Known as the Queen of Folk during the 1950s-60s, the mononymous singer and guitarist Odetta was also an important Civil Rights activist. A newcomer to audiobook narration, Rosa Howard turns out to be outstanding in her narration of this first full-length biography of an influential but enigmatic figure. Howard is comfortable with Zack’s narrative; she makes his interviews and diligent reporting as engaging as a good conversation. And when she reads direct quotes, she strikes that perilous balance, giving just enough character and accent to the speaker without ever slipping into caricature. Deeply respectful but not naïvely uncritical, this is a well-researched and beautifully read portrait of an artist whose life deserves to be more widely known. D.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2020 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Odetta: A Life in Music and Protest
Narrated by Rosa Howard
Ian ZackUnabridged — 9 hours, 28 minutes
Odetta: A Life in Music and Protest
Narrated by Rosa Howard
Ian ZackUnabridged — 9 hours, 28 minutes
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Overview
The first in-depth biography of the legendary singer and “Voice of the Civil Rights Movement,” who combatted racism and prejudice through her music.
Odetta channeled her anger and despair into some of the most powerful folk music the world has ever heard. Through her lyrics and iconic persona, Odetta made lasting political, social, and cultural change.
A leader of the 1960s folk revival, Odetta is one of the most important singers of the last hundred years. Her music has influenced a huge number of artists over many decades, including Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, the Kinks, Jewel, and, more recently, Rhiannon Giddens and Miley Cyrus.
But Odetta's importance extends far beyond music. Journalist Ian Zack follows Odetta from her beginnings in deeply segregated Birmingham, Alabama, to stardom in San Francisco and New York. Odetta used her fame to bring attention to the civil rights movement, working alongside Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte, and other artists. Her opera-trained voice echoed at the 1963 March on Washington and the Selma to Montgomery march, and she arranged a tour throughout the deeply segregated South. Her “Freedom Trilogy” songs became rallying cries for protesters everywhere.
Through interviews with Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte, Judy Collins, Carly Simon, and many others, Zack brings Odetta back into the spotlight, reminding the world of the folk music that powered the civil rights movement and continues to influence generations of musicians today.
Listen to the author's top five Odetta hits while you read:
1. Spiritual Trilogy (Oh Freedom/Come and Go with Me/I'm On My Way)
2. I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain/Water Boy
3. Take This Hammer
4. The Gallows Pole
5. Muleskinner Blues
Access the playlist here: https://spoti.fi/3c2HnF4
Editorial Reviews
★ 01/06/2020
Zack (Say No to the Devil) celebrates the life of guitarist-vocalist-lyricist Odetta Holmes (1930–2008) in this fascinating first full-length biography of the musician. Odetta blended jazz, blues, country, and folk and influenced generations of musicians, including Joan Baez, Miley Cyrus, Bob Dylan, and Rhiannon Giddens. “Her soaring vocals and preternatural ability to inhabit the characters she sang about left her predominantly white audiences spellbound,” Zack writes. He traces Odetta’s life from her birthplace in Birmingham, Ala., to Los Angeles, where she received opera lessons at 13 and performed in musical and theatrical ensembles. By the mid-1950s, she was performing folk music in San Francisco and New York City nightclubs. Zack provides a complete discography of her seminal recordings, which includes Odetta Sings Ballads and Odetta at the Gate of Horn. Throughout this expertly researched biography, Zack shares testimonies of friends and fellow musicians, including Harry Belafonte: “the people who heard her became deeply committed to a force and something that she brought to the table that was so artful.” A political activist, Odetta performed at the 1963 March on Washington, after which she would earn the moniker “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement.” Odetta fans will delight in this timely biography. (Apr.)
A thoughtful portrait of an artist who never quite became as famous as she deserved to be . . . A much needed biography of a crucial American artist and activist.”
—Booklist, Starred Review
“Fascinating . . . . Odetta fans will delight in this timely biography.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Those unaware of her work will be compelled to learn more. An illuminating, stirring biography of the extraordinary ‘Queen of American Folk.’”
—Library Journal, Starred Review
“Zack . . . is convincing in his argument that Odetta Holmes has been underappreciated for too long . . . . An effective biography that demonstrates Odetta’s wide, deep legacy.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A solid work of reportage and writing . . . there are many excellent details in Zack’s biography.”
—The New York Times
“Odetta’s charisma is a touchstone in Mr. Zack’s engaging, revelatory chronicle . . . . Mr. Zack offers a much-needed corrective, restoring Odetta’s place as a performer who breathed new life into traditional American song. She regarded music and social protest as intertwined. By merging the two, she channeled her own pent-up rage at prejudice and injustice into a universal message of hard-won hope and reconciliation.”
—Wall Street Journal
"Both Zack and Belafonte had it right: Odetta’s effect on folk music and Black culture is immeasurable and deserves much attention."
—Chicago Review of Books
“Odetta’s life story takes on huge significance and scale in Zack’s book, as he explains how the winds of American history buffeted her talent like a tree flexing in the wind. Biographies can help us to conceptualize the slippery phenomenon we call being alive, especially as it relates to the passing of time. Is life made out of instants, like lightning flashing on a face in a storm, or is it some mystical force which flows across time, bigger than any one person? Odetta brims with the life of its forgotten subject, showing us that we have a lot of cultural history to re-learn, and many losses yet to mourn.”
