Bobbie Gentry

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Bobbie Gentry

Roberta Lee Streeter (b July 27 1944, Chickasaw County, Mississippi), professionally known as Bobbie Gentry, is an American singer-songwriter. Bobbie Gentry was one of the first female country artists to write and produce her own material.[1] She forged her own idiosyncratic, pop-inspired sound, with a unique guitar sound and her own singing and phrasing style.[1][2] That was supported by her glamorous, bombshell image. She wrote much of her own material, drawing on her Mississippi roots to compose revealing vignettes that typically explored the lifestyles and values of the Southern United States culture. Favoring more soulful and rootsy arrangements over the lavish countrypolitan style in vogue in Nashville, Tennessee at the time, Bobbie Gentry's albums Ode to Billie Joe, The Delta Sweete, Local Gentry, Touch'Em With Love and Fancy sounded quite unlike anything on either the country or pop charts at her time. Her smoky, sensuous voice adapted easily to a variety of musical contexts.[1] Her songs cut the path for more country story-songs[3]. Her act anticipated the rise of latter-day crossover country artists Shania Twain and Faith Hill.[1]

With her US #1 album Ode to Billie Joe and its Southern Gothic storytelling title track, she won the Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy awards in 1968.[1] The song "Ode to Billie Joe" was the #4 most popular track in USA in 1967.[4] Bobbie Gentry charted 9 singles in Billboard Hot 100[1] and 4 singles in UK Top 40.[5] After her first albums, she turned towards the variety show genre. After losing her popularity in the seventies, she quit performing and started to live reclusively in Los Angeles.

Biography

Roberta Streeter was of partial Portuguese ancestry.[1] Her parents divorced shortly after her birth and she was raised by her father in poverty on her grandparents' farm in Chickasaw County, Mississippi.[1] After her grandmother traded one of the family's milk cows for a neighbor's piano, seven-year-old Bobbie composed her first song, "My Dog Sergeant Is a Good Dog".[1] She attended elementary school in Greenwood, Mississippi and began teaching herself to play guitar, bass, and banjo. At 13, she moved to Arcadia, California[1] to live with her mother, Ruby Bullington Streeter. Roberta Streeter graduated from Palm Valley School in 1960. She chose the stage name Bobbie Gentry by the movie Ruby Gentry[1] and began performing at local country clubs. Encouraged by the Palm Springs celebrity Bob Hope, she performed in a revue of Les Folies Bergère nightclub of Las Vegas. After the occasion, Bobbie Gentry moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA as a philosophy major and work in clerical jobs. The artist occasionally performed at local nightclubs. She later transferred to the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music to hone her composition and performing skills.[1] In 1964, she made her recorded debut, cutting a pair of duets — "Ode to Love" and "Stranger in the Mirror" — with rockabilly singer Jody Reynolds.[1]

Cover of Bobbie Gentry's debut album

Rise to Fame

For more information about Bobbie Gentry's debut single, see Ode to Billie Joe.

In 1967, Bobbie Gentry recorded a demo and submitted it to Capitol Records executive Kelly Gordon, who quickly signed her to a recording contract and produced her first single - "Mississippi Delta"/"Ode to Billie Joe". "Mississippi Delta" was throaty swamp rock, where Bobbie Gentry sounded unusually raw for a female singer.[6] Although "Mississippi Delta" was initially chosen as the "A" side, radio station DJs began playing the "B" side. "Ode to Billie Joe" was a piece of Southern Gothic narrative, detailing the suicide of Billie Joe McAllister, who flings himself off the Tallahatchie Bridge.[1] A simple acoustic guitar played against a background of strings created the perfect setting for Bobbie Gentry's almost-raspy voice.[3] The song used a traditional blues scale - lowered the 3rd and the 7th degree.[3] The track topped Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in August 1967[1] and was placed #4 in the year-end chart.[4] The single was #8 on Billboard Black Singles[1] and #13 in UK Top 40[5]. The single sold over three million copies.[1] The Rolling Stone listed it among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2001. Template:Sound sample box align left

