How Odetta Turned Bob Dylan Onto Folk and Recast the Genre

Tina Benitez-Eves

March 22, 2025

American Songwriter

Article

“If I had to pick one person responsible for the establishment of the Newport Folk Festival in 1959,” said the festival founder George Weing, “it would be Odetta.” After hearing her album Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, Bob Dylan said he put down his electric guitar and went acoustic. “Right then and there,” said Dylan in a 1978 interview with Playboy. “I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustical guitar, a flat-top Gibson.”

read

Article

Black and white image of a Black woman singing into a microphone while playing an acoustic guitar, eyes closed, expression passionate.

Photo Credit:

Share this post

tag

Odetta, Newport Folk Festival, The Tin Angel, Civil Rights

resources

Website

Black Opry

Home for Black artists and Black fans of country, blues, folk, and Americana music.

Access

Website

CGR radio network

Community Growth Radio (CGR) offers News, Information, Community Programming that is very target-specific for The Blind, Visually Impaired, The Disabled, The 50 Plus, and Veterans by providing timely subjects from Health, Retirement, and Finance that affect the above-intended audience. Plus offering Old Time Radio, Nostalgia, Book-Magazine and Newspaper Readings. CGR 4 Stream - The Best of Music(This includes, AAA, Acoustic, Alt Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Folk, Progressive Country, Red Dirt/Roots to Zydeco also Inclusive, BIPOC, Indie, Un-Signed, Female/Non-Binary, All Genders and such) - Taking Music submissions by MP3

Access