Can a song be so perfect, so successful, that it eclipses its creator? It can if it’s Bobbie Gentry’s Grammy-winning 1967 chart-topper Ode to Billie Joe, one of the most elegantly powerful pieces of storytelling ever to travel the airwaves.
~Dorian Lynskey (The Guardian)
Ode to Billie Joe:
From Wikipedia:
| Birth name | Roberta Lee Streeter |
|---|---|
| Born | July 27, 1944 (age 69) |
| Origin | Chickasaw County, Mississippi, United States |
| Genres | Country, pop, soul |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1964–1978 |
| Labels | Capitol |
| Associated acts | Glen Campbell |
Roberta Lee Streeter (born July 27, 1944), professionally known as Bobbie Gentry, is an American former singer-songwriter notable as one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material. Her songs typically drew on her Mississippi roots to compose vignettes of the Southern United States.
Gentry shot to international fame with her intriguing Southern Gothic narrative “Ode to Billie Joe” in 1967. The track was fourth in the Billboard year-end chart of 1967 and earned her Grammy awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1968. Gentry charted eleven singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and four singles on the United Kingdom Top 40. Her album Fancy brought her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. After her first albums, she had a successful run of variety shows on the Las Vegas Strip. She lost interest in performing in the late 1970s and has since lived privately in Los Angeles.
| Bobbie Gentry remains one of the most interesting and underappreciated artists to emerge out of Nashville during the late ’60s. Best-known for her crossover smash “Ode to Billie Joe,” she was one of the first female country artists to write and produce much of her own material, forging an idiosyncratic, pop-inspired sound that, in tandem with her glamorous, bombshell image, anticipated the rise of latter-day superstars like Shania Twain and Faith Hill. ~Jason Alkeny (Allmusic) |
Check out these fine articles:
- Hidden treasures: Bobbie Gentry – The Delta Sweete (The Guardian)
- The mystery of Bobbie Gentry (croydonmunicipal.blogspot.no)
Album of the day:
The Delta Sweete (1968)
The Delta Sweete is her second record and her masterpiece: a multi-faceted quasi-concept album about Gentry’s Mississippi delta roots.
~Dorian Lynskey (The Guardian)
Other July-27: