Bark

Odetta Hartman

The good folks at Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen have kept me busy sending me a great many thing to listen to over the past few months, which I truly appreciate. But this; this is remarkable.

Odetta Hartman serves up four songs here, which sound like they came mostly from the golden age of Tin Pan Alley and the waning days of Vaudeville, and brother, I could listen to her wail on about her woes all day long.

Using this as her platform, Odetta’s voice comes in from a near forgotten part of the last century, with occasional shades of Memphis Minnie and a less brassy Ma Rainey.  That she should even know these references means Hartman is worthy of at least casual worship.

There are four songs here. “Oh Misery” stands out for a myriad of reasons.  She contemplates the loss of a love, as she leaves town for good, knowing she left him (her true love) dead and buried, having killed him. The mournful wailing becomes an anxious celebration of uncertainty.

She closes out this collection with “End of the World,” a New Orleans, horn filled/fueled contemplation on what comes next in life:

i went walkin by the banks of the river/

bare toed/ /bear toad

hand in hand with the saints and sinners

we go // we go

right to the end oh the end of the world

Odetta Hartman sounds and feels like a long forgotten, or overlooked voice, we’re just lucky enough to have discovered, performing songs we never even knew existed.

Now be thankful for this rarest of finds. If we are so blessed to be living now, fortunate enough to experience Odetta Hartman in real time, then there may very well be more where this came from.

http://odettahartman.bandcamp.com/album/bark