Album · 1988
Greatest Country & Western Hits
by Ray Charles
Greatest Country & Western Hits is an album by Ray Charles, released in 1988, with 20 tracks.
- 20
- Tracks
- 61 min
- Runtime
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20 tracks · 61 min
Album · 1988
by Ray Charles
Greatest Country & Western Hits is an album by Ray Charles, released in 1988, with 20 tracks.
Not yet rated — be the first
20 tracks · 61 min
Ray Charles' explorations into country music were no mere dalliance. They have their genesis in "I'm Movin' On," the last record he made for Atlantic before moving on to ABC Paramount in 1960. But it was with the enormously successful Modern Sounds in Country & Western series of albums in 1962 (and the career making single "I Can't Stop Lovin' You") that made their mark, crossing over genre boundaries that were unthinkable at the time. An African-American doing hillbilly music was not a first, nor were uptown arrangements of hillbilly songs, but here was the Genius of Soul validating the music of the white working class, plain and simple. He was putting his own spin to it (hence the Modern Sounds), not merely a black voice singing Gene Autry songs, investing them with pain, emotion, and sorrow. It was an unprecedented achievement, both commercially and artistically, and now -- decades later -- it's viewed as just another genre-bender in the grand Ray Charles tradition. But this 92-track, four-CD box set is the first to gather them all in one place and view it as a consistent piece of work spread over a career as a stylist that's second to none. The first disc combines both volumes …