Odetta Sings Odetta

Odetta Sings...
Produced by John Boylan
Polydor 24-4048

Made in New York, 1970

The folk singer Odetta Gordon (1930-2008), known as simply Odetta, released a score of records between 1954 and 2001. Not that would like to collect all these but if I see one at a thrift store I'll pick it up for sure. I have about ten of them. My favorite is The Essential Odetta on Vanguard records released in 1973 as a package of earlier live albums. A few months ago I posted a song from her 1960 record Christmas Spirituals and today I'll do one from Odetta Sings, a 1970 record that I picked up at the Goodwill around the corner the other day. Neither of these records are "essential" but still a good listen. Odetta Sings is apparently her attempt to cross over into the mainstream as it is loaded with covers of popular songs of the time. It is also her only record on the mainstream Polydor label (most of her best work is on Vanguard) and contains renditions of Rolling Stones, Randy Newman, and Elton John songs among others. Half the record was recorded with session musicians in Los Angeles (Carole King is one of these), and the other half at the famous Muscle Shoal Studios in Alabama. The best songs on the record are the only ones that aren't covers but were written by Ms. Gordon herself: Hit or Miss and Movin' it on. You can listen to Hit or Miss below. The song was recorded at the Muscle Shoal Studios.

'Twas the Season

Odetta: Christmas Spirituals
Vanguard, Stereolab, VSD-2079
Printed in U.S.A., 1960

The following text is from 'Tis the Season that I wrote for Berry's Top 100 in 2010. I was still in Ohio then and bought the Odetta record at the Family Store in Cleveland.

      'Tis the season for thrift stores to organize their records. Once a year the Christmas records are separated from the secular records. I enjoy this, it makes it easy, I only need to browse through a considerable smaller selection to try to find something I like than I do the rest of the year. So why did I browse through the bin with Christmas records the other day? God only knows but there she was, the embodiment of the Afro-American presence in the 60s folk scene in America: Odetta. A Christmas record indeed, the songs are all 'Negro-Spirituals' and most songs are about the Virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus. The song Virgin Mary Had One Son may very well end up in the Top 100 and become the first ever Christmas song in the Top 100 history. God bless Odetta. The album is called Odetta: Christmas Spirituals and was released by Vanguard.