Box Set Celebrates Bobbie Gentry, ‘The Girl From Chickasaw County’ OMG OMG release of the year The first major retrospective box set commemorating the enduring legacy of Bobbie Gentry will be released by Universal Music on 21 September. The Girl From Chickasaw County is an 8CD collection including all of the studio albums recorded by the uniquely enigmatic singer-songwriter from Mississippi, augmented by more than 75 previously unreleased recordings. These include Gentry’s “lost” jazz album, outtakes, demos and rarities, as well as en eighth disc of live performances taken from the series she hosted on the BBC in 1968 and 1969. The set features specially commissioned cover art by David Downton and an 84-page book containing a comprehensive essay, rare and unseen photos, eight postcards and a facsimile of Gentry’s original handwritten lyrics for her signature hit ‘Ode To Billie Joe.’ That atmospheric story song introduced the world to an artist who was one of the first female artists to write, produce and publish her own music. ‘Ode’ was a UK top 20 hit in October 1967, at the same time that the singer’s album of the same name went to No. 1 in America, ending The Beatles’ 15-week reign with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Gentry was a familiar face on television, especially in the UK, where she went on to have a No. 1 single with Bacharach & David’s ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.’ But after a run of studio albums culminating in 1971’s Patchwork, and the elaborate stage shows she mounted via her own production company, Bobbie left the music business and disappeared from public view. Now aged 73, she continues to live beyond the gaze of the countless admirers and inquisitive media who wonder endlessly where she might be. The Girl From Chickasaw County includes her six studio LPs as well as her 1968 album of collaborations with Glen Campbell. It also offers such previously unavailable recordings as her own ‘I Didn’t Know’ and ‘Joanne,’ covers of ‘God Bless The Child,’ ‘Spinning Wheel’ and others and the acoustic ‘The Seventh Son’, ‘Feelin’ Good’, ‘Seasons Come, Seasons Go’ and ‘Belinda’. Among the rarities in the collection are ‘La Siepe,’ Gentry’s Italian-language San Remo Song Festival of 1968; a Spanish version of ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’ and a little-known duet with Kelly Gordon, ‘Love Took My Heart And Mashed That Sucker Flat’. The live recordings from her BBC TV series include a pairing of ‘Niki-Hoeky’ and Barefootin’’ and performances of ‘Refractions’, ‘Ode To Billie Joe’, ‘He Made A Woman Out Of Me’ and an extended ‘Your Number One Fan’.
Have already pre-ordered! 75 unreleased tracks!! And I already own 7 of her albums (including all out of print Raven releases)
This is so very exciting! I hope there will be a vinyl counterpart at some point! I wonder if the bonus tracks are appended to each individual album, since it looks like the first 7 discs only list the individual albums.
I wonder if Bobbie had in any input with regard to this set. If she did provide anything, you'd figure that they would mention it in the press release. I presume the company can just release the set without her explicit approval though.
One of the great all time country/folk artists. Very under rated. Maybe because she was such a looker and sported one of the most awesomeness bouffants? Her writing goes toe to toe w ANYONE including Dylan and Williams. OK, OK, maybe not as prolific but her ability to tell a story and the characters she develops in her songs are shear genius. And, she could sing!
Nice to see Bobbie getting her due at last. She really was a major artist, and one of a handful of whom it could be said she was almost TOO good. By that I mean, the mass audience doesn't always deal well with an artist who is supremely talented in multiple dimensions...and probably in that era it was all the more true if the artist was female. I used to play the hell out of her second album, Delta Sweete.
Whoever had the idea for this and approved it,to them I humbly bow.I honestly never thought a major label would tackle a project like this in 2018 from someone who has always had a cult following at best.
Tracklisting is up on Amazon and it shows the bonus tracks are added at the end of the individual discs.
Now if the BBC attempted to find the lost TV shows like they did with Doctor Who that would be nice. She was popular in Australia. I'll Never Fall In Love Again hit No.1 here back in 1969 I believe.
Man those tracklistings look awesome. I will definitely be ordering this CD version, but I hope there will be a super deluxe vinyl box (which would probably be 16 LPs)!
Hi All, Just thought I would post, as I conceived, compiled, produced/engineered and wrote the sleevenotes for this Bobbie Gentry boxset. Its been a labour of love, and for one reason or another took years to get of the ground, but Universal Music were always super keen and supportive. A couple of points: The Mastering is superior to anything issued on CD to date, which means the released albums have never sounded better- the audio quality is noticeably superior to the Raven re-issues. Whilst not involved, Bobbie does know about this project The format of the box is 10" square, and the bonus tracks are appended to each album disc by disc, with the 8th cd being an expanded edition of the Live At The BBC lp we teased you with earlier this year! the cds are housed in two wallets. Vinyl release of some sort may follow next year More info on Bobbie's career and the box can be found on the Bobbie Gentry website i put together at: www.bobbiegentry.org.uk Can't wait for you all to hear this! best Andrew
Thank you for posting and thank you for your work to get Bobbie recognition for her brilliance! It's good to know she is aware of the project.
