A1 	Sail Away Ladies 	2:37
A2 	Moses, Moses 	2:55
A3 	Midnight Special 	3:22
A4 	Rambler-Gambler 	3:19
A5 	Cotton Fields 	3:23
A6 	Roll On, Buddy 	3:04
A7 	Ain't No Grave 	2:02
B1 	Special Delivery Blues 	2:36
B2 	Rambling Round Your City 	4:02
B3 	Boll Weevil 	2:13
B4 	Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies 	3:23
B5 	She Moved Through The Fair 	3:00
B6 	Cool Water 	3:03
B7 	One Grain Of Sand 	2:06

Odetta - Guitar, Vocals 
Bill Lee - String Bass 

By the time the independent folk label Vanguard Records got around to releasing its sixth Odetta album, One Grain of Sand, in 1963, the singer had already decamped to RCA Victor and released her major-label debut, Sometimes I Feel Like Cryin', in 1962. But One Grain of Sand is not just a collection of outtakes assembled to fulfill a contract and take revenge on a departed artist. It finds Odetta accompanying herself as usual on acoustic guitar and joined by Bill Lee on string bass, putting her inimitable stamp on a good set of traditional folk songs along with numbers associated with Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. She also brings in spirituals, blues, and even country on a cover of "Cool Water." But, given her distinctive vocal approach, every song from every genre becomes an Odetta song, with her contralto finding unusual depths of feeling in even the lighter fare. It might be argued that, in the early '60s, partially because of record company machinations, Odetta had a glut of LPs in release. But when even a minor one displays such quality, it's hard to complain. ---William Ruhlmann, AllMusic Review

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A1 He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
A2 Sail Away Ladies, Sail Away
A3 The Gallows Pole
A4 Lowlands
A5 The Fox
A6 Maybe She Go
A7 The Lass From the Low Countree
A8 Timber
B1 Deep River
B2 Chilly Winds
B3 Green Sleeves
B4 Devilish Mary
B5 All the Pretty Little Horses
B6 The Midnight Special
B7 Take This Hammer 

Odetta - Primary Artist, Vocals, Guitar

Recorded in 1957, At the Gate of Horn is Odetta's sophomore effort and the first showcase of her extraordinary ability to interpret the American folk song. Her debut, Sings Ballads and Blues, wasn't a bad album, but it lacked the depth and fullness of the latter work. One notable difference, and a clue that Odetta wouldn't always toe the company line when it came to folk tradition, is the presence of bass player Bill Lee. Lee's bass adds rhythm and another layer of depth to songs like "Take This Hammer" and "Chilly Winds." Lee's bouncy bass also allows Odetta to abandon more conventional guitar strumming for frills and fills that are complementary to her vocal style. "Sail Away Ladies," for instance, is highlighted by a propulsive guitar run (almost qualifying as a boogie), pushing the song forward and perfectly underpinning her vocal. Although the title -- At the Gate of Horn -- suggests that the album is live, it isn't. The idea was to offer a replication of her Gate of Horn show at the time. There are odds and ends that don't really work here. The arrangement of "Greensleeves" is clunky, with Lee's bass bumping around as Odetta gives the impression that she's auditioning for a classical recital. Overall, though, At the Gate of Horn still serves as an excellent introduction to one of America's finest folk interpreters. ---Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., AllMusic Review

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1 Ballad for Americans	11:41 	
2 This Land Is Your Land	2:19 	
3 On the Top of Old Smokey	3:00 	
4 Hush Little Baby	1:30 	
5 Dark As a Dungeon	4:19 	
6 Great Historical Bum		1:56 	
7 Payday At Coal Creek		3:28 	
8 Going Home	2:40 	
9 Pastures of Plenty	4:00

Odetta – guitar, vocals
Bill Lee - bass
The Symphony Of The Air
The Robert DeCormier Chorale
Robert DeCormier - conductor

Odetta's (and probably the folk music world's) most ambitious album up to this point in time -- and for some years to come -- Ballad for Americans and Other American Ballads could only have come from Vanguard Records. The New York-based classical and folk label had already displayed the courage -- in the midst of the era of the Red Scare -- to sign and record the re-formed Weavers, Paul Robeson, and any number of other blacklistees, and here they were offering a provocative new recording, aimed at a new generation of listeners, of a piece well known as the work of a blacklisted performer and composer (Earl Robinson). The rendition of "Ballad for Americans" on this album is more sophisticated than the original by Robeson (which Vanguard also licensed for reissue). Music director Robert DeCormier carefully and ever-so-slightly smoothed out some of the more arch moments in the original work, so that it sounds less like late Depression-era agitprop than a more timeless mix of history, art-song, and folk music, but no less moving. In fact, where Robeson's original, from the period of the run-up to the Second World War, seems like a historical artifact, Odetta's rendition has a vitality and immediacy that puts it squarely in the thick of 1960, in the middle of the civil rights movement's heyday, at a time when Robeson, because of age and infirmity, and years of fighting the government's efforts to silence him, was in eclipse as an artist. Odetta herself is a less mannered singer than Robeson, and calls less attention to herself and her persona than he ever did to his, thus leaving room for the song to be felt and enjoyed as a contemporary statement. The piece will always "belong" to Robeson, who made it famous on radio, record, and in movies, but Odetta's version is a successful effort at extending its appeal to a new generation of listeners and perhaps setting it in a wider context, all while paying tribute to the original. And if that one work were all that this album had to offer, it would be enough, but the rest of the album is not filler by any means -- accompanying herself on guitar (with Bill Lee on upright bass), her renditions of Woody Guthrie's "This Land," "Great Historical Bum," and, especially, "Pastures of Plenty," Merle Travis' "Dark as a Dungeon," and the traditional "On Top of Old Smokey," "Hush Little Baby," and more are all beautifully stripped-down performances, as minimalist in their sensibilities as "Ballad for Americans" is lushly produced and orchestrated. "Payday at Coal Creek" gives the singer a good workout in the holding of notes, and is a dazzling display of her vocal dexterity, and her adaptation of the Dvorák-derived "Going Home" would have made a perfect closer, a minimalist spiritual of intense delicacy and poignance -- but then she is back, finishing with "Pastures of Plenty," one of Guthrie's finest creations, stretched out to four minutes in a rendition so ominous and provocative that it rates with the best this reviewer has ever heard (which are Guthrie's own and Dylan's early-'60s officially unreleased version). ---Bruce Eder, AllMusic Review

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1.900 Miles 	3:10 	
2.Blowing In The Wind 	4:09 	
3.Maybe She Go 	1:54 	
4.I Never Will Marry 	1:55 	
5.Yes I See 	2:52 	
6.Why Oh Why 	2:05 	
7.Senandoah 	3:46 	
8.The Golden Vanity 	4:02 	
9.Roberta 	3:07 	
10.Anthem Of The Rainbow 	4:07 	
11.All My Trials 	3:32 	
12.This Little Light Of Mine 	3:03 	

