Farewell, Odetta

Today I learned that legendary folk singer Odetta died Tuesday at age 77. Hers were among the first folk records I started collecting in the late 50s or early 60s, along with Peter, Paul and Mary, et. al. I first saw her live, soon after I moved to Los Angeles in the mid-sixties, at the Troubadour on Hollywood Boulevard where she nearly blew me out of the house with her huge voice. It was my first time at that venue, and I was on my own, barely knowing a soul in L.A.

Odetta was especially noteworthy as a voice of the civil rights movement and influence on people like Bob Dylan (whom she famously covered) and Joan Baez. Let's try something-- Water Boy -- roughly from that period of time:




Sometime quite a bit later; I don't have the date for this take on The Midnight Special:



And very recently:



Odetta is said to have been scheduled to sing at Barack Obama's upcoming inauguration. A shame that won't be.

UPDATE 12/4/08:
Seems that NPR has a nice page with a wealth of interviews, music and information about Odetta.