"Ode to Billie Joe"
Sample from "Ode To Billie Joe".
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Template:Sample box end Bobbie Gentry's vocals stayed poised and husky throughout her debut album Ode to Billie Joe.[6] Inevitably the title track dwarfed everything else by comparison.[6] A greater problem was that several of the other tunes recycled variations of the "Ode to Billie Joe" riff.[6] "I Saw an Angel Die," was an effective mating of Bobbie Gentry's country-blues guitar riffs and low-key orchestration. The album also featured jazz waltz-timed "Papa, Woncha Let Me Go to Town With You."[6] The LP was #1 on Billboard 200 and #5 on Billboard Black Albums.[1] Bobbie Gentry won three Grammy Awards that year, including Best New Artistand Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She was also named the Academy of Country Music's Best New Female Vocalist.[1]

In February, 1968 Bobbie Gentry took part in the Italian Song Festival in Sanremo, as one of the two performers of the song "La siepe" by Vito Pallavicini and Massara. In a competition of 24 songs, the entry qualified to the final 14 and was eventually placed ninth.[7]

Delta Sweete (1968)

For more information about the album, see The Delta Sweete.

Released in March 1968, Bobbie Gentry's second album The Delta Sweete did not quite match the success of Ode to Billie Joe.[8] The "Sweete" in the title referred to both Gentry's southern-belle good looks and the album's suite structure. The LP contained a selection of Bobbie Gentry originals and some covers.[8] During the recording, a lot of emphasis was put on the unique sound of Gentry's guitar and her very own singing and phrasing styles.[2] The prevailing sound on the album was a swampy, folk-tinged combination of blues and country, with uptown touches like strings and horns seemingly added to reflect the then modern styles of soul music and the Nashville sound.[8] Delta Sweete was a concept album based on modern life in the Deep South. Bobbie Gentry wrote eight of the album's 12 tracks,[2] that detailed Bobbie Gentry's idyllic Mississippi childhood and included portraits of home and church life ("Reunion," "Sermon"), as well as recollections of blues and country hits she heard as a youngster ("Big Boss Man," "Tobacco Road").[8] The song "Okolona River Bottom Band" was accented by a beautiful, sophisticated horn chart and some breathy strings. The track used the same basic cadence as "Ode to Billie Joe".[2] Bobbie Gentry also included the dreamy, pastoral originals "Morning Glory" and "Courtyard".[8] The Delta Sweete peaked at #132 of US albums chart.[1] The Doug Kershaw composition "Louisiana Man" peaked at #100 of Billboard Hot 100.

Local Gentry (1968)

The album Local Gentry was recorded in London and released in October 1968.[2] It featured five Bobby Gentry originals including "Sweete Peony," "Ace Insurance Man," and "Sittin' Pretty".[2] The LP was an exquisitely wrought collection of character studies steeped in the myth and lore of Southern culture.[9] The stories extended from the funeral parlor director portrayed in "Casket Vignette" to the titular "Ace Insurance Man". On the album, Bobbie Gentry etched a series of revealing, closely observed narratives populated by folks both larger-than-life and small-time. The result was something like a country-pop Spoon River Anthology.[9] A subtle, primarily acoustic effort, the record's sound and sensibility were steeped in Bobbie Gentry's Mississippi upbringing. Despite the music's warmth and humanity, the effect was neither nostalgic nor saccharine.[9] Instead, bobbie Gentry wistfully and wryly evoked a colorful rural culture populated by soldiers, widows, and traveling medicine shows. The five original compositions there ranked among her most literate and personal, while covers like the Beatles' "Fool on the Hill" and "Eleanor Rigby" added to the roll call of misfits, eccentrics, and beautiful losers.[9] Local Gentry was left out of Billboard 200,[1] though critically acclaimed.

With Glen Campbell (1968)

For more information about the album, see Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell.
File:Touch'Em With Love Bobbie Gentry.jpg
Cover of "Touch 'Em With Love" album

Duetting with fellow Capitol alumnus Glen Campbell, Bobbie Gentry released Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell. Bobbie Gentry and Campbell's harmonies resulted in a gold record and three hit singles, including a cover of the Everly Brothers' hit "All I Have to Do Is Dream", which rose to #3 of UK Top 40[5] and #27 of Billboard Hot 100 in December 1969. Bobbie Gentry toured briefly with Campbell and performed on a number of U.S. and British television programs and specials.

