1095 - Mojo 109. Bobbie Gentry - The Delta Sweete (1968)

Track Listing

1. Okolona River Bottom Band
2. Big Boss Man
3. Reunion
4. Parchman Farm
5. Mornin' Glory
6. Sermon
7. Tobacco Road
8. Penduli Pendulum
9. Jessye' Lisabeth
10. Refractions
11. Louisiana Man
12. Courtyard

Review

The missing link between country music and Laura Nyro, this truly great album by Bobbie Gentry is one of those unsung rarities that only show up once in a while but which are a real thrill to listen to.

This fully orchestrated folk/country suite-like album showcases Gentry's amazing voice but also her great gifts as a songwriter and the great expressiveness of her music. Gentry can use a simple twist of her voice to emote any possible variation of emotion throughout.

This is a really strange album to come out of Nashville at this period in time and it seems a lot more like something which could be coming from the West Coast, but its country roots are very definitely there, even if on a first listen through you might be hard pressed to call this a "country" album. Great stuff.

Track Highlights

1. Mornin' Glory
2. Reunion
3. Courtyard
4. Okolona River Bottom Band

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Delta Sweete was a concept album based on modern life in the Deep South. Gentry wrote eight of the album's 12 tracks, which detailed her Mississippi childhood and included vignettes 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"). The song "Okolona River Bottom Band", accented by a sophisticated horn chart and breathy strings, used the same basic cadence as "Ode to Billie Joe".

Mornin' Glory: