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.

Before he was an outlaw-country pioneer and a movie star, and after he was a Rhodes scholar and a helicopter pilot for the U.S. Army, the jarringly handsome young man was a janitor in Nashville, for ...

Today, Bobbie Gentry is often talked about because of her mysterious disappearance from country music. In late April 1982, at the height of her music career, the star abruptly stepped away from the ...

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.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — "Me and Bobby McGee" is one of Kris Kristofferson's most famous and widely covered songs, with everyone from Janis Joplin to Pink putting their own spin on it since 1969. It's often ...

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 ...

At their core, all great songs are love songs. And this one is no different. The singer wails about the specific, great times she had with Bobby. However you interpret the characters, as Joplin sings ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — "Me and Bobby McGee" is one of Kris Kristofferson's most famous and widely covered songs, with everyone from Janis Joplin to Pink putting their own spin on it since 1969. It's ...