Ray Price – It Always Will Be

Ray Price entered the studio one final time in 2013 at the age of eighty-seven, already battling the pancreatic cancer that would claim his life later that year. The sessions produced *Beauty Is… The Final Sessions*, released posthumously on April 15, 2014, on Amerimonte Records. Among its twelve tracks, “It Always Will Be” stood out as a tender Willie Nelson composition that captured Price’s enduring interpretive power and the deep bond he shared with Nelson over six decades.

Willie Nelson wrote the song and first recorded it himself for his 2004 album of the same name. Nelson and Price had been close since the early 1960s, when the younger songwriter served as bassist in Price’s Cherokee Cowboys and watched Price turn his “Night Life” into a country standard. That long friendship made the song especially meaningful when Price chose it near the end of his life. The lyrics speak of love that persists through distance and loneliness, with the repeated chorus affirming that true connection “always will be.”

Producer Fred Foster oversaw the recordings at familiar Nashville facilities, keeping the arrangement warm and intimate with piano, subtle strings, and acoustic backing that let Price’s rich baritone take center stage. At an age when many voices had faded, Price delivered the verses with the same controlled phrasing and emotional honesty that had defined his career since the 1950s. The performance carried extra weight knowing it came from his final sessions.

The album mixed new material with standards such as “Beautiful Dreamer” and “An Affair to Remember.” “It Always Will Be” fit naturally among them, offering a modern yet timeless take on enduring affection. In July 2015, Amerimonte released the track as a single to radio and digital platforms, giving fans one more chance to hear Price’s voice on new material more than a year after his passing on December 16, 2013.

Although the song did not appear on Billboard charts, it earned quiet admiration from critics and longtime listeners who recognized it as a fitting late-career statement. Nelson himself later included his own version of the track on the 2016 tribute album *For the Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price*, closing a circle that began when he first played songs for Price decades earlier.

The lyrics describe moments of doubt when love seems distant, only to be reassured by the memory of a loved one’s eyes and the certainty that the feeling remains unchanged. Price sings the lines without sentimentality, letting the plainspoken words carry their own quiet power. The recording served as a reminder of the mutual respect between two country icons who had influenced each other’s careers for more than fifty years.

Decades after its release, “It Always Will Be” remains a poignant highlight from Price’s final album. It underscored his lifelong ability to select strong material and deliver it with sincerity, even as health challenges mounted. The track, like the album itself, offered a graceful farewell from an artist who had shaped traditional country music across six decades while staying true to the honest emotions at its core.