Odetta - Tin Angel

1993 CD reissue.

Although the 1993 CD version of this album is credited to Odetta and titled The Tin Angel, it's actually a reissue of a Fantasy LP credited to Odetta & Larry, which bore the slightly different title The Tin Angel Presents Odetta & Larry. That original LP had 13 tracks recorded in 1953 and 1954, some of them live at the Tin Angel club in San Francisco, with Larry Mohr contributing some banjo and harmony and lead vocals, though Odetta was the more prominent presence. This source of confusion duly noted, this is pretty much an Odetta album in most respects, as she takes a considerably larger part of the vocal duties on a set of traditional folk material including such standards as "John Henry," "Rock Island Line," and "Old Cotton Fields at Home," as well as some blues and spirituals, plus a good version of Woody Guthrie's "The Car-Car Song."

Odetta's stirring vocal style is pretty fully formed on this, the first group of her recordings in wide distribution, as is her ability to emit bluesy grunts, as you can hear on "John Henry." Mohr's vocals (he takes unaccompanied lead on "Old Blue") and banjo are comparatively bland, but they're not much of a distraction from Odetta, who's definitely the main feature. The 1993 CD reissue adds six tracks, including some very popular folk revival tunes in "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," "Wade in the Water," and "Another Man Done Gone."

Richie Unterberger ~ AllmusicGuide

John Henry
Old Cotton Fields at Home
The Frozen Logger
Run, Come See Jerusalem
Old Blue
Water Boy
Santy Ana
I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago/The Biggest Thing
The Car-Car Song
No More Cane on the Brazos
Pay Day at Coal Creek
I've Been 'Buked and I've Been Scorned
Rock Island Line
Another Man Don' Gone
Children Go Where I Send Thee
I Know Where I'm Going
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
Timber
Wade in the Waters