80's Country Music Spotlight: 'Seven Spanish Angels' (1985)

Willie Nelson has sung with everybody. Well, maybe not everybody.

No, on second thought, I think maybe Willie has sung with everybody.

And while Willie has made great music with a lot of those 'everybody's', there may well be none better than the artistic collaboration of one Mr. Willie Nelson and one Mr. Ray Charles.

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Released in November of 1984, it was the following year that 'Seven Spanish Angels' topped the country music chart and became a worldwide smash hit. And while perhaps many thought this was an odd coupling, it really wasn't.

Ray had been on the country music chart before, in fact with seven different singles. His 1962 album Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music is considered one of the all time classics, not just in country music, but in music period.

So it's not strange that Ray and Willie would find each other artistically.

And what a 'find' it was for the millions of us that loved the song!

It was actually released as a single from Ray's 1984 Friendship album (by the way, Ray sings with people like Hank, Jr., Merle Haggard, Ricky Skaggs and others on the album) and then included on Willie's 1985 Half Nelson on which Willie sang with...well, a bunch of different artists.

For me, this song was more than country...it was country soul...or maybe it shouldn't have a label at all.

It's just plain flat-out great.

And really, with these two, how could it not be?

Wikipedia Contributed To This Article

Sioux Falls: Then and Now

The City of Sioux Falls has changed dramatically over the past several years. Some of the streets, landscapes, and neighborhoods look vastly different than just 10-15 years ago.

Here's a look at Sioux Falls, then-and-now. See if you can recognize some of these old buildings, businesses, and city streets.

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Source: 80’s Country Music Spotlight: ‘Seven Spanish Angels’ (1985)