Folk Titan Odetta Dies

Folk-music legend Odetta died yesterday at 77 from heart disease. Time writes that Odetta's music "is an aural history, centuries deep, of abduction, enslavement, social and sexual abuse by the whites in power—and of the determination first to outlive the ignominy branded on the race, then to overcome it." Her influence was monumental. "The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta," Bob Dylan once said. Time continues, "If a line could be drawn from Bessie Smith to Janis Joplin, from Mahalia Jackson to Maria Callas, it would have to go through Odetta.” On her fan website, shortly before her death, Odetta's manager wrote, "Odetta believes she is going to sing at Obama's inauguration, and I believe that is the reason she is still alive."