Three blogs ago I wrote about June 3rd being my favorite date in music. It’s because that’s when Billy Joe McCallister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge in Bobbie Gentry’s classic song “Ode to Billy Joe.” In my opinion those four minutes of southern gothic music represent the best story song of all time and I never tire of it.
As I wrote before, there remains a mystery as to WHY Billy Joe McCallister took his own life. Was it guilt over a homosexual relationship? The pain over his girlfriend possibly aborting a baby which may or may not have been what he and her were seen throwing off that famed bridge?
Nobody knows these answers and Mississippi born Bobbie Gentry has never given definitive replies to the questions this song inspires. The most she’s said is that “Ode to Billie Joe” is about “unconscious cruelty and indifference.”
Years ago, Carly Simon revealed the cad depicted in her classic hit “You’re So Vain” was either Mick Jagger or Warren Beatty. As juicy as that detail may be, I think that spoils matters for us listeners. It’s like a magician showing us the secrets of how one of his or her tricks were done. Once the reveal is out it taints the tale. I for one need an open space for reflection, interpretation and opinion.
The good news is the mystery of “Ode to Billy Joe” will probably never be re-opened and ruined for those who crave definitive answers. This is because Bobbie Gentry has been an off the radar and off the grid for over 35 years. Nobody really knows where she is or what she does. If anyone DOES know, they’re not talking.
This kind of disappearing act is pretty amazing considering that from 1967 through the 1970’s Bobbie Gentry was in the public eye and ear recording music of her own, collaborating with Glen Campbell on a duets album and putting on highly praised and financially lucrative live shows in Las Vegas. Besides the number 1 hit “Billy Joe” which crossed over from Country radio to Top 40 radio, she charted 11 singles and wrote and recorded the original version of “Fancy.” That Gentry song about a girl who learned to ‘be nice to the gentlemen’ only made it to the top 30 but years later Reba Mc Entire covered it and made it a monster country hit. This was another great story song and one that brought plenty more royalties to its songwriter.
For a short time Gentry was married to Vegas Casino magnate Bill Harrah. After a second failed marriage she met and tried wedlock with well known 70’s pop artist Jim Stafford who had his own TV series and several radio hits. They had a son Tyler who was born a few months after their marriage dissolved just short of a year in 1980. When asked about his famous ex-wife Stafford is tight lipped and has only spoken flattering words to describe what a talent Bobbie was in all facets of music making and putting on a live show.
One of Bobbie Gentry’s last public performances was on Christmas night 1978 as a guest on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. The next year she appeared on a salute to Mother’s Day and in 1982 was seen at a couple of music industry events before slinking off into anonymity.
From there Bobbie Gentry was reportedly living a private life in Los Angeles while remaining a part owner of the Phoenix Suns basketball team from 1968 through 1987. With no apparent money woes she walked away from the glitz, glamour and public existence of a show-biz life at an age when many artists are still hitting their creative stride.
Over the years many writers and reporters have tried to locate this Greta Garbo-like star but have come up with little in the way of confirmed facts. In 2016, the Washington Post ran an article claiming Ms. Gentry was living in a gated community in a suburb of Memphis. However, there have also been reports of her living everywhere from the outskirts of Nashville to Georgia and South Carolina. One reporter claims to have made a shot in the dark call to a southern home and believes he talked with the mysterious Miss Gentry for a few seconds before being hung up on.
Last fall there was a boxed set release of all previous Bobbie Gentry music titled “The Girl from Chickasaw County”. Still, she did no interviews or work to promote these past works. With an estimated personal net worth of 100 million dollars, it doesn’t sound like Miss Gentry needs anything from anyone.
I see Bobbie Gentry as being music’s answer to Harper Lee, the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird” which many consider to be the greatest work of American literature. After the book’s mega-success (which continues to this day) and subsequent movie, Harper Lee went off the grid and lived a very private existence. That was until late in life when she agreed to release a pre-Mockingbird book titled “Go Set A Watchman” which turned out to be a reported first draft of her Pulitzer prize winning novel.
I don’t anticipate a musical “Go Set a Watchman” type release coming from the reclusive Bobbie Gentry. In fact I see her quick fade out from show business as being refreshing and inspiring. So many famous performers refuse to leave the spotlight until they’ve become pale images of what they were in their hey day. The Who’s Roger Daltrey has talked about how you don’t retire from the music business, the music business retires you. Staying at the party too long is an ungracious way to be remembered and this is why I admire how Bobbie Gentry left public life on her own terms. Well done by that girl turned woman from Chickasaw County!
NEXT WEEK’S BLOG- A Visit to Little Big Town’s “Boondocks.”