Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary

Subject: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST,Guest F
Date: 07 Oct 05 - 09:30 PM

Odetta was stunning in her performance of "Water Boy" in Bob Dylan's documentary on PBS. I have never seen her performances from her Folk heyday. She was/is incredible! Does anyone have any memories of her unique performances (live or on TV?)

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: ad1943
Date: 07 Oct 05 - 10:35 PM

Odetta recorded an album of Bob Dylan songs in the 1960s ( or early 70s) On the cover she referred to him as Mr Dylan. All the songs were absolutely brilliant

Allen From Australia

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 07 Oct 05 - 11:27 PM

Had the great pleasure of performing with her in the '80s (Canada & Australia).
Haven't seen her since a NY dinner in '99, but recent CDs suggest she's singing as powerfully as ever ... inspiring!!

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 12:07 AM

She's a vocal powerhouse, a great singer, and was an inspiration to the young Bob Dylan.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 01:22 AM

She sang and played guitar in the docu-drama about Phil Ochs, a song
called In The Heat Of The City, absolutely stunning.

eric

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST,Guest,Big Tim
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 02:02 AM

At the recent Dylan tribute concert in London (14 September) she sang "Tomorrow is a Long Time" and "Mr Tambourine Man". Still magnificent at age 74.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: ad1943
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 03:29 AM

How lovely to see Margaret Roadknight's name on this site...I saw her perform at an ALP dinner at Carlingford Bowing Club a million light years ago where Margaret Whitlam gave the after dinner speech. A couple of years ago Margaret Roadknight was performing at the Jamberoo Folk Festival. Odetta was in good company with our own MR

Allen From Oz

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 12:10 PM

I understand she will likely be at Lincoln Center's Roots of American Music Festival in 2006.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST,Steve
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 02:26 PM

i hope she will be awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in her lifetime.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST,Bob T
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 07:50 PM

Eric The Red,

What was the name of the Phil Ochs documentary, and what year did it come out?

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 08:04 PM

I may be wrong on this, but I do not think the Ochs docu. was released. I am thinking of a bio of him that featured Sammy Walker.   If there is another I am not aware of it.

As to the comment above how she inspired Dylan---well, I guess he was just inspired by everyone in sight.   Frankly---legends just seem to build on themselves as they grow. I am still waiting for the one person besides me that talks of The Emperor's lack of attire.   I am also still looking for a sad train that is on the verge of shedding tears.

Frankly---the Shakespeare analogies some people use in describing Dylan just do not hold any water with me.    Old Bill was unique---is that not something for some 400 odd years---and to still be relevant.    Please do not tell us that Dylan will be relevant even in 20 yrs.   Unless, there really is a train that cries.   I do, however, believe his early works--which he now denigrates---are quite valid.


Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 09:05 PM

I do believe that it was sometimes Mudcatter Frank Hamilton who taught Odetta how to pick and strum (some actual lessons)---with input from Bob Gibson.

When I first saw Odetta at a concert in 1959 at the Univ. of Illinois she just knocked my socks off---with her voice, surely, but her guitar playing was simply phenomenal. Dramatic chord changes and rhythms that added emotion to everything she sang.

It was a great era in which to be 18 years old, open to the music, and impressionable.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 09:07 PM

Considering that Dylan has been relevant for the past 45 years, I think it is safe to say that he will be relevant in another 20.

Bill, get off the joke about the train already!! It wasn't funny the first 12 times!!!! Doesn't someone have the hook???

I'm really sorry that you don't see any relevance in Dylan. Everyone has an opinion. It doesn't matter. There are many of us who find enjoyment in his work, and this is not the thread to have the conversation about that anyway.

Getting back to the subject, Odetta has a new CD that will be released next month.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: SINSULL
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 09:14 PM

I saw her recently at the Chocolate Church. Older, even wiser and she can still fill a room with that powerful voice.
She had a nagging cough that made me wonder.
SINS

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 09:47 PM

The Dylan doc showed dramatically the passion there was in the singing in those days. How insipid the sweet coy young singers sound today.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST,william
Date: 08 Oct 05 - 11:10 PM

Odetta was scheduled to appear at the Winnipeg Folk Fest this July but busted her hip. She puts in a terrific appearance on "Lightnin' In A Bottle", a performance/doc covering Martin Scorcese's tribute to the blues at Radio City Music Hall; among other things you get to see her give the band hell for playing too loud. w

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 05:18 AM

The Phil Ochs docu-drama was called ' The Chords Of Fame ' it was a Channel 4 [ UK ] film, bradcast in 1983 I still have it on video, it's very very good.

eric

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST,Guest, Big Tim
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 06:14 AM

Hey, eric the red, so do I!

