December 2nd, 2008 Odetta (queen of folk, blues, and a leading voice for the civil rights movement) passed away at age 77. She performed for the entirety of her life and will continue to draw a great deal of attention for as long as people care about great music . If you don’t know her, I’m glad you are reading this. She is one of the true, great, all-American voices of all time; We are talking in the pioneering tradition of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. The type of singer who paves ways and blazes trails. She is most likely the first great female singer-songwriter of our time. Her death, moments before America takes a giant step into a future more reflective of the soulful and humane songs she was known for all her life, feels like Moses missing out on the promised land, and I hope the music industry carries her into the brighter future many Americans are hoping to be standing on the brink of. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called her “The queen of African-American folk music”. Basically, it seems really appropriate to get some Odetta remixes flowing in the club world. And some Nina Simone…
Years ago, when I bought my first Odetta album at Ameoba Records in Los Angeles (that link is insane btw), I was unaware that I was making one of the best purchases of my life. The guy at the counter was ringing me up for a huge stack of records and when he came across Odetta he just smiled, pretended to scan it and said, “That one is yours.” At the time it seemed too surreal to actually make sense in what I thought was reality. I had never been to a record store and encountered a nice person behind the counter. My experiences in record shops were typically short lived at best; I’d go in and run out as quick as possible to avoid the Vinyl Nazi’s working behind the counters. The guy that handed me the Odetta record didn’t try and make me feel like shit for enjoying the same music as him, instead he celebrated my entrance into a new era of musical awareness in my life. When BrokenBrooklyn and I got back to his house, we put on Odetta and sat contently keeping her playing long into the night, knowing that she was key. A safe place for music lovers to latch onto. Forever.
Enough about my experiences and love for her, lets get to the music!
“Oh the rock island line is the road to ride
The rock island line is a mighty good road”
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I undoubtedly didn’t realize that. Learnt a thing new these days! Thanks for that.