If you’ve ever thought the way women are written about by the music press can be dismissive, you’re not alone. The people behind magazine Wears The Trousers are bored by the way women are represented and judged by the majority of music magazines, saying,
“They fail to realise that “credible” music is not naturally a male thing. We believe that female musicians still go under-represented in the media, and this is our way of celebrating their music.”
The site exists to highlight female artists who often don’t get much of a look-in when it comes to publicity. One of their recent projects focuses on Odetta Holmes, an American folk singer who was also an important part of the Civil Rights Movement. She was due to sing at Obama’s inauguration ceremony, but died in December 2008.
The album Beautiful Star – The Songs of Odetta is a tribute to the singer, with a range of different independent artists singing from the catalogue of songs she made famous. The album artwork is gorgeous and the songs range from haunting to the happy brand of folk music that makes me want to dance (in a special kind of way) when someone plays it at the Green Man Festival.
I found it a bit of a shame that there’s nothing on there by Odetta herself. If you’re listening to the album having not heard of her before, it would be nice to know why she’s great. It only took a quick Google though, and it’s worth it – her voice is so powerful, and completely different to anything around today.
According to Wikipedia (always right, yes?) Bob Dylan said of Odetta that she was the first thing that turned him onto folk singing. If this isn’t enough to get you a tiny bit interested, there’s an altruistic reason too – all proceeds go to the Fawcett Society and the Women’s Resource Centre.
There are a limited number of physical copies of the album available via the Wears The Trousers site, and you can download it there too. It’s also available on iTunes.