It was arguably Ray Charles who first gave full voice to the links between the two genres. His 1962 album Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music was a radical departure from the R&B of his earlier hits, and it made him a crossover global star. Charles himself isn’t represented among these 23 tracks, but you will hear some of black America’s greatest singers right at home in a Nashville setting.
There’s always been a soulful element to George Jones, and his lost love epic The Grand Tour is perfectly suited to the plaintive fragility of Aaron Neville, the yearning high notes clearly cut from the same tear-stained cloth. There’s a more measured and conspiratorial tone to Solomon Burke’s affecting croon on Jim Reeves’ He’ll Have To Go, a passion and intent missing from the original.
Hank Williams’ naked holler on I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry gets a sultry last dance makeover from an emotionally bruised Al Green, while Candi Staton brings some finger-snapping funk sass to Patsy Cline’s He Called Me Baby. A conclusion quickly drawn from listening to this powerful collection of reworkings is that a great song is a great song, no matter how you choose to dress it up.
