Ĭharles's recording of his acclaimed studio effort The Genius of Ray Charles (1959) brought him closer to expressing his jazz and pop crossover ambitions. Those lyrics are great, so that’s what made me want to do it.' The 'I'm Movin' On' sessions were his last for Atlantic. Keep in mind, I’m a singer, so I like lyrics. Charles later said about the song, 'When I heard Hank Snow sing 'Moving On', I loved it. As noted by himself in the liner notes for What'd I Say (1959), Charles was influenced by the genre in his youth, stating that he 'used to play piano in a hillbilly band' and that he believed that he 'could do a good job with the right hillbilly song today.' At Atlantic, he attempted to incorporate this style and influence with his cover of country singer Hank Snow's ' I'm Movin' On'. įollowing his blues fusion with gospel and jazz influences on his earlier Atlantic material, which had brought him much fame and controversy, Charles sought to experiment with country music. However, by the time of the release of the instrumental jazz LP Genius + Soul = Jazz (1960) for ABC's subsidiary label Impulse!, Charles had virtually given up on writing original material and had begun to follow his eclectic impulses as an interpreter. Composed by Charles himself, the single furthered Charles's mainstream appeal, while becoming a Top 10 pop hit and selling a million copies in the United States, despite the ban placed on the record by some radio stations, in response to the song's sexually-suggestive lyrics. Following his commercial and pop crossover breakthrough with the hit single ' What'd I Say' earlier that year, ABC offered Charles a $50,000 annual advance, higher royalties than previously offered and eventual ownership of his masters-a very valuable and lucrative deal at the time. According to Robert Christgau, the album 'transfigured pop, prefigured soul, and defined modern country & western music.' It has been called one of the greatest albums of all time by publications such as Rolling Stone and Time.Īfter his Atlantic Records contract ended, Ray Charles signed with ABC-Paramount Records in November 1959, obtaining a much more generous contract than other artists had at the time. In retrospect, it has been considered by critics as his best studio record and a landmark recording in American music. 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. The album's integration of soul and country challenged racial barriers in popular music at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. 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 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. Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was an immediate critical and commercial success. 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. It featured country, folk, and Western music standards reworked by Charles in popular song forms of the time, including R&B, pop, and jazz. The album departed further stylistically from the rhythm and blues music Charles had recorded for Atlantic Records in the 1950s. It was recorded in February 1962 at Capitol Studios in New York City and United Western Recorders in Hollywood, and released in April of that year by ABC-Paramount Records. Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a studio album by American singer and pianist Ray Charles.

' You Don't Know Me' / ' Careless Love'.

' I Can't Stop Loving You' / ' Born to Lose'.

Ray charles genius loves company