OXFORD —  Several hundred people of all ages sat or stood in the rain for hours on Saturday evening waiting for country music legend Charley Pride to perform at the Oxford County Fair.

Pride last performed at Oxford Plains Speedway with Tammy Wynette and Eddy Raven in 1982.

Many in the crowd said they had heard of Pride but didn’t know who he was. Several others could only think of a couple of his more famous songs, including “Kaw-Liga” and “Kiss an Angel Good Morning.”

Mexico Selectman Richie Philbrick and Anita Buffett, both of Mexico, and her sister, Lucille Small of Peru, knew who Pride was, but could only name a few songs. Not that it mattered, because they said they are big fans of his music.

“Absolutely,” Philbrick said.

Small said she used to listen to Pride’s albums on 8-tracks. “It will be something to see him after all this time,” she said.

Philbrick said that prior to coming to the concert, he researched Pride on the Internet. “He’s 76 years old and still performing,” he said in an awed voice.

Pride has performed since the 1960s but is widely known for his songs from the 1970s. He has had 39 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and is one of only three African-Americans to have been inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Saturday evening’s concert was the icing on the cake for Buffett. Philbrick, Small and Buffett and their other sister, Claire Robinson of North Redding, Mass., brought Buffett to the Pride concert to celebrate her 50th birthday.

Buffett said her birthday was in June and Philbrick took her to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., to see George Strait’s last concert as a birthday present.

Then Small and Robinson took Buffett to Nashville, Tenn., to the Country Music Hall of Fame for a birthday present. They said they viewed Charley Pride memorabilia there but didn’t get the chance to hear him perform.

“We had a great time,” Robinson said. “Party, party, party.”

Philbrick soon learned Pride would be at the Oxford County Fair and all four came to see him, and hopefully score some autographs.

“I just saw all his things at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Tennessee, so an autograph would top it off,” Buffett said.

On the other side of the fair’s Family Fun Field where the stage was located, Lori Cote of Lancaster, N.H., danced in the rain while holding her grandson, Logan Cummings, 2, of Dalton, N.H. They were swaying to and fro to the music of The Jimmy Lehoux Band, which opened for Pride.

Theresa Marchand and 8-year-old Moriah Marchand, both of Colebrook, N.H., stood with Cote.

“We came just to see Charley,” Cote said. “He’s a very good singer.”

At the Stage Gate taking fair admissions, Emily Ellis of Norway said that despite the rain the crowd was building by 5 p.m. for the Pride concert at 6:30 p.m.

“I thought the rain would stop them, but we’re still getting quite a few coming in,” Ellis said. “I didn’t know a lot about (Pride) before tonight, but I hear he’s pretty good. I like country, so he should be good.”

“I’ve heard of his name, but I don’t know him,” Amy Chicoine of Buckfield said.

Paula Gagnon of Massachusetts said she loved listening to his music through the years.

“Charley Pride, he’s classic country,” Gagnon said.

Her husband, Al Gagnon, is the Lehoux band’s keyboardist.

“I brought an old album of Charley Pride and my husband, Al, took it to him and got it signed tonight,” Paula Gagnon said. “My husband said of Charley, ‘He’s a blast.'”

The closer it got to 6:30 p.m., the more the crowd swelled. Cigarette smoke hung heavily in the air. And then Pride walked out onto the stage right after several people shouted his name repeatedly.

He performed “Six Days on the Road,” and a few other oldies, including “Wonder Could I Live There Anymore” before saying, “It’s nice to be here in Augusta.”

The crowd roared with laughter. A bandmate then told Pride that he was in Oxford. “I knew that,” Pride said to more laughter, before launching into another song.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com