Black Voices and Honky Tonks

ART: John Lewis Krimmel, Dance in a Country Tavern, 1820

Charlie Parker used to hang out in Charlie's Tavern, a musician's bar in midtown New York. To the dismay of his acolytes, he liked to play country records on the jukebox. There was reluctance to question the taste of mighty Bird, but finally a brave jazzman asked him. "How can you stand that stuff?" Bird looked at him and said, "The stories, man. Listen to the stories!"

--Nat Hentoff, Listen To The Stories, 1995 [purchase]

In reviewing The Adios Lounge's posts, two things struck me: 1) Plenty of roots music, which is always a good thing, and 2) A dearth of black musicians, which is usually a bad thing. Sure, Blind Lemon Jefferson got some playing time, but Lem aside, the brother/sister quotient has been decidedly lacking. Which is when I got hit upside the head with the obvious. I love country music and I love soul music, so why not combine forces? After all, black artists have been singing country music from the beginning. Very recently, in fact, For The Sake Of The Song posted about the Mississippi Sheiks, a visionary black stringband who mixed country and blues way back in the 1920s.

Trust me when I say that the Mississippi Sheiks were not alone. Sure, they may have been anomalies to a degree, but in their day ... and in every decade since ... you'll always find a handful of black artists embracing country music. As for why there's only a handful, well, that's a complicated story of racial identity and the ugly cross-section of American politics and economics. Let's go with, "It's complicated." Meanwhile, The Adios Lounge will serve as a musical DMZ, welcoming all comers, black, white, or otherwise.

Now, my list of songs today is in no way exhaustive, and in the interests of concision I'm beginning in the 1950s, but before I get started, two items are worth mentioning. If you'd like to pursue this topic in greater detail, you should track down From Where I Stand: The Black Experience In Country Music, a three-disc compilation released in 1998. While flawed, it's still worthwhile, and a few of the cuts I'm featuring today can be found here. Unfortunately, it's going for $300 on Amazon (!), so I'd recommend checking your local library.

"I am not a blues singer, I am not a jazz singer, I am not a country and western singer. But, I am a singer that sings rhythm and blues, I am a singer that can sing country music, I am a singer that can sing jazz. There's a big difference."
--Ray Charles, in a 60 Minutes interview with Ed Bradley

The other item worthy of investment is actually the source for my first song, Ray Charles: The Complete Country & Western Recordings: 1959-1986. As I'm sure you well know, Brother Ray and country music go together like honky and tonk. His 1962 album, Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music gets the lion's share of credit for introducing a prominent black voice to the lily-white world of country music, and deservedly so. But, Ray actually tipped his hand the year prior, when his cover of the Hank Snow hit, "I'm Movin' On," graced his final Atlantic release, 1961's The Genius Sings The Blues. (For the record, Ray actually recorded the tune in 1959, but it wasn't released until two years later. Put that in your archive and smoke it.)

Ray Charles - I'm Movin' On [purchase]

As an added bonus, here's my favorite Ray Charles country cover. It's the Buck Owens/Don Rich classic, "Don't Let Her Know," which appeared on Ray's 1965 LP, Together Again, an album featuring 4 Buck covers, including the titular release. Dig the harmonies. THAT'S country music.

Ray Charles - Don't Let Her Know [purchase]

Solomon Burke was one of soul music's early pioneers and has one of the most commanding (and rangy) voices in the history of the genre. However, his first charting single, in 1961, was a country cover that sounded like Chet Atkins could've been manning the control board. In fact, "Just Out Of Reach" had been a hit for countrypolitan poster boy, Jim Reeves, and was later recorded by Faron Young and Patsy Cline. Burke then took it to the R&B charts, and later the pop charts, becoming the first black singer to hit with a country and western tune. In retrospect, it's obvious that Modern Sounds didn't come out of nowhere. The seeds were being planted by the likes of King Solomon and Brother Ray himself.

Solomon Burke - Just Out Of Reach [purchase]

Burke brought his career full-circle in 2006 by releasing his first proper country album, Nashville. Produced by No Depression's Artist of the Decade, Buddy Miller, the album is a bit better in theory than in practice, but it's still worth checking out. After all, how can you go wrong with a Solomon Burke take on Tom T. Hall?

Solomon Burke - That's How I Got To Memphis [purchase]

In 1973, Al Green released the defining album of his career, the sinewy R&B masterpiece, Call Me. The album featured Al's sexy voice riding on top of lush strings, smooth horns, and a rhythm section best described as a musical featherbed. For that, you can thank producer, Willie Mitchell. Call Me also conspicuously featured two songs straight outta the country canon, Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away." While both songs were unmistakably transformed into black soul music, the arrangements also served to highlight the fundamental strength of the source material. Bottom line ... great songwriting is great songwriting, no matter the genre. In this case, Al took timeless country music and turned it into equally timeless R&B. Everyone wins.

Al Green - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry [purchase]
Al Green - Funny How Time Slips Away [purchase]

Where Al Green's take on country music owed far more to the Stax Sound than the Nashville Sound, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown deftly (and somewhat equally) mixed the vernacular music of black and white cultures. What made Gate unique was that his sound was self-consciously pre-rock, pre-soul, and even pre-Nashville Sound. If anything, he was a throwback to that underrated post-WWII era when jump blues, swing jazz, and western swing were all variations of the same swangin', twangin' gumbo. In 1977, Brown teamed with Hee Haw's resident guitar badass, Roy Clark, for a way-under-the-radar Americana showcase, Makin' Music. Here's their take on a Harlan Howard classic made famous by Johnny Cash and Ray Charles.

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown & Roy Clark - Busted [purchase]

Ted Hawkins was a troubled singer who spent much of his "professional" life busking for change along Venice Beach and who died on January 1, 1995, of a stroke just as his admittedly mercurial career was gaining a bit of momentum. Inspired by Sam Cooke, Hawkins developed a solo style that was an amalgam of folk, country, gospel, and a hint of the blues. Here's his interpretation of an old Webb Pierce standard.

Ted Hawkins - There Stands The Glass [purchase]

When I started this post, I wasn't sure if I'd make this a series or not, but now I think that's a pretty good idea. Gimme a few weeks to gather up and dust off some similar jewels ... including notable contributions from black women ... and we can revisit this theme. Incidentally, if you've been wondering why you haven't read the name Charley Pride to this point, it's because I was saving his contribution for the sign-off. I recently discovered this clip from The Johnny Cash Show and I think it showcases Charley's brilliantly intuitive vocal phrasing better than most of his recordings. So, here's JC and the one-time Yankees farmhand duetting on a medley of Hank Williams tunes. Enjoy!