This takes me right back to the late sixties, early seventies: Audrey, Ethel, and the black gospel I grew up with. This was mother’s milk to me, musically speaking. I practiced my scales, Hanon and Beethoven. But I thrived on gospel.
Odetta.
She is the hero of my hero, Eric Bibb.
She has a regal bearing. She wears dignity.
She makes you want to stand up.
Odetta.
December 31, 1930 ~ December 2, 2008
A Living Pencil 
from wikipedia… She had hoped to perform at Barack Obama‘s inauguration on January 20, 2009I’m checking Amazon to see if I can listen to her album, Christmas Spirituals.
Yes. Sigh. I’m guessing most of my black friends (and many white ones) from Chicago voted Obama.
Interesting that in all the news of her death here in the Bay Area, she was referred to as a “folk” singer, rather than a Gospel singer. Hmm….And as long as you’re mentioning Illinois, the newspaper today had a front-page story about the governor being arrested for trying to sell off Obama’s Senate seat to the “highest bidder.” See, everything bad doesn’t ALWAYS come from California
DD#2 lives with her new husband in Lincoln Park…. they didnt vote Obama
Okay, I loved Odetta and wept when I heard she was gone. I wore out her albums and can still hear them in my heart. She absolutely was a folk singer who often sang gospel (black) gospel songs. I tried with all my heart to sound like her (HA) She enlarged my heart. I love you Carol, for loving Odetta as well. Did you know that Miriam Makeba also died the same week?
this is all new to me. I grew up with Mahalia Jackson, but hadn’t heard any of these others. Tell me about Eric Bibb…I googled him and found his website. I liked the video you linked and would like to hear more of Odetta, that is for sure. I’m not sure I’m liking Eric’s sound, though.Thank for enlarging my borders…
@roseteacup – No, I hadn’t heard about Miriam Makeba’s death. I loved your comment about Odetta: “she enlarged my heart.” We’ll have to have a hairbrush party (where you hold the hairbrushes like mikes), throw back our heads and belt it out. After your Pette Midler picture, I can see it! Oh yeah!@MargaretinVa – my favorite Eric Bibb CD is “An Evening with Eric Bibb.” You can sample at Amazon. He loves his wife and sings about her a lot. Fidelity in a blues singer, how ’bout that? Oh Margaret, I can’t rest until I’ve converted you to an Eric fan! A group of us went to hear Eric Bibb last January. I wrote about it here.
i don’t know these singers! How cool you grew up on gospel– My youngest daughter and her hubby looked at a house for sale across from a church. It was a Sunday afternoon when we looked at it, and the choir was practicing. As we stood out front waiting for the realtor, across the street came the full, joyful sound of a gospel choir. We just stood and smiled and enjoyed.