Not a straightforward Country & Western album series, but one with a different take on the genre that sees the categories of rhythm and blues and C&W colliding whether directly in terms of musical representation or purely by song title and words of a song. Saddling up for the next volume of ‘Rhythm & Western’, this one is aimed straight at the emotions and classic Hank Williams territory of that condition known as a broken heart. Far from being a miserable experience in terms of listening, ‘Volume 2 – Your Cheatin’ Heart’ is certainly on the “emotional downside” in terms of its (appropriate) song titles e.g. ‘It Makes No Difference Now’ (Ray Charles), ‘Long Gone’ (Eartha Kitt) and ‘I Wanna Be Loved’ (The Lovers) for example, but when it comes to many of the songs the rhythms are lively. Take for example Clyde McPhatter and his fleet-footed version of Hank Snow’s ‘I’m Movin’ On’, or bigger band representation of ‘Whiskey, Women & Loaded Dice’ by Joe Liggins And His “Honeydrippers”. It’s such songs here that are more in vein of rhythm and blues than C&W but, as mentioned in our review of Volume 1, the album series ‘Rhythm & Western’ is not just a vehicle of direct representation of country music by African American artists because the album series is much more than that. The melding of rhythm and blues and C&W works admirably during ‘Night Train To Memphis’ where you can even hear the influence of gospel during its up-tempo rhythm that is unfussy and vocals that mirror this by Bobby Hebb. There’s a relaxed feel to Lou Rawls’ ‘If He Holds Your Hand’ that is typical of that early 60s country sound where there was a certain gloss to the overall production. The title track, ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’, is left to King Curtis who knows how to turn a song on its head and offer a unique take on the Hank Williams classic that has more in common with Ben E. King’s ‘Stand By Me’. With “Little” Esther Phillips adding the tearjerker ‘Why Should We Try Anymore’ and add to that Ruth Brown ‘I Burned Your Letter’, before finally closing the album with The Big Three Trio and their interesting take on ‘Cigareets, Whuskey & Wild Women’, then you can safely say that all the drama often associated with country music is contained within the grooves of ‘Rhythm & Western Volume 2 – Your Cheatin’ Heart’.