odetta
Her name is Odetta, and she will turn 75 this New Year’s Eve. [1]
Odetta is a living legend of the civil rights movement and a giant of American music. [2]
Odetta is one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century. [3]
Odetta was born on New Year’s Eve 1930 in Birmingham, AL. [4]
Bob Dylan was inspired by Odetta - - in 1956 her album, “ODETTA Sings Ballads & Blues,” inspired him to trade in his electric guitar for a Gibson acoustic guitar. [...] Ageless, her voice rings out with the passion of the 50’s and 60’s. [3]
In 1999 she released her first studio album in 14 years, Blues Everywhere I Go. [2]
Recorded before a worshipful audience at New York’s Fordham University and carried live on public-supported WFUV radio, Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays offers the incomparable Odetta performing songs of inspiration and freedom, joined by her friends the Holmes Brothers and pianist Seth Farber. [1]
She showed a keen interest in music from the time she was a child, and when she was about ten years old, somewhere between church and school, her singing voice was discovered. [5]
The next few years found Odetta releasing some new full-length albums, including Livin’ with the Blues and a collection of Leadbelly tunes, Looking for a Home. [2]
Her debut, Sings Ballads and Blues, wasn’t a bad album, but it lacked the depth and fullness of the latter work. [6]
Odetta’s version of Leadbelly’s “Midnight Special,” done originally on her early live album Gate of Horn nearly 50 years ago, is revisited on the new Gonna Let It Shine. [1]
Odetta’s most productive decade as a recording artist came in the 1960s, when she released 16 albums, including Odetta at Carnegie Hall, Christmas Spirituals, Odetta and the Blues, It’s a Mighty World, and Odetta Sings Dylan. [5]
She says these songs are traditional spirituals, neither purely African nor American, but songs that emerged from the sufferings of slavery. [...] This is similar to a prior concert album that Odetta made for Vanguard in the early ’60s, At Carnegie Hall; both sets even have the same accompanist (Bill Lee, on bass). [6]
Sources:
[1] Concerted Efforts - Odetta (www.concertedefforts.com/
[2] FOTA - odetta (www.fotapresents.org/artists/
[3] Odetta (folkmusicarchives.org/odetta.htm)
[4] Odetta on Yahoo! Music (music.yahoo.com/ar-259194—Odetta)
[5] Amazon.com: Odetta: Albums, Songs, Bios, Photos (www.amazon.com/Odetta/e/B000APWDZU)
[6] Odetta Music (Used, New, Hard-to-Find) - Alibris (www.alibris.com/search/music/