“I Got a Woman” was a No. 1 R&B hit for Ray Charles in 1955, but the scope of both the song’s origins and influence are still largely unappreciated.
Peter Guralnick, author of definitive biographies of Elvis Presley and Sam Cooke, will speak about “I Got a Woman” on Thursday, April 19, during a lunchtime lecture sponsored by Vanderbilt University and the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum.
The noon to 1 p.m. lecture is titled “Cosmic Ray: How Ray Charles’ ‘I Got a Woman’ Changed the World.” It will be held in the Ford Theater of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum at 222 Fifth Ave. S. Free box lunches will be handed out at 11:30 a.m. Guralnick will sign books after the lecture.
Capacity for the free lecture is 200 people. Reservations are required to attend and will be accepted beginning on March 29 via telephone (615-322-8585) or e-mail (cngr@vanderbilt.edu). Audio of the lecture will be recorded for podcasting on VUCast, the website of Vanderbilt News Service (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/).
“Ray introduced that gospel feeling into rockabilly, which provided the underpinnings for the whole rock ‘n’ roll movement,” said Guralnick, the 2007 Gertrude and Harold S. Vanderbilt Visiting Writer at Vanderbilt. “The gospel song that inspired ‘I Got a Woman’ has for years been the subject of speculation. I’ll play that record during my presentation, and tell how Ray Charles came across it and adapted it.”
Vanderbilt has offered lunchtime seminars on various topics since 2002, through its InsideOut of the Lunch Box series with the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Thinking Out of the Lunch Box series with the Nashville Public Library. “Cosmic Ray: How Ray Charles’ ‘I Got a Woman’ Changed the World” is the first lunchtime lecture in cooperation with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is currently presenting an extensive exhibit on Ray Charles, I Can’t Stop Loving You: Ray Charles and Country Music, Sponsored by SunTrust. The 5000-square-foot installation includes artifacts, instruments, song manuscripts, costumes, photographs, computer interactives, recorded sound and moving images spanning the career of Charles, who died in 2004.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
Jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu
Liz Theils, (615) 416-2006
lthiels@countrymusichalloffame.com
Tina Wright, (615) 416-2084
twright@countrymusichalloffame.com