Liner Notes

Breaking out of his big band bonds

Time to take a road trip around this great country we call the US of A. And who better to be our tour guide than the incredible Ray Charles.

He had over 1,700 listings in discogs, the website I use to catalog my vinyl collections. And it’s not easy to catalog just what genre this genius belongs to.

Well, he belongs to them all: pop, blues, jazz, gospel, country, and rock.

So get ready to hear a guy who once tried to sell an electric piano to Jake and Elwood Blues, “2,000 bucks and it’s yours. You can take it home with you. As a matter of fact, I’ll throw in the black keys for free!” In Volume 232: Ray on the Road.

Video Intro

Listen here or on my PodBean Podcast Episode page:

You can check out the video version here or on YouTube:

Go Directly to Any Song or Break on YouTube:

00:00 – Season’s Show Intro
00:49 – Episode Introduction
01:49 – Alabamy Bound
03:40 – First Break: Why I chose this record for this episode
05:25 – Georgia On My Mind
09:06 – Moonlight In Vermont
12:05 – Second Break: More information about the record, its marketplace value and what condition my dad’s vinyl is in.
16:35 – Mississippi Mud
19:58 – Third Break: Artist Bio
22:25 – Deep In The Heart Of Texas
24:48 – Fourth Break: this episode’s Interesting Side Note.
28:21 – California, Here I Come
30:24 – Fifth Break: Final Words
32:20 – Chattanooga Choo-Choo
35:21 – Close

Credits and Copyrights:

See information from the Discogs.com page here

Ray Charles – The Genius Hits The Road
Label: ABC-Paramount – ABC 335
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Released: Sep 1960
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul
Style: Rhythm & Blues

We will hear 7 of the 12 tunes on this album.

Alabamy Bound
Written-By – Bud Green, Buddy DeSylva, and Ray Henderson

Georgia On My Mind
Written-By – Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell

Moonlight In Vermont
Written-By – John Blackburn and Karl Suessdorf

Mississippi Mud
Written-By – Harry Barris and James Cavanaugh

Deep In The Heart Of Texas
Written-By – Don Swander and June Hershey

California, Here I Come
Written-By – Al Jolson, Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Meyer

Chattanooga Choo-Choo
Written-By – Harry Warren and Mack Gordon

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

#raycharles #georgiaonmymind #earlysoul #musicalmemories #musichistory #vinylcollecting #vinylrecords #fyp

Here is the Episode Script!

Thanks sweetie and thank YOU for tuning into episode 232 of Spinning My Dad’s Vinyl.

Time to take a road trip around this great country we call the US of A. And who better to be our tour guide than the incredible Ray Charles.

He had over 1700 listings in discogs, the website I use to catalog my vinyl collections. And it’s not easy to catalog just what genre this genius belongs to.

Well, he belongs to them all: pop, blues, jazz, gospel, country, and rock.

So get ready to hear a guy who once tried to sell an electric piano to Jake and Elwood Blues, “2,000 bucks and it’s yours. You can take it home with you. As a matter of fact, I’ll throw in the black keys for free! In Volume 232: Ray on the Road.

[Music: Alabamy Bound]

Ray Charles and his Orchestra with
Alabamy Bound
Written-By – Bud Green, Buddy DeSylva, and Ray Henderson

Ok…Why this record for this episode?

I love Ray Charles. He has had so many memorable songs over the years like the one you’ll hear next. He appeared in one of my all time favorite movies, The Blues Brothers. And we’ll chat about that a little later.

I really fear I am not going to do this episode justice. There is just too much to talk about with this great artist and we only have one album in which to do so. I know I will miss a lot.

So I hope you enjoy this road trip nevertheless.

Now, we just heard this next song sung a few episodes ago by Willie Nelson. Yes, a popular version. But nothing tops the version you are about to hear.

In 1960, Ray Charles, a native of Georgia, recorded a version of the 1930 Hoagie Carmichael song that went to No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot 100. Charles’ hit rendition would become the most widely-known version of the tune from this time on. In musical parlances, the definitive version. It would also be the song most associated with his musical career. In April 1979, his version of “Georgia on My Mind” was proclaimed the state song of Georgia, and an emotional Charles performed the song on the floor of the state legislature.

