Mercury Rev, Beth Orton to perform Bobbie Gentry’s ‘The Delta Sweete’

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Mercury Rev and Beth Orton
Mercury Rev and Beth Orton

Earlier this year, psych-pop greats Mercury Rev released “The Delta Sweete Revisited” — a remake of singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry’s 1968 album “The Delta Sweete.” The original was a release that was lamentably overlooked, coming as it did on the heels of Gentry’s mega-hit “Ode to Billie Joe” and owing to the fact it was essentially a concept album about life in the Deep South.

“Bobbie Gentry’s ‘The Delta Sweete’ is an ascending monument of sound and fury that strides, strolls, soars and stretches thru the Southern American mystique of elusion,” Mercury Rev’s Sean Mackowiak (aka Grasshopper) says of the album.

For the remake, Mercury Rev enlisted different singers on each of the album’s 12 tracks. But when they take the project on tour this fall — including an October date in Los Angeles — British singer-songwriter Beth Orton (who performs “Courtyard” on the album) will front the band.

“Bobbie Gentry is the master at being able to sing a story from all directions at once,” Orton says. “Stories of hard-won, old-world sinister sweetness with a subtlety and precision no other songwriter has. When Mercury Rev asked me to come and sing the entire record with them live, I had to take a breath before I dove straight in. This is a dream collaboration. No one can touch what Bobbie Gentry is capable of unearthing, but on their version of ‘The Delta Sweete,’ Mercury Rev have grown Bobbie’s music into a psychedelic cathedral of sound, and to be a part of making that come to life in a live setting is awesome and I’m honored to be involved.”

||| Live: Mercury Rev and Beth Orton perform “The Delta Sweete” on Oct. 3 at the Palace Theatre. Tickets on sale now.

||| Stream: “The Delta Sweete Revisited”