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| This is the Annette I remember. |
Some of you older music aficionados may remember the song "Tell Me a Lie". It was a mid seventies minor hit somewhere between country and pop. Most folks probably never heard of it. I think it reached 21 on the Billboard top 100 but it might have gone higher. It was a song that described a way of life for many folks. A song that reached them in a place they wouldn't ordinarily talk about. It also touched those who might never have experienced the situation described in the song. And it reached those souls who knew they were being cheated on. It was a tear jerker and a guilt trip depending on who was listening. No matter the situation it was a "tear in your beer" deal.
"Tell Me a Lie" by Sammi Jo
But there was another group of folks who were really "into" this song and it's songstress. The people who knew the singer. The young woman called "Sammi Jo" was a beautiful product of the Ozarks and a friend of many in the town of Batesville, Arkansas. Sammi Jo or Annette Jobe as we knew her was a quite, well mannered sweet heart who was absolutely drop dead gorgeous.
Website link
The best part about Annette was that quiet unassuming beauty coupled with what I saw as more than a touch of bashful.
"Storms of troubled times" by Sammi Jo
Our lives never really parralleled. I don't think I ever ran into her after high school. I remember once trying to make it to a fancy Atlanta Peachtree City night club where she was playing. Sammi or Annette was doing well in those days. I was not. It was early 1975, I think she had a record or two out by then and was considered a rising star.
"Look at Us" by Sammi Jo
Gracious, was that voice on the phone. "Come on to the show we would love to have you". It was the same voice and friendliness I had known in her as a teenager. Neither the rising fame nor the show business life had changed her outlook. I tried to make it but like with a lot of other things in those days, was a no show.
Sammi Jo's web site
I will always regret not having the chance to see Annette perform, even that one time. But more importantly I will regret not being able to just go hang out with her and be a friend. She might have needed to see an old pal as much as I did.
"Your a part of me" by Sammi Jo
Annette never made tons of hit records. There were television appearances and fancy club dates. I am sure there were a string of gigs that would impress the reader but I don't know enough about her career to pass that information on. She had a few minor "charters" and then gently faded from the limelight.
"If I could just find my way" by Sammi Jo
I would hear about her from time to time from old friends. She was a couple of years younger which made our universes sort of parrallel. For many years, I was far removed from my home town news. So I didn't hear much about Annette's life or career.
"Once in a lifetime thing" by Sammi Jo
Now the years have slipped quietly but suddenly past. And I have to wonder about that pretty bashful teenager who grew into a woman with one of the finest torch voices ever recorded. What could she have been ? If she came along today how would show business treat her ? Would it be any better now or maybe worse ?
"The closest thing to love" by Sammi Jo Cole
Annette was the reason I started doing these little music stories. Her limited success, albeit a first rate talent, is one of the reasons I do stories on new talent. Of course by the time I "discover" them they are already fairly well accomplished or I wouldn't have heard about them.
Previous story on Sammi Jo Cole
This link, the letters in red, takes you to a story I did on Annette ie "Sammi Jo Cole" a couple of years ago. I think it was the first blog I did on music. Here's to you kid !
A beautiful lady from a town full of beautiful ladies. I'm not kidding. Two of her high school friends (350 in the school) became Miss Arkansas and both placed well in the Miss America contest.
Tonight, as I sit listening to Motownboy's remastered versions of Sammi Jo's, Jimmy Bowen album, I remain mystified as to why Annette never reached greater stardom.
Looking at these still's in the slide video I am reminded how wonderfully photogenic she was. Her photographs touch me. As a photographer I am delighted with how she was presented. The pictures depicting her are many things, warm, girl next door, seductress, glamourous, and all done with excellent taste and class.
No matter how presented her eyes draw the viewer into the depth of the image. Good model, good photographers. But then her youthful beauty might just be a reminder of our generation's lost opportunities. In any case her photographs make me think of days past.
No matter how you cut it, Sammi Jo's "Tell me a lie" will always be my favorite cheatin' song. Enjoy !
This as the others brought to you by the "usual suspects" at:
John Boykin
"The Hard Hat Photographer"
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