In American culture, blues and country are viewed as operating on opposite ends of the race spectrum. Charley Pride aside, country is still the whitest genre in pop; and before the Brits co-opted the blues in the 1960s, it was almost exclusively an African-American art form. Musically, though, the line between the two genres is [...]
Posts Tagged ‘ray charles’
72) Ray Charles – “I Can’t Stop Loving You”
Posted in 06, 1962, tagged ray charles on October 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
59) Ray Charles – “Hit the Road Jack”
Posted in 08, 1961, tagged ray charles on June 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I can appreciate Ray Charles’s versions of standards and country ballads for their significance in music history (crossing race divisions in music) and for bringing Charles into the mainstream. But if I actually want to listen to a Ray Charles record, I’m more likely to put on some of the electric mix of R&B and [...]
40) Ray Charles – “Georgia on My Mind”
Posted in 07, 1960, tagged hoagy carmichael, ray charles on February 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »
R&B rave-ups like “I Got a Woman” and “What’d I Say” may have marked Ray Charles as an innovator, but it was covers of old standards and country tunes that made him a star. That’s not to say that Charles had sold out in his bid to cross over to pop audiences. He had always been indebted to [...]
