Odetta Sings!

This Saturday, Odetta will perform a special benefit concert at the St. James Episcopal Church. Few voices have rung as powerful or as influential in folk and blues as Odetta, her deep and commanding vocals serving as the voice of the civil rights movement. Dubbed by Martin Luther King Jr. as “The Queen of American Folk Music,” it was Odetta who sparked the visceral ferocity of a young Janis Joplin and was famously claimed by Bob Dylan to be his entrance into folk music.

Born Odetta Holmes in Birmingham, Ala., New Year’s Eve 1930, Odetta began her career at age 13 with classical training in opera in the Los Angeles-based Turnabout Theater. Realizing that even her indomitable voice could not break the racial barriers in opera, however, she turned to folk music and quickly gained recognition. In addition to her staggering range, Odetta invested her work with an integrated influence of jazz, English and Appalachian folk, blues, and African American spirituals. Her 1954 debut, The Tin Angel, and seminal 1956 album Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues cemented her reputation as one of the most important figures in American music.

The past decade saw a resurgence in Odetta’s career. In 1999, she was awarded the prestigious National Medal of the Arts and Humanities. That same year, Blues Everywhere I Go was nominated for a Grammy, as was 2005’s Gonna Let It Shine, on top of countless other honors. This year also brings the long awaited documentary, Odetta: No One Can Dub You With Dignity … That’s Yours to Claim!, as well as her first concert DVD taped over two nights at New York’s Tribeca Arts Center Theatre.

Given that Barack Obama became the first African American presidential nominee for a major party this week, it could not be more fitting to have Odetta, whose music has been such an important part of conquering racial barriers, perform here in Austin.

The show takes place at St. James Episcopal Church (1941 Webberville Rd.) Saturday at 7:30pm. Tickets are $75 and benefit the new St. James Episcopal School. For more information, call 512-926-4214.