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Odetta Holmes, generally simply known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a civil and human rights activist, who acquired a reputation as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". She was mainly seen as an American folk artist, although her repertoire encompassed blues spirituals and jazz. She was a key figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, and influenced many of the emerging artists of that time, like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Janis Joplin. Martin Luther King Jr. called her the "queen of American folk music". Beginning her career in musical theatre, she got involved with folk music and became popular club performer in the mid-1950s, and made her first 'live' recording in 1954, eventually enjoying a performing career which lasted over half a century. This great-value 122-track 5-CD set focuses on the formative first decade or so of her recordings career, when she established her reputation and became a high-profile artist. It comprises the complete content of nine of her albums for Tradition, Vanguard and RCA - "The Tin Angel" (with Larry Mohr), "Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues", "At the Gate of Horn Tradition", "My Eyes Have Seen Vanguard", "Ballad For Americans and Other American Ballads", "Odetta and The Blues", "Live At Carnegie Hall", "Sometimes I Feel Like Cryin'" and "Odetta At Town Hall. It also includes singles released during the era which were not on albums, notably her 'live' TV performance with Harry Belafonte on "Hole In My Bucket" which was a UK hit in 1961. It's a great showcase for a highly distinctive and influential talent.

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