In the past couple of years Ace has brought you three “Where Country Meets Soul” CDs featuring R&B and soul greats singing songs that were originally aimed at country music fans. Given how many country songs have been successfully remade as soul gems, it’s unsurprising that many country artists would try their hand at interpreting material originally aimed at soul buyers. Here in “Out Of Left Field” we reveal what takes place “Where Soul Meets Country”.
You’ll hear songs from the catalogues of some of soul music’s best-known writers and singers reworked for the country market, yet retaining much of the soul of the original versions. It’s no surprise that the songs sound so comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings. Many of those who wrote them heard as much country music in their formative years as they did R&B. Some, like Dan Penn, enjoyed hits in the country field long before achieving soul and pop success. And many of the featured musicians also played on soul sessions at the same studios these country recordings were made. There may be a steel guitar here where you would hear a sax solo there, but the end results sound no less soulful in the final analysis. That’s hardly surprising either, as the artists include several of country music’s greatest voices of the past 50 years.
Tony Rounce