Re Dylan's long term relevance, when Odetta sang "Blowin in the Wind" last month, 43 years after it was written, it was obviously still relevant to her. For a woman born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1930, the words "how many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man" will always be meaningful.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Judge Mental
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 10:16 AM

I do, however, believe his early works--which he now denigrates---are quite valid.

Dylan was denigrating his early work in the middle 1960s when he was trying to escape from the expectations of the old folk guard. I've not seen any evidence of such denigration since the late 1960s. Quite the contrary, he devotes much of his current concerts to the early songs and that is the period that he's concentrated on in his recently published memoirs and in the interviews for the Scorsese documentary.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 10:58 AM

That comment about his early works is taken way out of context. If you read the comments that he gave during the early 60's, he really wasn't denigrating his own work - he was denigrating the stupidity of the questions.   I would love to see a current comment where he talks about his songs in such a way, I have yet to see one. Unfortunately people latch onto to misinformation and it becomes gospel.   Very sad.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Alice
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 11:51 AM

Odetta is awesome!! She is a perfect example of how a classically trained singer can not only sing folk music, but can sing with power because of her ability to technically preserve her voice into advanced age.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 11:54 AM

Message to Margaret RoadKnight:

Margaret, do you happen to know a personal email or other contact address for Odetta? I want to contact her re her memories of Paul Clayton.

Thanks! In case this thread gets lost (they do at times), it's best if you email me at   

[e-mail]

Bob Coltman

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST,Scott S.
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 02:44 PM

I'd like Odetta's contact information too, so, I can see if I can get her to come to my college and sing for us.

Art,
Did Odetta fingerpick in that 1959 performance? Her strumming has always been amazing.

Also, does anyone know if Odetta plays barre-chords? Just curious...

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 02:59 PM

I think Dylan said he got into Odetta before he got into Woody.
The Shakespeare analogy is valid, even if I think Shakespeare is greater. Both did revolutionary things with the language, both were popular entertainers, both copied or borrowed from everyone and everywhere, yet sound unique, both are eminently quotable. Much of Shakespeare isn't relevant anymore, as well, to use your train logic. Plenty of differences too, but that you'll find with any comparison.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST,Rupert
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 04:35 PM

Dyan also seems to have got into Robert Browning but in this case not much differences that you'll find with this comparison.

Robert Browning: Up in a Villa .. Down in the City

Look, two and two go the priests, then the monks with cowls and sandals,
And the penitents dressed in white shirts a-holding the yellow candles;
One, he carries a flag up straight, and another a cross with handles.
And the Duke's guard brings up the rear, for the better prevention of scandals.

Bob Dylan: From Subterranean Homesick Blues

Better jump down a manhole
Light y'self a candle
Don't wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 04:49 PM

Now THAT is interesting.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 09 Oct 05 - 10:14 PM

Odetta's management:

Douglas A. Yeager Productions
300 West 55th Street, #15
New York, NY 10019
T: [phone]
F: [phone]

Btw, there's a "Odetta on Singing" through Homespun Tapes.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Big Jim from Jackson
Date: 10 Oct 05 - 10:59 AM

I think she uses an open tuning so she can play and not have her long fingernails get in the way. Dolly Parton does this, too.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: GUEST,Duke
Date: 10 Oct 05 - 11:04 AM

I saw her live many years ago and she gave a powerful performance. Her bass player was, I think, Billy Lee and the difference in their size was quite noticeable. She was so big and he was so small. I was quite overcome by her voice.

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Steve-o
Date: 10 Oct 05 - 02:16 PM

Back in the days it seemed that Bill Lee played bass for almost every "folk" performer except those who used Felix Pappalardi. He was a true great, and certainly well-matched with Odetta. His son Spike went on to be a lot more famous, of course, but isn't that the way it always is for bass players?

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From:
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 05:04 PM

Is there anyway to get that Water Boy performance they showed on the doc. on cd, mp3 or tape or vinyl..please say there is? i loved her roar

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Odetta On Bob Dylan's documentary
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 10:59 PM

Bill H, Bob is relatively unimpressed by you too. ;-) I think he expects you to remain relevant for, oh, maybe 2 or 3 more years, I guess. Something like that...