Sings Ballads And Blues

Performer: Odetta
Engineer: Jack Hawkins
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Solo performer: Odetta (vocals, guitar). Producer: Dean Glitter. Reissue producer: David Greenberg. Includes original release liner notes by Dean Gitter. Personnel: Odetta (vocals, guitar). Recording information: San Francisco, CA (09/1956). Editor: Kenneth S. Goldstein. ODETTA SINGS BALLADS AND BLUES sounds as remarkable today as it did upon its first release in 1956, as if Paul Robeson, Bessie Smith, and Leadbelly had combined into one voice. Singing in a pure yet husky, classically trained voice, accompanying herself on simple but never simplistic acoustic guitar, Odetta was a major force in the collegiate folk and blues revival of the '50s. Unfortunately, she became so thoroughly identified with that audience that her work has sometimes been dismissed, or merely forgotten, in the decades since. This excellent reissue, with remastered sound and extensive liner notes, of ODETTA SINGS BALLADS AND BLUES goes a long way toward showing what folly this is. No female folk singer of the era had a more beautiful and expressive voice than Odetta, and her choice of material--heavy on pointed work songs and spirituals but never smugly sanctimonious--was simply exquisite.

Taking inspiration from classic blues singers and folk troubadours of the 1930s and '40s and predating the folk boom of the '60s, Odetta remains one of the most important yet often overlooked artists of the American musical tradition. Her unique, politically charged fusion of blues, traditional Negro spirituals, and American folk songs was a profound influence on a generation of artists from Bob Dylan and Joan Baez to Tracy Chapman. Odetta continued to perform well after her heyday, remaining both fiercely political and artistically engaging.

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