Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a studio album by American singer and pianist Ray Charles. It was recorded in February 1962 at Capitol Studios in New York City and United Recording Studios in Hollywood, and released in April of that year by ABC-Paramount Records.
The album departed further stylistically from the rhythm and blues music Charles had recorded for Atlantic Records. It featured country, folk, and Western music standards reworked by Charles in popular song forms of the time, including R&B, pop, and jazz. Charles produced the album with Sid Feller, who helped the singer select songs to record, and performed alongside saxophonist Hank Crawford, a string section conducted by Marty Paich, and a big band arranged by Gil Fuller and Gerald Wilson.
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was an immediate critical and commercial success. The album and its four hit singles brought Charles greater mainstream notice and recognition in the pop market, as well as airplay on both R&B and country radio stations. The album and its lead single, "I Can't Stop Loving You", were both certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1962, as each record had sold at least 500,000 copies in the United States.
The album's integration of soul and country challenged racial barriers in popular music at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. In the process of recording the album, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to exercise complete artistic control over his own recording career. In retrospect, it has been considered by critics as his best studio record and a landmark recording in American music. According to Robert Christgau, the album "transfigured pop, prefigured soul, and defined modern country & western music."
Contents |
Track listing
All tracks were produced by Ray Charles and Sid Feller.
Side one |title1=Bye Bye Love |writer1=Boudleaux Bryant, Felice Bryant |length1=2:09 |title2=You Don't Know Me |writer2=Eddy Arnold, Cindy Walker |length2=3:14 |title3=Half as Much |writer3=Curley Williams |length3=3:24 |title4=I Love You So Much It Hurts |writer4=Floyd Tillman |length4=3:33 |title5=Just a Little Lovin' (Will Go a Long Way) |writer5=Eddy Arnold, Zeke Clements |length5=3:26 |title6=Born to Lose |writer6=Frankie Brown, pseudonym of Ted Daffan |length6=3:15}}
Side two |title1=Worried Mind |writer1=Ted Daffan, Jimmie Davis |length1=2:54 |title2=It Makes No Difference Now |writer2=Floyd Tillman, Jimmie Davis |length2=3:30 |title3=You Win Again |writer3=Hank Williams |length3=3:29 |title4=Careless Love |writer4=Traditional, Arranged by Ray Charles |length4=3:56 |title5=I Can't Stop Loving You |writer5=Don Gibson |length5=4:13 |title6=Hey, Good Lookin' |writer6=Hank Williams |length6=2:10}}
- In October 1988, the album was reissued on compact disc by the specialty record label Rhino Entertainment with three bonus tracks.<ref name=reissue/>
Personnel
Musicians
- Ray Charles – piano, vocals, producer
- Hank Crawford – alto saxophone
- Gil Fuller, Gerald Wilson – arrangements (big band)
- Marty Paich – arrangements (strings)
Additional personnel
- Frank Abbey – engineering (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12)
- Joe Adams – production (track 14)
- Bob Arnold – engineering (track 15)
- Hugh Bell – photography
- Johnny Cue – engineering (track 13)
- Todd Everett – liner notes
- Sid Feller – production
- Bill Inglot– remastering
- Michael Ochs Archives – photography
- Ken Perry – remastering
- Bill Putnam – engineering (tracks 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 15)
- Gene Thompson – engineering (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12)
