The Blue Room features Madeleine Peyroux reinterpreting songs from Ray Charles' seminal album "Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music" as well as others from legendary artists such as Randy Newman and Leonard Cohen, whose legacies are herein enveloped into a similar melting pot of the variety of American popular song. Released in the summer of 1962, Modern Sounds was a daring album for Ray Charles as it broke the mold of what was expected form him, and in turn, truly represented artistic freedom - something that clearly inspires Peyroux's album The Blue Room. Conceived and produced by the legendary Grammy-Award winner Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Herbie Hancock), he says, "Ray's cultural landmark of an album has always been a part of me. I have loved this album ever since I can remember and I knew that Madeleine would be the perfect voice to bring it to the forefront again".

Reexamining this album is an ideal project for the multi-talented Madeleine Peyroux, because she comes from that same rare place as Ray Charles - the junction of jazz, country and blues. The Brooklyn and Paris-bred artist, with a New Orleans pedigree, Peyroux's soulfully piercing voice and eclectic musical mix makes for magnificent story-telling. And that is exactly what each of the songs on The Blue Room does - tell a story - but from her own perspective. Infusing her own vision and reinterpretation of the songs with modern sensibility, Peyroux brings elements of jazz, country and blues into each song, while evoking a depth of emotion and sound of such legends as Billie Holiday, Patsy Cline, Edith Piaf, and Bob Dylan.

Featuring sparse arrangements, each of the 11 tracks on the album sets a tone and mood that respects where the originals came from, but offers a modern reinterpretation of each song. Truly an inspired record, The Blue Room features five other tracks that Madeleine felt could accompany Charles' seminal album.