[Music: Georgia On My Mind]
[Music: Moonlight In Vermont]

Another song we heard Willie sing a few episodes ago.
Moonlight In Vermont
Written-By – John Blackburn and Karl Suessdorf

And before that we heard the definitive version of one of the most popular songs in history, It WAS recorded 1139 times according to second hand songs dot com.
Georgia On My Mind
Written-By – Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell

Now let me tell you about my dad’s vinyl I am spinning for this episode.

Ray Charles – The Genius Hits The Road
Label: ABC-Paramount – ABC 335
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Released: Sep 1960
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul
Style: Rhythm & Blues

The music was arranged and orchestra conducted by Ralph Burns

We will hear 7 of the 12 tunes on this album.

There are a ton of liner notes, so I’ll read just the first two paragraphs.

Discovery of the genius of Ray Charles gives the same effect as winning the daily double, making a hole in one, or scoring a touchdown. his performance creates a feeling of exhilaration and warmth and a deeply personal identification with a true artist. his honest singing, with complete immodesty and abandon, makes a familiar standard song an entirely new experience. Ray gives himself wholeheartedly to a song, and his ability to express himself whimsically is a quality envied by persons with less creative talent.

When Ray Charles sings, you know there’s nothing in this world he’d rather do. He lives a song, and does far more for it than it does for him. Whether you consider Ray a pop singer, Blues singer, jazz singer, or gospel singer and he has been declared by experts to be each of these, he has more to offer than perhaps any other artist on today’s record scene. categorizing Ray’s style is much less important than simply enjoying the wealth of talent he brings to your own musical environment. to paraphrase, genius By Any Other Name remains the same.

Let’s see what prices this record is being sold at on discogs dot com.

$9.99 High
$2.00 Low

$5.65 Average
$5.78 Median

Last sold on April 26, 2025 for $8.50

My dad’s record is in poor condition. There is lots of crackling and popping. It includes a couple of big skips. The last song of this episode had to be rerecorded in order for me to get some nasty skips out.

The surface does have several blemishes including two large scratches which are obviously causing the skipping I just mentioned.

The cover is in poor condition. Lots of wear and tear. The bottom seam is almost completely separated. I’ll probably put some of my dad’s electrical tape on this one after I record this episode.

Oddly there is none of my dad’s usual accouterments. No green magic marker streak or the stamped word posted on the back cover. There is no address label on the front, although there is a sticker that looks like it might have been a price tag.

So I’ll value my dad’s vinyl at a buck because of its historical importance.

Next up is a MASH connection. It’s the song that Harry Morgan sang at the end of Season three episode one titled, the General Flipped at Dawn. This was one year before Morgan joined the cast for the next eight seasons. The performance of this song got the general booked into the looney bin. The performance got Harry Morgan the role as Colonel Potter.

[Music: Mississippi Mud]

Mississippi Mud
Written-By – Harry Barris and James Cavanaugh

OK…let me try to quickly summarize the life of this great musician. There is no way I will do him justice.

He has one of the longest pages on Wikipedia I’ve ever seen.

Ray Charles Robinson was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist who became one of the most important musicians in history. Born September 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia, he lost his sight as a child but learned to play many instruments at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind. He would read the braille with his right hand and play with his left, then switch to learn the whole song. As a teenager, Ray started performing in jazz bands around Florida and later joined a group called The Florida Playboys. He moved to Seattle in 1948, where he formed his first trio and recorded his first hit, “Confession Blues,” which reached number two on the R&B charts.

Ray Charles was known for blending different types of music, like jazz, blues, gospel, country, and pop, to create a brand new sound called soul music. In the 1950s and 1960s, he recorded famous songs like “I Got a Woman,” “What’d I Say,” and “Georgia on My Mind.” His music broke down barriers between genres and helped bring together audiences of all backgrounds. Ray was also one of the first Black musicians to have creative control over his music with a major record label, which was a big deal at the time.

Ray Charles inspired many other musicians and changed the way people thought about music. He showed that music could cross boundaries and connect people, no matter their race or background. His unique voice and piano playing made him a legend, and his songs are still loved today. Ray Charles will always be remembered as the “Genius” who helped shape American music for over fifty years.

He died June 10, 2004. Ray Charles was 73 years old.

Next up…not only does he perform this song with the slowest tempo I think I’ve ever heard it performed at, but I also like the other voice asking all the stupid questions.

