Jean Shepard

by Dan Cooper & Stephen Thomas Erlewine Few country singers — let alone female country singers — working since the 1950s have produced a large body of work as enduring as Jean Shepards. Her voice is pure country — accent on both words. Born in Oklahoma, she grew up in Southern California, where Hank Thompson discovered her. She had her first Top Ten hit in 1953, and her last almost exactly 20 years later. In between, she cut one great record after another, mostly on Capitol Records. Nearly all of them crackle, no matter the topic, with honky tonk angel spunk. Born in Oklahoma, Shepard grew up in the area surrounding Bakersfield, CA. As a teenager, she began her musical career by playing bass in the Melody Ranch Girls, an all-female band formed in 1948. Hank Thompson discovered Shepard a few years after the group formed. Impressed by her talents, he helped her set up a record deal at Capitol Records, where she worked with Thompsons producer, Ken Nelson. Shepards first chart appearance was in 1953 as a duet partner with Ferlin Husky, with A Dear John Letter and its sequel, Forgive Me John. Shepard and Husky toured the country following their hit singles. In 1955, she had her first solo Top Ten single, A Satisfied Mind, which was backed by the number 13 hit Take Possession. Later in the year, she had another Top Ten hit with Beautiful Lies/I Thought of You. Her streak of hit singles led to an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry in 1956. That same year, she joined Red Foleys Ozark Jubilee and recorded Songs of a Love Affair, arguably the first concept album in country music history. Its 12 songs — which were all written by Shepard — depict a marriage torn apart by a love affair; one side of the album is written from the dissolution of a romance. For nearly ten years after the release of Beautiful Lies, Shepard wasnt able to get a song into the Top Ten. In fact, she had only two Top 40 hits during that period — I Want to Go Where No One Knows Me (number 18, 1958) and Have Heart, Will Love (number 30, 1959). She continued to record and tour — she was even named the Top Female Singer of 1959 by Cash Box — but nothing was breaking through to the public. This was primarily because she was a hardcore honky tonk singer in a time that country-pop was ruling the charts. In 1963, her husband Hawkshaw Hawkins died in the same plane crash that killed Patsy Cline. The following year, she returned to the Top Ten with Second Fiddle (To an Old Guitar). The song began a string of hits for Shepard. Although many of them failed to chart in the Top 20, she racked up 15 Top 40 hits between 1965 and 1970, including the Top Ten hits Ill Take the Dog (a duet with Ray Pillow, 1966), If Teardrops Were Silver (1966), and Then He Touched Me (1970). Shepards hits continued throughout the 70s, though as the decade wore on she hit the Top 40 with less and less frequency. Her last hit single was 1978s The Real Thing, which peaked at number 85. During the 80s and 90s, Shepard didnt record, but she continued to perform at the Grand Ole Opry and tour, particularly in the U.K., where she had a strong fan base.