Sunday Morning Vault: Ray Charles--I Can't Stop Loving You (1962)

     By 1962, Ray Charles was already considered a ground breaker. As an r&b singer, who broke through in the late 40's and early 50's as a considerable talent. Later as the man who fused r&b with gospel and created what was known as soul music, and now, a move to country music?
     Looking back, you might have been able to see this coming. One of his first hit singles with ABC-Paramount was, "Georgia On My Mind", which mixed the blues, gospel, and country. However, he had always been a fan of country music. Even back in his days with Atlantic, he had covered Hank Snow's, "I'm Movin' On". It would be understood however, that  a total move wasn't in the cards based on his output of 1960/61, which included, "One Mint Julep", "Unchain My Heart", and "Hit the Road, Jack".
     Despite some of his songs having country overtones, nothing could have prepared his audience for, "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music". It doesn't seem like it now, but it was a risky move for Charles, and for ABC Paramount. A black man had never attempted to put out a recording of country and western (as it was known then) and the record company was already getting some flack over the potentially unwise choice. In addition, Charles had just been busted for heroin possession in late 61', and putting an album that could possibly alienate his fan base just after this brush with the law was risky as well. 
     There were no worries however, as the album became a soul classic, but a County classic as well. Charles took the songs, and instead of singing them in a "Country" style, he put a stamp on them that truly made them his own. Take "I Can't Stop Loving You" for instance. Don Gibson wrote the song in 1957 and his version went to #7 on the country charts. A year later, Kitty Wells covered the song and did well with it. But Charles, took the song, with very little change in it's actual notation, and with orchestration (which he was given total control over it's content) transformed it. The album, and it's follow-up broke down many barriers. As Billy Joel put it, commenting on the album, "it was taking the whitest music and singing it in the blackest possible way". If Charles had not already solidified his brilliance as a musician...he did it here.