Odetta Dead At Seventy-Seven

Here's a link to the NY Times Obit: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/arts/music/03odetta.html?_r=1&hp

Though I never met Odetta, her huge voice, her music and her politics were more influential on the way I hear and play music and the way I live my life than I can say. I first encountered this amazing woman, as I did many of my musical heroes, in the Folk Music section of the Webster Groves Public Library. I was probably about eleven years old and was checking out everything I could from that slim selection of LPs; most of them on Vanguard or Smithsonian Folkways. Now remember, this was around 1966 and my parents thought it was strange enough me bringing home records and holing up in my room with the "weird" sounds of Roscoe Holcomb and The New Lost City Ramblers seeping out under the door. When I brought home a collection of folk songs and spirituals with a picture of a black woman (Odetta) on the cover, that was almost more than my poor dad could take. There was a tense moment or two over whether I'd be allowed to play the record in the house.

But, eventually it worked out. I listened to Odetta's big southern voice singing songs and playing the guitar in a distinctive way. And once again it turned my head around and I've never been the same since.

In the NY Times article referenced above, Odetta is quoted as saying, “School taught me how to count and taught me how to put a sentence together. But as far as the human spirit goes, I learned through folk music.” This goes for me, too. And so many people I call friends and have known through the years.

Thanks, Odetta, for being a part of the folk music that shaped so many lives.