Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

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Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music cover
Cover album by Ray Charles
Released April 1962
Recorded 1961-1962
Genre R&B/Soul
Country soul
Length 39:33
Label ABC-Paramount
410
Producer Ray Charles, Sid Feller
Professional reviews
Ray Charles chronology
The Genius Sings the Blues
(1961)		 Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
(1962)		 Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vol. 2
(1962)

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a 1962 album by Ray Charles. It has been named one of the best albums of all time by VH1 (#97), Rolling Stone (#104), TIME (#96), and CMT (#2).

The album features country, folk and western standards and original songs redone in popular song forms of that time, such as jazz, rock music, and R&B. Such artists covered by Charles include The Everly Brothers, Hank Williams, and The Mills Brothers.

When Charles announced he wanted to work on an album of country music, he received comments like "you're nuts" and "it'll never work". Fueled by his esteem for artistic and creative control and his power, Charles ignored the comments and recorded what became Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music with arrangements by jazz composer Gerald Wilson. Released in 1962, the album became an unlikely smash eventually reaching #1 on the Billboard pop album charts where it would stay for 12 weeks. Three of the songs ("I Can't Stop Loving You", "Born to Lose" and "You Don't Know Me") would become Top Ten hits on the pop, R&B and adult contemporary charts with the former becoming the most successful, reaching #1 and winning Charles a Grammy Award for Best R&B Male Vocal Performance.

The album would give birth to a sequel, which was equally successful, and would lead to country-soul efforts from the likes of Candi Staton and Solomon Burke. Charles went on to record country music for Warner Bros. Records throughout most of the 1980s scoring a #1 hit on the country charts with Willie Nelson on the 1984 single, "Seven Spanish Angels" but it is Charles' volumes of his 1962 Modern Sounds albums that is most well-known.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side One

  1. "Bye Bye Love" (Felice and Boudleaux Bryant) - 2:14
  2. "You Don't Know Me" (Eddy Arnold & Cindy Walker) - 3:15
  3. "Half as Much" (Curley Williams) - 3:27
  4. "I Love You So Much It Hurts" (Floyd Tillman) - 3:35
  5. "Just a Little Lovin' (Will Go a Long Way)" (Eddy Arnold & Zeke Clements) - 3:29
  6. "Born to Lose" (Frankie Brown) - 3:15

[edit] Side Two

  1. "Worried Mind" (Ted Daffan & Jimmie Davis) - 2:55
  2. "It Makes No Difference Now" (Floyd Tillman & Jimmie Davis) - 3:34
  3. "You Win Again" (Hank Williams, Sr.) - 3:31
  4. "Careless Love" (Ray Charles) - 4:00
  5. "I Can't Stop Loving You" (Don Gibson) - 4:13
  6. "Hey, Good Lookin'" (Hank Williams, Sr.) - 2:13

[edit] Reissue Tracks

Bonus tracks featured on post-1988 Rhino reissues

[edit] Chart positions

[edit] Album

Year Chart Position
1962 Billboard Pop Albums (Billboard 200) (mono and stereo) 1

[edit] Singles

Catalog No. Song R&B Pop
ABC 10345 “You Don't Know Me” #5 #2
ABC 10330 “Born to Lose” #41
ABC 10345 “Careless Love” #60
ABC 10330 “I Can't Stop Loving You” #1 #1

[edit] See Also

[edit] External Links

Preceded by
West Side Story (soundtrack)
by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim		 Billboard 200 number-one album (mono)
June 23 - September 28, 1962		 Succeeded by
Peter, Paul and Mary by Peter, Paul and Mary
Preceded by
West Side Story (soundtrack)
by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim		 Billboard 200 number-one album (stereo)
June 23 - June 29, 1962		 Succeeded by
Jazz Samba by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd
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