Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert For The Holidays

Performer: Odetta
Engineer: David Merril; Fred Guarino
Producer: Mark Carpentieri
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Odetta: Wendall Holmes, Popsie Dixon, Sherman Holmes (vocals). Personnel: Odetta (vocals); Seth Farber (piano). Additional personnel: The Holmes Brothers (vocals). The doyenne of folk and blues singers for over 50 years, Odetta has influenced artists like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and blazed a trail both for civil rights in America and human rights internationally. GONNA LET IT SHINE, recorded live at New York's Fordham University, is a sampling of the holiday spirituals that have made up a small part of her concert repertoire over the decades. Her voice remains surprisingly unweathered by time, and the warmth and empathy generated by her performances on songs like like the transporting "Mary Had a Baby," the exuberant "What Month Was Jesus Born In?" and the delightful "Shout for Joy," is palpable.

Dirty Linen (p.65) - "[A]n amazing collection of spirituals....[E]ach of the album's 15 songs is a marvel in its own way....Amazing." Living Blues (p.38) - "Anyone who cares about freedom and social justice will find it a bracing tonic against the negativity and despair that too often seem to pervade our times."

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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