Rhythm Country And Blues

Performer: Various Artists
Producer: Don Was; Tony Brown
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Engineers include: Rik Pekkonen, Don Smith, Ed Cherney. Recorded at Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, California; Record One, Sherman Oaks, California; Ultrasonic, New Orleans, Louisiana; Javelina West and The Sound Emporium, Nashville, Tennessee. Includes liner notes by James Hunter. "Funny How Time Slips Away" won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration, and "I Fall To Pieces" won the Grammy for Best Country Vocal Collaboration. "Patches" was nominated for Best Country Vocal Collaboration, and RHYTHM COUNTRY AND BLUES was nominated for Best Engineered Album. RHYTHM COUNTRY & BLUES is a collection of duets between well-known country, R&B and blues performers. This release includes a 25-page booklet with session photographs and complete recording personnel listings. Finally, with the release of RHYTHM COUNTRY AND BLUES, someone has had the courage, the vision and the commercial horse sense to acknowledge what several generations of musicians have recognized without reservation: That for all of their seeming differences in posture and attitude, the enduring soul of R&B and country music remains one and the same. For those who came to music through the crucible of regional churches this might seem second nature. But from Louis Armstrong's duets with Jimmie Rodgers to the parallel paths of swing bands led by Count Basie and Bob Wills; from the modern country sounds of Ray Charles to the righteous funk groove of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm section, the rich Southern roots of American popular music are both colorful and color-blind. Thanks to the vision of producer Don Was and his star-studded cast of song stylists, the remarkable musical collaborations that comprise RHYTHM COUNTRY AND BLUES are never treated as an historical anomaly but as the most natural thing in the world. The resulting music is never less than excellent, and in some cases, the emotional chemistry is absolutely remarkable: The quavering falsetto of Aaron Neville and the rich, mellow moan of Trisha Yearwood enliven Patsy Cline's signature "I Fall To Pieces." Little Richard and Tanya Tucker illustrate how R&B and country gave birth to rock 'n roll on a raucous rendition of Eddie Cochran's "Somethin' Else." Chet Atkins and Allen Toussaint evoke strains of Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans on the elegant jazz-funk of the later's "Southern Nights," while both Patti LaBelle with Travis Tritt and The Staple Singers with Marty Stuart engage in a series of epic gospel exchanges on "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby" and "The Weight." RHYTHM COUNTRY AND BLUES concludes with a felicitously earnest bit of corn called "Patches," in which George Jones and B.B. King tell the heroic tale of all those black sharecroppers and white tenant farmers who were so po' they couldn't afford an -o or an -r, yet persevered in spite of it all. Powerful stuff, but then, that's what RHYTHM COUNTRY AND BLUES is all about--eleven hit singles waiting to explode all over America.

Vibe (4/94, p.105) - "...most singers on this project are matched to partners with whom they can connect in a manner that transcends color, class, and musical category....the album's hits are more frequent, and more profound, than its misses...." Musician (5/94, p.72) - "...On paper this marriage between country and R&B seems merely a good idea, but on album, it comes across as genius....you may end up thinking of country and R&B as two sides of the same coin...." Stereo Review (4/94, p.91) - "...cuts through the differences in the cultures of blacks and whites to find the core of shared experience. Soul, it seems, whether black or white, urban or rural, knows no true domain but the heart...." Audio Magazine (3/94, p.88) - Sound: B+ / Performance: A- - "...Performances throughout are delightful and ingenuous, and ringing with mutual respect. That many of the songs have been hits in both genres only adds resonance ....Thankfully nothing's too deep here except the roots...."

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