Political Quotes

“I join with all of my colleagues in expressing my condolences and appreciation for the enormous contributions over the years that Mr. Charles made to American music. As many of the Members know, and as has been touched on already this morning, the contribution that blues music had on Ray Charles and to American music as a whole cannot be understated. Ray Charles was one of the first artists to combine the blues genre with gospel and country and jazz to perform and really evolve into a genre known as soul music, which has become a staple of the Memphis music scene, which the core and the heart of my congressional district in Tennessee. Ray Charles was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1982, another foundation located in Memphis. The blues is one of America's greatest and original musical treasures. It is a music form that evolved out of African American work songs, field hollers, and spirituals and early string band sounds more than a century ago.”