Jean Shepard's Greatest '52-'64
Jean Shepard was one of country music’s first significant female artists. Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns said: "In the 1950s, self-supporting female country artists were rare. Women who rose to stardom on the West Coast rather than through the Grand Ole Opry were rarer still, as were women who adopted a hard-edged honky-tonk style or sang from a woman's perspective. Jean Shepard was all that and more."
Shepard’s early Capitol recordings were part of The Bakersfield Sound & many of the session musicians on them (Buck Owens, Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant) later had careers of their own. A Dear John Letter, her 1953 duet with Ferlin Husky, was the first commercially successful recording to consist entirely of Bakersfield musicians.
Her first solo hit was A Satisfied Mind. A new song at the time, that’s now considered a country standard, Shepard’s version battled covers by Porter Wagoner & Red Foley and made it to the #4 position on the country charts.
She recorded several songs that were feminist anthems before that term was in use. Two Whoops & A Holler is about the double-standard that is applied to women. Another Neon Night is about a one-night stand with a fellah whose name she doesn't know, & Poor Sweet Baby is about a couple who are about to make the beast with two backs (the latter two fall outside of the period this compilation is pulled from).
Shepard was a member of these Grand Ole Opry for 60 years, and met her husband Hankshaw Hawkins after joining the cast in 1955. Hawkins died in the same plane crash that took Patsy Cline’s life in 1963, after which Shepard considered retirement, but her next release Second Fiddle To An Old Guitar (the final track here) reached #5 & was considered her “comeback” recording.
Jean Shepard’s nearest counterpart, in my opinion, is Hank Williams Sr. Her range of subject matter is similar &, like Hank, she incorporates yelps, growls, yodeling, hiccups & utilizes a very effective--almost comical--nasal delivery at times. They both sideswipe rockabilly (on occasion) & take off without leaving a note. For proof, give a listen to her version of Lefty Frizzell’s If You’ve Got The Money, I’ve Got The Time, or Twice The Lovin’ (In Half The Time) which was a bold statement for a woman to make when it was recorded.
