I love country music and music in general. Charley Pride's story moved me deeply. This memoir follows him from a sharecropper's son in the Mississippi Delta to the life of a professional baseball player to the Army to the mines of Montana to country-music superstardom. It's a great overview of a life that's been purely American. Through it all, he stayed the same, old Charley Pride. He tells his story with an honesty and humility that is refreshing. He tells it like it is.
This book touches on many elements of Pride's story that I hadn't heard much about. His life in minor-league and negro league baseball was quite interesting to me as a fan of the game. It discusses the racial tensions he faced as the first, black man to break into country music. It covers his struggles with alcohol and depression. It tells of his family and the difficult relationship with his father. I found this book to be deeply touching. It's a story that deserves to be read. Charley Pride sings country music because Charley Pride is country music. If ever there was a person that was meant to sing country music, it was Charley Pride. This memoir will go on my shelf right next to Charlie's old friends, Waylon and George Jones.
Pride: The Charley Pride Story
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