Odetta - Influence

Influence

Odetta influenced Harry Belafonte, who "cited her as a key influence" on his musical career; Bob Dylan, who said, "The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta. I heard a record of hers Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues in a record store, back when you could listen to records right there in the store. Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustical guitar, a flat-top Gibson. ... just something vital and personal. I learned all the songs on that record."; Joan Baez who said "Odetta was a goddess. Her passion moved me. I learned everything she sang."; Janis Joplin, who "spent much of her adolescence listening to Odetta, who was also the first person Janis imitated when she started singing"; poet Maya Angelou who once said "If only one could be sure that every 50 years a voice and a soul like Odetta's would come along, the centuries would pass so quickly and painlessly we would hardly recognize time."; John Waters, whose original screenplay for Hairspray mentions her as an influence on beatniks. and Carly Simon, who cited Odetta as a major influence, and talked about "going weak in the knees" when she had the opportunity to meet her in Greenwich Village