The moment Ray Charles legitimised country with a chart-topping hit in 1962
If The Blues Brothers taught us anything, it is that the worlds of soul and country music are diametrically opposed. Representing two opposite ends of the musical spectrum, even outside of the fictional realm of Jake and Elwood, it wasn’t until 1962 that the two worlds shared a brief yet earth-shattering crossover, thanks to the pioneering sounds of Ray Charles.
Overstating the importance of Charles in the musical history of the United States is something of an impossibility. It was he, after all, who almost single-handedly birthed the world of soul, presiding over a stunning concoction of gospel, blues, jazz, and R&B.
Even when that sound took hold of the musical mainstream and dominated the weekly pop charts, nobody played it quite the same as the Georgia-born pianist; he was a true original, and wherever he went, legions of fellow musicians seemed to follow.
A musician of lesser ambition might have been content to stick to the sound of their first hit – in this case, ‘Georgia On My Mind’, being Charles’ inaugural number-one – continuing to repackage that same recording for the rest of their careers. Charles, on the other hand, was a constantly moving, constantly evolving artist and with that came an incredible degree of experimentation.
In 1962, that experimentation brought Charles to the world of country music, untrodden ground for the realm of soul and R&B up to that point. During a time of inescapable racial division in America, the generalisation was that soul music was Black music, and country music was white – with his version of ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’, though, Ray Charles broke down those musical divisions, in doing so legitimising the world of country music for a lot of Black audiences.
Originally penned by Don Gibson for his 1958 record Oh Lonesome Me, ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ quickly became a country standard, performed and recorded by an unquantifiable list of artists, including the likes of Jim Reeves, Dolly Parton, and Elvis Presley, but it was Charles’ version that truly opened the floodgates.
Released as the lead single from his unexpected, groundbreaking album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, the recording was an instant hit for Charles, topping the US pop charts as well as the R&B and Easy Listening charts – a near impossible feat that remained unmatched until Whitney Houston arrived with ‘I Will Always Love You’ three decades later.
Chart success isn’t the be-all, end-all of the music industry, of course, but the incredible, unparalleled success of Ray Charles’ exploration of country music is incredibly important, because after all, it clearly showed the unifying nature of the recording, bringing together vastly different audiences under a common appreciation for this bridging of country and R&B.
Over the course of his extensive and illustrious career, Ray Charles had no shortage of groundbreaking, chart-topping singles, but ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ is undoubtedly among his greatest, not just for the musical quality that he injected into the country standard, but also for the cultural context that preceded the record’s release.
As far as the pianist was concerned, there was no room for division within the musical landscape, and his adoption of country music proved that beyond any doubt.
