Odetta

I remember when I first discovered Odetta. It was the first time I went over to John's house and he had this video of a big black woman with an unbelievably powerful voice. She strummed along, singing "Water Boy", her face curling and contorting and on the rests she would making this loud, barking noise like she was expelling all the air from her lungs. John kept rewinding the tape and we must have watched it seven or eight times. It was part of the beginning of my fascination with blues and folk Anyway, here it is via YouTube:



Here's some more: