I disagree. (I know Hec is just stunned by that...)
Naw, I know I'm taking the heretical stance. I just never go to Ray for down and out stuff, except maybe "Hard Times."
If you want Hank Williams or George Jones-level desolation Ray comes up a little short, but those guys are the gold-standard for bottoming out songs and they had the "advantage" of being incredibly fucked up people.
I'd agree with you there. I do think Ray's relative mental health keeps him from getting all the way to the severely cracked bottom.
Anyway... back to RC. Listen to "Just for a Thrill" or the live versions of "Drown in My Own Tears" and "A Fool for You" and its gutwrenching penultimate scream and tell me he can't sound desolate. "Crying Time" is great, but it's a Buck Owens song and Buck is a fundamentally happy guy so I don't think it's the best place to look for torn up Ray.
I did mean the whole Crying Time album and not just the Buck song, but I'll take your recs to heart. This is really more a matter of personal taste than me charting any deficiency in Mr. Charles blues balladeering. Personally though, I'm still more likely to listen to Bobby Bland or Sam Cooke's Night Beat or Charles Brown if I'm in the mood for a man alone with the blues. With Ray I'm more likely to listen to something like "Greenbacks."