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Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
A photograph of Charles' head on a red background
Studio album by Ray Charles
Released April 1962 (1962-04)
Recorded February 5–7 and February 15, 1962
Studio Capitol Studios in New York City and United Recording Studios in Hollywood
Genre Country, rhythm and blues,countrypolitan
Length 39:33
Label ABC-Paramount
Producer Ray Charles, Sid Feller
Ray Charles chronology
The Genius After Hours
(1961)
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
(1962)
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume Two
(1962)
Singles from Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
  1. "I Can't Stop Loving You"
    Released: 1962
  2. "Born to Lose"
    Released: 1962
  3. "You Don't Know Me"
    Released: 1962
  4. "Careless Love"
    Released: 1962
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 5/5 stars
Blender 4/5 stars
Country Weekly 5/5 stars
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 5/5 stars
Music Story 5/5 stars
Q 5/5 stars
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 5/5 stars

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a studio album by American recording artist Ray Charles, released in April 1962 on ABC-Paramount Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in early to mid-February 1962 at Capitol Studios in New York City and at United Recording Studios in Hollywood. Production was handled entirely by Charles and conductor Sid Feller. A departure from Charles's previous work, the album features country, folk, and Western music standards covered and redone by Charles in popular song forms of the time, including rhythm and blues, pop, and jazz.

As his fifth LP release for ABC-Paramount, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music became a rapid critical and commercial success as it brought Ray Charles further mainstream notice, following his tenure for Atlantic Records. With the help of the album's four charting singles, Charles earned recognition in the pop market, as well as airplay on both R&B and country radio stations. Modern Sounds 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 shipped 500,000 copies in the United States.

Regarded by many critics as Charles's best studio album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music has been considered by several music writers to be a landmark album in American music. The album's integration of soul and country music bent racial barriers in popular music, amid the height of the African-American civil rights struggle. 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 has been called one of the greatest albums of all time by publications such as Rolling Stone and Time.


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