Only weeks ago it was country legend Merle Haggard who played just down the highway at Music City Texas Theater in Linden, Texas.

Now it’s another singer central to country music’s legacy: Ray Price. Price will play at the Perot Theatre on Friday, Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m.

Price, still going strong at 82, belted out honky tonk tunes with one of country’s greatest voices when he first started up and then later combined his country style with pop arrangements.

He’s no stranger to playing Texarkana. He remembers Texarkana as a place where he performed at the local honky tonks back in the 1950s and ‘60s.

“It was great. They had good crowds. They all loved to dance, that was the main thing,” recalled Price, who lives in northeast Texas, in a phone interview this week.

“That was the only place you could play,” he said about getting started in honky tonks.

He first signed with Columbia Records in 1951 and his career launched from there. For a while, he was Hank Williams’ roommate and then went on to form his band from Williams’ Drifting Cowboys.

Eventually Price’s band became the Cherokee Cowboys, and Price himself worked with future superstars Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck, Roger Miller and others when they played in his band.

Born in Perryville, Texas, he was noted for developing a 4/4 honky tonk arrangement—just one of the ways he was an innovator in country music. His deep country influence was recognized in 1996 with his induction in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Price is back from playing some East Coast dates and about to set out for more concerts. He said he hopes to find time for catching up on farm work soon. He is bringing a large band with him on tour.

“We’re going to do our best and put on a good show. We try to do everything as close to our records as we can,” Price said.

His latest album is “Last of the Breed,” a two-disc project with Haggard and Nelson. It was released last year on Lost Highway Records and landed on Rolling Stone’s list of top 50 albums for 2007.

When he’s not recording or working on his farm, he’s likely to be on the road pleasing the fans who’ve revered him for decades. He averages about 75 to 100 days a year on tour.

“I enjoy what I’m doing,” Price said, noting his son Cliff opens the concert for him. “We have a good show ... we try to do some of our hits. We got enough of them.”



(Tickets: $35 for all seats. Tickets can be purchased online at www.trahc.org or by calling 903-792-4992.)