They don’t make ‘em like Ray Price anymore. Mostly because the raw materials are just all mined out—it’s a grit-poor, gut-poor, honk-poor tonk-poor world, and you can’t even get heartaches by the number anymore. (Instead, it’s heartaches by the kilobit-per-second.) Price came from the old hard times and howled hardwood-floor country classics like “Crazy Arms,” “Heartaches by the Number,” “City Lights” and more, and if you miss the way a 45 would add its own personal glow to a jukebox when a certain pedal-steel riff came on, well, Ray might just, too. Fans of Harlans, Haggards or any two or three of the principal Hanks will want to make sure they’re dressed to reminisce, and Price will play Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace the night after his OC stand if you’d like to stand right in the light.
Sat., Dec. 5, 8 p.m., 2009
