Ray Charles - Best Of Country & Western - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The iconic, game changing Modern Sounds in Country And Western albums, combined into a single for CD in the 2000s, will be restored and released individually, as originally intended. The significance of these records cannot be overlooked. They are proof that great country music is malleable, and open to interpretation. Volume 1 quickly became one of the best-selling albums recorded by a Black musician of the time, as well as one of the best-selling country albums. It topped the Billboard Pop Album Chart of a month, and spawned four hit singles, including InchI Can't Stop LovingInch which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, R&B, and the Adult Contemporary Charts, was nominated for Record Of The Year, and won the GRAMMY for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording at the 5th Annual Grammy Awards in 1963. InchYou Don't Know MeInch met with similar success. Ray Charles remains the first and only Black performer to earn a GRAMMY Award and a #1 Billboard Pop Chart Hit with a country and western song as he did with Inchl Can't Stop Loving You.Inch Volume 2 followed it's predecessor by just six months, and is widely regarded as just as strong, if not stronger than the first - the second made with the confidence that this formula or country & soul works. With three hit singles on both the R&B and Pop charts, including the #1 hit You Are My Sunshine, both volumes changed the course of popular music and remain a testament to the genius of Ray Charles.

The iconic, game changing Modern Sounds in Country And Western albums, combined into a single for CD in the 2000s, will be restored and released individually, as originally intended. The significance of these records cannot be overlooked. They are proof that great country music is malleable, and open to interpretation. Volume 1 quickly became one of the best-selling albums recorded by a Black musician of the time, as well as one of the best-selling country albums. It topped the Billboard Pop Album Chart of a month, and spawned four hit singles, including InchI Can't Stop LovingInch which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, R&B, and the Adult Contemporary Charts, was nominated for Record Of The Year, and won the GRAMMY for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording at the 5th Annual Grammy Awards in 1963. InchYou Don't Know MeInch met with similar success. Ray Charles remains the first and only Black performer to earn a GRAMMY Award and a #1 Billboard Pop Chart Hit with a country and western song as he did with Inchl Can't Stop Loving You.Inch Volume 2 followed it's predecessor by just six months, and is widely regarded as just as strong, if not stronger than the first - the second made with the confidence that this formula or country & soul works. With three hit singles on both the R&B and Pop charts, including the #1 hit You Are My Sunshine, both volumes changed the course of popular music and remain a testament to the genius of Ray Charles.

The success of the 1962 Modern Sounds in Country And Western Music albums paved the way for Charles' creative freedom as an artist. Throughout the rest of his career, he continued to show his deep affinity for country music. 1965's Country and Western Meets Rhythm and Blues (aka Together Again) features Ray's timeless version of the Buck Owens country standard InchTogether Again.Inch It also holds the distinction of being the first album Charles recorded in his own RPM International recording studio. While on 1996's Crying Time album Ray delivers the definitive version of that Owens song and earned Ray the GRAMMY for Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance Male and recognition as Producer of Best Rhythm & Blues Recording by The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. As if that weren't enough, the album also boasts Charles #1 Billboard smash InchLet's Go Get Stoned.Inch