Cold Cold Heart: Where Country Meets Soul, Vol. 3

Liner Note Author: Tony Rounce.
If the release of Cold Cold Heart proves anything, it's that Where Country Meets Soul is one of Ace Records' most popular series of the 2010s. If this third volume proves anything else, it's that the well of country-soul has hardly been tapped dry by compiler Tony Rounce and the label. Apart from a handful of tracks cut in the early '60s right in the wake of Ray Charles' groundbreaking Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music plus a few sides cut in the disco era or later, Cold Cold Heart is firmly grounded in the late-'60s heyday of soul music. While there aren't many, if any, hits here at all, there are plenty of soul stalwarts usually singing songs that are pretty close to standards: Percy Sledge with "True Love Travels on a Gravel Road," Solomon Burke takes on "Beautiful Brown Eyes," the Supremes with "It Makes No Difference Now," Bobby Bland on "Who Will the Next Fool Be," Brook Benton easing into "Tender Years," and Johnny Adams with the title track. Elsewhere, either the performers or the tunes might not have household recognition but the sound does. This is all slow-burning, seductive, full-bodied soul and this third volume of Where Country Meets Soul isn't only as satisfying as the previous two, it whets the appetite for a fourth. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine