Ray Price on . . .

Hank Williams: “I lived with Hank for about a year before he died. Hank was the one who got me on the Grand Ole Opry. He was a good ole boy, just confused and trying to cope with some things he couldn’t cope with. And he wasn’t on drugs; alcohol killed him, he was an alcoholic. He was a real unhappy person, raised up on the wrong side of town and mistreated by everybody.”

Lefty Frizzell: “Lefty and I got started together in Dallas. I forget where we were at the time, but he didn’t have any boots and mine fit him, so I loaned him my boots and wound up getting sick on my damn feet. He gave me the athlete’s foot, and he borrowed my boots to give it to me! I could have killed him.”

Faron Young: “I see Faron now and again, Faron and I are friends. We’ve got an album out together on Step One Records. Unfortunately, no one out there has the wherewithal to put these records out in the front of a store where people can see ‘em so nobody ever knows about ‘em.”

Little Jimmy Dickens: “I worked a date with Jimmy earlier this year up in Wisconsin. He’s still hitting it like he always did, he’s still up. He told me that he was gonna retire, that this was his last year, but as much of a workhorse as he is, I doubt it. He’d go nuts, you know. Jimmy’s a fine little cat.”

Willie Nelson: “Willie and I worked together for a long time. He’s a nice fella, a good, close friend. We went fishing the other day and he seemed to be enjoying himself. He said, ‘Last time we went fishing was 35 years ago up in Alaska.’ That’s a long time between fishing trips!”