The artist Willie Nelson says “did more for country music than anyone else”
Statistically speaking, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in the world who has logged more time within the world of country music than Willie Nelson. America’s favourite stoner grandfather also happens to be one of the most legendary singer-songwriters of all time, regardless of genre. But when you’re talking country music, no discussion is complete without mentioning the red-headed stranger.
From the time he was a DJ at various country music stations throughout the 1950s, Nelson had always been around the genre that he would later call home. Whether he was writing the songs himself or getting on stage to belt out classics like ‘Always on My Mind’ or ‘Whiskey River’, Nelson is country music incarnate, perfectly preserved through a mix of cannabis and classic country tunes.
So when Nelson named his choice for the pre-eminent country artist of all time, you know it’s coming from an expert source. Strangely enough, Nelson decided to go with a man who was more well-known for his contributions to R&B and soul music than country: Ray Charles.
“Ray Charles did more for country music than anyone else,” Nelson wrote in the pages of his book Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings From the Road. “When he recorded the album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, with all the great country classics, millions of Ray Charles fans were introduced to country music. I had been a Ray Charles fan all the way back to ‘What’d I Say’. To be able to record and sing with him was a dream come true.”
Charles and Nelson shared the stages numerous times before Charles’ death in 2004, often reminding audiences that Charles was an expert in a predominantly white genre of music. The pair duetted on the song ‘Seven Spanish Angels’ from Charles’ 1984 album Friendship, which was Charles’ only number one song on the US Country Singles chart. Over the next 20 years, the pair would sing the song together on a number of occasions.
“We eventually became good friends, and I sand many shows with him. The best one was in New York on my sixtieth [sic] birthday. Ray Charles flew in from Spain to New York, just to come sing at my birthday show, and when he and Leon Russell sang ‘A Song for You’, it was the best I had ever heard. So thank you, Ray, and thank you, Leon.”