Blues & Strings, Countrypolitan - the smoothe sounds of orchestration moving into US pop music

Pretty big title. Been listening to BB King's "Completely Well", "Indianola Mississippi Seeds", Bobby Blue Bland's "Daydream" along side Billy Sherrill George Jones.

It kind of caught me how that big orchestrated pop evolved and became such a part of pop music.

Obviously this big lush sound was a part of Motown and the Wall of Sound - but these end of the 60s/70s variants that came up in R&B and country was interesting. I think that big modern (for then) production is why some of those tunes have become such nuggets and fodder for soundtracks.

Early 50s pop was very orchestrated, much of it came from a musical theatre / film background and didn't have any connection to jazz, R&B or country music. Bulldozed out of the charts by rock & roll of course, but none of it really went away and via for example Anthony Newley -> David Bowie, it definitely is still part of the DNA of pop of the 60s and 70s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqM0cjN-b3o

Bill Dahl harshing on production of 1974 Bobby Blue Bland Dreamer album on Allmusic

Barri's slightly antiseptic production style and Michael Omartian's arrangements weren't the equivalent of Joe Scott's immaculate collabrations with Bland, but this 1974 album's "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" and a meaty "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog (The Way You Treated Me)" were both huge hits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamer_(Bobby_Bland_album)

personnel listed here on Wiki.

Those 2 hits are great

Blues and soul guys were often aware of and listening to country, so it makes sense they'd try countrypolitan strings too

I know the big songs from B.B. King's Completely Well (1969) and Indianola Mississippi Seeds (1970) but need to dig into the albums themselves. The latter has guests like Leon Russell, Joe Walsh, and Carol King I see

There's some early '60s Bobby Bland stuff cut in Nashville with The A-Team session crew & the Anita Kerr Singers. Bland himself also cited Trad Pop crooners like Sinatra and Perry Como as major influences.