Search - Ray Charles :: Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music

A new sad day.

Rykre | Carson City, Nevada | 06/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although I knew that the day would come soon that Brother Ray would pass on, but it still feels like the day came too soon. Ray Charles is one of my most cherished icons on American music. He's done so much! He's taken risks on new ideas even when his advisors were totally against it. This album of "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" proves that. He was told that a black man shouldn't do country music, but Ray said that it was in his heart to do it. And it worked! It ended up being his best selling album ever! It was the Number One album of 1962 for 14 weeks and remained on the pop chart for 101 weeks (according to Billboard, Record Research by Joel Whitburn).

Many of his most cherished hits are here: "I Can't Stop Loving You", "You Don't Know Me", "Born to Lose", and more, plus this CD features three bonus tracks, which were also charted classics: "You Are My Sunshine", "Here We Go Again", and "That Lucky Old Sun". And although "Georgia On my Mind" would have been an excellent additional bonus track, fitting for this collection, you will find that in his box set once you're ready to commit to that purchase. Although, his five disc box set "Genius and Soul" is a great collection, for those of you who are, only now, interested in hearing what Ray Charles has done for pop music, pick up this CD of "Modern Sounds...". Sure, you may want to get one of his many greatest hits CD's that are available. But, you may want to get his box set afterwards while still wanting to keep this one landmark album. Yes, I am saddened that Ray Charles has passed on. I feel somber just as we all did when Elvis Presley passed away. I hope we're going to see a great documentary on the life of Ray Charles some day. Since I've already mentioned him, it would be nice if they would get around to releasing the Elvis Presley documentary called "This is Elvis" on DVD someday. Ray, we're all going to miss you. Too bad Ronald Reagan's passing and week-long rememberance and final funeral stole the attention Ray deserves to celebrate his life. I guess they'll get around to it someday afterwards."

It's MEANT to be schmaltzy, Folks--It's Old Country Music!

Eclectic Revisited | Arizona | 11/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In 1962 when Country Music could say there still was western music in their genre, Ray Charles did for country music what Elvis Presley (most notably) did for "black music". He introduced it to millions of fans who never listened to country (and western) music. It was and is a classic album. The greatest song to emerge from it was "I Can't Stop Loving You", a song that for country music in those days AMAZINGLY sold a million singles for its composer/singer Don Gibson just 4 years earlier. Also included were songs well-known in country circles, Hank Williams, Sr.'s "Half As Much", "You Win Again" and "Hey, Good Lookin'", "Bye Bye Love" by Webb Pierce, the richest country star of the Fifties, (also done up well by country rockers the Everly Brothers), Floyd Tillman's "I Love you So Much It Hurts Me", Eddie Arnold's (and Lennie Welch's) "You Don't Know Me" and "You Are My Sunshine" from prolific songwriter/singer/Louisiana governor Jimmie Davis. (There was also a beautiful instrumental of the mournful country tune "Worried Mind" by Ray Anthony that hit about the same time as this album; both that song and the oft-recorded "Born to Lose" from 1940 were written by Ted Daffan whose work predated "country music awards" and he's not that famous). An unusually large number of singles (45s) came off the album. They were jukebox favorites. Ray followed up with a sequel album (I own the vinyl) from which singles were released also to become hits into 1963 such as "Take These Chains From My Heart". This is a special piece of music history that you deserve to own. And when Ray sings the songs, they sound heartfelt but a whole lot less hokey. RECOMMENDED HIGHLY."

Broke the Rules and Reinvented Them

Soulboogiealex | Netherlands | 04/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When Ray Charles moved from Atlantic to ABC, the label expected to get a big selling R&B artist with enough appeal to cross over to pop audiences. Ray at first complied to this narrow view of him and his talents. He started at ABC with big R&B hits as Unchain my Heart. He felt he owed it to the label to give them what they expected. They had just given him an unprecedented contract in which he would keep the rights over his masters and gave him complete artistic freedom. Ray knew his time would come. Soon he made his wish known he wanted to record a record with Country tunes. This idea was met with great apprehension. This doubt in the concept was not without grounds. The R&B world and the country world were at the time still very separate entities. Black artist playing white music was not done in the record industry. Ray went ahead and broke the rules, succeeding marvelously, just as he did when he mixed R&B and Gospel a few years prior.



Yet the record itself is not strictly a crossing between R&B and Country. Ray chose the Big Band approach to the songs. His take of Country was more the classic American Songbook view. Ray was not new to Jazz, having recorded in the medium before. Back at Atlantic he worked with parts of the Basie Orchestra and Quincy Jones on Jazz Standards. So he felt quite at ease here. He wasn't new to Country either. He'd grown up with the Grand Ole Opry shows on the radio and allegedly worked as a piano played in Hill Billy bands down south. His comfort with both styles shines through on this record. Here Charles reworks Hank Williams and Don Gibson classics as You Win Again and I Can't Stop Loving You and creates new rules in the process.



A couple years down the line the mixture of Black and White music would become very common. Record labels as Stax and Hi Records in Memphis build there house styles around in it. Fame studios would excel in it. When Ray dropped this gem on the market it hit like a bomb. Modern Sounds became one of his biggest selling records ever and artistically one of his most compelling.

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