yeah, I saw that photo in this Medium piece, which gives a few more details (though it looks like both sources got the date wrong -- the EXIF data says it was taken in 2007):
In perhaps her most recent image taken in 2000, Bobbie Gentry is seen with half-brother Robert Streeter, who also served as the artist’s touring guitarist and production manager at the Las Vegas Desert Inn from 1972 thru 1974. Gentry purchased the Los Angeles home from Elvis’s only child Lisa Marie Presley but has since sold it.
In the late ’90s Gentry seemed poised to resume her recording career. Out of the blue, she called Haskell and asked, “‘Jimmie, I’d like you to do a take down on a tune.’ I said, ‘Bobbie, I’m working on an album and a movie simultaneously. I can’t do it now.’
― ilxor-com-dog-meat-drawer-7-840-x-600.jpg (unregistered), Saturday, 11 August 2018 14:43 (five years ago) link
The Cocaine and Rhinestones episode last year did a lot to make me realize how great she was
https://cocaineandrhinestones.com/bobbie-gentry-exit-stage-left
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 11 August 2018 16:37 (five years ago) link
I didn’t realize that she’s married to Jim Stafford... author & TV writer Nell Scovell has recently discussed a “#MeToo” experience with that guy. (Not that that reflects upon Gentry, of course)
― empire bro-lesque (morrisp), Saturday, 11 August 2018 17:35 (five years ago) link
Not currently married to him, I thought.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 11 August 2018 18:19 (five years ago) link
Ah, you’re right — Wikipedia says they were only married a year! I must have misread that detail in the Medium piece.
― empire bro-lesque (morrisp), Saturday, 11 August 2018 18:25 (five years ago) link
A tribute album is coming out in February – Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete Revisited, recorded by Mercury Rev with female vocalists including Hope Sandoval (whose song is below). It'll also feature "Norah Jones, Margo Price, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucinda Williams, Vashti Bunyan, Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Susanne Sundfør, Lætitia Sadier (Stereolab), Marissa Nadler, Kaela Sinclair (M83) and more" [Beth Orton and Carice van Houten].
Two tracks are out so far:
- https://mercuryrev.bandcamp.com/track/big-boss-man-feat-hope-sandoval
- https://mercuryrev.bandcamp.com/track/sermon-feat-margo-price
― sbahnhof, Tuesday, 1 January 2019 08:20 (five years ago) link
Also, a Bobbie G. box set was released this (sorry, last) year: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-bobbie-gentry-box-set-20181012-story.html
― underqualified backing vocalist (morrisp), Wednesday, 2 January 2019 02:45 (five years ago) link
http://buzzbands.la/2019/07/26/mercury-rev-beth-orton-to-perform-bobbie-gentry/
Earlier this year, psych-pop greats Mercury Rev released “The Delta Sweete Revisited” — a remake of singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry’s 1968 album “The Delta Sweete.” The original was a release that was lamentably overlooked, coming as it did on the heels of Gentry’s mega-hit “Ode to Billie Joe” and owing to the fact it was essentially a concept album about life in the Deep South.
“Bobbie Gentry’s ‘The Delta Sweete’ is an ascending monument of sound and fury that strides, strolls, soars and stretches thru the Southern American mystique of elusion,” Mercury Rev’s Sean Mackowiak (aka Grasshopper) says of the album.
For the remake, Mercury Rev enlisted different singers on each of the album’s 12 tracks. But when they take the project on tour this fall — including an October date in Los Angeles — British singer-songwriter Beth Orton (who performs “Courtyard” on the album) will front the band.
“Bobbie Gentry is the master at being able to sing a story from all directions at once,” Orton says. “Stories of hard-won, old-world sinister sweetness with a subtlety and precision no other songwriter has. When Mercury Rev asked me to come and sing the entire record with them live, I had to take a breath before I dove straight in. This is a dream collaboration. No one can touch what Bobbie Gentry is capable of unearthing, but on their version of ‘The Delta Sweete,’ Mercury Rev have grown Bobbie’s music into a psychedelic cathedral of sound, and to be a part of making that come to life in a live setting is awesome and I’m honored to be involved.”
― Mark G, Friday, 6 September 2019 10:45 (four years ago) link
So, are they bringing this to the UK, and/or will this be available as download/stream/DVD or what?
― Mark G, Friday, 6 September 2019 10:46 (four years ago) link
dunno but they're doing this at hardly strictly bluegrass in SF in October.
― akm, Sunday, 8 September 2019 16:47 (four years ago) link
I do like that this happened..
Driving back cross country...— grasshopper (@mercuryrevvd) October 11, 2019
― Mark G, Friday, 11 October 2019 21:27 (four years ago) link
I've listened to her first three albums, Delta Sweete just outclasses the others. Okolona River Bottom Band is such a great tune but I think Reunion left the biggest impression on me. I'm thankful for lyrics websites because there's no way I could have decoded all the harmonies myself. Does anyone know who the male voice is on that song? I'm sure it's not Roger Miller but that's certainly who it reminded me of.
This is such a strong album. The same year's Local Gentry is more lightweight - three Beatles covers is a bit much - but the original character studies are brilliant. A shame that her albums don't get more attention.― Get wolves (DL), Tuesday, May 8, 2012 3:25 AM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink
― Get wolves (DL), Tuesday, May 8, 2012 3:25 AM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink
There's a very strong correlation between the half-assedness of an 70s album and the number of Beatles covers present.
― musically, Monday, 30 November 2020 18:00 (three years ago) link
The 33 1/3 book on the Ode to Billie Joe album also includes a discussion of the rest of her work. It's not terribly extensive but well written and fair. I've only heard the first two albums and prefer Delta Sweete.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 30 November 2020 19:39 (three years ago) link
i know it's late in the day, but amoeba.com is doing 20% off everything (+free postage) and they have the box set in stock. i woulda ordered it but i just bought the pylon box set, so my music spending is on hold for a bit.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Monday, 30 November 2020 22:42 (three years ago) link
Does anyone know who the male voice is on that song? I'm sure it's not Roger Miller but that's certainly who it reminded me of.
I suspect it's producer Kelly Gordon
― Number None, Monday, 30 November 2020 23:08 (three years ago) link
The box set is terrific. Delta Sweete is the only OMG album on it, but all the others have good bits.
― Cow_Art, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 02:14 (three years ago) link
Her vocal jazz album on it is amazing imo. Not adventurous or anything just beautifully performed
― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Tuesday, 1 December 2020 07:21 (three years ago) link
Does anyone know who the male voice is on that song? I'm sure it's not Roger Miller but that's certainly who it reminded me of.I suspect it's producer Kelly Gordon― Number None, Monday, November 30, 2020 3:08 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
― Number None, Monday, November 30, 2020 3:08 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
I found Gordon's album Defunked on Youtube (certainly can't find it anywhere else) and it certainly sounds like the same person. Good listen too thus far.
― musically, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 20:29 (three years ago) link
Been listening to the box set on spotify today and really digging all the solo demos on there. I love the delta sweete but the production can be so big and wacky, its really nice to hear her with just voice and guitar
― turn the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Wednesday, 2 December 2020 20:08 (three years ago) link
I wish that the lost 70s album with “thunder in the afternoon” would get released
― brimstead, Thursday, 3 December 2020 03:11 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOd8FZclNvs
― buzza, Thursday, 17 March 2022 04:25 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeybfH2xSLY
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 7 February 2024 16:25 (two months ago) link
this is a treat
― bendy, Friday, 9 February 2024 15:57 (two months ago) link