Jean Shephard

This is pure country, real pure, real country. Jean Shephard was an evangelist for the purity of country; she was apparently unimpressed with the whole countrypolitan thing that Nashville got so heavy into. I guess she wouldn’t think much of Achy Breaky Heart. She had a number of hits on the country charts, but not one on the pop charts.

This album is called The Best of Jean Shephard and it was released in 1963. I picked it up at Pyramid Records, and I remember getting it along with a number of other country collections. I guess I was discovering all this classic country right about then. That would have been late 80s, early 90s.

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Jean Shephard:

• Satisfied Mind – A country perennial. A hit in 1966 for Bobby Hebb, his follow-up to Sunny. But this has so many recordings; we’ve heard Red Foley. I’d venture to say that no one sings it better than Jeannie Shephard. This is from 1955.
• A Dear John Letter – A cheating song. How country can you get. Ferlin Husky sings (says, really) the part of John. I don’t suppose Dear Ferlin would work. Her first hit, from 1953.
• Forgive Me John – The follow-up. Well. Isn’t that ducky. I don’t love your brother she says. Now she wants to cheat, with the guy she cheated on, on the guy she cheated with. Ferlin Husky puts in his appearance, again, as John, who refuses to countenance the wrong she wants to do. “I could never do him like he done me,” he says, so poetically.
• The Other Woman – More cheating, he loves me, I love him, she sings, that’s all that matters.
• Two Voices Two Shadows Two Faces – Yet more cheating.
• The Root Of All Evil (Is A Man) – I guess I can’t argue with the logic. From 1961.
• Beautiful Lies – Waltz time. From 1955
• How Long Does It Hurt (When A Heart Breaks) – From 1961.
• I’ve Got To Talk To Mary – I think Mary might be the second most popular female name in popular music, second to Susan. A song about a cat fight. From 1961.
• Don’t Fall In Love (With A Married Man) – Well I guess that’s good advice, directly opposed to The Other Woman, but I guess she isn’t so one-dimensional after all.
• Under Suspicion – Perhaps this could be the “other side” of Suspicious Minds. Only it’s from a dozen years earlier – 1957 to be exact.
• I Learned It All From You – It all comes home to roost. Bitterness set to music.