—The New Republic
“There is a celebration of Odetta’s life and legacy to be enjoyed, recalled—or discovered—in her 25 albums and this wonderful biography.”
—San Francisco Classical Voice
“An inherently fascinating and thought-provoking biography.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Ian Zack has captured her essence in an authoritative biography of the singer, guitarist, lyricist, actor, civil-rights activist, and cultural icon.”
—Acoustic Guitar
“Ian Zack’s inspiring biography [reminds] readers of her place in the pantheon.”
—MOJO Magazine
“Odetta deserved better during her lifetime, but this biography moves toward properly cementing her legacy.”
—Downbeat
“This book is so interesting and well written that it might make many readers feel nostalgic for the good old days they never grew up in . . . . To have a better understanding of our nation’s rich cultural and musical heritage, of what came before the present and why the Times They are a Changin’ is the benefit of reading a good book like this.”
—The Mercury (Kansas)
“An absorbing portrait of a seminal artist. Odetta was my Queen.”
—Joan Baez, musician and activist
“Deeply respectful but not naïvely uncritical, this is a well-researched and beautifully read portrait of an artist whose life deserves to be more widely known.”
—AudioFile Magazine
“Ian Zack has captured the essence of one of music’s most legendary icons. Odetta is a definitive and revelatory biography, truly worthy of the queen herself.”
—Ronald D. Cohen, coauthor of Roots of the Revival and Folk City
Praise for Ian Zack’s Say No to the Devil: The Life and Musical Genius of Rev. Gary Davis
“[A] magisterial biography . . . Half saint, half sinner, all singer-songwriter . . . the Rev. Gary Davis is that blind man you brushed by on your way to the stadium to see the big act perform. Zack’s brilliant account compels us to pause for a long look at an artist who was always there, even if we didn’t see him.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“Long time comin’ and here at last! This fabulous book is for those who want to read, hear, and troll the depths of Americana music for incredible artists. Once you come across Rev. Gary Davis, you are forever hooked by his creative brilliance. From his earliest recordings to his last, Zack illuminates what made ‘the Rev’ so unique. Enjoy yourself! It’s a good un’!”
—Taj Mahal
★ 04/01/2020
Releasing years of pent-up anger through her powerful voice, Odetta Holmes, known as "Odetta" (1930–2008), quickly became the "face of the civil rights movement," inspiring other folk legends such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and living on through the artists she continues to inspire. Drawing from Odetta's personal papers and countless interviews, Zack (Say No to the Devil) makes insightful parallels between the fight for civil rights and Odetta's songs, which became rousing anthems for protesters. He also reveals intimate details of Odetta's private life and relationships, such as her friendships with Harry Belafonte and Martin Luther King Jr. Superbly researched and beautifully organized, this is an excellent work of scholarship. Although Odetta never achieved the same level of fame as some of her folk music counterparts, she leaves behind a significant and enduring legacy; those unaware of her work will be compelled to learn more. VERDICT An illuminating, stirring biography of the extraordinary "Queen of American Folk."—Julie Whiteley, Stephenville, TX
Known as the Queen of Folk during the 1950s-60s, the mononymous singer and guitarist Odetta was also an important Civil Rights activist. A newcomer to audiobook narration, Rosa Howard turns out to be outstanding in her narration of this first full-length biography of an influential but enigmatic figure. Howard is comfortable with Zack’s narrative; she makes his interviews and diligent reporting as engaging as a good conversation. And when she reads direct quotes, she strikes that perilous balance, giving just enough character and accent to the speaker without ever slipping into caricature. Deeply respectful but not naïvely uncritical, this is a well-researched and beautifully read portrait of an artist whose life deserves to be more widely known. D.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2020 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
2019-12-17
One of the leading voices of the mid-20th-century folk revival receives her biographical due.
In a narrative that is both effectively researched and engagingly readable, Zack (Say No to the Devil: The Life and Musical Genius of Rev. Gary Davis, 2015) is convincing in his argument that Odetta Holmes (1930-2008) has been underappreciated for too long, and he shows how and why her reign as the "Queen of Folk" was over before folk music hit its commercial peak. When folk music, progressive politics, and the civil rights movement were forging a unity of conviction in the 1950s, the young Odetta was clearly the right artist at the right time, with a moral fervor in her powerful lower register that could bring audiences to their knees. She wasn't threatening in the manner of ex-convict Lead Belly, and she hadn't suffered the blacklisting taint of Pete Seeger and other more overtly leftist singers. With her regal bearing and impressive vocal talents, Odetta proved inspirational to audiences and fellow artists alike. "When I first heard her…my knees went to jelly," said Joan Baez, who then rose to fame as younger white performers began to find the commercial success that had eclipsed anything Odetta had achieved—and deserved. Their success made her bitter, and she felt that even her longtime manager, Albert Grossman, had betrayed her. Odetta charged that as the first client managed by the man who would become a legend with a stable including Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul, and Mary, he "built his business on my back and I never benefited from it." Stronger management might well have nurtured her potential as an actress and helped her to navigate the sea changes of the 1970s through the end of the century, when her performing draw diminished and her recording career stalled. She also battled alcohol addiction and was often branded as difficult offstage. Regardless of her struggles, Zack brings her back into the spotlight.
An effective biography that demonstrates Odetta's wide, deep legacy.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940177879369 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date: | 05/12/2020 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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