We are not entirely sure why, but the name "Odetta" fired up jazzy expectations the instant we stumbled upon it. Those expectation were not betrayed by East Village native Odetta Hartman‘s music, a heterogeneous brand of orchestral folk, enriched by jazzy influences. The 25 year old lady can play pretty much any instrument with strings on it, from guitar to banjo to violin, and after three releases with band, is about to release he first strictly solo album, entitled "222." She recently premiered first single "Creektime" (streaming), which reveals a sparser and more succint approach to songwriting, but also a more experimental and intense sound, incorporating samples from field recordings, and shifting her melodic angle from the distracting melodies of jazz to the simpler but more intense ones of its cousin blues. You can see Odettal live at Baby’s All Right on March 29th.
We added this song to The Deli’s playlist of Best roots songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!