Song of the Day: Ode to Billie Joe

Today’s Song of the Day comes from Bobbie Gentry. Gentry is truly one of the more unique performers that has came through country music genre. Although I say country music, it really is an umbrella term, because her style is more of a blues, soul, with a little country music thrown in there. She was also one of the first women in music to produce and play most of her own music. This song reached number 1 on the billboard charts in August of 1967 and stayed there for 4 weeks, pushing out the famous Beatles song., “All You Need Is Love”. Interestingly enough though, the song only reached number 17 on the country charts. The song is a dark tune, but Gentry’s ability to tell a story here is just phenomenal. Gentry stayed relevant for a little over 10 years in the music scene, but abruptly left the spotlight and has never returned. Nobody in the public eye has heard from her in nearly 40 years, but they can confirm that she is still alive and living outside of Memphis. I’d like to see her do an interview in the near future to see what has happened since she left, but I respect the fact that she wants a private life. I hope everyone has a great Sunday and along with the studio version, i’ll add a live version of the song as well.

Yacs