Touch 'Em With Love (1969)

In 1969, Bobbie Gentry recorded the album Touch 'Em With Love. Though cut in Nashville, the record owed more to the gritty Rhythm & Blues sounds emanating across the state in Memphis, Tennessee.[1] The LP was a fascinatingly eclectic and genuinely affecting record, that broadened Bobbie Gentry's musical horizons beyond the limitations of the Nashville sound.[10] Its unexpectedly gritty, soulful production made it something of a spiritual twin to Dusty Springfield's Dusty in Memphis, released in the same year. Both featured renditions of "Son of a Preacher Man". Template:Sound sample box align left Template:Sample box end Bobbie Gentry's husky, sensual delivery proved as ideally suited for the Southern-fried funk of the opening title track as it did for the bluegrass-flavored "Natural to Be Gone," deftly moving from genre to genre. The album encompassed everything from faux-gospel "Glory Hallelujah, How They'll Sing" to lushly orchestrated pop "I Wouldn't Be Surprised", the disc's centerpiece. Even more eye-opening was that Bobbie Gentry's originals standed tall alongside material from Burt Bacharach, Brenda Holloway and Jimmy Webb. Bacharach's I'll Never Fall in Love Again earned Bobbie Gentry a chart-topping single in the UK. Her folky "Seasons Come, Seasons Go" was an acute tale of lost love, offering Touch 'Em With Love's most profoundly beautiful moment.[10] The album peaked at #21 of the UK charts.[11]

On December 18 1969, Bobbie Gentry married casino entrepreneur Bill Harrah in Reno, Nevada, but the marriage lasted only briefly.

Fancy (1970)

For more information about the song, see Fancy (song).

The album Fancy told the truth about Bobbie Gentry's aspirations towards variety show business. Her songs were accompanied with full strings, horns, orchestras, and glockenspiels along with a honky tonk piano, drum kit, and electric bass. Bobbie Gentry's voice, with its smoke-tinged husky contralto, was ill-suited to the album's material.[12] The self-penned title song "Fancy" rose to #26 on the US Country charts and #31 on the pop charts[1]. It was an "Ode to Billie Joe"-type Southern Gothic story with a similar guitar figure backed with West Coast horns. The song told an unapologetic rags-to-riches story without regrets that mirrored her own career. Bobbie Gentry's personal view on the song:[13]

File:Fancy Bobbie Gentry.jpg
Cover of the album

"Fancy" is my strongest statement for women's lib, if you really listen to it. I agree wholeheartedly with that movement and all the serious issues that they stand for - equality, equal pay, day care centers, and abortion rights.

The album brought Bobbie Gentry a nomination for Best Female Vocalist.[14] Similarly with the rest of her post-"Ode to Billie Joe" albums, it had little commercial success.

Stage reviews and TV work (1971-1978)

Due to Bobbie Gentry's commercial failure, Capitol did not renew her contract. Bobbie Gentry continued to write and perform, touring Europe, generating a significant fan base in the United Kingdom and headlining a Las Vegas review. She produced, choreographed, wrote and arranged the music for the review.[1]

In 1974, Bobbie Gentry hosted a short-lived summer replacement variety show, The Bobbie Gentry Happiness Hour on CBS. The show, which served as her own version of Campbell's hit series The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, also on CBS, was not renewed for a full season. That same year, Bobbie Gentry wrote and performed "Another Place, Another Time" for writer-director Max Baer, Jr.'s film, Macon County Line. In 1976, Baer directed a feature film take on "Ode to Billy Joe"[15], starring Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor. In the movie, the mystery of the title character's suicide is revealed as a part of the conflict between his love for Bobbie Lee Hartley and his emerging homosexuality. Bobbie Gentry's re-score of the song for the movie hit the pop charts, as did Capitol's reissue of the original recording. Both peaked outside the top fifty.[1]

Her behind-the-scenes work in television production failed to hold her interest. After a 1978 single for Warner Bros. Records "He Did Me Wrong, But He Did It Right" failed to chart, Bobbie Gentry decided to retire from show business. Her last public appearance as a performer was on Christmas Night 1978 as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. After that, she settled in Los Angeles and remained out of the limelight.[1] In 1979, Gentry married singer-songwriter Jim Stafford. Their marriage lasted 11 months.[1]

Artistry

Bobbie Gentry was one of the first female country artists to write and produce her own material.[1] She forged her own idiosyncratic, pop-inspired sound, that was supported by her glamorous, bombshell image. Although her recordings were typically credited to Capitol staff producers, she later maintained she helmed the sessions herself. She also wrote much of her own material, drawing on her Mississippi roots to compose revealing vignettes that typically explored the lifestyles, values, and even hypocrisies of the southern culture. Favoring more soulful and rootsy arrangements over the lavish countrypolitan style in vogue in Nashville at the time, Bobbie Gentry's records sounded quite unlike anything on either the country or pop charts at her time. Her smoky, sensuous voice adapted easily to a variety of musical contexts.[1]

Legacy

For a complete listing of cover versions of the song "Ode to Billie Joe", see Ode to Billie Joe § Cover versions.

