Charley Pride To Receive Inaugural Crossroads Of American Music Award

By Hallels News Sep 18, 2019 01:56 AM EDT

Three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning, Mississippi-born country artist Charley Pride will be the inaugural recipient of GRAMMY Museum® Mississippi's Crossroads of American Music Award at the Mississippi Museum's 2019 Gala on Friday, Nov. 1. Established by the Museum's Board of Directors, the Crossroads of American Music Award honors an artist who has made significant musical contributions influenced by the creativity born in the cradle of American music. Pride will appear at the Museum's 2019 Gala to accept the award on Nov. 1 at GRAMMY Museum Mississippi.

"We are thrilled to recognize the great Charley Pride as the first-ever recipient of our Crossroads of American Music Award," said Emily Havens, Executive Director of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi. "As a native of Mississippi, Charley has had a significant impact on American music with his uncompromising honky-tonk country music. Charley broke new ground in the '60s when he emerged as one of the most successful black country artists at that time. It's an honor to recognize Charley Pride as the inaugural recipient of our Crossroads of American Music Award."

GRAMMY Museum Mississippi's Red Carpet Guild, an organization of committed volunteers whose mission is to promote, support and sustain the Mississippi Museum, is currently developing plans for the Mississippi Museum's 2019 Gala, with this year's theme being "Girls, Guitars, & Rocktail Bars." The Gala will celebrate the impact of women on music, and proceeds will benefit the music education initiatives of the Mississippi Museum. The event will take place on Friday, Nov. 1, at 6 p.m. at GRAMMY Museum Mississippi and will feature a reception, dinner and cocktails, live music, and a silent and live auction. Additional details regarding the 2019 Gala are forthcoming.

"I'm honored to be the first recipient of this award from the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi," said Pride. "And thankful to the many great American music artists before me that helped to pave the way for my success. I applaud the Museum for celebrating those artists and championing the importance of American music."

Encore Broadcast of American Masters - Charley Pride: I'm Just Me:
A special encore presentation of American Masters - Charley Pride: I'm Just Me airs Thursday, September 19 at 9 p.m. on PBS(check local listings) to coincide with the premiere of Country Music, a new eight-part, 16-hour film directed by Ken Burns, which features Charley Pride, premiering Sunday, September 15 through Wednesday, September 18, and Sunday, September 22 through Wednesday, September 25 at 8-10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Additionally, the documentary is streaming at pbs.org/americanmasters and on the PBS apps.

American Masters - Charley Pride: I'm Just Me traces the improbable journey of Charley Pride, from his humble beginnings as a sharecropper's son on a cotton farm in segregated Sledge, Mississippi to his career as a Negro League baseball player and his meteoric rise as a trailblazing country music superstar. The new documentary reveals how Pride's love for music led him from the Delta to a larger, grander world. In the 1940s, radio transcended racial barriers, making it possible for Pride to grow up listening to and emulating Grand Ole Opry stars like Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff. The singer arrived in Nashville in 1963 while the city roiled with sit-ins and racial violence. But with boldness, perseverance and undeniable musical talent, he managed to parlay a series of fortuitous encounters with music industry insiders into a legacy of hit singles, a Recording Academy "Lifetime Achievement Award" and a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The film includes original interviews with country music royalty, including Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker and Marty Stuart. It also includes several on-camera conversations between Pride and special guests, including Rozene Pride (his wife of 61 years), Willie Nelson, and other fellow musicians. The film also features many songs from his repertoire of classic country hits, along with more modern cuts like "Standing In My Way," from his latest album Music In My Heart, released in 2017.

[ VIEW THE TRAILER ]

On January 30, 2019 the film made its world premiere at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The premiere featured an appearance by Charley Pride himself, along with special guest artists featured in the film, including the film's narrator Tanya Tucker, Jimmie Allen, Janie Fricke, and Sylvia Hutton. Members of the media, and other family and friends of Pride also attended. After the film a Q&A was hosted by the film's director Barbara Hall, and journalist Robert K. Oermann, Country Music Hall of Fame's Peter Cooper, and Charley Pride.
Websites/Socials:
pbs.org/americanmasters
facebook.com/americanmasters
@PBSAmerMasters
#AmericanMastersPBS
youtube.com/AmericanMastersPBS
instagram.com/pbsamericanmasters

Charley Pride Tour Dates:
2019
Sep 20 - Isleta Resort & Casino / Albuquerque, N.M.
Sep 27 - Norsk Hostfest / Minot, N.D.
Oct 05 - Sugar Creek Casino / Hinton, Okla.
Oct 18 - Five Flags Center / Dubuque, Iowa
Nov 09 - Deadwood Mountain Grand / Deadwood, S.D.

2020
Apr 24 - Nugget Casino Resort / Sparks, Nev.
For Charley's most up-to-date tour schedule, please visit charleypride.com/tour
About Charley Pride:
Charley Pride is celebrating more than 50 years as a recording artist. He has enjoyed one of the most successful careers in the history of country music and is credited with helping to break color barriers by becoming the first black superstar within the genre. A true living legend, he has sold tens of millions of records worldwide with his large repertoire of hits. A three-time GRAMMY® award and Recording Academy "Lifetime Achievement Award" winner, Pride has garnered no less than 36 chart-topping country hits, including "Kiss An Angel Good Morning," a massive #1 crossover hit that sold over a million singles and helped Pride land the Country Music Association's "Entertainer of the Year" award in 1971 and the "Top Male Vocalist" awards of 1971 and 1972. A proud member of the Grand Ole Opry, Pride continues to perform concerts worldwide and has toured the United States, Canada, Ireland, The United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand over the last several years. His latest album, Music In My Heart, was released in 2017 on Music City Records. For more information, visit CharleyPride.com.

About GRAMMY Museum Mississippi:
Developed by the Cleveland Music Foundation-a nonprofit organization founded in 2011-the 28,000-square-foot GRAMMY Museum Mississippi is housed near the campus of Delta State University, home of the Delta Music Institute's Entertainment Industry Studies program, which features the most unique audio recording facilities in the South. Affiliated with the Recording Academy^TM, GRAMMY Museum Mississippi is dedicated to exploring the past, present, and future of music, and the cultural context from which it emerges, while casting a focused spotlight on the deep musical roots of Mississippi. The Museum features a dynamic combination of public events, educational programming, engaging multimedia presentations, and interactive permanent and traveling exhibits, including a Mississippi-centric area that introduces visitors to the impact of Mississippi's songwriters, producers, and musicians on the traditional and modern music landscape.

For more information, visit grammymuseumms.org, "like" GRAMMY Museum Mississippi on Facebook, and follow @grammymuseumms on Twitter and Instagram.