These albums were happening along the time that I was happening. I was really into real R&B and I still am. These type of tunes were very truthful there’s an honesty that went with them. Those artists communicated to people, they were about the times and what was going on in our country at the time. You listen to those tunes, you know what was happening at that time. They were great musicians because they played from the heart.
It wasn’t a lot of polish on those records. Motown was great in its way but down in Memphis we didn’t have the polish, we didn’t try to do it that way. Motown they had their methods of recording and we just came right from the hip, with honesty whatever it took, we did it. Like Rufus Thomas used to say, “Up north it’s Motown, but below the Mason-Dixon Line your ass is mine!”
The Essential Collection
Artist: Ray Charles
Release Date: 2002
I first found out about Ray way back in the ’50s. I just saw a guy with sunglasses on and I thought that was cool. He sounded kind of gospel at first, with the call-and-response, but he kind of revolutionized that stuff with the...