Frank had a legendary smooth and golden country voice on the radio.
Born in Sledge, Mississippi, population 337, he was one of eleven children born to sharecroppers. In 1934, the Great Depression had finished off most of what was left of the tiny Delta town of Sledge and its inhabitants. Frank lived in a three room shotgun house and slept four to a bed, constantly waking up with toes jabbing him in the face. By 1940, Quitman County had little industry outside cotton, and six year old Frank already had his fill of stooping overs rows and rows of cotton. Determined at a young age to break the cycle of sharecropper debt, he told his father, “I just don’t want to be a cotton picker, Daddy.”
In Sledge, kids played baseball in sandlots and makeshift fields near corn and soybean plots, and Frank was a particularly good ball player. The drudgery of tending a small farm could not stand against the allure of America’s pastime. So, when Frank was in his late teens, he left home and travelled 50 miles north to Memphis to join a minor league baseball team. While working odd jobs, he managed to find success and improve his skills at the game. In his spare time,he listened to an old Philco radio with the knob tuned to WSM in Nashville which played country music and once a week provided The Grand Ole Opry. Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, and Ernest Tubb were regularly singing in Frank’s home, and over time, he memorized the songs and learned to sing them.
His love for country music swelled inside him, so much that he learned to play guitar and before long, he serenaded his teammates on bus rides to and from the long rides to the ballparks. But singing for Frank was amusement, a way to pass the time, as his sights were set on becoming the next Jackie Robinson. He worked hard to realize his dream, signing a contract in the Yankees organization and played on various minor league teams before being drafted in the Army. After serving in the military, he tried again to play pro ball, but injuries and age finally caught up to him. Realizing he had no future in baseball, Frank moved to Montana to start a family and work in construction.
Then, life through Frank a curveball. His hobby of singing country music landed him a few gigs which grew into larger venues which then reached the ears of Nashville producer Chet Atkins. Bowled over by Frank’s sweet baritone style, Atkins signed Frank to a recording contract and began releasing singles which skyrocketed on the country charts. Within a year, Frank was singing in concerts on stage with the likes of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. He went on to have numerous number 1 hit records, Grammy awards, and was the second biggest selling artist on RCA records behind only Elvis Presley.
But these achievements in country music are all the more remarkable when considering Frank’s background. As Paul Harvey used to say, “And now, the rest of the story.” Frank began his rise in country radio by not performing live in person before an audience. He was the golden voice with no face. Nashville did not know if Dixie was ready for Frank, and RCA had a big investment in him. You see, Frank was one of a kind in country music. He happened to be a black man who sang like an angel from the farms of middle America. Other than a spoon player, country music had no persons of color, and most fans were Confederate flag waving whites, many of whom were hostile to blacks. But, in this instance, the music prevailed, and despite overwhelming odds, the young man from Sledge, Mississippi, became one of the greatest stars in the history of American country music.
Frank remains today an outlier, the only African-American star in the history of country music. Last year, at the age of 86, he died due to complications from COVID-19. But, for eternity, the music of Charley Frank Pride will live on in the hearts and minds of listeners who have the privilege to hear his heavenly voice.
Clark Hicks is a lawyer who lives in Hattiesburg. His email is clark@hicksattorneys.com.
