He taught school in Culleoka, in his native Maury County, from 1920 until 1926, when he joined the editorial staff of the Nashville Tennessean.

[1] In 1940, Priest was encouraged to run for the United States House of Representatives as an independent in Tennessee's 5th congressional district, which is based in Nashville.

Priest was one of three Democrats in the Tennessee House delegation who did not sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto, the others being Joe Evins and Ross Bass.

[citation needed] In early October 1956, Priest entered a Nashville hospital for an operation on an ulcer and was reported in satisfactory condition.

J. Percy Priest Dam, a United States Army Corps of Engineers hydroelectric and flood control structure just east of Nashville on the Stones River (and easily visible from Interstate 40) is named in his honor, as is Percy Priest Lake (created by the dam) and an elementary school in Forest Hills, a suburb of Nashville.