Part of the genius of Ray Charles was that he found no style of music to be a stranger. It was best exemplified when he took on the sounds and songs of country music and made it all his own. These albums have all been recently reissued, and they are, as Duke Ellington used to say,”Beyond Category”
His 1962 Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music included big band charts by Gerald Wilson and strings by Marty Paich, and it included timeless pieces like “Born To Lose”, “You Don’t Know Me” and the riveting “I Can’t Stop Loving You” . Volume Two has the same bands, and with the Jack Halloran Singers, Charles tears into “Your Cheating Heart” and “ Take These Chains From My Heat” while his Raelets chime in on “Don’t Tell Me Your Troubles” and “You Are My Sunshine”.
Country Western…has him sounding like a band at the Moose Lodge on “Together Again” and a rousing “I’ve Got A Tiger By The Tail”, while a definitive “Crying Time” is featured on the 1966 album of the same name. The “Best Of” includes a couple ringers in a rousing “Chains Of Fire” and guest appearance with Willie Nelson on “Seven Spanish Angels”. And of course he looked good in a cowboy hat!