Rest In Peace Odetta

"Odetta, the classically trained folk, blues and gospel singer who used her powerfully rich and dusky voice to champion African American music and civil rights issues for more than half a century starting in the folk revival of the 1950s, has died. She was 77.

She was admitted to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City for a checkup in mid-November but went into kidney failure. She died there Tuesday of heart disease, her manager, Doug Yeager, told the Associated Press.

With a repertoire that included 19th century slave songs and spirituals as well as the topical ballads of such 20th century folk icons as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, Odetta became one of the most beloved figures in folk music.

She was said to have influenced the emergence of artists as varied as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin and Tracy Chapman.

"The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta," Dylan once said. "From Odetta, I went to Harry Belafonte, the Kingston Trio, little by little uncovering more as I went along."

Her affinity for traditional African American folk songs was a hallmark of her long career, along with a voice that could easily sweep from dark, husky low notes to delicate yet goose bump-inducing high register tones.

"The first time I heard Odetta sing," Seeger once said, "she sang Leadbelly's ‘Take This Hammer’ and I went and told her how I wish Leadbelly was still alive so he could have heard her."

She was born Odetta Holmes in Birmingham, Ala., on Dec. 31, 1930. Her father died when she was young and she moved to Los Angeles at age 6 with her mother, sister and stepfather. She took the surname of her stepfather Zadock Felious, but throughout her career she used just her given name.

And although Los Angeles wasn't as overtly racist as the Deep South, she suffered some of the same indignities that came with being black.

"We lived within walking distance of Marshall High School," Odetta told The Times some years ago, "but they didn't let colored people go there, so we had to get on the bus and go to Belmont High School."

She attended Los Angeles City College after high school and earned a degree in music.

Trained as a classical vocalist as a child, she won a spot with a group called the Madrigal Singers in junior high school. She also realized early that despite her classical training, her options in that area were going to be limited because of the racism at the time.

By 19, Odetta had turned her attention to other forms of music and landed a part in a production of "Finian's Rainbow" as a chorus member. When the musical went on the road to San Francisco, she went with it.

The trip marked an important crossroads in her emergence as a folk singer.

She met an old friend from school who had settled in the city's North Beach neighborhood, and during a visit Odetta was exposed to a late-night session of folk songs.

"That night I heard hours and hours of songs that really touched where I live," she told The Times. "I borrowed a guitar and learned three chords, and started to sing at parties."

The traditional prison songs that she learned in her early days hit home the hardest and helped her come to terms with what she called the deep-seated hate and fury in her.

"As I did those songs, I could work on my hate and fury without being antisocial," she recalled. "Through those songs, I learned things about the history of black people in this country that the historians in school had not been willing to tell us about or had lied about."

Odetta left the theater company in 1950 and took a job at a folk club in San Francisco. She soon began to tour and recorded her first album, "The Tin Angel," in 1954. She soon caught the attention of such folk-music icons as Guthrie, Seeger and Ramblin' Jack Elliott. She was a fixture on the folk music scene by the time the genre's commercial boom came in the late 1950s and early '60s.

She played at the Newport Folk Festival, the showcase event for folk music, four times between 1959 and 1965. She also had a recording contract with Vanguard Records, which at the height of the folk music craze was the genre's leading label.

Over the years, Odetta branched into acting, with dramatic and singing roles in film and television including "Cinerama Holiday," "Sanctuary" and "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."

But traditional folk music remained her forte.

"The folk repertoire is our inheritance. Don't have to like it, but we need to hear it," she said. "I love getting to schools and telling kids there's something else out there. It's from their forebears, and its an alternative to what they hear on the radio. As long as I am performing, I will be pointing out that heritage that is ours."

In 1999, she was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Clinton. In 2004, she was a Kennedy Center honoree. A year later, the Library of Congress honored her with its Living Legend Award.

Information on survivors and funeral services was not immediately available."
Los Angeles Times, December 3, 2008

Playing at Newport



Cotton Fields
I used to sing this to the boy when he was in the crib, not as awesome as this though.



Amazing Grace--if this doesn't make you cry....



Midnight Special



What a Friend We Have in Jesus w/ Tennessee Ernie ford



Down by the Riverside w/ Robert Sims



Glory, Glory Hallelujah w/ Robert Sims

Emmylou Harris

There's not a lot that you can download on youtube of Emmylou Harris, most have embedding disabled. I was on the Crook & Liars Late Night Music Club very early this morning and they reminded me of Emmylou Harris and I thank them for that :) Not that she's ever very far from my heart. I credit her with giving me my freedom as a woman way back when I wasn't yet a full grown woman, but just a child.

You can't hardly do a post about Emmylou without including Gram Parsons.

"One night in 1971 members of the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers happened to be in the audience. Former Byrds member Chris Hillman, who had taken over the band after the departure of its founder Gram Parsons, was so impressed by Harris that he briefly considered asking her to join the band. Instead, Hillman ended up recommending her to Parsons, who was looking for a female vocalist to work with on his first solo album, GP. Harris toured as a member of Parsons' band, The Fallen Angels, in 1973, and the couple shone during vocal harmonies and duets. Harris was quite pleased, and invested a lot emotionally in their relationship. Later that year, Parsons and Harris were working together to record a studio album, Grievous Angel. Parsons died in his motel room near what is now Joshua Tree National Park on September 19, 1973, from an accidental overdose of drugs and alcohol. Parsons's Grievous Angel was released posthumously in 1974 and three more tracks from his last sessions with Harris were included on another posthumous Parsons album, Sleepless Nights, in 1976. There was one more album of recorded material from that period of time that was packaged with the name, Live 1973, but wasn't released until 1982."