Bobbie Gentry charted 9 singles in Billboard Hot 100[1] and 4 singles in UK Top 40.[5]

The song "Ode to Billie Joe" cut the path for Jeannie C. Riley's "Harper Valley P.T.A." and more country story-songs.[3] Bob Dylan's 1967 "Clothesline Saga," mimics the conversational style of "Ode to Billie Joe" with lyrics concentrating on routine household chores. The shocking event buried in all the mundane details is the revelation that "The Vice-President's gone mad!"[16] In 1973 Ellen McIlwaine scored an uptempo blues/folk rendition of "Ode to Billie Joe". Later it was covered by veteran guitarist Cornell Dupree giving an instrumental take on the title. The Austin Lounge Lizards' "Shallow End of the Gene Pool", from their 1995 album Small Minds, is melodically similar to "Ode to Billie Joe", and ends with the line "and that's why Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge". The 5th Dimension created a soulful version with a voice coming in when mama hollered "Y'all remember to wipe your feet", playing roles with the characters in the song.[3]

In 2004, singer-songwriter Jill Sobule began performing a song called "Bobbie Gentry" about the mystique surrounding Gentry since her retirement from the public eye.[17] Beth Orton wrote another song called "Bobbie Gentry" and released it on her 2003 album The Other Side of Daybreak. The Scottish band Orange Juice in their 1984 album known as "The Third Album" sing about "the lovely face of Bobbie Gentry" in "Out For The Count".

Bobbie Gentry's act anticipated the rise of latter-day crossover country artists Shania Twain and Faith Hill.[1]

Discography

Singles

Year Single U.S. Country[1] U.S. Pop[1] U.S. A.C.[1] U.K. Top 40[5] Album
1967 "Ode to Billie Joe" 17 1 7 13 Ode to Billie Joe
1967 "Okolona River Bottom Band" - 54 - - The Delta Sweete
1968 "Louisiana Man" 72 100 - - The Delta Sweete
1968 "Morning Glory" (with Glen Campbell) - 74 - - Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell
1969 "Let It Be Me" (with Glen Campbell) 14 36 7 - Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell
1969 "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" - - - 1 Touch 'Em With Love
1970 "All I Have to Do Is Dream" (with Glen Campbell) 6 27 4 3 Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell
1970 "Fancy" 26 31 - - Fancy
1970 "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" - - - 40 Fancy
1970 "Apartment 21" - 81 - - Fancy
1970 "He Made a Woman Out of Me" - 71 - - Fancy
1976 "Ode to Billie Joe" - 54 - - Bobbie Gentry's Greatest

Original studio albums

Data from All Music Guide[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai "Bobbie Gentry". All Music Guide.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Thom Jurek. "The Delta Sweete/Local Gentry". Billboard.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Ode to Billie Joe". All Music Guide.
  4. ^ a b "Chairborne Ranger Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Songs 1967". Chairborne Ranger.
  5. ^ a b c d e "singles search". everyhit.co.uk.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Ode to Billie Joe (album)". All Music Guide.
  7. ^ "Sanremo 1968". HitParadeItalia.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Delta Sweete". All Music Guide.
  9. ^ a b c d "Local Gentry". All Music Guide.
  10. ^ a b "Touch'Em With Love". All Music Guide.
  11. ^ 1969 The Offical UK Chart History Company
  12. ^ "Fancy". All Music Guide.
  13. ^ Morag Veljkovic. "Ode to Bobbie Gentry".
  14. ^ Grammy Awards for Linda Ronstadt.
  15. ^ Ode to Billy Joe International Movie Database
  16. ^ Dylan, Bob (1975). "Bob Dylan: "Clothesline"". The Basement Tapes. Retrieved 2007-12-27. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  17. ^ Lyrics of Jill Sobule's song "Bobbie Gentry" Songmeanings.net

External links

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