In the new book “Odetta” by Ian Zack, you’ll find out why so few know her name.
Odetta’s school concurred and she was taught to sing operettas and German lieders, instructions that later served her well – although college was where she learned that music and politics together were a powerful force.
If you consider yourself a major music aficionado and liner-note devotee, though, “Odetta” is your book.
The difference comes in a distinction: Odetta (who professionally used just her first name) never went mainstream despite, as author Ian Zack points out, that her influence peppers music up and down the spectrum over the last forty or fifty years.
Still, readers who are truly serious about their music will relish “Odetta” as they grab their headphones and an LP to set the mood.
