Garth Brooks released his latest album, Fun, in November, and fans were treated to three collaborations — one with Brooks’ wife, Trisha Yearwood, one with Blake Shelton, and one with country legend Charley Pride. Brooks invited Pride to join him on “Where the Crosses Don’t Burn,” a story of the friendship between a young white boy and an older Black man during segregation, and the two recorded the song at Pride’s studio in Dallas, Texas in September, around three months before Pride’s death on Dec. 12.
Brooks and Pride were friends for over 25 years, and Brooks told Billboard he held on to “Where the Crosses Don’t Burn” for 10 years to record it with Pride. “It was great,” he recalled of the recording process. “He’s stubborn, and that’s a blessing and a curse. He would not let this melody go. He kept going after it until he got it right. I was very appreciative of the work that he puts into it when he’s in the studio.”
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Pride’s wife, Rozene, was in the studio with them, and Brooks shared that she is now in his thoughts. “You never saw Charley without her,” he said. “She was in the studio with him. She was the one if you want to say something to Charley and you’re going, ‘S—, he’s a god, I can’t say that,’ Rozene was like, ‘I’ll tell him.’ All my love to her.”
After attempting a career as a baseball player, Pride moved to Nashville, where he became country music’s first Black superstar, earning 29 No. 1 songs, selling over 70 million records and winning numerous awards, including multiple Grammys and Entertainer of the Year at the CMAs. He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Recording Academy in 2017 and the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the CMAs in November. He died at age 86 due to complications from COVID-19.
“If I had to come up with one word to describe him, it would be ‘courage,’” Brooks said. “Every country singer in this business has a similar story. Not him. His story had to be one of stuff I couldn’t even fathom.” “What he did for all of us was educate us that color doesn’t matter,” he continued. “This is country music, my God, and he still showed us that he could be the best at it.”
