Editor's note: This article originally appeared online May 31, 2016, in the (Jackson, Mississippi) Clarion Ledger. Music fans know the importance of Friday. “It was the 3rd of June, another sleepy, ...

JACKSON, Miss. — If I haven’t responded to your email following the “What happened to singer Bobbie Gentry?” column on June 1, consider this a personal apology and a “thank you” for each one. I have ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Editor's Note: The following column by former Clarion Ledger columnist Billy Watkins originally appeared in the May 31, 2016, ...

It was not the third of June, nor was it another sleepy, dusty, Delta day. It was on another muggy July evening in St. Tammany Parish when my buddies and I first heard Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie ...

Though her birth name was Roberta Lee Streeter, she was known around the world as Bobbie Gentry. Born in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, and raised in the town of Greenwood, Gentry is most known for ...

If Bobbie Gentry never recorded anything other than her first single “Ode to Billie Joe” and later “Fancy,” her two biggest hits, she would still hold a significant place in country music history. But ...

That is the opening line of one of music’s most discussed, examined and appreciated songs — “Ode to Billie Joe,” written and performed by Bobbie Gentry, who was born in Mississippi’s Chickasaw County.

Editor's Note: The following column by former Clarion Ledger columnist Billy Watkins originally appeared in the May 31, 2016, edition of the Clarion-Ledger. Music fans know the importance of Friday.

Music fans know the importance of Friday. “It was the 3rd of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day.” That is the opening line of one of music’s most discussed, examined and appreciated songs — Ode to ...