Australian soul singer Rick Price heads to Harvey Recreation and Cultural Centre for Soulville tour

Australian singer-songwriter Rick Price has made Harvey one of only two WA stops as he plays his way across Australia to celebrate the release of his new album Soulville. Price’s 10th studio album — released in August 2021 — Soulville includes covers of classics such as Wilson Pickett’s In the Midnight Hour, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Heard It Through The Grapevine and Otis Redding’s (Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay, as well as his own original works. Excited to get back on stage after being unable to perform due to the pandemic, the award-winning international artist said he has never played in the Harvey region before and is looking forward to seeing “this part of the world”. “I think going into the regions, in some way, people are more appreciative of live music because, naturally, they just don’t get as many shows coming to town as a normal city would,” he said. “It’s probably going to be a pretty quick turnaround but I’m going to try to get down there as early as I can, just to have a look around and take in some of the local culture.” The focus of the Soulville Tour, Price’s new album includes 12 tracks, which he said are a “tip of the hat” to his heroes and musical influences. “I have a brand new album called Soulville, and that’s what the tour is all about, it’s a collection of all my favourite soul hits,” he said. “It’s really a lot of fun to go out and play it live for an audience and I’ve also included one original song, which is a tribute to Aretha Franklin on the album.” With performances in New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland Price said having not played in a while he had felt a little bit of apprehension, but performing was “like riding a bike”. “I remember my first performance recently was in Oklahoma City in the US and that was a little strange because it took me a while to get back into the swing of just being in front of an audience again,” he said. “I think I can speak pretty openly for most touring musicians, we’re just very grateful to be back on the road and being able to play shows again.” “The audience is on the same page, just really happy to be back to some level of normality and being able to sit in the audience and listen to some music.” Price’s solo Soulville performance will take place at the HRCC on Saturday, June 11 and will be his last WA performance before heading to Brisbane.