“PAPA’S GOT A BRAND
NEW BAG”
COUNTRY, SOUL, URBAN FOLK,
AND THE RISE OF ROCK, 1960s
Country and Western and R&B
Crossovers
Much of the significantly popular R&B and
country music did not cross over into the
mainstream pop market during the late
1950s and 1960s.
 Artists and records that appealed to select
or regional audiences were much less
likely to find their way onto the pop charts
than those that managed to cut across
such distinctions.
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Nashville Sound
During the 1960s, country musicians opted for a
new, sophisticated approach to the vocal
presentation and instrumental arrangement of
country music.
 This approach came to be known as
“countrypolitan”—a fusion of “country” and
“cosmopolitan.”
 Nashville was at the center of this development,
and the style was also often called the “Nashville
sound.”
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Patsy Cline and the Nashville Sound
Patsy Cline (1932–63)
 Began her career as a hit maker in 1957
with her recording of “Walkin’ after
Midnight,” which was successful on both
the country and pop charts
 In 1961, she had two big crossover hits, “I
Fall to Pieces” and “Crazy”
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Listening: “Crazy”
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Patsy Cline’s songs reflected a particular
sensibility:
– Ballads of broad appeal—not “teen” records
– Her vocal style, while sophisticated, still retained hints
of rural bluesy inflections.
– Crooning backup vocals sounded like pop music.
– High-register piano sounded like honky-tonk country
music.
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She was a significant presence in pop and
country until her premature death in a plane
crash in 1963.
Ray Charles and Soul Music
The term “rhythm & blues” disappeared from
pop music vocabulary during the early 1960s
and was replaced by the term “soul.”
 Soul music became the symbol of the black
community’s effort to achieve cultural definition
during the 1960s.
 Stylistically, soul music combined

– gospel singing,
– rock ’n’ roll, and
– rhythm & blues.
Ray Charles (born Ray Charles
Robinson, 1930–2004)
Born in Albany, Georgia
 Blind from age six
 He originally got into music in Seattle
during the 1940s, leading a jazz trio in the
clubs on Jackson Street.
 The sound of his trio was based on the
sound of the Nat King Cole trio.
 He signed with Atlantic Records and
scored several R&B hits in 1954.

Ray Charles
– Charles’s recordings stood out from other
R&B hits
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Played the piano with unmatched brilliance
Used the best available studio musicians to
accompany him
Demanded the best out of everyone involved in
his recordings; the consummate professional, a
perfectionist
Ray Charles
A constant presence on the R&B charts during the
1950s, but major crossover success eluded him until
1959
“What’d I Say” (Number Six pop, Number One R&B,
1959)
“Georgia on My Mind”
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His first Number One pop hit
A version of an old Tin Pan Alley standard
Number Three on the R&B charts
Charles recorded an album of soul interpretations of
country songs in 1962, Modern Sounds in Country and
Western Music.
The “Genius of Soul”
Charles was a fine songwriter, having written
R&B classics like “I’ve Got a Woman” and
“Hallelujah I Love Her So.”
 Highly skilled arranger
 Exceptionally fine keyboard player, fluent in jazz
as well as mainstream pop
 Outstanding vocalist; had a distinctive timbre

– He is now widely acknowledged as the first important
soul artist.
– His work had an incalculable influence on James
Brown, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, Otis Redding,
Sly Stone, and innumerable others.
James Brown (b. 1933)
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The “Godfather of Soul” and “Soul
Brother Number One”
No other single musician influenced the
sound and style of black music like
James Brown.
Rough, unrestrained vocals; relentless
rhythms; active, open textures
James Brown (b. 1933)

His first record, “Please, Please, Please”
(Number Five R&B, 1956), which Brown
wrote himself, is indicative of his style:
– Although the song is in the form of a strophic
1950s R&B ballad, Brown’s vocals cling
obsessively to repetitions of individual words
(e.g., “please,” or even a simple “I”).
– Sometimes, the activity of an entire strophe
centers on the syncopated, violently accented
reiterations of a single syllable.
“Say It Loud—I’m Black and I’m
Proud”
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Reached Number One on the R&B charts and
Number Ten on the pop charts in 1968
– For all intents and purposes, a rap number—a striking
anticipation of important black music to come
Brown’s records are sampled by hip-hop artists
more than those of any other musician.
 Brown exults and excels in live performance.
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– His acrobatic physicality and remarkable charisma add
great excitement to his vocal improvisations.
Listening: “Papa’s Got a Brand New
Bag”
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Brown’s most successful pop record—Number
Nine on the pop charts
Established the mature “James Brown sound”
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Riffs in brass
Syncopation
Percussive style of playing guitar, bass, and brass
Call and response
Twelve-bar blues form broken up with an eight-bar
bridge
Complex interlocking polyrhythms
Aretha Franklin (b. 1942)
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The “Queen of Soul”
Daughter of 1950s evangelist and singer
Reverend C. L. Franklin
Sang in her father’s gospel church choir
Discovered by John Hammond
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Signed a record contract with Columbia in 1960
Columbia (against Hammond’s wishes) had her
record jazzy, popular Tin Pan Alley songs.
She was let go by Columbia in 1966 after failing to
draw much interest.
Atlantic Records
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Signed by Atlantic Records
– Atlantic producers Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry
Wexler encouraged her to record strong
material well suited to her particular voice.
– Ertegun and Wexler teamed her with the
Stax/Volt production team and musicians to
record gospel-laced soul music.
Aretha Franklin (b. 1942)
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Beginning in 1967, Franklin produced an
extraordinary and virtually uninterrupted stream
of hit records over five years.
– Included thirteen million-sellers and thirteen Top 10
pop hits
 Overwhelming power and intensity of vocal delivery
 Wrote or co-wrote a significant portion of her repertoire
 Powerful keyboard player
– Franklin not only symbolized female empowerment in
the sound of her records but also actualized
empowerment in the process of making them.
Listening: “Respect”
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Composed by Otis Redding
Cover of a 1965 hit by Otis Redding
Number One pop and Number One R&B
in 1967
Each strophe builds effectively to the
crucial word “respect,” at which point the
backing group joins in call and response
with Franklin.