“The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta” – Bob Dylan

“Odetta was a goddess. Her passion moved me. I learned everything she sang” – Joan Baez

Wears the Trousers magazine (which highlights women in the music industry) has put together a tribute album to the influential folk artist, Odetta Holmes. All the profits from the album will be split between the Fawcett Society and the Women's Resource Centre. It is now available for pre-order in advance of its release on 30 November 2009.

Dubbed the “Queen of American folk music” by Martin Luther King Jr in 1961, Odetta Holmes was one of the most influential recording artists of the 20th century and an important voice of the Civil Rights Movement. A powerhouse vocalist who toured well into her 70s, often performing from a wheelchair in later years, she released some 25 albums over her impressive career. By the time she died in December 2008, Odetta had amassed a vast catalogue of folk, blues and spiritual songs and it’s from all corners of this that the songs of Beautiful Star: The Songs Of Odetta are drawn.

The tribute, which will be released as a limited edition CD and download, reimagines some of Odetta’s signature tunes, underlining how her wide-ranging and enduring influence transcends any perceived boundaries of age, race or genre.

With exclusive new tracks from established independent artists like Ane Brun, Marissa Nadler and Liz Durrett and newcomers like Haunted Stereo and Katey Brooks, Beautiful Star revisits not only the many traditional songs Odetta helped to revive (‘Santy Anno’, ‘If I Had A Ribbon Bow’) and the familiar classics (‘All The Pretty Little Horses’, ‘This Little Light Of Mine’), but also some of her lesser known recordings like the haunting title track, one of the few songs Odetta wrote herself.

A limited number of physical copies of Beautiful Star: The Songs Of Odetta are available to pre-order directly through the Wears The Trousers website: http://wearsthetrousers.bigcartel.com/products.

“If only one could be sure that every 50 years a voice and a soul like Odetta's would come along, the centuries would pass so quickly and painlessly we would hardly recognise time” – Maya Angelou

Tracklist:
* LINDA DRAPER, ‘Sail Away Ladies’
* ANE BRUN, ‘If I Had A Ribbon Bow’
* GEMMA RAY, ‘900 Miles’
* ANAÏS MITCHELL, ‘All My Trials’
* HAUNTED STEREO, ‘Santy Anno’
* MADAM, ‘Waterboy’
* SANDY DILLON, ‘Can't Afford To Lose My Man’ [live]
* ORA COGAN, ‘Motherless Child’
* JOSEPHINE ONIYAMA, ‘The Gallows Pole’
* PEPI GINSBERG, ‘Beautiful Star’
* SOCIETY OF IMAGINARY FRIENDS, ‘Another Man Done Gone’
* MARISSA NADLER, ‘All My Trials’
* KELLI ALI, ‘All The Pretty Little Horses’
* KATEY BROOKS, ‘What A Friend We Have’
* LIZ DURRETT, ‘Chilly Winds’
* ARBOREA, ‘This Little Light Of Mine'