Rhythm Country and Blues (CD - 1994)

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.

Personnel: Chet Atkins (vocals, guitar); Clint Black (vocals, harmonica); Conway Twitty, George Jones, Samuel Moore, Aaron Neville, Al Green, Allen Toussaint, Little Richard, Lyle Lovett, Marty Stuart, Patti LaBelle, Reba McEntire, Tanya Tucker, B.B. King, The Pointer Sisters, The Staple Singers, Travis Tritt, Trisha Yearwood, Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight (vocals); Randall Jacobs, Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, T Bone Burnett, Vince Gill (guitar); Don Potter, Mark Goldenberg, Bernie Leadon (acoustic guitar); Larry Byrom, Reggie Young (electric guitar); Robby Turner (steel guitar); David Campbell (strings); Marty Grebb (saxophone); Andrew Love (tenor saxophone); Wayne Jackson (trumpet); David Briggs , Matt Rollings, Nat Adderley, Barry Beckett, Benmont Tench (piano); Billy Preston (organ); Steve Nathan (keyboards); Jamie Muhoberac (Moog synthesizer, timbales, tom tom); Curt Bisquera, Kenny Aronoff, Ricky Fataar, Paul Leim (drums); Lenny Castro, Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Jonell Mosser, Arnold McCuller, Sir Harry Bowens, Sweet Pea Atkinson (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Bob Clearmountain.

Arranger: David Campbell .

Rhythm Country & Blues is one of those various artists collections that always works better on paper than it does in practice. The intent behind the album was to demonstrate that there wasn't much difference between country and soul, either in terms of songwriting or performance. In order to prove this theory, the producers came up with a series of 11 duets featuring one country musician and one R&B musician, and had the duos sing classic songs. So, Rhythm Country & Blues is filled with duets like Conway Twitty and Sam Moore's "Rainy Night In Georgia," and Al Green and Lyle Lovett's "Funny How Time Slips Away," Clint Black and the Pointer Sisters' "Chain of Fools," Aaron Neville and Trisha Yearwood's "I Fall to Pieces," and George Jones and B.B. King's "Patches." Given all that talent, the album should have been a stunner. Instead, it's merely competent. It suffers from forced duets like Patti LaBelle and Travis Tritt, an overly-familiar selection of songs, and too-slick production. Rhythm Country & Blues sold well intially because a well-orchestrated publicity campaign but, in retrospect, that marketing plan was the most memorable thing about the entire project. ~ Thom Owens

An interesting collection of duets between country and soul artists, Rhythm Country & Blues works better in theory than in practice, despite a couple of fine tracks. ~ All Music Guide minimize