When Janie Price learned that Ray Price’s final album was dedicated to Janie Price, the news was overwhelming enough to interrupt a drive. Janie Price pulled into a Walgreens parking lot.
After more than four decades of marriage, Janie Price knew that expressing feelings in conversation did not come easily to Ray Price. The country singer could deliver a love song with extraordinary tenderness, but Janie Price remembered a husband who was considerably less sentimental in everyday life.
Now, with an album completed and time becoming precious, Ray Price explained what the recordings were meant to leave behind.
“I want you to have it to listen to when I’m not here, to hear me telling you how much I love you.”
For Janie Price, those words gave the music a deeply personal meaning. The recordings would remain available long after another conversation together was no longer possible.
One More Album to Make
Ray Price and Janie Price married on June 11, 1970. By the time Ray Price began work on the final recording project, the marriage had already lasted more than forty years.
Producer Fred Foster recalled receiving a call from Ray Price in 2012. Ray Price was unwell but believed there was still another album to make, and wanted Fred Foster involved.
The resulting collection, Beauty Is…, featured the rich arrangements associated with Ray Price’s later career. Vince Gill and Martina McBride contributed vocals, helping create a record that brought familiar musical friendships into the final chapter of a remarkable recording life.
Yet one selection carried a history that belonged especially to Janie Price.
The Song Janie Price Had Requested for Years
For many years, Janie Price had asked Ray Price to record “An Affair to Remember.” The request kept returning, but Ray Price had never felt the song belonged on an album being made.
That changed during the final project. When Ray Price discussed the selection with Fred Foster, the producer agreed that the song suited the collection.
The recording became a duet with Martina McBride.
In a December 2014 interview, Janie Price recalled finally getting the requested song recorded after forty-three and a half years of marriage. Janie Price praised the blend of Ray Price’s and Martina McBride’s voices and remembered crying upon hearing the performance.
That history makes the track more than another title on an album. Behind the finished duet was a familiar exchange between spouses: a request made repeatedly, a reason to postpone it, and eventually the right opportunity.
Listeners could appreciate the performance without knowing any of that. Janie Price heard something more personal—a wish from the marriage, finally given a permanent place in Ray Price’s music.
A Gift That Became a Responsibility
Ray Price died on December 16, 2013, at eighty-seven. Beauty Is… was released on April 15, 2014.
Before the death, Ray Price had asked Janie Price to help carry the completed project forward. Janie Price had long handled business matters behind the scenes. Promoting the album publicly required stepping into a different role while grieving.
In later interviews, Janie Price described that work as fulfilling Ray Price’s last dream. Meeting listeners also revealed how many people carried a personal connection to the music.
The album therefore held two responsibilities: preserving Ray Price’s final recordings for the audience and protecting something intimate within the marriage.
For country fans, the collection offered another chance to hear a beloved voice. For Janie Price, the same recordings held a husband’s explanation of what had sometimes gone unspoken.
And among those songs was the request Janie Price had brought back for years, finally answered in a duet that could be played again.