Henry Oden
Encyclopedia
Henry Oden is an American
blues
musician
.
. His parents had migrated from the south to work in the shipyards, and Oden's father bought him a guitar from a Montgomery Ward
catalogue when he was 15 years old. He was taught to play by Robert Kelton, a guitarist for Jimmy McCracklin
, and within a year he was sitting in on jam sessions around the local area; he would also play and sing in local churches. In the 1960s he was the bass
player with Freddy & The Stone Souls, working with Freddy Stewart, brother of Sly Stone
, and backing many local acts such as Roger Collins and Fillmore Slim
. He was also a member of Loading Zone, and recorded behind the group’s vocalist Linda Tillery
when the group split up.
In the 1970s Oden toured for a short while with Freddie King
, and helped to develop the career of Lady Bianca. He returned to music in his own right in the early 1980s, working with Mark Naftalin
’s Blue Monday band, recording with Clifton Chenier
, and touring internationally and recording with the San Francisco Blues Festival
package. In the middle of the decade he teamed up with Joe Louis Walker
, providing Walker with "Shade Tree Mechanic" (amongst other songs throughout the years). This relationship was spasmodic, and for a while Oden based himself in Canada, took a degree in Humanities. To the present day, Oden continues to teach the blues in schools.
Over the years, Oden has appeared with: Jimmy Reed
, Pee Wee Crayton
, Big Mama Thornton
, Mike Bloomfield
, Buddy Ace
, Curtis Lawson, Bill Withers
, Little Joe Blue
, Chris Cain
, Percy Mayfield
, Craig Horton, JJ Malone, Troyce Keys, Cool Papa Sadler, Mississippi Johnny Waters, Big Bones, Sonny Rhodes
, Earl King
, Johnny Adams
, Maria Muldaur
and Boz Scaggs
.
Oden had two releases under his own name, and he has appeared on numerous albums (his website discography lists twenty seven). He appeared behind John Lee Hooker
in the film
Survivors, and he can been seen and heard on the Blue Monday videos, and with Percy Mayfield
in Poet Laureate Of The Blues.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
.
Biography
Oden grew up in Richmond, CaliforniaRichmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
. His parents had migrated from the south to work in the shipyards, and Oden's father bought him a guitar from a Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...
catalogue when he was 15 years old. He was taught to play by Robert Kelton, a guitarist for Jimmy McCracklin
Jimmy McCracklin
Jimmy McCracklin is an American pianist, vocalist, and songwriter. His style contains West Coast blues, Jump blues, and R&B. Over a career that has spanned seven decades, he says he has written almost a thousand songs and has recorded hundreds of them...
, and within a year he was sitting in on jam sessions around the local area; he would also play and sing in local churches. In the 1960s he was the bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
player with Freddy & The Stone Souls, working with Freddy Stewart, brother of Sly Stone
Sly Stone
Sly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...
, and backing many local acts such as Roger Collins and Fillmore Slim
Fillmore Slim
Clarence Sims , best known by his stage name, Fillmore Slim, is a blues vocalist and guitarist with five albums to his credit...
. He was also a member of Loading Zone, and recorded behind the group’s vocalist Linda Tillery
Linda Tillery
Linda Tillery is an American singer and percussionist from San Francisco.-History:Tillery first came to prominence as the lead singer in San Francisco group The Loading Zone in 1968-69...
when the group split up.
In the 1970s Oden toured for a short while with Freddie King
Freddie King
Freddie King , thought to have been born as Frederick Christian, originally recording as Freddy King, and nicknamed "the Texas Cannonball", was an influential African-American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert...
, and helped to develop the career of Lady Bianca. He returned to music in his own right in the early 1980s, working with Mark Naftalin
Mark Naftalin
Mark Naftalin is an American blues keyboardist, composer, and record producer.-Life:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, Naftalin is the son of former Minneapolis mayor Arthur Naftalin; he is married to third wife Ellen Naftalin...
