Hear Band of Heathens new recording of Ray Charles’ 'America the Beautiful'
. The album revisits Charles’ original recording, funneling those songs through the Heathens’ own prism of Texas twang, barrelhouse blues and border-town boogie. It’s a timely release, too, arriving during a tense, contentious time in which the band’s own state has been turned into a battleground, with most of the fighting centered around the crisis at the Mexican-American border. To that end, the guys are encouraging social justice initiatives by donating the album’s profits to a charity.
On “America the Beautiful” – still the album’s crown jewel, as well as its final track – the Band of Heathens mix the stomp of a roots-rock band with Stax-sized soul. There’s upright piano, swirling organ and a full choir, all centered around an elastic vocal performance that would’ve made Charles proud. In his absence, Quincy Jones has become a champion of the Heathens’ performance, saying, “It’s a great interpretation, and I admire their spirit to give it to charity.
“Ray saved for us his most powerful message and the perfect coda; the definitive version of ‘America The Beautiful’ is absolutely glorious,” the band responded in a statement of their own. “It is quite simply the apotheosis of soul.”
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