C Brandon
/ Redferns via Getty Images
Originally published on December 16, 2020 11:57 am
In 1966, Charley Pride's debut country single, "The Snakes Crawl at Night," was deliberately mailed out to radio stations without a photo of him. That way, his label strategized, his voice alone would inform the industry's first impression before Pride's African American identity was widely known. On the one hand, this oft-repeated tale underscores the blatant racism of the 1960s country music business and, on the other, the belief that his singing could nonetheless sell itself. Within months, his anonymity had ended and his hits had begun, initiating a phenomenal run of commercial success that would stretch into the mid-'80s, across massive stylistic and cultural upheaval.