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Trying to find common ground between those with different musical tastes can be a real pain, especially when it comes to hard-core country music lovers and, well, everyone else.

The thing is, not all country music is full of twang and trailers; over the years, country artists have collaborated with other genres and broken the boundaries of what we think of as “typical,” so give a listen to these fourteen tunes dug out of the archives by Salon’s Noah Berlatsky.

Who knows, you might find something you like, but no need to come out and admit it if you’re not ready to take that next step.

Jimmie Rodgers and Louis Armstrong, “Blue Yodel #9,” 1930

Hillbilly music as a genre was originally constructed in opposition to so-called “race music” — which is to say, it was specifically designed for white people. Segregated marketing has, painfully and shamefully, made country music what it is to no small extent. This glorious meeting between early country superstar Jimmie Rodgers and Louis Armstrong is a rebuke to that segregation. The lyrics, about police harassment, deliberately connect the experience of poor whites and blacks, as Rodgers’ yodeling trades easy phrases with Armstrong’s swinging trumpet, and Lil Hardin (Armstrong’s wife) plays some New Orleans barrelhouse on the piano. Rodgers’ collaboration with blues guitarist Clifford Gibson is also great.

Ray Charles, “I’m Movin’ On,” 1959

Ray Charles recorded a lot of country; his 1962 album “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music”was the first million-selling country recording. Alas, though it’s heresy to say it, “Modern Sounds” is tepid, filled with by-the-numbers pop arrangements and a general air of deadening reverence. Not so Charles’ first foray into country; his version of Hank Snow’s “I’m Movin’ On” weds the shoulder-shrugging beat to call-and-response gospel to create hard-driving, authoritative soul.

Full story at Salon via The Presurfer.

Opening musical minds.

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