Bruce Hornsby and the Range: "The Way It Is"

Released in 1986,

this is Bruce Hornsby and the Range's debut album.

Bruce Hornsby's delicious piano skills (and his voice) are front and center here.

The entire album is worth a good, repeated listen.

It includes these hit songs:

THE WAY IT IS

MANDOLIN RAIN

EVERY LITTLE KISS

Read more about Bruce Hornsby HERE.

Art Direction and Design: Ted Raess

Art Consultant: Kathy Hornsby

Photography: Aaron Rapoport

Inner Sleeve Photo: Robert Llewellyn

Ray Charles: "The Genius of Ray Charles"

Released in 1959,

this LP was in some ways Ray Charles

"breakout" recording

because it highlighted his soulful

vocal style.

Rolling Stone magazine has placed this album

at #263 on its list of The Top 500 Albums of All Time.

Listen to Ray's version of "Come Rain Or Come Shine"

from this recording.

Read more about Ray Charles HERE.

Liner Notes: Nat Hentoff

Muddy Waters: "Fathers and Sons"

Released in 1969.

This is a remarkable recording,

but then...

it is Muddy Waters -

what else could it be but remarkable.

Read more about Muddy Waters HERE.

I hate that the cover got damaged like this!!!!

-but it coulda been worse.

Cover illustration by Don Wilson.

Bessie Smith: "World's Greatest Blues Singer"

If for some inexplicable reason you are unaware of Bessie Smith, I urge you, for your own pleasure, education, and general principles, to get yourself to the nearest purveyor of recorded music and find whatever recording of Bessie Smith you can find.  You will wonder how you lived as long as you have without experiencing Bessie Smith.  Then go tell all of your friends, family, neighbors, and strangers at the grocery store.

This double LP is an amazing collection of Bessie Smith's earliest recordings (1920s) and last recordings (mid-1930s).  Tragically, Bessie Smith was taken from this world as the result of an automobile accident in 1937.

This fabulous album went to a happy fan in Maryland.