Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Get it here: bit.ly/3IWjIs0
"The songs that populate 'Odetta and the Blues' are 1920s blues and jazz standards sung by the likes of Bessie Smith, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Mississippi John Hurt, Leroy Carr and other titans of the time and genre. Most are traditional, unattributable to any one songwriter — but all are linked to Black musicians. In this way, the album feels like an important (and understandable) aspect of Odetta’s quest to show America the myriad ways this country’s music wouldn’t be what it is without Black Americans.
Odetta makes each track sound timeless and true, but also utterly, entirely her own. I think that’s the hallmark of a true and truly unique talent — and a sign that the artist in question understands the assignment, as it were: to find the throughlines between their perspective and the art itself; to preserve the original message and add one of your own, like a constructive game of Telephone. There’s an art to being a cover artist and an art to being an archivist."
-
Package Details:
- (AAA) Lacquers Cut From the Original Master Tapes by Ryan Smith, Sterling Sound
- Pressed on 180g Black Vinyl
- Listening Notes Booklet by Susannah Young
-
Video by Richard Edens // @richardedens
Vinyl Me, Please is a monthly record subscription for music lovers, by music lovers. There’s no algorithm: just people picking albums they think everyone should own and care about.
Get it here: bit.ly/3IWjIs0
"The songs that populate 'Odetta and the Blues' are 1920s blues and jazz standards sung by the likes of Bessie Smith, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Mississippi John Hurt, Leroy Carr and other titans of the time and genre. Most are traditional, unattributable to any one songwriter — but all are linked to Black musicians. In this way, the album feels like an important (and understandable) aspect of Odetta’s quest to show America the myriad ways this country’s music wouldn’t be what it is without Black Americans.
Odetta makes each track sound timeless and true, but also utterly, entirely her own. I think that’s the hallmark of a true and truly unique talent — and a sign that the artist in question understands the assignment, as it were: to find the throughlines between their perspective and the art itself; to preserve the original message and add one of your own, like a constructive game of Telephone. There’s an art to being a cover artist and an art to being an archivist."
-
Package Details:
- (AAA) Lacquers Cut From the Original Master Tapes by Ryan Smith, Sterling Sound
- Pressed on 180g Black Vinyl
- Listening Notes Booklet by Susannah Young
-
Video by Richard Edens // @richardedens
Vinyl Me, Please is a monthly record subscription for music lovers, by music lovers. There’s no algorithm: just people picking albums they think everyone should own and care about.
