RockOm

Odetta, the "Queen of American Folk Music" (anointed by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1961) and "Mother Goddess of Folk/Blues" (by New York Times in 1999) is one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century, with countless artists indebted to her pioneering ways. Before Odetta, no solo woman performer (let alone an African American woman!) singing blues, folk, work and protest songs had recorded or toured. By the late 1950s, she had starred at Carnegie Hall and appeared in film and national television. And she sang for the masses at the 1963 March on Washington; she took part in the march on Selma; she performed for President Kennedy and his cabinet on the nationally televised civil rights special, "Dinner with the President"; and along with Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson, she was in the first group of artists to be honored with the Duke Ellington Fellowship Award. In 1994, she was appointed an `Elder' to the International Women's Conference in Beijing; and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 1999 by the President of the United States,
Bill Clinton and First Lady Mrs. Clinton.

Her 1956 album, “Odetta Sings Ballads & Blues” was the soul and inspiration for a young Janis Joplin to become a singer, while inspiring Bob Dylan to trade in his electric guitar and amp for a Gibson acoustic guitar to become a folk singer and sing Odetta’s repertoire. In addition to acting in films and theater, Odetta has: sung with symphony orchestras and in operas; hosted the Montreux Jazz Festival and starred in countless TV Specials. Her 2000 album, "Blues Everywhere I Go," was nominated for a Grammy. Her following album, ”Lookin’ For A Home” was nominated for two 2002 W.C. Handy Awards, and in 2004, she was nominated for another W.C. Handy Award, as Best Traditional Female Blues Artist of the Year.

As Odetta works on the seventh decade of her extraordinary career, she is more excited than ever about her career, her music and her role in life. She has continued to be a major influence on artists, from Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, David Crosby and Roger McGuinn in the `50s, to Paul Simon, Richie Havens, Janice Ian and Taj Mahal in the `60s, Carly Simon, Joan Armitrading, and Sweet Honey in The Rock in the ‘70s, to Cassandra Wilson, Nanci Griffith, Tracy Chapman, and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, in the `80s, Eric Bibb and Guy Davis in the 90s, and to Jewel, Madeleine Peyroux, Indie Arie and Nellie McKay today.

And she has been befriended by, rubbed shoulders with, and now becomes one of the few remaining bearers of the torches carried by some of our greatest artists and social activists of the past, such as: Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcom X, President John F. Kennedy, Josh White, Yves Montand, Eubie Blake, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Witherspoon, Count Basie, Langston Hughes, Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Elizabeth Cotton and Alberta Hunter. She is proud to carry the torch as an 'Artist-Activist' into the new millennium. In 2004, the Huntington’s Disease Society honored Odetta with the “Woody Guthrie Award” for her contributions to humanity and social activism.

from Odetta's Biography courtesy Douglas A. Yeager Productions, Ltd.

RockOm recently had the extraordinary opportunity to have an exclusive, one-on-one with Ms. Odetta. “It’s one of those once in a lifetime events," says RockOm’s Tom Crenshaw. “There are those, 'If only I could speak with' interviews one hopes to land in one’s lifetime. I had always wanted to speak with Ms. Odetta because I, like millions of others, was a huge fan and have been inspired and moved by her music and activism. It’s like a dream come true to be able to speak with her and offer her words here at RockOm. There is nothing passé about Ms. Odetta; her music, her work and words are still very much relevant and in need today! We learn from those who have shined their light on the pathway before us and there is so much we can still learn from Ms. Odetta.”

RockOm is so very pleased to offer you the words and perspective of the one and only, Ms. Odetta.

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RockOm: What do the songs, “He’s got the Whole World in His Hands,” “Amazing Grace,” and “This Little Light of Mine” mean to you, and did you know when you recorded them at the start of your career that they would come to be loved by the entire world?

Odetta: We don’t know what is going to happen in the future, which is probably a good thing [laughs]. We don’t know if the songs are going to work or if they’ll go far, but each of these songs has its own personality and celebrates the positive within us. We’re reaffirming ourselves, soothing ourselves with “He’s got the Whole World in His Hands.” They’re positive, encouraging and hopefully healing. Not every song is, but the list you have there, they’re all healers.

RockOm: I agree. Every time I hear them I’m inspired. I love to hear children singing them.

Odetta: Oh, me too… yes!

RockOm: You’ve influenced so many legendary musicians and Civil Rights activists through your music and voice. Did you ever feel you were serving a larger purpose other than that of folk musician and actress?

Odetta: Oh yes. There was always that awareness. Not just folk music but music was extremely important. I don’t know what a little six year old girl thinks about music except that she likes this song and likes that song. [As a child in Alabama] I remember pretending I was writing music or playing piano. I think I was born, this time, to do music and to work and to learn through music. It’s been a great school for me, a great schooling for me, especially in the area of folk music and how our forebearers… the strength it took them to get to where they were so we are now where we are and hopefully will continue improving.

RockOm: During the Civil Rights marches of the 60’s, when you were marching with Dr. King and other prominent civil rights leaders, musicians and artists, were you ever afraid?

Odetta: I never was within the march itself. I was always at the end of the march on the podium or stage. [But] even today I will not go into a crowd of people. Who knows what’s going to trigger someone off into some crazy kind of action. But no, I wasn’t afraid at the time.

RockOm: When you would sit down with Dr. King and the other...