Odetta – vocals, guitar

From 1965, Odetta Sings Dylan was one of the first albums entirely devoted to Bob Dylan interpretations, and one of the best. In part that's because the concept was still actually fresh then; in fact, other than an obscure 1964 album by Linda Mason, it was the very first album of Dylan covers. And in part it was because, unlike most of the artists who would take a swing at the concept, Odetta was actually a major folk musician, one who had done much to inspire Dylan himself. But most of all, it was because the arrangements were excellent, featuring the guitar of Bruce Langhorne (who, of course, played on Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home and numerous 1960s folk and folk-rock recordings) and, one presumes, the bass of frequent accompanist Bill Lee (though the CD doesn't list session credits). Langhorne, the character who inspired "Mr. Tambourine Man," also plays some tambourine, particularly on "Baby, I'm in the Mood for You." Although this is not a folk-rock album, as a result the arrangements have far more rhythm, swing, and imagination than most folk records of the era did. The song choices are good, too, not only including familiar tunes like "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "Mr. Tambourine Man," but also some songs that hardly anyone has recorded. Indeed, Dylan never did put "Long Ago, Far Away" or "Long Time Gone" on any of his official releases, and didn't release three of the other songs ("Baby, I'm in the Mood for You," "Walkin' Down the Line," and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time") in the 1960s. All of this is not to overlook Odetta's well-nuanced, bluesy vocal interpretations of the material, particularly on an extraordinary ten-minute version of "Mr. Tambourine Man." The 2000 CD reissue on Camden adds "Blowin' in the Wind" (from a 1963 album) and "Paths of Victory" (from a 1964 LP) as bonus tracks, nice additions that are stylistically consistent with the rest of the recording. ---Richie Unterberger, Rovi

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1.    "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" – 1:59
2.    "Lowlands" – 2:41
3.    "The Fox" – 1:53
4.    "The Lass from the Low Countree" (John Jacob Niles) – 4:40
5.    "Devilish Mary" – 1:57
6.    "Take This Hammer" (Ledbetter) – 3:33
7.    "Greensleeves" – 2:49
8.    "Deep River" – 3:00
9.    "Chilly Winds" – 2:43
10.    "If I Had a Ribbon Bow" – 2:43
11.    "Shame and Scandal" – 2:23
12.    "'Buked and Scorned" – 2:40
13.    "Joshua" – 1:54
14.    "Glory, Glory" – 2:13
15.    "Been in the Pen" – 2:32
16.    "Deep Blue Sea" – 3:02
17.    "God's Gonna Cut You Down" – 1:51
18.    “Spiritual Trilogy" – 6:05

Personnel
    Odetta – vocals, guitar
    Bill Lee – bass

The title The Best of Odetta sets a standard that the contents of this disc are unable to meet, even though the material is valuable. It would be difficult to assemble a true Odetta best-of, because the folksinger's recordings are extensive and have covered the labels Fantasy (1954-1955), Tradition (1956-1957), Vanguard (1959-1962 with releases continuing into 1963), Riverside (1962), RCA Victor (1962-1965), and Verve Folkways (1966-1967). But the concern here is solely the Tradition material, which consists of a total of 31 tracks that originated on two albums, Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues (1956) and Odetta at the Gate of Horn (1957). The Best of Odetta is a truncated repackaging of this material, an 18-track disc excerpting nine selections from Odetta at the Gate of Horn followed by nine from Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues. On it, an Odetta in her mid-twenties gives mesmerizing performances of traditional folk and blues standards in her trademark contralto, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar or singing a cappella. (Bill Lee plays bass on the tracks from Odetta at the Gate of Horn.) These are good performances, and any folk fan should have some version of the Tradition recordings. But the album's title makes a promise the music itself does not keep. (The Best of Odetta has been reissued under the title The Best of Odetta: Ballads & Blues.) --- William Ruhlmann, Rovi

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1."Baby, I'm in the Mood for You" – 2:50		play
2."Long Ago, Far Away" – 2:50
3."Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" – 5:42
4."Tomorrow is a Long Time" – 6:20
5."Masters of War" – 6:18
6."Walkin' Down the Line" – 4:01
7."The Times They Are A-Changin'" – 4:39		play
8."With God on Our Side" – 5:13
9."Long Time Gone" – 3:44
10."Mr. Tambourine Man" – 10:44
11."Blowin' in the Wind" – 4:11 
12."Paths of Victory" – 2:24

Personnel
    Odetta – vocals, guitar
    Bruce Langhorne – guitar, tambourine
    Peter Childs – guitar
    Les Grinage (aka Raphael Grinage) – bass

