It’s hard to hear it when you listen to a country song and later a soul/R&B song in isolation, but many music writers have always maintained how similar these two genres are.


King Records was an early pioneer in terms of “crossover“ artists. They had several albums of R&B singers doing country songs, and vice a versa. When you hear how well the material fits on some of these singers who you wouldn’t expect to hear doing such songs, it’s striking. A good example is the list above of the various Ross tunes in the country vein that she has recorded solo or as a member of the Supremes.


Tina Turner, who we just discussed in another thread, also excels at country and western material which she exploited in her album “Tina Turns the Country On.”