Odetta: I didn’t sit down with Dr. King. I was one of the privates in a very big army and privates didn’t sit down with the generals laughs]. Besides I was very shy, and, as people got together, they were working on something. It was not, “Hey, let’s get together and have a party and sit and talk.” They had big business to do and I was there to lend, give to them the energies that I brought through music. And the music was something familiar to everybody. The music brought us together to share our time. The things we were doing. You get there, do what you’re going to do, and then you disbursed. So, there wasn’t time to get together to do other things.

RockOm: What are your thoughts on Barack Obama possibly becoming President of the United States?

Odetta: I’m going to say this: I am absolutely surprised, stunned, amazed and pleased. I’m thinking the songs that I’ve been singing, the repertoire I’ve been working out of, the struggles I’ve been working out of as far as our folks were concerned - to have a black man running for President of the United States is the most exciting step. My personal preferences I’m not going to go into; but, when you think of the time within my existence, it’s not impossible now that there are people who have been lynched because of bias and prejudices and here is a black man who is running [for President]. It represents huge steps. I’m not saying we’re ready yet or we’ve made it yet, but it’s a very wonderful clue that possibilities of bringing people together in this country exist.

RockOm: Do you think all music is spiritual by nature or is some music more spiritual than others?

Odetta: [pause] There’s some good and there’s some bad in everything I guess…. No. I don’t think so. [pause] That’s very interesting. We could have a seminar on that one [laughs].

RockOm: We like to say at RockOm that if music moves you, you’re moved to another place and that maybe that place, in and of itself, is a spiritual place, not that the music itself is spiritual.

Odetta: OK, let’s say punk rock or something that’s kind of ragged or jagged… by the time the music finishes, people want to fight. I have to stop short of saying that all music is spiritual.

RockOm: Who inspires you, who do you listen to for inspiration?

Odetta: I don’t really listen much to music. When I’m on the road and there’s a radio in the room or hotel, I turn it on and look for a Country and Western station.

RockOm: Country and Western… I never would have guessed!

Odetta: Yeah? [laughs] That skill, where you find writers in the craft of using words and still being bright and brilliant, you know? There isn’t much that gets to me when a piece of music just goes Oooh-oooh, Aahh-aahh, Oooh-oooh, Aahh-aahh and somebody screams something [laughs]. In most Country and Western you have a lot of story-type songs, like a continuation of the Folk process.

RockOm: Do you believe music still has the power to change the world today?

Odetta: Person by person, there is some power there. I know people who have come to me and thanked me for the healing. I didn’t heal. It is how they responded to that vibration that was going on that healed. It’s a slow pace. It’s not a magic wand type thing [laughs] and maybe not change the world. Maybe it’s making someone feel better or more worthy or sense something that does not come through just conversationally. So, maybe not change the world, thank God, because somebody might get the key and do it all wrong [laughs].

RockOm: I know you’ve worked with the Seva Foundation in the past. What are your thoughts on Seva, and would you say that their work does indeed change people, does indeed change the world?

Odetta: Absolutely! There’s music being done to bring attention to and maybe money for…. but, it’s people who are actually on the firing line that we’re supporting, that are doing the changing of the world, not the music, not the music. Wavy Gravy is a founder of Seva. I have a daughter (we’ve adopted each other) who is doing a film on Wavy Gravy. It’s almost finished. I’ve seen a part of it and it is quite stunning what he and others have done in the name of Seva. It’s splendid. It’s encouraging, and it blesses us.

RockOm: You’re touring North America and Europe supporting your album on MC Records entitled “Gonna Let It Shine.” Do you ever get tired of singing and touring?

Odetta: Tired of singing?! Oh no! No. No. As a matter of fact, and I couldn’t tell you how it happens, but I think that through the singing and getting into the song and interpretation, it has been like my classroom. I’ve learned, oh just wonderful stuff and have been broadened… have been healed. I probably have about three notes, but I’ll never retire. I’ll be somewhere on somebody’s stage croaking those three notes [laughs].

RockOm: What would you say to aspiring singer/songwriters coming up today? What advice would you give them?

Odetta: Work at trusting, listening to themselves and being really ready to dedicate yourself towards the development of you as an instrument, passing on positives so that other people might hear those positives and those positives might be of some use, some service to other folk. Don’t listen to other people as to how you should do something. It’s not impossible to study to find out how to not ruin your throat. When it comes to interpretation, one needs to be brave enough to jump into the middle of that song and become that song or that person within that song and nothing else in the world except for that spirit and that light at that particular time. When that comes together, you give an audience something to hold on to. You’re not telling them what to think, but you’re telling them what you feel and then they respond one way or another, hopefully positively.

When you think of it, whatever we’re going to do, the only thing we have to offer anybody happens to be ourselves. So we need desperately to find out what [we] ourselves are while were doing our craft or learning our craft to be able to put that out and in front of us. And I tell you, with me, it makes me feel like a useful human being, and it makes me feel as if… it’s not a luxury tax, [laughs] yes!

RockOm: What does the future hold for you, Ms Odetta?

Odetta: Well, I’m going to sing those three notes or those two and a half notes and then after that I don’t know. I don’t know what I’ll come back next time as [laughs].

www.mc-records.com

[Edited by Dorothy Berry]

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Tags: Civil Rights, Dr. Martin Luther King, music, Odetta, Songwriting, spirituality

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