There’s an old axiom that could serve as the number one rule of the music industry – ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Record executives spend their lives trying to squeeze out hits, but it is not an easy process, as can be seen by the number of songs that never get off the ground.

When something does manage to spark interest, the guys in suits always look to repeat the successful formula. On paper, the idea of Ray Charles recording an album of Country/Western songs didn’t make ABC-Paramount’s record executives jump for joy, until it became one of the country’s all-time best-selling Country albums and quickly crossed over to the pop charts, where it sat at #1 for fourteen weeks.

With that type of success, the axiom surely determined the next move and they quickly set to work recording “Part Two.” Despite instinct, the axiom often fails because the follow-up sounds redundant and/or stale, but Charles’ second collection of Country/Western songs met the challenge and even raised the ante. For this collection, Charles and producer Sid Feller mixed things up by not mixing them up. Using the formula applied to 1959’s “The Genius of Ray Charles,” side one features a big band playing mostly hot arrangements, while side two features lush orchestration and a backing choir. The moods of the two sides could hardly be more different but Charles remains impeccable, swinging with cool sophistication on side one, while squeezing every ounce of emotion from the sad tunes on side two. 

Featured Tracks:

You Are My Sunshine

No Letter Today

Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You)

Don't Tell Me Your Troubles

Midnight

Oh Lonesome Me

Take These Chains from My Heart

Your Cheating Heart

I'll Never Stand in Your Way

Making Believe

Teardrops in My Heart

Hang Your Head in Shame

October 1962 - Billboard Charted #33