From 1965, Odetta Sings Dylan was one of the first albums entirely devoted to Bob Dylan interpretations, and one of the best. In part that's because the concept was still actually fresh then; in fact, other than an obscure 1964 album by Linda Mason, it was the very first album of Dylan covers. And in part it was because, unlike most of the artists who would take a swing at the concept, Odetta was actually a major folk musician, one who had done much to inspire Dylan himself. But most of all, it was because the arrangements were excellent, featuring the guitar of Bruce Langhorne (who, of course, played on Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home and numerous 1960s folk and folk-rock recordings) and, one presumes, the bass of frequent accompanist Bill Lee (though the CD doesn't list session credits). Langhorne, the character who inspired "Mr. Tambourine Man," also plays some tambourine, particularly on "Baby, I'm in the Mood for You." Although this is not a folk-rock album, as a result the arrangements have far more rhythm, swing, and imagination than most folk records of the era did. The song choices are good, too, not only including familiar tunes like "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "Mr. Tambourine Man," but also some songs that hardly anyone has recorded. Indeed, Dylan never did put "Long Ago, Far Away" or "Long Time Gone" on any of his official releases, and didn't release three of the other songs ("Baby, I'm in the Mood for You," "Walkin' Down the Line," and "Tomorrow Is a Long Time") in the 1960s. All of this is not to overlook Odetta's well-nuanced, bluesy vocal interpretations of the material, particularly on an extraordinary ten-minute version of "Mr. Tambourine Man." The 2000 CD reissue on Camden adds "Blowin' in the Wind" (from a 1963 album) and "Paths of Victory" (from a 1964 LP) as bonus tracks, nice additions that are stylistically consistent with the rest of the recording. ---Richie Unterberger, Rovi

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1.   "If I Had a Hammer" (Pete Seeger, Lee Hays)
2.    "Red Clay Country"
3.    "When I Was a Young Girl"
4.    "Gallows Pole" (Traditional)
5.    "God's A-Gonna Cut You Down"
6.    "John Riley"
7.    "John Henry" (Traditional)
8.    "Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho" (Traditional)
9.    "All The Pretty Little Horses"
10.    "Prettiest Train"
11.    "Meeting at the Building"
12.    "No More Auction Block"
13.    "Hold On"
14.    "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" (Traditional)
15.    "Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down"

Personnel
    Odetta – vocals, guitar
    Bill Lee – bass

This is a good, straightforward recording of Odetta's April 8, 1960, Carnegie Hall concert, which featured support from Bill Lee on string bass. (Incidentally, Lee -- father of Spike Lee -- is surely one of the unheralded heroes of the 1960s folk revival, contributing session work to many recordings and helping to expand the parameters of folk's sound from basic solo acoustic guitar accompaniment.) She's joined on the last four numbers by the Choir of the Church of the Master. While it's not certain that Odetta's versions of "If I Had a Hammer," "John Riley," "John Henry," and "No More Auction Block" (all done here) were the most influential of the folk revival, certainly she was an important popularizer of these and similar songs. The album is also available in its entirety, paired with a live recording at New York's Town Hall from the same era, on Vanguard's double-LP Essential Odetta, although the CD version of that release omits a few songs from each disc. --- Richie Unterberger, Rovi

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01. Poor Little Jesus – 1:54
02. Bald Headed Woman – 2:20
03. Motherless Children – 2:10
04. I Know Where I'm Going – 2:00
05. The Foggy Dew (Canon Charles O'Neill) – 5:29
06. I've Been Driving On Bald Mountain/Water Boy (Avery Robinson) – 6:54
07. Ox-Driver Song – 2:34
08. Down On Me – 2:55
09. Saro Jane – 2:45
10. Three Pigs – 1:18
11. No More Cane On The Brazos – 3:38
12. Jumpin' Judy – 2:26
13. Battle Hymn Of The Republic (Julia Howe Ward) – 3:52

Personnel:
- Odetta Holmes – vocals, guitar
- Bill Lee – bass
- Milton Okun - choir, chorus

