Di Anne Price - Refreshed (2009)

Memphis blues and jazz artist Di Anne Price died of liver cancer, March 13, 2013. She was easily one of the fabled music city’s most beloved performers. Her superb albums Barrel House Queen, Sugar in My Bowl, Love Come and Go, Blue Artistry, The Best Price, 88 Steps to the Blues, Taking the Blues in Stride, and Deja Blu, all showcase her smoky vocals, barrelhouse piano, and her fascination with a variety of blues and jazz styles from 1920s throwback to more contemporary arrangements.

As a little girl, Price would wake up in the middle of the night wanting to play the piano. She’d get dressed, put on gloves if it was cold, wake her mom, and the two would play and sing until morning. The first songs Price ever learned were blues, and the husky-voiced storyteller never stopped singing them. Price, always credited her mom, and called her fans her babies, never lost her enthusiasm. She told John Taylor of Blues on Stage that the first thing she did in the morning was touch her piano to make sure it was still there. The second thing she did was sit down and practice.

Price told The Memphis Flyer she was happiest when working. “You know, when I’m in a smoke-filled bar, and can smell the Jack Daniels all around, and I’m singing something that’s right just for the moment, that’s working just for that moment, and people are really listening, that’s everything I need.”