Ray Charles – America the Beautiful

In my humble opinion, “America the Beautiful” should be the United States National Anthem. It is a far superior song than “The Star Spangled Banner”. Ray Charles recorded the definitive version of it in 1972 on the album A Message from the People. That is perhaps the most patriotic album ever recorded. This version of “America the Beautiful” frequently brings a tear to my eye. The soulful singing of Ray Charles (along with his organ playing) matched with Carole Kay (of The Wrecking Crew) on bass, Grady Tate on drums and a trumpet section including Freddie Hubbard is patriotic perfection. It doesn’t hurt that Quincy Jones produced the session.