Ray Charles never treated country music as a novelty. He sang it because he loved it, and few records capture that passion better than Love Country Style. Originally released in June 1970 on his Tangerine Records label, the album has been long out of print and hard to find. Now, thanks to the Tangerine Master Series, it has returned to vinyl and CD, fully restored and remastered under the guidance of the Ray Charles Foundation.

The album found Charles embracing songs by Mickey Newbury, Jimmy Webb, and Johnny Cash with the same conviction he once brought to the Great American Songbook. His version of “Don’t Change On Me” became a Top 40 hit, proof that even when he dipped his toe into Nashville, he brought audiences along with him. “Ring Of Fire” is reborn as a brassy soul workout, while “Sweet Memories” and “Good Morning Dear” showcase the quiet intensity he could summon in a ballad.

Behind him was a first-rate team. Sid Feller, his longtime arranger, shaped the lush gospel-tinged backdrops. The sessions featured guitar work from David T. Walker and Steve Guillory, electric bass by Carol Kaye, and engineering by David Braithwaite. Together, they built a sound that blurred genre lines without erasing their origins.

Love Country Style may not have carried the cultural weight of Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music, but it has endured as a fan favorite, a record that underscores Charles’ unmatched gift for transforming material into something unmistakably his own. Its re-release offers the chance to hear one of his most heartfelt projects in its best light, reminding us once again that Ray Charles never just interpreted a song, he inhabited it.