Folk icon Odetta dies, and many on Music Row mourn
Folk singer/civil rights activist Odetta passed away last night, and many folks on Music Row are saddened.
If you’re not familiar, Odetta was the voice that sang I’m on My Way at the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. She also had a version of Kumbaya that permeated the music world.
Nashville folk singer Nanci Griffith has long befriended Odetta, and Odetta sang with Nanci at a 1998 concert in Scotland, which was captured on videotape.
In fact, Nanci got Odetta to play the Bluebird Cafe several years ago, and Nanci sang with her. If I Had a Hammer was on the bill.
Fellow Nashville folk singer Janis Ian (At Seventeen) also was close to Odetta.
Odetta, 77, died of heart and kidney problems.
She had hoped to sing at President-elect Obama’s inauguration.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