’s Blue Monday band, recording with Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier , a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983...
, and touring internationally and recording with the San Francisco Blues Festival
San Francisco Blues Festival
Debuting in 1973, the San Francisco Blues Festival is the longest running blues festival in the United States. Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the blues festival to educate the public about the history and evolution of the blues...
package. In the middle of the decade he teamed up with Joe Louis Walker
Joe Louis Walker
Joe Louis Walker, also known as JLW is an American musician, best known as a electric blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. A feature of his work is his recourse to older material or playing styles, which revealed his knowledge of blues history.-Career:Joe Louis Walker was born in San...
, providing Walker with "Shade Tree Mechanic" (amongst other songs throughout the years). This relationship was spasmodic, and for a while Oden based himself in Canada, took a degree in Humanities. To the present day, Oden continues to teach the blues in schools.
Over the years, Oden has appeared with: Jimmy Reed
Jimmy Reed
Mathis James "Jimmy" Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter, notable for bringing his distinctive style of blues to mainstream audiences. Reed was a major player in the field of electric blues, as opposed to the more acoustic-based sound of many of his contemporaries...
, Pee Wee Crayton
Pee Wee Crayton
Connie Curtis Crayton , known as Pee Wee Crayton, was an American R&B and blues guitarist and singer.-Career:...
, Big Mama Thornton
Big Mama Thornton
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million...
, Mike Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
, Buddy Ace
Buddy Ace
Buddy Ace was an American blues singer, known as the "Silver Fox of the Blues." His best known tracks were "Root Doctor" and "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man"....
, Curtis Lawson, Bill Withers
Bill Withers
William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...
, Little Joe Blue
Little Joe Blue
Little Joe Blue was an American blues singer, and guitarist.-Career:Born Joseph Valery, Jr. in Vicksburg, Mississippi, his music were heavily influenced by the work of Louis Jordan, Joe Liggins, and B. B. King...
, Chris Cain
Chris Cain
Chris Cain is an American blues and jazz guitarist with an international following.He began playing professionally as a teenager in local clubs, at festivals, and at private events....
, Percy Mayfield
Percy Mayfield
Percy Mayfield was an American songwriter famous for the songs "Hit the Road Jack" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love", as well as a successful rhythm and blues artist known for his smooth vocal style.-Career:...
, Craig Horton, JJ Malone, Troyce Keys, Cool Papa Sadler, Mississippi Johnny Waters, Big Bones, Sonny Rhodes
Sonny Rhodes
Sonny Rhodes is an American blues singer and lap steel guitar player. He has recorded over two hundred songs. "I'm what you call a self-proclaimed Disciple of the Blues!" said Rhodes about his years playing and singing for fans of blues around the world...
, Earl King
Earl King
This article is about the musical artist. For the Earl King convicted of murdering a ship's officer, see Earl King, Ernest Ramsay, and Frank Conner...
, Johnny Adams
Johnny Adams
Laten John Adams , known as Johnny Adams, was an American blues, jazz and gospel singer, known as "The Tan Canary" for the multi-octave range of his singing voice, his swooping vocal mannerisms and falsetto...
, Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur is a folk-blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s...
and Boz Scaggs
Boz Scaggs
William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1970s with several Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.-Early life and career:Scaggs was born in Canton,...
.
Oden had two releases under his own name, and he has appeared on numerous albums (his website discography lists twenty seven). He appeared behind John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
in the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Survivors, and he can been seen and heard on the Blue Monday videos, and with Percy Mayfield
Percy Mayfield
Percy Mayfield was an American songwriter famous for the songs "Hit the Road Jack" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love", as well as a successful rhythm and blues artist known for his smooth vocal style.-Career:...
in Poet Laureate Of The Blues.
Discography
- Eclectic Blue (C.P.Time 001) (1990)
- Your're Wrong For That (C.P. Time) (2010)