Many artists who began in the fifties are claimed to be amongst the most influential on those who followed them, and there can be little doubt that Odetta is predominant in the folk music field. Her case is made clearly by two music legends: Bob Dylan told Playboy: “The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta. I heard a record of hers, Odetta Sings Ballads & Blues in a record store… Right then and there I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustic guitar, a flat-top Gibson. That album was something vital and personal. I learned all the songs on that record.” Joan Baez put it more succinctly in a 1983 Rolling Stone interview, “Odetta was a goddess. Her passion moved me. I learned everything she sang.”
