The Magnolia Music Festival, May 14 and 15 at Rays’ just north of the city of Magnolia, promises to be one of the major live music and family entertainment events of the spring season. To help make the festival vibrant no matter the weather, the festival was moved to Ray’s after its debut in Magnolia last year, according to Ray’s owner and Festival Chairman, Mike Karm. 

     “We wanted to be able to accommodate large crowds rain or shine. Because Ray’s has a very large covered stage area, we can accomplish that goal here. We are, of course, hoping for great weather, but if the weather proves to be less than that, people should still plan on attending.”

     The Magnolia Music Festival will have an interesting, eclectic line-up, Mike says. “We didn’t want to do the same stuff everyone else does. How many festivals have headliners on Saturday that have back to back the legendary Ray Price (complete with a grand piano and three violinists) and one of the great younger guns, Cory Morrow? But if that is not enough, be sure and come Friday and see Zona Jones and the Bellamy Brothers.” Chris Brade opens Friday and Texas Road Cats, Charlie Parker, Charlie Lucas Band, Raizin’ Cain and Jeff Griffith precede Ray Price and Cory Morrow.

     Ray Price, born in Perryville, Texas, began singing on KRBC-AM in Abilene, Texas in 1948. He joined the Big D Jamboree in Dallas in 1949. He hit Nashville in the early 1950s, rooming for a short time with Hank Williams. When Williams died, Price took over his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and had minor success. He was the first artist to have a hit with “Release Me”, a top five pop hit for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967.

     In 1953, Price formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Among its members in the late 1950s and early 1960s were Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Darrell McCall, Johnny Paycheck and Johnny Bush. Miller wrote one of Ray Price’s classics in 1958, “Invitation to the Blues”, and sang harmony on the recording. In addition, Nelson penned the Ray Price classic “Night Life”.

     Price became one of the stalwarts of 1950s honky tonk music, with tunes such as “Talk To Your Heart” and “Release Me”. He later developed the famous “Ray Price Shuffle,” a 4/4 arrangement of honky tonk with a walking bassline, which can be heard on “Crazy Arms” and many of his other recordings from the late 1950s.

     During the 1960s, Ray experimented increasingly with the Nashville sound, singing slow ballads and utilizing lush arrangements of strings and backing singers. Examples include his 1967 rendition of “Danny Boy”, and “For the Good Times” in 1970. This stylistic shift gained Price some success as a mainstream pop artist, although he lost appeal to many of his more traditionalist audience.

     Price’s first No. 1 since “The Same Old Me” in 1959 was “For The Good Times” in 1970. Written by Kris Kristofferson, the song also made it to No. 11 on the pop chart and featured a mellower Price backed up by sophisticated musical sounds, quite the opposite from the honky tonk sounds Price pioneered two decades before. Price had three more No. 1 country hits in the 1970s, “I Won’t Mention It Again”, “She’s Got To Be A Saint”, and “You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me.” His final top ten hit was “Diamonds In The Stars” in early 1982. Price continued to have songs on the country chart through 1989.

     Price worked on his latest album, Last of the Breed, with fellow country music legends Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. This album was released on March 20, 2007 on the Lost Highway Records label. The two-disc set features 20 country classics as well as a pair of new compositions. This was Price’s third album with Nelson and first album with Haggard.

     The festival has a lot more going for it than just the great music line-up. “We are having a Barbecue Cook-Off with over 50 teams entered. We will have several of the giant blow-up games for the kids, over 43 vendors and of course, plenty to eat and drink. Ray’s is a 13 acre facility, so we will have plenty of parking spaces and we will shuttle festival goers from Magnolia West High School, which is right down the road. We are already looking forward to next year.”

     Tickets for the Magnolia Music Festival are $15 Friday, $20 Saturday and $30.00 for both days. The Magnolia Community Foundation is putting on the event, which is partially funded by the Magnolia Hotel/Motel Occupancy Tax. This fund can only be used for events like this one, which encourages people to visit and stay in Magnolia. Other sponsors include The City of Magnolia, Ray’s, Budweiser, Coca Cola, Signs of Magnolia, Malcombe Real Estate/Kitchen Dale Cookers, Advanced Electrical, Magnolia Web Design, K-Star Country, Five Jab, Coast to Coast and the Houston Chronicle. The festival website is www.magnoliamusicfest.org.