While it's true that the last person you'd think of when thinking about "modern" Country and Western music is probably Ray Charles, it's not really that far a stretch to imagine it. The blues and country have always been cousins, raised up from the same southern/Appalachian/Delta roots, admittedly often divided along racial lines, but sometimes, once in a while, those lines would blur, bringing the cousins together and producing pretty awesome hybrids (in music only good things happen when cousins marry). There's no doubt that Charles did love country music and often sang country songs. Like Charlie Pride, he grew up listening to music from the Grand Ole Opry, broadcast all over the south on powerful WSM. Originally released in 1962, 'Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music' is soaked with that early 60's Countrypolitan feel, country ideals merged with Big Band/orchestral sounds, right at home alongside similar recordings of the time from Jim Reeves, Ray Price, Patsy Cline, and Eddy Arnold. The follow-up Volume 2 came along very shortly thereafter (released the same year), and both are for the first time gathered together here on one disc, all re-mastered by Concord as a part of a major Ray Charles re-issue program.
Of course, it leads into the whole "it ain't country" argument which has been shattering the genre for some years (maybe going all the way back to 1960, for that). I can only imagine what old honky-tonker Hank Williams would have thought of Charles' bluesy, orchestral arrangement of the classic "Half As Much" or the Big Band swing sound of "Hey, Good Lookin'," although one might imagine he might react as Bill Monroe did when he heard Elvis do "Blue Moon of Kentucky" (the reaction, to the surprise of many, was favorable). But to be honest, there's sure not a lot of difference between some of Charles' recordings and some of the original hits, such as Eddy Arnold's "You Don't Know Me." And it may be a shock to realize that Charles' version of "I Can't Stop Loving You" was its first major release (Don Gibson's original, the B-side of the single "Oh Lonesome Me," released in 1957, made the Top 50, but Charles took it to #1). Charles swings "Oh Lonesome Me" itself in a way that Gibson probably never dreamed of.
While it may not be honky-tonk, it's string-drenched Countrypolitan in keeping with the Nashville styles of the early 60's; both volumes did a great deal to impact both Charles' career and country music itself as crossovers both ways started becoming far more prevalent. Country music fans discovered the blues, and blues fans discovered country. Now, I won't get into what that has led to as the power of crossover overcame the importance of being true to one's roots, but it is interesting to contemplate.
The two-in-one disc is a terrific package for Ray Charles fans, and for fans of early Countrypolitan, as well. These are simply splendid songs, of course; with the eloquent voice of Ray Charles backed by soaring vocals, layers of strings, and of course Charles' own piano playing, makes for some elegant music with a country lean. Country's greatest songs were meant to be heard by any means possible, and if this did draw in some fans to country music, then it did a good thing... even if some of them then decided they didn't like the twang and wanted ALL country music to sound this way. As a style of country music, Charles' double volume stands as a wonderful example, and it's a pretty terrific value, as well. I always like it when a record company makes use of the amount of space a CD actually has. There are 24 tracks here, not a mere 12 or 15. I can't honestly say it's music that I'll keep loaded on my iPod, but it's sure a terrific listen. You can't go wrong with Ray Charles.
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