The Essential Odetta is a live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 folk singer

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 Odetta

Odetta

Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...

, originally released on LP

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

 in 1973.

The original double-LP The Essential Odetta included the live performances At Town Hall

Odetta At Town Hall

Odetta at Town Hall is a live album by American folk singer Odetta, recorded at Town Hall, New York, NY, on April 5, 1963 and first released later that year....

and At Carnegie Hall

Odetta at Carnegie Hall

Odetta at Carnegie Hall is a live album by American folk singer Odetta, recorded on April 8, 1960 and released later that year. It is now out of print.The Choir of the Church of the Master accompanies Odetta on the last four songs....

, but the CD version of that release omits ten songs from the original total of both LPs (eight from Town Hall and two from Carnegie Hall). Tracks 1-13 on the CD are from the Carnegie Hall concert and tracks 14-21 are from the Town Hall concert. The CD liner notes incorrectly state the entire CD was recorded at Carnegie Hall.

Track listing

All songs Traditional unless otherwise noted.

1. "If I Had a Hammer
   If I Had a Hammer
   "If I Had a Hammer " is a song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays. It was written in 1949 in support of the progressive movement, and was first recorded by The Weavers, a folk music quartet composed of Seeger, Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman, and then by Peter, Paul and Mary.- Early...
   
   " (Pete Seeger
   Pete Seeger
   Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
   
   , Lee Hays) – 1:55
2. "When I Was A Young Girl" – 2:51
3. "Gallows Tree (Gallows Pole)
   The Maid Freed from the Gallows
   "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" is one of many titles of a centuries-old folk song about a condemned maiden pleading for someone to buy her freedom from the executioner. In the collection of ballads compiled by Francis James Child, it is indexed as Child Ballad number 95; eleven variants, some...
   
   " – 2:40
4. "God's A-Gonna Cut You Down
   God's Gonna Cut You Down
   "God's Gonna Cut You Down", also known as "Run On" and "Run On for a Long Time", is a traditional folk song which has been recorded by numerous artists representing a variety of genres...
   
   " – 2:12
5. "John Riley
   John Riley (song)
   "John Riley" is a traditional English folk song ....
   
   " (Neff) – 3:24
6. "Joshua Fought The Battle Of Jericho" – 2:23
7. "All The Pretty Little Horses
   All the Pretty Horses (lullaby)
   "All the Pretty Little Horses" is a traditional African American lullaby from the southern United States.-Meaning:...
   
   " – 3:03
8. "Prettiest Train" – 3:25
9. "Meeting at the Building" – 2:35
10. "No More Auction Block" – 2:18
11. "Hold On
    Gospel Plow
    "Gospel Plow" is a traditional American folk song. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index, number 10075. The title is biblical, based on Luke 9:62.-Recordings:* Duke Ellington Newport Jazz Festival...
    
    " – 2:42
12. "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
    Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
    "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" is a traditional Negro spiritual.The song dates back to the era of slavery in the United States when it was common practice to sell children of slaves away from their parents. An early performance of the song dates back to the 1870s by the Fisk Jubilee...
    
    " – 3:22
13. "Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down" – 3:19
14. "Santy Anno" – 2:34
15. "Another Man Done Gone" (Hall
    Vera Hall
    Adell Hall Ward, better known as Vera Hall was an American folk singer, born in Livingston, Alabama, United States. She is best known for her song "Trouble So Hard" .-Biography:...
    
    , Lomax
    Alan Lomax
    Alan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.In his later career, Lomax advanced his theories of...
    
    , Lomax
    John Lomax
    John Avery Lomax was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist and folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk songs...
    
    , Ruby Pickens Tartt) – 2:31
16. "He Had a Long Chain On" (Driftwood) – 6:23
17. "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
    He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
    "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" is a traditional American spiritual. It was first published in the paperbound hymnal Spirituals Triumphant, Old and New, in 1927. In 1933, it was collected by Frank Warner from the singing of Sue Thomas in North Carolina...
    
    " (Traditional) – 2:05
18. "Take This Hammer
    Take This Hammer
    "Take This Hammer" is a prison work song. It was collected by John and Alan Lomax. The song "Nine Pound Hammer" has a few phrases in common with this song, and the same Roud number. "Swannanoa Tunnel" is similar, and this group of songs are referred to as 'hammer songs' or 'roll songs'...
    
    " – 3:47
19. "Ox Driver Song" – 3:06
20. "What Month Was Jesus Born In?" – 2:21
21. "Timber" (Gary, Gray, White) – 3:23

Personnel

• Odetta
  Odetta
  Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...
  
   – vocals, guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Bill Lee
  Bill Lee (musician)
  William James Edwards "Bill" Lee III is an American musician. He has played the bass for many artists including Cat Stevens, Harry Belafonte, Chad Mitchell Trio, Gordon Lightfoot, Aretha Franklin, Odetta, Simon and Garfunkel, and Bob Dylan...
  
   – bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...