Various Artists: Night Train To Nashville: Music City... : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The secret history of the country-music capital's R&B scene "night train to nashville" argues that the country-music mecca's Jefferson Street was just as crucial to the development of R&B as Memphis' Beale Street. Some evidence: The city gave birth to Bobby Hebb's standard "Sunny" and the first recordings of jazz saxophonist Hank Crawford, who would later become Ray Charles' bandleader. But even more interesting on this collection are lesser-known artists such as Christine Kittrell, who shines on the depressive blues number "Sittin' Here Drinking," and a jailhouse troupe called the Prisonaires. The one disappointment: that excellent country-R&B crossovers such as Joe Simon's cover of Waylon Jennings' "The Chokin' Kind" are so rare