Bobbie Gentry had the most gorgeous legs ever: On the record with Grammy-winning arranger Jimmie Haskell

Presenting “Patchwork,” released in September 1970 and notable for being Bobbie Gentry’s last studio album. Combining a strong set of Gentry-penned material, the record nevertheless bowed at a dismal No. 221 Pop, remaining on Billboard for only two weeks. One single was unleashed, “But I Can’t Get Back,” which accumulated slight airplay over a two-week run on the adult contemporary chart at No. 37. An adept artist and designer, Gentry possibly painted the fine cover. Image Credit: Luigi’s 50’s & 60’s Vinyl Corner / Capitol Records

Savvy artist Bobbie Gentry clearly blazed a path for 21st century female singer/songwriters and is best known for her composition “Ode to Billie Joe,” a near-acoustic Southern gothic tale of two besotted young lovers irrecoverably transformed by a tragic incident on the Tallahatchie Bridge in Choctaw Ridge, Mississippi.

After Capitol purchased the recording, it became a bona fide smash number one record during the Summer of Love in 1967, usurping the Beatles and winning multiple Grammys. Recordings with Glen Campbell, critically acclaimed albums exemplified by The Delta Sweete and Patchwork, television specials, a popular choreographed Las Vegas-style revue, and a film adaptation of her signature song all followed within a few years.

In the first installment of an exclusive interview unearthed below, Grammy-winning “Ode to Billie Joe” string arranger Jimmie Haskell sets the record straight on an initial meeting with Gentry enhanced by mutual admiration for Haskell’s neatly trimmed whiskers, Capitol being initially embarrassed by the “Billie Joe” recording, and how the alluring songwriter handily dealt with a fellow musician who claimed he produced it.