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Roots of R&B: Charles Brown & Ray Charles by NPR

Roots of R&B: Charles Brown & Ray Charles

from Fresh Air

by NPR

Published: Sat Aug 30 2025

Show Notes

All week we're revisiting archival interviews with key figures in early rock and roll, rockabilly and R&B. We listen back to a 1989 interview with singer and pianist Charles Brown. Brown is credited with creating an expressive style of music that blended rough Texas blues with the soft glamour of Hollywood. And we revisit a 1998 interview with soul singer Ray Charles, who helped shape American music, beginning with his 1955hit, “I Got a Woman.”

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