July, 1967: It seems the entire country stopped to listen to a husky voice steeped in the simmering secrets of the South tell a tragic tale of teenage suicide. So much for the Summer of Love. “Ode to Billie Joe” knocked the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love” off the top of the charts, and Bobbie Gentry became an international star. Almost 50 years later, Gentry is as enigmatic and captivating as her signature song. Of course, fans still want to know why Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. They also wonder: Why did Bobbie Gentry, who has not performed or made a public appearance since the early 1980s, leave it all behind?
Through extensive interviews and unprecedented access to career memorabilia, Murtha explores the real-life mysteries ensnarled within the much-disputed origin of Ode to Billie Joe. The result is an investigative pop history that reveals, for the first time, the full breadth of Bobbie Gentry’s groundbreaking career—and just may help explain her long silence.
Foreword by musician Jill Sobule.
By:
Tara Murtha
Imprint: Bloomberg Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 165mm,
Width: 121mm,
Spine: 10mm
Weight: 155g
ISBN: 9781623569648
ISBN 10: 1623569648
Series: 33 1/3
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 02 January 2015
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
"Foreward, by Jill Sobule Chapter 1: Out of a Swamp Fog Chapter 2: Where is Bobbie Gentry? Chapter 3: The Bobbiebilia Chapter 4: Chickasaw County Child Chapter 5: Becoming Bobbie Gentry Chapter 6: ""Produced by Kelly Gordon and Bobby Paris"" Chapter 7: The Summer of ""Ode to Billie Joe"" Chapter 8: Capitol Pre-Orders Five Times as Many Records as Meet the Beatles Chapter 9: The Capitol Years Chapter 10: Viva Las Vegas Chapter 11: What the Song Didn't Tell You, the Movie Will Chapter 12: So I'm Packin' Up and I'm Checking Out"
Tara Murtha is a journalist based in Philadelphia, USA.
Reviews for Bobbie Gentry's Ode to Billie Joe
Tara Murtha examines that song and the rest of Bobbi Gentry's career in Ode To Billie Joe, the latest release in the 33 1/3 series of books. It is a wonderfully compelling book and the best I've read in the series since Television: Marquee Moon. Perhaps it's her background as a reporter, but Murtha does not go down the pedantic path that many of the books in this series seem to do lately. Instead, the author presents a fascinating study of Gentry and her career-defining debut. That's right; Ode to Billie Joe was her debut recording. Wow. -- Steve J AllMusicBooks Murtha pulls free the threads of truth from a tangled knot of personal mythology and contradictions. Her book is likely to be a hit with casual listeners and pop-culture obsessives alike. -- Katie Haegele Utne Reader
