Jerry Lee Lewis

===''The Session'' and ''Southern Roots''===
[[File:JerryLee Lewis 1977.jpg|thumb|right|Lewis performing in 1977]]
Lewis returned to the pop charts with "[[Me and Bobby McGee]]" in 1971 and "[[Chantilly Lace (song)|Chantilly Lace]]" in 1972, and this, coupled with a revitalized public interest in vintage [[rock and roll]], inspired Mercury to fly Lewis to London in 1973 to record with a cadre of British and Irish musicians, including [[Rory Gallagher]], [[Kenney Jones]], and Albert Lee. By all accounts the sessions were tense. The remake of Lewis's old Sun cut "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" was the album's hit single, reaching number 20 on the ''Billboard'' country chart and peaking at number 41 on the pop chart. ''The Session'' was his highest pop charting album since 1964's ''[[Golden Hits of Jerry Lee Lewis]]'', hitting number 37. It did far better on the country albums chart, rising to number 4. Later that year, he went to Memphis and recorded ''[[Southern Roots: Back Home to Memphis]]'', a soul-infused rock album produced by Huey Meaux. According to Rick Bragg's authorized 2014 biography, "the Killer" was in a foul mood when he showed up at Trans Maximus Studios in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] to record: "During these sessions, he insulted the producer, threatened to kill a photographer, and drank and medicated his way into but not out of a fog." During one exchange that can be heard on the 2013 reissue ''Southern Roots: The Original Sessions'', Meaux asks Lewis, "Do you wanna try one?", meaning a take, to which Lewis replies, "If you got enough fuckin' sense to cut it."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Little |first=Michael H. |date=September 29, 2020 |title=Graded on a Curve: Jerry Lee Lewis, Southern Roots: Back Home to Memphis |url=http://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/2020/09/graded-on-a-curve-jerry-lee-lewis-southern-roots-back-home-to-memphis-2/ |access-date=March 22, 2021 |website=The Vinyl District |archive-date=January 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115110247/http://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/2020/09/graded-on-a-curve-jerry-lee-lewis-southern-roots-back-home-to-memphis-2/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Lewis was still pumping out country albums, although the hits were beginning to dry up. His last big hit with Mercury was "Middle Age Crazy", which made it to number 4 in 1977.