AMERICAN MASTERS: Charley Pride

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—See how country star Charley Pride used music to triumph over prejudice and injustice—

AMERICAN MASTERS “Charley Pride: I’m Just Me” traces the improbable journey of Charley Pride, from his humble beginnings as a sharecropper’s son on a cotton farm in segregated Sledge, Mississippi, to his career as a Negro American League baseball player and his meteoric rise as a pioneering country music superstar.

Along with exclusive new interviews with Pride himself, the film incorporates original interviews with country music royalty, including Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker and Marty Stuart, as well as on-camera conversations between Pride and special guests such as Rozene Pride (his wife of 61 years), Willie Nelson and fellow musicians.

Narrated by Grammy-nominated country singer Tanya Tucker, the new documentary reveals how Pride’s love for music led him from the Delta to a larger, grander world.

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Grammy-winning country music icon Charley Pride (pictured with guitar) is the subject of the new documentary AMERICAN MASTERS "Charley Pride: I’m Just Me." (undated photo)

Courtesy of AMERICAN MASTERS / PBS

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Country music legend Charley Pride performing. (undated photo)

Courtesy of AMERICAN MASTERS / PBS

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Country music superstar Charley Pride in performance. (undated photo)

Courtesy of AMERICAN MASTERS / PBS

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Country music legend Charley Pride holding one of the many Gold certification awards he has received from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). (undated photo)

Courtesy of AMERICAN MASTERS / PBS

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Trailblazing country music star Charley Pride in an early RCA promotional photo. (undated)

Courtesy of AMERICAN MASTERS / PBS

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Charley Pride in an RCA promotional photo. (undated)

Courtesy of AMERICAN MASTERS / PBS

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Trailblazing country music star Charley Pride. (undated photo)

Courtesy of Ben De Rienzo

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Country music superstar Charley Pride in performance. (undated photo)

Courtesy of AMERICAN MASTERS / PBS

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Before he became a Grammy-winning country star, Charley Pride was a professional baseball player. Pride enjoyed a spring training regimen with the Milwaukee Brewers during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Courtesy of AMERICAN MASTERS / PBS

The singer arrived in Nashville in 1963 while the city roiled with sit-ins and racial violence.

But with boldness, perseverance and undeniable musical talent, he managed to parlay a series of fortuitous encounters with music industry insiders into a legacy of hit singles, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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CREDITS:

A production of Corridor Group Productions Inc in association with THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC’s AMERICAN MASTERS and ITVS. The film is directed by Barbara Hall, who is also executive producer. Co-executive producers are Greg Hall, Suzanne Kessler and Ed Lanquist. Jon Schouten is producer. Editors are Matthew Walsh and Chris Windings. Writer is John Schouten. Michael Kantor is AMERICAN MASTERS series executive producer.