Ever since 1998’s career-turning Deserter’s Songs, Mercury Rev have regularly applied their cosmic tendencies and broad imaginations to recasting Americana. Here, they focus on a lost gem of country-rock: The 1968 follow-up to her chart-topping US debut, Ode to Billie Joe, Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete was a relative misfire in commercial terms. Thirteen years and a handful of albums later, the singer-songwriter vanished into a reclusive existence, adding new mystique to the music she left behind.
Those who’ve subsequently sought out The Delta Sweete have discovered original songs and covers about Mississippi life that reupholster country with Baroque flourishes and twists of soul and blues. Longtime fans Mercury Rev stay true to that experimentation, recruiting a cast of guest vocalists including Lucinda Williams, Hope Sandoval, and Phoebe Bridgers to help bring new ideas and atmospheres to the songs. Opener “Okolona River Bottom Band” sets the tone, transformed from swamp-side R&B into orchestral pop simmering with strings, tension, and Norah Jones’ yearning voice. “Reunion” undergoes the most radical reboot, a scratchy and antsy portrait of family life reshaped into grand space-rock hooked round the original’s slither of tragedy (“I heard this morning they drug the Tallahatchie/And found poor Billie gone”). It exemplifies a tribute that cherishes the invention and storytelling of Gentry’s songs but never insults her pioneering spirit with simple retreads.
Tracklisting
- Okolona River Bottom Band (4:37)
- Big Boss Man (3:25)
- Reunion (2:22)
- Parchman Farm (3:47)
- Mornin’ Glory (3:22)
- Sermon (4:31)
- Tobacco Road (2:51)
- Penduli Pendulum (3:11)
- Jessye’ Lisabeth (3:04)
- Refractions (2:28)
- Courtyard (3:31)
- Ode To Billie Joe (5:37)
Apple Music
Videos
Mercury Rev x Norah Jones - Okolona River Bottom Band
More Videos
- Mercury Rev feat. Hope Sandoval - Big Boss Man (Official Audio)
- Mercury Rev feat. Rachel Goswell - Reunion (Official Audio)
- Mercury Rev feat. Carice Van Houten - Parchman Farm (Official Audio)
- Mercury Rev feat. Laetitia Sadier - Mornin’ Glory (Official Audio)
- Mercury Rev feat. Margo Price - Sermon (Official Audio)
- Mercury Rev feat. Susanne Sundfør - Tobacco Road (Official Audio)
- Mercury Rev feat. Vashti Bunyan & Kaela Sinclair - Penduli Pendulum (Official Audio)
- Mercury Rev x Phoebe Bridgers - Jesseye’ Lisabeth
- Mercury Rev feat. Marissa Nadler - Refractions (Official Audio)
- Mercury Rev feat. Beth Orton - Courtyard (Official Audio)
- Mercury Rev feat. Lucinda Williams - Ode To Billie Joe (Official Audio)
Release Images
Release Information
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | Vinyl LP Limited Edition (180g) |
| Label | Bella Union |
| Catalog Number | BELLA852V |
| Notes | Song-by-song cover version of the album [m157872] (1968), with “Louisiana man” replaced by “Ode to Billie Joe”. On sticker: “Mercury Rev “This Delta Sweete is [Bobbie Gentry’s] long-delayed justice” - David Fricke. Limited 180g Vinyl Includes Download” |
| Discogs URL | Mercury Rev - Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete Revisited |