Behind Closed Doors: Where Country Meets Soul

Most of the artists featured here would have heard country music in their youth as often as Ray Charles, thanks to the big 50,000 watt radio stations that could be heard from state to state across the lower half of the U.S. Most of them recorded in the southern studios, and often used pickers from the pool of musicians who worked on country sessions in Memphis, Nashville and Muscle Shoals. It's no surprise that they all sounded as at home with a country song as they did with a straight-ahead slice of soul.

Here you'll hear some of the biggest soul artists of their time on some of the biggest country hits of the 60s and 70s. Candi Staton does Patsy Cline, James Carr covers Mel Tillis, Millie Jackson sings Merle Haggard, Brook Benton tips his musical hat to Jerry Lee Lewis, Al Green pays homage to Hank Williams, and so much more besides.

Unlike similarly-themed compilations, this CD features only 100% authentic country songs and 100% authentic soul singers. It may not be the first of its kind but it is undoubtedly the best of its kind to date.