Noble Ray Price (January 12, 1926 – December 16, 2013) was an American coun… Read Full Bio ↴Noble Ray Price (January 12, 1926 – December 16, 2013) was an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone has often been praised as among the best male voices of country music. Some of his well-known recordings include "Release Me", "Crazy Arms", "Heartaches by the Number", "For the Good Times", "Night Life", and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me". He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996 and—even into his late 80s—continued to record and tour.

Price, born in Perryville, Texas, served with the U.S. Marines from 1944–1946, and began singing for KRBC in Abilene, Texas during 1948. He joined the Big D Jamboree in Dallas in 1949. He relocated to Nashville in the early 1950s, rooming for a brief time with Hank Williams. When Williams died, Price managed his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and had minor success. He was the first artist to have a success with the song "Release Me" (1954), a top five popular music hit for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967.
In 1953, Price formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Among its members during the late 1950s and early 1960s were; Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Darrell McCall, Van Howard, Johnny Paycheck and Johnny Bush, Buddy Emmons, Pete Wade, Jan Kurtis, Shorty Lavender and Buddy Spicher. Miller wrote one of Ray Price's classics in 1958, "Invitation to the Blues", and sang harmony on the recording. Additionally, Nelson composed the Ray Price song "Night Life".
Price became one of the stalwarts of 1950s honky tonk music, with hit songs such as "Talk To Your Heart" (1952) and "Release Me". He later developed the famous "Ray Price Shuffle," a 4/4 arrangement of honky tonk music with a walking bassline, which can be heard on "Crazy Arms" (1956) and many of his other recordings from the late 1950s.

During the 1960s, Ray experimented increasingly with the so-called 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 which was Price's first country music chart No. 1 hit since "The Same Old Me" in 1959. Written by Kris Kristofferson, the song also scored No. 11 on the popular music chart and featured a mellower Price backed by sophisticated musical sounds, quite in contrast to the honky tonk sounds Price had pioneered two decades before. Price had three more No. 1 country music successes during 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 music chart through 1989. Later, he sang gospel music and recorded such songs as "Amazing Grace", "What A Friend We Have In Jesus", "Farther Along" and "Rock of Ages."
In 2006, Price was living near Mount Pleasant, Texas and still performing in concerts throughout the country. In 2009, Price made two performances for the Fox News show Huckabee. The first was with the Cherokee Cowboys and host Mike Huckabee, and he performed "Crazy Arms" and "Heartaches By The Number". Weeks later he performed with the Cherokee Cowboys and Willie Nelson (again with Huckabee playing bass guitar). This time they performed duets of "Faded Love" and "Crazy."
Price worked on his latest album, Last of the Breed, with fellow country music singers Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. This album was released on March 20, 2007 by the company Lost Highway Records. The two-disc set features 20 country classics as well as a pair of new compositions. The trio toured the U.S. from March 9 until March 25 starting in Arizona and finishing in Illinois. This was Price's third album with Nelson and first album with Haggard. After the tour, Haggard remarked, "I told Willie when it was over, 'That old man gave us a goddamn singing lesson.' He really did. He just sang so good. He sat there with the mic against his chest. And me and Willie are all over the microphone trying to find it, and he found it."

On November 6, 2012, Ray Price confirmed that he was fighting pancreatic cancer. Price told the San Antonio Express-News that he had been receiving chemotherapy for the past six months. An alternative to the chemo would have been surgery that involved removing the pancreas along with portions of the stomach and liver, which would have meant a long recovery and stay in a nursing home. Said Price, "That's not very much an option for me. God knows I want to live as long as I can but I don't want to live like that." The 87-year-old Country Music Hall of Famer also told the newspaper, "The doctor said that every man will get cancer if he lives to be old enough. I don't know why I got it – I ain't old!" Price retained a positive outlook and hoped to play as many as a hundred concert dates in 2013.
As of early February 2013, the cancer appeared to be in remission. Sometime in May 2013, Price was hospitalized with severe dehydration. On December 2, 2013, Price entered a Tyler, Texas, hospital in the final stages of pancreatic cancer, according to his son, then left on December 12 for home hospice care. Price died at his home in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, on December 16, 2013.

How Great Thou Art
Ray Price Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear the son of God discloses
And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own
And the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known

He speaks and the sound of his voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing
And the melody that he gave to me within my heart is ringing
And he walks with me...

Overall Meaning

The opening lyrics to Ray Price's rendition of How Great Thou Art paint a very vivid picture of intimacy with God. The garden is a quiet, serene place where one can experience a deeper connection with God without the distractions of the world. The dew on the roses symbolizes the freshness and purity of the early morning, while the voice of God is described as something that falls gently on the ear: peaceful and calming. The phrase "the son of God discloses" suggests that the garden is a place where God reveals Himself and imparts knowledge to His followers.

The second verse is even more powerful as it describes the beauty of God's voice. The songwriter depicts it as being so sweet that the birds hush their singing, implying that nature itself is silenced in awe of God. The melody that God gives to the writer creates an echo within his or her heart, ringing out a song of praise that cannot be silenced. The chorus repeats the inexplicable joy and deep sense of unity the writer experiences with God during these intimate moments.

Line by Line Meaning

I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses
I come to this peaceful place by myself, when the roses are still covered in dew.

And the voice I hear falling on my ear the son of God discloses
I hear the voice of the son of God speaking to me in a gentle whisper.

And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own
He walks beside me and we have conversations, reminding me that I am His and He is mine.

And the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known
The happiness we feel as we stay there together is beyond what anyone else has ever experienced.

He speaks and the sound of his voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing
His voice is so wonderful that even the birds quiet down to listen.

And the melody that he gave to me within my heart is ringing
The beautiful tune He has given me resounds within my heart.

And he walks with me...
Once again, He walks beside me.

Lyrics © Tratore, CAPITOL CHRISTIAN MUSIC GROUP
Written by: Stuart Keene Hine

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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