While it might be hard for a post-millennium roots fan to understand, Odetta -- in her heyday -- was the kind of folk artist who drove purists crazy. With her resonate vocals and her choice of material, she seemed like the perfect link between older performers like Leadbelly and the folk movement of the late '50s. At the same time, Odetta had studied music in college and had no intention of being hemmed in by what a small group of white men thought about tradition. Released in 1959, My Eyes Have Seen was the first album that revealed her split nature. It starts simple enough, with a straight version of "Poor Little Jesus," and includes a number of other traditional songs like "Down on Me" and "The Foggy Dew." The trouble starts, however, on the second cut, with "Bald Headed Woman." Even though the song is sung a cappella, a scribe at Sing Out! complained because of the heavy use of an echo chamber. This was nothing, however, compared to the backup singers that accompany Odetta on "Motherless Children," "Ox-Driver Song," and the title cut. Clearly, the sentinels of authenticity noted, no traditional artist felt it was necessary to add choral accompaniment to their material. At the same time, these renditions are presented in a tasteful manner, and Odetta -- even at her most experimental -- can hardly be compared to the Kingston Trio or the Limeliters. My Eyes Have Seen is a nice portrait of a performer bucking conformity as she stretches her artistic legs a bit. --- Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., allmusic.com

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1. Spiritual Trilogy [6:05]
2. Santy Anno [1:56]
3. If I Had a Ribbon Bow [2:43]
4. Muleskinner Blues [2:51]
5. Another Man Done Gone [2:12]
6. Shame and Scandal [2:23]
7. 'Buked and Scorned [3:15]
8. Jack O' Diamonds [2:41]
9. Easy Rider [5:07]
10. Joshua [1:54]
11. Hound Dog [3:50]
12. Glory, Glory [2:12]
13. Alabama Bound [1:42]
14. Been In the Pen [2:33]
15. Deep Blue Sea [3:02]
16. God's Gonna Cut You Down [1:51]

Odetta Holmes – vocals, acoustic guitar, hand claps

Odetta's debut album was a strong, confident effort featuring just her and her guitar on 16 tracks, most of which were traditional in origin. In its day, it was quite an influential recording; Bob Dylan, in fact, once cited this record in particular as the one that made him decide to trade in his electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustic guitar. Several of the songs would find their ways into the repertoires of subsequent folkies, and even some folk-rock bands. There's no way of knowing whether they heard the tunes first on this release, but it's entirely possible, as it was one of the first strong traditional folk LPs. It's now been reissued on CD, and retains a lot of its original appeal in the power and emotional depth of the performances. --- Richie Unterberger, Rovi

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UNEDITED BROADCAST VERSION (69:40) 

01 Announcer/Commentator 
02 This Little Light Of Mine 
03 Announcer/Commentator 
04 Careless Love 
05 Announcer/Commentator 
06 You Don't Know My Mind 
07 Announcer/Commentator 
08 Bourgeois Blues 
09 Announcer/Commentator 
10 TB Blues 
11 Weeping Willow Blues 
12 Announcer/Commentator 
13 Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out 
14 Announcer/Commentator 
15 Roberta 
16 Announcer/Commentator 
17 Poor Man Blues 
18 Announcer/Commentator 
19 Rock Island Line->Bring A Lil' Water, Sylvie->Rock Island Line 
20 Announcer/Commentator 
21 Jim Crow Blues 
22 Announcer/Commentator 
23 Can't Afford To Do It 
24 Announcer/Commentator 
25 You Got To Know How 
26 Announcer/Commentator 
27 Midnight Special->This Little Light Of Mine (Reprise) 
28 Announcer/Commentator 
29 Down By The Riverside (Encore) 
30 Announcer/Commentator

Lineup"
Odetta Holmes, vocals 
Charles Giordano, piano

"Salzburger Jazzherbst", Salzburg, A, Nov 1, 2002 
Landestheater, Salzburg, Austria

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