[Music: Deep In The Heart Of Texas]

Deep In The Heart Of Texas
Written-By – Don Swander and June Hershey

Time now for this episode’s interesting side note and it has to do with Ray’s Music Exchange in Chicago.

I asked ChatGPT to write about Ray’s participation in one of the greatest movies of all time in my opinion, especially in the music genre. I had it write in the style of Elwood Blues. I will, however, not try to imitate Elwood’s style.

(VIDEO: “Pardon me, but we have a strict policy concerning the handling of the instruments. An employee of Ray’s Music Exchange must be present. Now, may I help you?”)

Let me tell you, folks, about the time Ray Charles strolled into the world of The Blues Brothers. Now, you gotta picture this: Dan Aykroyd—Elwood himself—insisted that if they were gonna make a real tribute to the blues, they needed the legends not just to sing, but to speak, to live in the story. So there was Ray, the Genius, playing the owner of Ray’s Music Exchange. He wasn’t just a cameo; he was a force. When a young punk tried to swipe a guitar, Ray—blind as a bat but sharp as a hawk—pulled out a pistol and let loose a couple of warning shots, showing everyone he didn’t need eyes to see what was going on in his shop. Then, to prove his wares, he launched into “Shake a Tail Feather,” and suddenly the whole street outside was a dance floor, the city itself caught up in his groove.

Ray’s number wasn’t just a musical interlude—it was a jolt of electricity that lit up the film. Universal execs, can you believe it, wanted to cut his scene, calling him a has-been, but Aykroyd and Belushi fought tooth and nail to keep him in, because they knew what he meant to the music and to the story. The film became a love letter to the greats—Aretha, James Brown, Cab Calloway, and of course Ray—giving them the spotlight when the world had started to forget. And Ray’s performance, both acting and singing, helped re-energize his career and became one of the movie’s most beloved moments, with critics and fans alike calling his number one of the hottest dance scenes in movie history. The impact? It turned The Blues Brothers into a living museum of American music, a place where legends walked and sang among mortals.

As for Ray, well, he was humble about the whole thing. In interviews, he’d say he was out of his league, that he didn’t know a thing about movies, and it was Dan and John who made him feel at home. But the truth is, on set, Ray was the one coaching the boys, stopping takes, giving notes, and getting the best out of everyone. Dan Aykroyd himself remembered Ray’s musical direction—“No, no, no, that’s wrong, you’re off this… hold the take… good, good, good”—and credited Ray with producing the track and shaping their performances. The cast was in awe, grateful to share the screen and the studio with a legend who, even as he claimed to be learning, was teaching everyone around him what it meant to really play the blues.

(VIDEO: “As usual, I’llhave to accept an IOU.”)

OK…let’s head out west.

[Music: California, Here I Come]

California, Here I Come
Written-By – Al Jolson, Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Meyer

Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.

This record was kinda odd to see in my dad’s collection because he really wasn’t into rock and roll. Although Ray was a jazz pianist to start his career, he shows those roots off in the music on this album. Again, maybe it was my mom’s.

I don’t remember this album cover from my growing up days in the house. Which leads me to believe that he probably bought this at a used record place well after I left the house.

I love the cover. It’s Ray, wearing a red shirt and his trademark sunglasses, sitting behind an open piano. You can see some of the hammers and strings. To the left is a very MASH-like sign post pointing in the different directions all the locations he sings about are…uh…located. Each pointed board has the name of a song typed in it.

The words Ray Charles are in a fluffy red font. The Genius Hits the Road is in a slightly smaller white fluffy font with either red or black stroke. It also has a sticker that says, This album contains the hit tune Georgia on my Mind.

The back cover includes Ray’s name and album title in squared off font. The liner notes are on the left and the songs list is on the right. Nothing elaborate at all.

So…let’s hop on board that train for one last trip.

[Music: Chattanooga Choo-Choo]

Chattanooga Choo-Choo
Written-By – Harry Warren and Mack Gordon

And there you have selections from the genius who mashed genres and gave us his soul.

So thanks for tuning into Volume 232: Ray on the Road

however you did. If you want more information about this SHOW, head over to spinning my dad’s vinyl dot com.

I’ll be back next week with all my skips, scratches, and pops

FOR Volume 233: Frank’s Life for Fathers Day

Until then,
Go with the flow my friends.