Ray Charles – Modern Sounds in Country and Western

I’m going to be too lazy to go very in-depth with this one.  Here’s what I know: Once he made a name for himself, he signed a contract with ABC Paramount that included a full artistic freedom clause.  He used that freedom to produce this album, despite the fears of label executives that a genre cross-over would fail.  From what I’m hearing while I write this, those fears were unwarranted.  This is less a blending of two genres than it is a straight R & B record using songs that had previously been recorded as country.  The lyrics and song structures for the songs chosen (and probably most country songs at the time [and now, probably]) seem pretty easily transferrable from one style to another.  Here’s what this guy has to say about it.