Ode to Billie Joe [SEP] record label
of Gentry crossing the original bridge.
Recording.
"Ode to Billie Joe" was originally intended as the B-side of Gentry's first single recording, a blues number called "Mississippi Delta", on Capitol Records. The original recording, with no other musicians backing Gentry's guitar according to some reports, had eleven verses lasting eight minutes, telling more of Billie Joe's story. The executives realized that this song would work best as a single, so they cut the length by almost half and added
, though never under the Nashville West name, backing other artists on Gary S. Paxton's record label. However, in 1978, an album under the name "Nashville West" was eventually released on the Sierra Records label. The material on it came from a 1967 club date in El Monte, California, which had been recorded by Parsons for personal use, and not necessarily for album release.
The songs include an instrumental reading of Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe".
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