only because he was recording material which was thought to appeal to the modern country audiences at that time. Even during the 1990s, Charley was recording some enjoyable music which was criminally overlooked.

These sessions featured quality production and top country musicians including Marty Stuart.

 

Aw, Charley! This is some great news; I look forward to the album. (What a gracious guy he's always been, too.) So glad he's still singing.
Yay!

 

Definitely. Such a nice and humble guy in person, he seems to enjoy meeting his fans. Growing up, my parents were huge fans of Charley and we saw him live many times. I still get goosebumps and think of mom and dad every time I hear Charley perform. Mom and dad played those records so much, they had to replace several of the worn out LPs. I think some the later pressings of those albums were done on the inferior lightweight flexible vinyl. It wasn't until about 2015 when the BGO label began their reissue campaign to bring Charley's back catalog back into print. Many of these albums were never released on CD until BGO took the initiative and they've done a great job.
Charley Pride 2015 CD reissue sets from BGO

The Dan Rather interview with Charley on AXS TV is incredible. Charley answers all of the questions with such honesty and grace. Genuine in every way.

 

'All My Days End In Why' is one song I really hoped would appear on the new album. It's a terrific return-to-form traditional country song and I believe it was recorded during some 2013 sessions.

 

Love Charley Pride and will add anything new to my collection. This is one of my favorite Cd's of all time, if you have never heard "For Today," look for it on YouTube, it would have been a top 5 in a world without Garth.

 

The producer Billy Yates, is a well respected songwriter and has a handful of albums himself.
If you look at Billy's discography half way down the page, you can see some of the songs he has written
and the incredible amount of artists who has covered his songs.
I love Charley's take on 'that's the way it was in 51', a favourite Hag song of mine.
Charley continues to sound great on this new release.
A living country music legend in 2018!