If any female vocalist should be compared to Leadbelly, it's Odetta. Like Leadbelly, Odetta has long had one foot in folk and the other in the blues. The singer did some of her most compelling work for Vanguard in the '60s, and her Vanguard output is the focus of Livin' With The Blues. Released in 2000, this collection focuses on Odetta's Vanguard recordings of the early '60s and paints a consistently attractive picture of her artistry. Most of the songs on this CD (which contain...   [ read more ]

CD $17.08

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Although the title leads one to believe this is a best-of of sorts, in fact it's a straight pairing of two live concerts from the early '60s that were originally released as Odetta at Carnegie Hall and At Town Hall. It's still a worthy representation of Odetta in good form, accompanied throughout by Bill Lee on bass, and covering a variety of traditional folk songs, spirituals, and later compositions such as "If I Had a Hammer." Be aware that the CD reissue of this title omits a few tr...   [ read more ]

CD $17.08