At The Gate of Horn - Odetta (1957)

ideated from: the weird world of pop music in 1957

I’ll boil down the 4 paragraphs or so that I started with: Folk music (interpreting traditional songs) and the related but different tradition of protest music (original songs about social ills) dovetailed into a new commercially viable category of music in the 50s, which people call the “folk revival.” To me, the biggest innovation in folk music wasn’t song structure or instrumentation. It was the fact that it wasn’t as segregated as most other music of the time. Both the artists and the audiences that were listening to them paved the way for the civil rights movement and a better conversation about race. I could write a book on this, but I won’t today.

So here we have a young Odetta doing a record of heavily styled traditional tunes. She was a great performer who had a wide vocal range and a fun, playful approach to even the most serious material.

Tracks I liked

Gallows Tree - a great song, regardless of how you feel about Zeppelin’s version of it

The Fox - This tune has lots of names and versions, but this one is fantastic.

He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands - A great song, but let’s don’t pretend it isn’t the reason a hundred million white sunday school kids learned to clap on 1 and 3.