Mercury Rev Announce Bobbie Gentry Covers Album, Shares “Sermon” Cover Featuring Margo Price
The Delta Sweete Revisited Due Out February 8, 2019 via Partisan/Bella Union; Also Features Norah Jones, Phoebe Bridgers, Rachel Goswell, and More
Nov 14, 2018
Hope Sandoval
Mercury Rev have announced a new album, The Delta Sweete Revisited, where they cover Bobbie Gentry’s 1968 “country-rock opera” The Delta Sweete in its entirety, each with a different guest singer, and have shared its first single, a cover of “Sermon” featuring Margo Price. The Delta Sweete Revisited is due out February 8, 2019 via Partisan and Bella Union and also features guest vocals from Norah Jones, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucinda Williams, Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star), Vashti Bunyan, Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Lætitia Sadier (Stereolab), Kaela Sinclair (M83), Susanne Sundfør, Beth Orton, and others. Check out “Sermon” below, followed by the album’s tracklist, a press photo of Mercury Rev, and an illustration of Price by Jess Rotter. Above is the cover art.
Midlake’s Jesse Chandler joined Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue and Grasshopper to produce, perform, and rearrange all the music on The Delta Sweete Revisited. The original The Delta Sweete was Gentry’s second album and was released in 1968. It followed her 1967 debut album, Ode to Billie Joe, which was a #1 album, in part thanks to its hit single of a title track. The Delta Sweete, on the other hand, was much less of a success, only making it to #132 on the Billboard album charts. Mercury Rev’s album includes as a bonus track a cover of “Ode to Billie Joe” featuring Lucinda Williams.
Price had this to say about the album in a press release: “Bobbie Gentry is one of the greatest writers and performers of our time. She was the definition of country funk and southern soul. Her songs were well-crafted, literary masterpieces. Bobbie produced so much of her own work that she didn’t get credit for. Her influence on my music has been massive and her influence on the music world in general is earth shattering. Bobbie is iconic, original, eloquent and timeless. She is an elusive wonder in a world of plain spoken, worn out cliques. She has remained a strong voice and an eternal spirit of the delta, wrapped in mystery, yet forever here.”
Mercury Rev’s last album, The Light In You, came out in 2015 via Bella Union. This year they celebrated the 20th anniversary of arguably their most acclaimed and beloved album, 1998’s Deserter’s Songs, via some tour dates where they performed the album. Price released her sophomore album, All American Made, in October 2017 via Third Man.
The Delta Sweete Revisited Tracklist:
1. Okolona River Bottom Band (feat. Norah Jones)
2. Big Boss Man (feat. Hope Sandoval)
3. Reunion (feat. Rachel Goswell)
4. Parchman Farm (feat. Carice van Houten)
5. Mornin’ Glory (feat. Laetitia Sadier)
6. Sermon (feat. Margo Price)
7. Tobacco Road (feat. Susanne Sundfør)
8. Penduli Pendulum (feat. Vashti Bunyan w/ Kaela Sinclair)
9. Jessye’ Lisabeth (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
10. Refractions (feat. Marissa Nadler)
11. Courtyard (feat. Beth Orton)
12. Ode to Billie Joe (feat. Lucinda Williams) *
*not included on the original The Delta Sweete
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