Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

6. Bobbie GentryOde To Billie Joe

There are some wicked arrangements by Jimmie Haskell here. The string arrangements and this diving, swooping orchestral score is something you’ll hear on our new album. It’s a composing style that I was enamoured by – just look at how the strings dive in and out of the lyrics.

This was popular pretty much from when I could listen to radio from about 1969. I was three or four at the time. It’s always been on the radio in America on oldie stations, it never stops! Especially where we live in the Catskills, we don’t get alternative radio stations. The ones that do call themselves "alternative" play Dave Matthews.

Selected in other Baker’s Dozens: Richmond Fontaine
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