The Southern Style - Jeri Southern

 

I'll Wear The Green Willow

The Southern Style

Jeri Southern

Vocal and Piano Solos with Rhythm Accompaniment

Decca Records DL 8055

1955

From the back cover: Here is music in the true Southern Style – and when we say Southern we mean Jeri. The girl with the soft, wistful, silky voice was born August 5, 1926, in a tiny Nebraska town of Royal – population 190. A musician from childhood she took her first piano lesson at five – ten years later she was teaching piano! Altogether she devoted fifteen years to classical piano study, including advanced work under Karl Tunberg, with a concert career in view.

At eighteen she decided to be an entertainer. She played three tunes for a booking-agent and, before she had finished the third, she landed a job in Omaha's finest hotel, The Blackstone. She was so conspicuous a success that they would have liked to keep her forever, but Jeri formed an instrumental trio and was even more widely acclaimed than before.

Up to this time she had considered herself a piano player. Singing was something she did occasionally and only incidentally. When the Navy hired here to spur enlistments, she was urged to do more singing; but even then she did not take herself seriously as a singer. It was not until she hit the big time in Chicago that she attracted attention as a vocalist. Soon she was signed up for broadcasting and had a nightly TV show on Chicago's CBS outlet.

Miss Southern, a warm, gracious personality with a soft-like voice, and a crisp, intimate piano technique, is especially noted for her style and the tasteful material she chooses. She sings in a clear unpretentious manner that is always fresh-sounding and sincere. Behind this disarmingly simple approach lies deep understanding and thorough musicianship. She sings songs the way composers like to hear them sung. Her choice of material is always fitting; her presentation charming and original. All the songs in this album combine these well-known Southern characteristics emphasizing a warmth, and intimacy that is a rewarding as it is rare.

I'll Take Romance

Let's Fall In Love

One Day I Wrote His Name Upon The Sand

I'll Wear The Green Willow

It's De-Lovely

My Letters

Too Marvelous For Words

The Gypsy In My Soul

Debonair

I Don't Want To Turn

I Hadn't Anyone Till You

Scarlet Ribbon (For Her Hair)