"Harris was instrumental in bringing attention to Parsons's vision and achievements. Harris' earliest signature song, and arguably her most personal one, "Boulder to Birmingham", written shortly after Gram's death, showed the depth of her shock and pain at losing Parsons. It was, according to her friend Linda Ronstadt, the beginning of a "lifetime effort to process what had happened", noting the number of songs written and/or performed by Harris about her life with (and without) Parsons." Wikipedia


Here is an interview with Gram Parsons on how they met :)



That's All It Took



This video emitomizes their harmony.



Boulder to Birmingham



My favorite--Til I Gain Control Again



In My Dreams



Prescious Memories w/ Chet Atkins on Mandolin



Wafaring Stranger



Another Favorite--One of These Days



Have to include this one because you can't grow up in the south without having this gospel song embedded in your soul

w/Johnny Cash



ok, that's it...have a great Sunday!

Percy Sledge

My Penguin guide to the blues book is packed up at the moment so click the title link for a condensed version on wikipedia. Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson and Sam and Dave were my first introductions to the music that I so love now. I think I was about ten when I made my first discovery, but the very first songs to make a lasting impression on me were Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher" and Percy Sledge's "Cover Me". To date "Cover Me" is still my all time favorite song, if I have to choose one :)

Cover Me



Warm and Tender Love



Take Time to Know Her



When a Man Loves a Woman



Bring It On Home To Me



It's All Wrong But It's Alright



Percy and Rosa Sledge Live at James Ranch--got goosebumps with this one...can you imagine being married to a man that sings such love songs?

What the Hell, Might as Well...

Here's some music for the hurricane party...







Thanks, Fitz for this one :)





Another one we all knew how to play and new the words to :)

A Narcissistic Indulgence

On Friday, August 22, 2008 I took and passed my licensure exam. I am now almost (I don't actually have the license in my hand yet) officially a social worker. :) I could give you a rundown of what all it took to get me to this point...but I think my having this site says it best. So if you will please allow me some self-indulgent celebration :)

Elton John--I'm Still Standing



Whitesnake--Here I Go Again--Unplugged



Jackson Browne--Doctor My Eyes



Jackie Wilson--Higher and Higher



Percy Sledge--Cover Me



Howlin' Wolfe--Built for Comfort



Howlin' Wolfe--Three Hundred Pounds of Joy




Norah Jones--Home of the Blues



Norah Jones--Drown In My Own Tears



Ike & Tina--Proud Mary :) We can all sing the Ike and the Tina parts to this song, right? or at least we like to think we can :)



The Beatles at Apple Records--For You Blue



LOL! Sorry but I just have to throw this one in here!


Kool and the Gang--Celebration and Get Down On It





ok, that's enough, helluva party though :)

The Marshall Tucker Band

I heard one of my favorite Marshall Tucker songs this morning and thought I would share some of this awesome band with you. There is only one surviving member of the original band but still they play on. :) This was taken from Wikipedia:


"The Marshall Tucker Band is an American Southern rock band originally from Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The band formed in 1972 with founding members Doug Gray (vocalist), George McCorkle (rhythm guitarist ), Paul Riddle (drummer), Jerry Eubanks (flutist), and brothers Toy (lead guitar) and Tommy Caldwell (bassist and front man). They soon signed with Capricorn Records and by 1973, had released their first EP, The Marshall Tucker Band.

Compared to Southern rock pioneers and label-mates The Allman Brothers Band, The Marshall Tucker Band had more of a country and western feel, with the flute being a key lead instrument in their sound with a lot of its parts in the higher fife/piccolo register. "Can't You See", "Fire on the Mountain", and "This Ol' Cowboy" are among their songs that received appreciable FM radio airplay, while "Heard It in a Love Song" made it to #14 as a single on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977."

The Thrill is Gone at Volunteer Jam

Volunteer Jam--"The Volunteer Jam was the annual Charlie Daniels Band concert first held on October 4, 1974 at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee with band members Barry Barnes (guitar), Taz Digregorio (keyboards), Mark Fitzgerald (bass), Gary Allen (drums) and Freddy Edwards (drums). This was the beginning of a tradition.

The 2nd Volunteer Jam was released in the form of a movie. It was billed as the "First Southern Rock movie," even appearing in theaters across the US. The movie was re-released on DVD in 2007. Regulars at the Nashville Volunteer Jam concerts included the late George McCorkle, Jimmy Hall, Dickie Betts, Henry Paul, Dobie Gray, the late Toy Caldwell, drummer Gary Peacemaker, and others."



Everyday I Have the Blues



24 Hours at a Time--Volunteer Jam 1974



This Ole' Cowboy



Fire on the Mountain



Thanks for indulging me :)

Stevie Ray Vaughn

Bernie Mac's untimely death got me to thinking about a lot of things, mostly about how much he will be missed and all the laughter he brought to the world. Then I started thinking about others that have died before their time and of coarse I thought of Stevie Ray Vaughan. So I thought I'd share some of Stevie Ray's best IMHO.

Stevie Ray and Albert King--Stormy Monday



Stevie Ray with George Thorogood with Chuck Berry at his Lifetime Achievement Award 1984--worth the 7 minutes :)



Stevie Ray and the Fabulous Thunderbirds--Tuff Enuf




Tightrope




Willie the Wimp



Scuttle Buttin' and Say What!





I have to throw this one in just because I love it so :) There once was a house band that played it just for me during every set :)

George Thorogood and the Destroyers Live in Clarksdale, Ms at the Juke Joint Jam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7VsoxT_FUY

Have a Great Sunday!