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- Toni Price
Born To Be Blue
TMG-ANT 0060
By Bonny Holder
 The
old show-biz adage, as you know, is "the show must go on."
In the case of Austin's Toni Price, called the "chanteuse
of twang" by Rolling Stone, the show went on so well
that some listeners may be forgiven for thinking that Toni was
"past" the death of her close friend and soul-partner
fiddler, Champ Hood, who died in November of 2001 from complications
of cancer.
Fortunately for her fans, she had to work through her grief
in music, and the result is the brilliant Born To Be Blue,
just released on Antone's Records. An alternate title might
have been "Love Letter to Champ." The CD case itself
is a triptych. The front features a painting of Toni that has
long hung on the wall at the Continental Club (by Keith Davis),
Ms. Price sitting provocatively on a crescent moon, wearing nothing
but red stilettos.
"Champ knew this painting, he would have thought it was
a great cover," says Toni. Open the cover, and there is
a picture of Champ, fiddle cases in hand, and a letter to him
from Toni. "I was so looking forward to making this
record with you," she writes. "But you had
to go away. I miss you so much. I tried to make my tears into
something beautiful, like you did. I chose songs to make you
smile..."
Champ's spirit must have been present at the recording sessions,
and is now surely smiling down from heaven. Two guitar gods,
James Burton on electric and Rich Brotherton on acoustic, join
Toni's bandmates Casper Rawls and Country Matt Giles to provide
the backup for her rich, sweet voice. Champ's son, Warren, fills
in for his dad on fiddle. (Warren's own band is called "Blue
Light Special.") Other musicians on the CD include Cindy
Cashdollar, Lisa Pankratz, Kevin Smith and David Carrol on upright
bass, Dave Biller, Ron Flynt, Rayvon Foster, and the Tosca String
Quartet on the exquisitely beautiful Gwil Owen song, "One
Of These Lonely Days," which closes out the album.
The record begins with a dreamy, all-acoustic song "Beautiful
Garden," written by Vincent Farsetta.
"This song saved my life," Toni tells me over soup,
sandwiches, and lemonade, enjoyed on a sunny afternoon in a grassy
little area in campus-area Austin. "After Champ died, I
wanted to live in a beautiful garden, to dwell in peace and contentment
for the rest of my life. I credit this song with helping me
to begin to heal. Making the record took the healing even farther."
Having stated this intent with the first track, the second
track, Dennis Morgan's "Black and Blue Heart" places
her right back on stage where she belongs, torchy as all get-out.
"I got to be true, when they gave out brains, I thought
they said 'pains', so I passed," she sings, the staccato
guitar of James Burton entwined with her voice like punctuation.
"Sad As It Seems" was written by Champ Hood, perhaps
for Toni, I don't know. The lyric says, "...why can't
you see, it's not sad as it seems... You say you've lost someone
you believed in...why make it hard on yourself?, just try to
love again.") Shelley King's songwriting skills are
present on the smoooooooth cut "Tennessee Whiskey."
Walter Hyatt, of Uncle Walt's Band, wrote the spunky "Get
The Hell Outta Dodge."
Gwil Owen contributes three fine songs to this CD, the bluesy
"Nothing But Heartache," "Not Coming Home,"
and "One Of These Lonely Days." He is one of Toni's
favorite songwriters, and one of mine also, and these are my
personal favorites. The lyrics are tender, but the underlying
hope of her voice brings a balance that doesn't leave the listener
depressed.
One of the delights on Born To Be Blue is the interchange
between Price's voice and the guitar licks of James Burton.
Yeah, the Elvis Presley James Burton, the guy who says it's easier
to name the artist he hasn't played with, than all the
ones he has. (Barbra!) Toni will offer a lyric "True,
I'm just crazy over you," from "You Don't Love
Me," and you can hear Burton's guitar answer back, "I
know, I know." That lovely dialog fills the songs on
this CD with soul.
Toni frequently contributes her voice to causes. She believes
that women should be able to deliver babies without a doctor's
presence in the delivery room. She loves animals, all animals.
She is adamant about human rights and women's causes. "I
get weary sometimes," she sighs, "fighting evil."
Her nine-year-old daughter Della is so steeped in the music
that she doesn't separate Toni's stage life from her life at
home. "A couple of times, she's come right up on stage,
faced me, and asked for fifty cents," Toni recalls. "I
have to tell her `darlin', Mama's workin' right now.'"
Her grown daughter, Amber, is a model. Toni could have been
a model too. The CD label itself has a picture on it of Toni
at 16, taken by her sister. The picture looks a lot like Toni
does now, but without the beautiful silver now laced through
her natural brown hair.
This is not a record for kids. Toni Price is a maturing woman
at the top of her singing powers, and the listener hopefully
will bring a sensibility of experience to bear. It's an outstanding
effort by an outstandingly unique artist and performer. "I
guess I'm luckier than some folks," she sings in "Born
To Be Blue," written by Mel Torme & Robert Wells, "I've
known the thrill of loving you."
With this CD on my stereo, I raise my hand, palm open, to
Toni. High fives. Slap! Back atcha, girlfriend. Thanks
for everything.
www.toniprice.com
You can contact Bonny Holder at bonny-at-rockzilla.net
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