ALBUMS: MODERN SOUNDS IN COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC

i really dig ray charles’ analysis between the SIMILARITIES of blues music and country music — “the words to country songs are very earthy like the blues, see, very down. They're not as dressed up, and the people are very honest and say, 'Look, I miss you, darlin', so I went out and I got drunk in this bar.' That's the way you say it. Where in Tin Pan Alley will say, 'Oh, I missed you darling, so I went to this restaurant and I sat down and I had dinner for one.' That's cleaned up now, you see? But country songs and the blues is like it is." he ELABORATED. "You take country music, you take black music, you got the same goddamn thing exactly."

the entire aesthetic of this genius of work revolves around heartbreak and love, featuring covers from guys like hank williams, ted daffan, and floyd tillman. ABC-PARAMOUNT RELEASED the album at the height of the civil rights movement, which brought on some racial and social implications as a result of the genre-clash— charles did not believe in the social view of race records, noting r&b and country music as no DIFFERENT.