The ‘Black Country’!

No, the title is not a reference to the deep, dark and somewhat disappointing direction that the country has taken – although given the recent, traditional tropes more usually associated with a right of centre party but now apparently adopted by a supposedly socialist (or even social democratic) government, one might be forgiven if this article was little more than an excuse for a conspiratorial rant – but we’re better than that! So no, this is simply a brief and hopefully more aesthetically pleasing meditation on the sometimes quite pronounced overlap of black artists and country music!

The relationship between country and R&B is a complex and sometimes ambivalent one. And no, we’re not talking about the straight ahead country singer who happens to be black (there are a few, Charley Pride being the most obvious example). We’re talking about the overlaps, the linkages and the interplay between R&B and country, especially the use of country material in some of the strongest and most powerful R&B and deep soul ever recorded; and of course there’s even the “country soul” label for the genre to help us belabour the point. Take the typical southern soul ballad, often but not exclusively in 6/8 time, with a searing gospel vocal over a crisp and restrained backing – more often than not, the songs turned out to be traditional country songs or songs in the country style written by white men. Men like Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham contributed to the music in a way that made you want to find out as much about them as the wonderful vocalists for whom they wrote.

Writers such as Penn and Chips Moman (‘Dark End Of The Street’), Eddie Hinton (‘Cover Me’), and the former honky tonk guitarist Quinton Claunch all wrote in the country tradition but ended up writing specifically for black soul and R&B artists. Then there were the southern studios, where artists of the calibre of Aretha Franklin, James Carr, Solomon Burke and Wilson Pickett recorded some of their very best material – all generated from the complicated relationship between a great R&B or soul vocalist, a country song and a set of predominantly white musicians (men such as Reggie Young, Tommy Cogbill and Barry Beckett) grounded in the country music of the south. These records were made by black and white men and women working together as a creative team at a time when segregation in the American South was still rife.

Southern soul was a true partnership of styles, creating something unique but which, largely, had come and gone within fifteen years or so. But then there are also the more overt country recordings from some of the stalwarts of R&B and soul. Listed below are just a few examples of both the unique Southern soul synthesis and the more obvious R&B and soul forays into country music. Most know and love the Ray Charles experiment “Modern Sounds In Country & Western” but you can find a few less well known examples of “black country” below.

If you want to read more about the country soul phenomenon, then the Primer highly recommends the Barney Hoskyns book “Say It One Time For The Brokenhearted” – it’s still available at the time of writing (July 2002) and you can get it here

So as promised, here are just a few examples of the interplay between country and R&B. Often it’s R&B stars covering straight country songs, sometimes it’s the very best in R&B largely written by white southern country boys, and very occasionally it’s blues country (yes really). In all cases, it makes for great music! Some might now be a little pricey but there’s usually a suitable alternative when that proves to be the case. In all instances of course, alternative retailers are available!