If you know anything about popular music you most certainly have heard of Ray Charles. If you are a fan of jazz, R&B and the blues you probably know his R&B recordings. But during the 1960s he succeeded as a cross over artist and placed over a dozen albums and over sixty singles on the Billboard popular music and R&B charts. From there he became a master of Country Western music as well, expanding the genera and proving the mass appeal of Country music.

Ray Charles is experiencing a resurgence again in 2026, with his music and legacy appearing across streaming platforms and social media,. But if you read Downbeat, Jazzwise, or All About Jazz you probably are aware of Ray Charles and Tangerine. Ray Charles did the almost unthinkable at the time for a musician — In 1962 he started his own record company called Tangerine Records. And the label is back; The Ray Charles Foundation has been releasing much of his catalog of albums as newly mastered reissues from that era in high quality tangerine colored vinyl. It is just one more direction his work has taken since Ray Charles first went into a recording studio in 1949.

This episode is dedicated to Ann-Marie Rose who started listening to Ray Charles and buying his albums while still a junior high school student and remained a big fan of Ray Charles the rest of her life.

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Copyright Notice: All of the music samples used in this podcast series are used under Fair Use provisions of the US Copyright Law which states: “it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports.”

The copyright of all music in this podcast series is held by the individual holders. The theme and end songs are licensed from Fresh Music Library. All commentary is copyright by David Husom. All rights are reserved. Contact the author for educational use of this material.