Country icon’s long lost album set for release 5 years after his death

The world lost country music icon Charley Pride to complications from COVID-19 back in 2020.

He was 86.

Pride’s death came just weeks after he received a lifetime achievement award at the Country Music Association Awards. And now, all these years after his death, Pride has one final gift to give back to all of us — a new album.

It’s not really new, though. In fact, it’s an album that the country crooner recorded back in the mid-1980s called “Endlessly: A Tribute to Brook Benton.” It is set to be released on Sept. 19.

So, why now and what prevented Pride from dropping the album all those years ago?

Well, according to The Dallas Morning News, he recorded the 10-song album paying homage to Benton, which the outlet called “an under-sung R&B crooner” from the 1950s and 1960s, but the timing was all wrong.

While he was recording the album, Glen Campbell landed a top 10 hit with a remake of Benton’s “Just a Matter of Time,” and four years later, Randy Travis released a version of Benton’s song and it went to No. 1.

Charlie’s album sat on the shelf until 1992 when he released a version of “Just a Matter of Time,” on a B-side, per the Morning News. But with so many Benton tributes out there, Pride decided to keep his album from being released.

Parade said the album shows a new side of Pride, where he blends R&B, pop and classic country.