1967 Bobbie Gentry Ode to Billie Joe Capitol Records Promo Southern Gothic

Date: 1967
Artist: Unknown                       
Size (in): 34.75” x 22.25”  
Size (cm): 88.3 x 56.5 
Condition: B-/C+ 
Linen backed: No 

This is a vintage original advertising promotional poster for Bobbie Gentry’s debut album Ode to Billie Joe. This poster features a standing view black and white image of Gentry under the Capitol Records logo and title Ode to Billie Joe/Bobbie Gentry.  The lower left corner is printed with the lyrics from the title track - …billie joe jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.  

Ode to Billie Joe was released as a single in July 1967 and as the title track to Gentry’s debut album the following month.  Five weeks after the initial release Ode to Billie Joe topped Billboard’s Pop Singles Chart where is would remain for four weeks.  Gentry would go on to earn eight Grammy nominations that year winning both Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.  The single and album are considered exemplars of the postwar Southern Gothic artistic subculture.  Bobbie Gentry spent much of her early childhood living with her grandparents in a house with no electricity or plumbing in rural Chickasaw County Mississippi.  That hardscrabble upbringing influenced her songwriting and helped Gentry to become one of the first female artists to compose and produce her own material.        

This vintage original poster shows moderate handling wear and some toning from age. The poster has a few light lateral creases and some nicks, chips and small tears on the edges mostly along the top edge and lower right edge and there is a bit of light soiling to the back of the poster which doesn’t show on the front side.  This vintage original Capitol Records promotional poster is unrestored but could be linen backed if you wanted to get it looking closer to new.   Overall condition is good.