What happens when a jazz organist and a country singer decide to record an album together? Funky Country provides the answer.

On their 1972 album, Dave Davani and Ron Ryan bring two worlds together. Country meets Hammond organ, soul, and funk. The idea came from Davani, who described himself as a jazz and blues musician and originally had little interest in country music.

Their version of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” is particularly impressive. The song was released in 1955 on Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar! and later became world-famous through the legendary live album At Folsom Prison.

Davani & Ryan turn it into a true funk monster. Uptempo, powerful, and bursting with energy, driven by Hammond organ, sharp electric guitar, and a groove that never lets up. According to Ron Ryan, the band deliberately avoided listening to the original versions and instead treated the songs as entirely new compositions. And you can hear it.

Ron Ryan sums up the idea behind the album perfectly on the back cover:

“So this album is really something new, something different, it's country, but funky man.”