TIME CAPSULE: charley pride.

we all know how much i love darius rucker. but we may not all know that in 2009, darius rucker became the first african american to win the cma for best new artist. he also was the first african american to reach #1 on billboard's country charts (for don't think i don't think about it in 2008) since 1983, when charley pride's night games topped the charts. in fact, after charley's huge success in the sixties and seventies, there was no black performer to get a cma award until darius rucker came around decades later! oh yeah, and night games was charley pride's 29th country chart-topper! so yeah, no big deal.

black country artists are hard to come by in such a predominantly white genre. in fact, when rca first signed charley in the 60s, they made sure not to release any photos of him since pre-civil rights jim crow was still rearing its ugly head in the south. but after something like a million hits, i guess good ol' dixie land decided to look past charley's tall, dark handsomeness and he became the first black artist to play at the grand ole opry. and in 1993, he became the first african-american country music hall of fame inductee. here i was going to say, "yee-haw! obama it up!" but clearly the correct phrase would be to say that obama is the one charley pridin' it up.

politics aside because that's not really my steez, below is charley performing his biggest hit, "kiss an angel good mornin" (1971), which won him cma's entertainer of the year AND top male vocalist. and perhaps most importantly of all, please tell me where i can get this red sweater. thanks.



{photo credit: lasvegascourierservice.com}