Comments on: 100 Greatest Women, #34: Jean Shepard

By: Ronnie Highland

Ronnie Highland — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:38:07 +0000

Jean Shepard will rise in the polls over the next years, just like former presidents. Depending on the direction of Country Music,(Which to me is not Country at all anymore)I think if pop-country was not so popular now, you would see Barbra Mandrell much lower-despite her industry awards- and see Mrs. Shepard much higher.

By: dave

dave — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:40:46 +0000

If you have time go to you tube and type in jean shepard’s slippin away performance on hee haw. she really blew me away with that one. Great artist. and i might add she has stood up for classic country over the years and makes us proud

By: Don

Don — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:48:14 +0000

Just say Jean at the Grand Ole Opera last week. She was great if her voice has lost anything I can’t imagine what she was like at her peak. What a performer and lovely lady.

By: T Partridge

T Partridge — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:47:07 +0000

I don’t understand why Jean Shepard doesn’t get more respect, and airplay. I’ve been a Sirius subscriber for 18 months, and I have not heard even one song by Jean Shepard on their Roadhouse (classic country) channel. Of course, they don’t give a lot of attention to female artists. They will play songs that never charted by Willie Nelson, bottom of the chart hits by most male artists, and you don’t even hear Top Ten songs by Jean Shepard and Skeeter Davis.

By: ccf

ccf — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:56:37 +0000

Paul W Dennis,

I couldn’t agree more.

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:48:10 +0000

Kevin – you have Ms Shepard rated much too low – I would put her in the top ten among female performers. While Kitty Wells was the first really sustained big star among the women, Kitty quickly got away from the feisty into the more conventional “girl” songs. Jean Shepard was the Ur-Loretta Lynn, tackling topics and displaying attitude that none of other women of the 1950s dared try.

Her 1956 album SONGS OF A LOVE AFFAIR is arguably the first “themed” album in country music history. As a vocalist she had a powerful voice that few others could match. She was a terrific yodeler and a great stage entertainer. Time (55+ years since her start in the business) has cost her some of her vocal power but I saw her two years ago and she still is an effective singer and stage presence.

There are many among the 70+ set who consider her the greatest female country vocalist ever and the British music critics such as Pat Campbell, Bob Powell and David Allen held her in similar high record. While I don’t regard her quite that highly, she was a force of nature during her day.