POSTCARD ELBA

We were shooting TV commercials in Branson, Missouri in the early 90s for the Missouri tourism office. All these entertainers who had theaters in Branson had parts in the commercials, we brought them one at a time into a warehouse and shot them doing various tourism activities in front of a blue screen. It was cheesy as cheddar. Charley Pride was one of the entertainers who donated his time. I remember he was the last one to go on day two, he came in and walked the room saying hello and introducing himself to the entire 20+ person crew. We didn’t finish with him that day so he had to come back the next morning. When he walked in he once again circled the room saying hello to every single crewmember and addressing them by their first name. He remembered every single name and didn’t miss a beat. It was impressive. I’ve never forgotten it. I was not a fan of country music until I saw Uncle Tupelo covering Merle Haggard, George Jones, Charley Pride, etc. It’s really cool in this Son Volt version of San Antone when the pedal steel player comes out of the crowd. RIP Charley Pride.