Rav Casley Gera

I still remember the wet Wednesday afternoon in Sheffield when, rifling in my usual way through Sparky’s CD collection, I stumbled upon the greatest hits of Nancy Sinatra. In the full flourishes of my retro-Americana phase at the time - cf. the cowskin on the floor of my second-year bedroom - I thought it sounded like kitsch fun. I wasn’t remotely ready for the psychedelic rollercoaster it turned out to be, complete with lush orchestration, bonkers greek-mythology lyrical allusions, and the ghostly presence of a mysterious male crooner. Later that day, Sparky identified the source of both the voice and the marvellous imagery: Country maverick and prolific producer Lee Hazlewood. Lee died on August 4 of cancer, and I still haven’t explored his substantial non-Nancy oeuvre properly. But perhaps now’s as good a time as any to start. In the meantime, pop over to Some Velvet Blog, named for Lee’s best-known hit, for an appropriately thorough introduction.

Lee and Nancy on my favourite (gasp!) version of “Jackson”:

“Summer Wine”:

His wonderful solo “No Train To Stockholm”. As one commenter puts it, “if only all country could be like this”: