Both Kinds of Music

Ray Price - Night Life

There was a time when Ray would start his LPs by doing an introduction thanking his listeners and talking up the songs on the record. Every time you’d plop the first side down on your record player, you’d have to listen to that intro (not included here). Unless you were of strong enough character or got up to move the needle, you were stuck with it. The problem was that the intro and the first song were combined as one track so you’d have to guess where to drop the needle. Probably prevented some listens, which is a shame because this Willie Nelson penned song about the acceptance of living a whiskey-soaked life in bars is nothing short of amazing. Ray’s vocals and the whole band from the steel to the hot, but restrained drumming is a spot-on performance.