Rainy Night in Georgia
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"Rainy Night in Georgia" is a song written by Tony Joe White in 1962 and popularized by R&B vocalist Brook Benton in 1970. In 1969, Benton was returning to music after over four years out of the spotlight and at a new record label, Atlantic Records. Brought to the attention of producer Jerry Wexler, Benton recorded the song with producer Arif Mardin. Taken from his "come-back" album Brook Benton Today, the melancholy song became an instant hit. In the spring of 1970, the song had topped the Billboard Magazine Black Singles chart. It also reached #4 at the Pop Singles and #2 at the Adult Contemporary charts, respectively. It also was #498 on List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The song has been covered by a number of musicians, including Ray Charles, Randy Crawford, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Amos Garrett, Hank Williams, Jr., by the duet of Conway Twitty and Sam Moore, Aaron Neville,and reggae band The Gladiators. Most recently indie folk-rock band Hem (band) released a cover of the song in February 06 on their album No Word From Tom.