Jeannie C. Riley - Harper Valley P.T.A.

Sometimes, after the intangible suffering of work, i like to tangibly suffer. This may come as a real shock (he says oozing with sarcasm), but i'm not a fan of Country Music. Sure, i could ramble off a list of a couple dozen great songs that are country, and i like a lot of Willie Nelson, quite a bit of Jason Isbell, some Johnny Cash, and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Fishing in the Dark" (who doesn't?), but songs about pickup trucks, rodeo, and religious redneck revelry just aren't my thing, you know? You're allowed to love it, but i'll keep it strictly professional if you don't mind, thank you.

Where was i going with this? Oh, yeah. 1968 wasn't all space cadets and political polemics. It's also the year that produced the absolute biggest country single and songstress in the pre Dolly Parton universe. I'm talking, of course, about Jeannie C. Riley's version of "Harper Valley P.T.A." (it wasn't the first, but it's the only one you've ever heard, i bet).

Did you know it's actually from an album? No, of course not. There isn't a wikipedia page for any of her 21 albums. Now that i think of it, i could pick a bunch of things to fill this slot (Kenny Rogers, John Denver, the crate of Christmas albums, and even more), but this is  refreshing. There's no immediate back story for the album, so i guess i am fishing in the dark after all. Let's give it a whirl.

I have to know, what's the deal with listing the songs out of order? Do you know?

I don't need to rehash the story of the title track, if you really don't know it you can read all about it. "Widow Jones" is, to use a modern phrase, a cougar. That's two saucy songs, so we're in for some heart ache. "No Brass Band," not surprisingly is about her dad falling in with a bad crew and getting shot. "Mr. Harper" is, to use an old phrase, a letcher. 5 tracks in, i realize this is the same kind of album as Cher's Dark Lady. It's about Jeannie, the character: the girl next door in a small town dealing with the hardships of growing up with the ups and downs (mostly downs) of rural life. Life's hard, but "Shed Me No Tears."

You know what, that wasn't so bad. My only real criticism is that the compositions are perfunctory. It's a case of "the lyrics are over, just fade out. No, no, don't bother to actually end the song; no one cares anyway." I care. What about my needs? At least give the band a "shave and a haircut," or something. Oh well, what's side b like?

That riff from "The Cotton Patch," could easily be the foundation of a Creedence song. Characterwise, she's headed to Dallas for a wild time but she's clearly a country girl in the big city and barely gets a job in a dog food factory. "Sippin' Shirley Thompson" doesn't care and swears a lot (but secretly she does care). I know 'cause Jeannie told me so... i fought the law and the law won... sorry, where was i? Oh yeah, more small town life stuff. Get to Louise and Satan already.

Ooooh. Louise got some soul, and she's gonna steal your man. Shoot her? I knew it! Nice.

Oh, ok "Satan Place" is just a reworking of Harper Valley (a pun on Peyton Place). I'm sure it's supposed to be ironic, but it's not irony. Unless you didn't expect a town named Satan to be just like every other small town. Is it like Greenland/Iceland? With a name like Satan, it has to be good (Seriously, bottle? Smuckers? Are you the Dennis Miller of music critics?).

Anyway, i think we need to take a moment to appreciate how little effort it took for me to actually enjoy this album. With the exception of the fade outs on side a (somehow not as annoying on side b), and the last song being a complete rip off of the first song, this album is pretty good. I'm actually curious about more of her albums. Really, they should be just as enjoyable; you wouldn't expect they'd keep paying for two albums a year for a decade if they weren't at least making their money back. Definitely go give this whole album a listen, it's really not bad at all.

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