Rhythm Country & Blues

 (54 customer reviews)

Did you ever read a book -- then read it again ten years later, and make the pleasant discovery that the parts you'd mentally underlined or highlighted years earlier, are NOT the same ones that `reach' you today? Witness, if you will, this amazing concept album, you may have forgotten (I had, almost.)

If you are like me, you may have almost forgotten this gem. If you're like my sister Andrea (who has the most amazing singing voice I've ever heard) you've NEVER tasted of its amazing grace.

'Sis,' who has refined musical tastes, last night dignified my latest review (for a Tom T. Hall compilation) by sniffing: "YOU'RE listening to country music now?? Ouch!!!" I resisted the urge to remind `Anra' about Ray Charles' classic country music album of 40 years ago (with the definitive version of Eddy Arnold's "You Don't Know Me").

Her comment made me go and rummage out this CD. Sure enough, there there it was: something I'd vaguely recalled from the superb...Read more

I never paid much attention to country music until I heard this collection of duets. The best voices of R&B with the best of country. What stands out? Conway Twitty and Sam (Sam and Dave) Moore doing "Rainy Night in Georgia," and Aaron Neville with Trisha Yearwood on "I Fall to Pieces." Many other fine collaborations, but these are memorable.For anyone who loves country and r&b standards, who wants to hear talented voices in new territory, or who wants a well-rounded musical education, this MAY be the best album you can find.

Wonderful songs performed by artists from across racial and musical genre lines, reminds us how creativity can be enhanced when musicians make a conscious effort to break away from successful formulas and try something different. Lyle Lovett and Al Green's slow burn on "Funny How Time Slips Away" is the stand-out, but almost every track (exception -- Reba and Natalie Cole duet on "Since I Fell for You") is fun. Some, like Conway Twitty and Sam Moore's version of "Rainy Night in Georgia", underscore the common roots of country and r&b. This CD gets repeat listening at my house. n.b.--When this CD was released, the program director of Chicago's biggest country radio station was quoted in the Tribune as saying that he wouldn't give it airtime because too many people were trying to jump on the country bandwagon. This type of narrow thinking seems typical of the mainstream country music industry, and may explain why I've just about stopped listening to...Read more