Vince Gill and Paul Franklin Discuss ‘Sweet Memories’ and the Music of Ray Price: “The Intention Behind This Is Reverence”

Vince Gill and Paul Franklin’s tribute album Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys brought many of Price’s lesser-known songs to light. It also brought Gill and Franklin a Grammy nomination—the song “Kissing Your Picture (Is So Cold)” is up for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.

Sweet Memories sees two incredibly talented musicians paying tribute to a legendary artist. However, unlike other tribute albums, they didn’t go for Price’s biggest hits and best-known tracks. Instead, Gill and Franklin chose to cover deep cuts from Price’s catalog. They wanted to introduce new listeners to the classic artist and refresh the memories of old fans.

[RELATED: Vince Gill and Paul Franklin Talk Ray Price Tribute Album]

Recently, Gill and Franklin spoke to CMT about the album.

“I’m a Ray Price Fiend”

Gill revealed putting the album together was a learning process for him. “I’m a Ray Price fiend, but I never knew he did ‘Sweet Memories.’ I never knew he’d done ‘Weary Blues,’ a Hank Williams song,” Gill said. “Several of these songs I never knew. It was fun to find that out.”

Finding deep cuts from Price’s catalog wasn’t hard for the duo. What was hard for them was knowing that people would instantly compare them to Price’s recordings. “The obvious thing that people are going to, unfortunately, say when they hear something like this, ‘Oh, it’s not as good as the original,’” Gill said. “They’ll say, ‘I like the original way better, I like the melody of the original way better.’ This is just intended to be inspired by us to begin with.”

Gill and Franklin didn’t record Sweet Memories because they thought they could do better than Price. “I think the audience that’s our age and older, they’re going to love this stuff. That’s a given because they don’t get to hear much music like this anymore,” he said. “The intention behind this is reverence.”

The duo discussed their Grammy nomination. “What I am most proud of is being nominated with Paul. His friendship and musicianship is unparalleled,” Gill said. Added Franklin, “After decades of playing music with my friend Vince, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine a Grammy nomination. This is so cool.”

Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum