Reunited

AMG Review of Reunited

Stephen Cook
All Music Guide

After a stellar and rewarding honky tonk run during the '50s and early '60s, Ray Price traded in his band's fiddle for a battery of stringed instruments. The result was much less tavern-worthy than before and all about easy listening bigness on par with Andy Williams or Robert Goulet. Yes, Price embraced the Nashville sound and all its gloss to the extreme. He didn't fail miserably, though, as a respectable group of performances prove, but for earlier fans attuned to Price and his Cherokee Cowboys' prime honky tonk work ("Crazy Arms," "Heartaches by the Number," "Nightlife"), the move was a travesty. Thankfully for those fans, Price returned to his crack Cherokee Cowboys for this fine 1977 reunion LP. Featuring such band standouts as steel guitar player Buddy Emmons and fiddle master Tommy Jackson, Price goes all autumnal and golden on a mix that takes in old favorites ("My Shoes Go Walking Back to You"), a Jessi Colter gem ("Storms Never Last"), and even a bit of Dylan via Nashville Skyline ("I'll Be Your Baby Tonight"). His range may be bit compromised thanks to all those smoky supper clubs of his MOR days, but Price still delivers with a wealth of barroom pathos and rough-yet-burnished singing to make this more than just a lukewarm exercise in nostalgia. A must for all those Price purists who waited a long time for their hero to return home.