Welcome to Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments. I’m Robert Darden.
Odetta, of course, is one of America’s greatest folk singers, a civil rights icon, and the main influence from artists ranging from Bob Dylan to Joan Baez to Mavis Staples. She toured the world singing folk music, the blues and the spirituals and performing in the greatest venues in the U.S. and abroad. Before her death at age 77 in 2008, she was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts with the National Medal of the Arts.
One of my favorite gospel-oriented Christmas releases is Odetta’s Christmas Spirituals. Many of the old songs feature only Odetta’s gloriously burnished voice and a standup bass guitar – and all of them are instant classics. This rendition of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” may well be the definitive version.
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I’m Robert Darden … “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU and the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University Libraries.
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