Reissue: Kenny O’Dell’s “Beautiful People”

By Ken Paulson

—I met Kenny O’Dell at a press conference announcing the new Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame earlier this year, and mentioned how much I had enjoyed his Beautiful People album, released in 1967.

O’Dell, who is a member of the Hall of Fame, was gracious and seemed surprised that anyone remembered the pop album he recorded before going on to fame in country music.

Now with the re-issue of that album on Real Gone Music,  many more can appreciate this modest pop gem. Largely a collection of  quick recordings pulled together to capitalize on O’Dell’s Top 40 hit “Beautiful People,” the album features the hits of the era – “Kentucky Woman” and “Different Drum” among them – and also his “Next Train to London,” which became a hit for the Rose Garden.

O’Dell’s vocals were similar to Bobby Vee’s, so it probably wasn’t a surprise that Vee’s cover of “Beautiful People” also broke into the Top 40, undercutting O’Dell’s own chart success.

O’Dell went on to write “Behind Closed Doors” for Charlie Rich and even had his own career as a country artist, but this bonus track-laden re-issue of Beautiful People shows him to be a strong pop writer and performer as well.

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