Ace Records’ excellent songwriters’ series turns the spotlight for the second time on JACKIE DE SHANNON. This new release – ‘She Did It! The Songs Of Jackie DeShannon Volume II’ offers a generous 26 tracks that shows how prolific and genre-bending the Kentucky born Sharon Lee Myers (her birth name) was.
The album has some fine soul selections. They include the achingly soulful ‘Bad Water’ from Doris Duke, the southern smoulderer ‘Yesterday Died’ from Jimmy Holiday and gospel icon Dorothy Morrison’s version of one of Ms DeShannon’s best known songs ‘Put A Little Love In Your Heart’.
There’s also lots of classy pop and country too – notably Kim Carnes’ ‘Bette Davis Eyes’ and the Searchers’ ‘Each Time’. The Merseybeat giants were huge fans of Jackie’s ‘ They went all the way to no. 1 with their version of her ‘Needles And Pins’ while a take on her song ‘When You Walk In The Room’ was another huge hit for them.
The collection has been assembled with the full co-operation of Jackie and includes music from her brother’s band (Raga and the Talas) and her husband (Randy Edelman). Collectors will also be delighted to know that she’s also allowed a previously unissued recording of hers to be included. It’s a lovely, folksy 1967 demo called ‘Love Forever Stay’.
