In 1989, a struggling singer named Toni Price traveled from her Nashville home to Austin, Texas
to perform at the South-By-Southwest Music Festival. She found the city’s music scene so warm and
nurturing that she made the Texas capital her home base. And now, every Tuesday at 6:30pm, Price
plays a 3½-hour gig at Austin’s Continental Club to a packed house of adoring fans. The people of
Austin regard her as something of a local treasure, and in 2002 she won Austin Music Awards for Best
Female Vocalist, Song of the Year (Call of My Heart), and Album of the Year for her fifth
release Midnight Pumpkin. Price’s cult following is nothing short of amazing considering the
40-year-old singer neither plays an instrument nor writes her own music. Her popularity is based
solely on her charisma and her ear for good tunes from the rich roots of American 20th century
music. On Midnight Pumpkin, Price delivers a perfect baker’s dozen of obscure numbers
touching all the requisite bases of Texas blues, Memphis soul, Tin Pan Alley jazz, Appalachian folk,
and Southern bluegrass. Her sultry voice is the only constant on this genre-hopping release. At
times she recalls the sound of Bonnie Raitt, Marcia Ball, or Emmylou Harris, while at other times
shadows of Shelby Lynne or Lucinda Williams creep into her vocals.
Midnight Pumpkin is a darn-near perfect album showing off Price’s diversity and eclectic
musical taste. The disc begins with the aptly titled Start of Something Good followed by
Thank You for the Love, two soulful and bluesy numbers sung with the aforementioned Raitt-inflection.
As comfortable as Price sounds in a Texas blues mode, she is equally at home when performing ballads
from many decades before she was born. The lovely tune The Right Kind of Man was written by
L. Wolfe Gilbert and Abel Baer in 1929. On We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye, Price sings to a
jazzy shuffle with clarinet backing, mirroring the song’s original 1932 incarnation as well as its
more popular renditions by Frank Sinatra and Guy Lombardo.
Price is at her absolute best, however, when she dishes up a batch of 1960s Memphis soul. There
are moments on this album — most notably Keep the Love Alive and Work On It — that
sound like Price was transported through time, straight from a Stax Records recording session. She
even does a duet with former Storyville lead singer Malford Milligan on Joe Tex’s I Want To Do
Everything for You. In addition, Price is accompanied throughout the album by a talented staff
of supporting musicians. Her band, which is led by her long-time collaborator and acoustic guitarist
Casper Rawls and the recently deceased electric guitarist Champ Hood, is able to effortlessly jump
eras and styles while providing the sonic foundation upon which Price’s sensual vocals effortlessly
flow.
Toni Price has been receiving some widespread attention lately with a feature story on National
Public Radio’s Morning Edition and an appearance on PBS’s Austin City Limits. However,
if you want to see her live in concert, you’ll have to travel to Austin where Price plays nearly all
of her gigs. Once in a blue moon, she will venture to far off lands like Dallas, but she hurries
home to her legion of fans for the Tuesday Night Hippie Hour at The Continental Club. So, until your
next trip to Austin, just pick up a copy of Midnight Pumpkin and find out what the fuss is
all about.
