The First Calls
The album was ready. Ray Price was not there to introduce it.
When Steve Popovich Jr. approached Janie after Ray’s funeral, he was asking her to take part in the public work surrounding Beauty Is…. She understood exactly what had to happen. For decades, she had attended to Ray’s business behind the scenes. She had arranged calls and interviews, and known when an engagement needed attention. Now the person who would normally take those calls was gone.
In a 2014 interview, Janie described repeatedly telling Popovich she could not yet leave the house. He gave her time, then called again. The record’s release was approaching whether she felt ready or not.
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A Marriage With a Working Life
Janie and Ray married in 1970. Their life together included a long-running business that crossed household and professional lines: tours to arrange, people to speak with, decisions to keep moving. Janie said she had acted as Ray’s personal business manager throughout their marriage.
That history helps explain why Ray trusted her with his final album. It also explains the size of the change he was asking her to make. Janie was experienced in the work, but had generally done it out of public view. Knowing how to set up an interview did not make it simple to become its subject.
The Record Ray Had Finished
Ray spent part of his final year making Beauty Is… with producer Fred Foster. By Janie’s account, he had finished the album and selected a record label. Plans for its release were in place as his cancer advanced.
A finished recording can wait on a shelf. Getting it heard still takes people answering calls, explaining the work and showing up. Ray had prepared much of that path, but he would not live to walk it. Janie inherited the part that could not be completed in a studio.
Janie’s Song
For more than forty years, Janie had suggested “An Affair to Remember” to Ray. He had not found an album where he thought it fit. Foster heard a place for it on Beauty Is…, and Ray recorded the song with Martina McBride.
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Janie’s long request makes the track different from the other selections. She had lived beside the making of Ray’s records without always getting her own choice onto one. On his final album, she did. The duet was already recorded when she was asked to face the press; there was nothing left for her to persuade Ray to sing.
Meeting the Listeners
Janie began promoting the album in 2014. In interviews, she spoke about Ray’s intentions and the work he had finished. She also encountered fans who approached her with memories of him.
Ray had understood that listeners would want a connection to the man whose voice they knew. Janie discovered what receiving those stories demanded of her. Behind-the-scenes business management had involved protecting his time and helping him reach people. This work put her directly in their path.
What Janie Price Really Leaves Behind
For years Janie’s part in an interview could end when Ray picked up the receiver. During the release of Beauty Is…, the questions stayed with her. She knew the record’s plans, remembered how long she had waited to hear one of its songs, and could tell listeners what Ray had wanted done with it. She learned the public-facing work only when there was no one else in their household to do it
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