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23 Jul 01 - 10:18 PM (#513024) Subject: Odetta Concert Review From: Paul G. I couldn't be there in St. Petersburg this past weekend, but my friend Pete was...here are his comments regarding Odetta and Roy Book Binder..pg
What a great concert by Roy Book Binder and Odetta tonight. Tonight we heard the Roy Book Binder that the rest of the world hears on his constant traveling tours everywhere (but rarely in St. Pete where he lives). I thank him for his references to Gamble Rogers and his unique perspective on the blues and the old bluesmen. His decision to start performing and recording his OWN music is excellent -- his personal lyrical tribute to Rev. Gary Davis was the highlight of his show. I've seen Roy many times around the country -- most recently at Merlefest, but this show was the best I have seen. He is the worthy successor to the crown and audience of Gamble Rogers. Are you listening Ken Crawford? Roy is the king! As for Odetta, she performed a very classy, somewhat restrained show that was very rich in history, as befits a living legend. I am disappointed she did not mention Woody Guthrie, who wrote one of the songs she sang, or Diamond Teeth Mary, who was from this area and who she knew very well (she did participate in a tribute to Fred Neil) -- but she did honor Leadbelly and the history of folk music with a sterling "Midnight Special/ This Little Light Of Mine" to close her show. She explained the lyrics in Leadbelly's song, which we all take for granted -- and added her political twist to the George Bush presidency, saying out loud what all of us know -- that his father is the real president right now. There were chilling tinges of the old Odetta from the Bob Dylan days, the deep gutteral howl mixed with the soft angelic whine and the simple songs with the powerful lyrics that Dylan studied. But mostly she stayed subdued, singing every single song in the same key. She honored Bessie Smith, Diamond Teeth Mary's sister and sang the rare Tuberculosis and Homeless Blues that Bessie made famous. I doubt -- now that Mary is dead -- there is anyone who can faithfully do those numbers. They are classics and I applaud her form keeping them alive. Her piano player was suberb -- in the class of Bob Taylor or the late Nornam Duzen. Finally, she seemed to speak directly to the folk community in her introduction to "Careless Love," a down and dirty country song, by pointing out that some songs are classified in a certain way i.e this is folk, this is not folk -- but that people do not listen to music according to rules. I kept wishing that Odetta would really let loose, but she never did -- but her comment on "pigeonholing" folk music -- coming from such a revered icon as her -- was astounding. The living legend came to St. Pete and she did not disappoint. The Palladium is a great venue, as well. |