Odetta and the Blues/Sometimes I Feel Like Cryin'

This "two-fer" from folk icon Odetta rounds up a pair of albums from the early '60s. Released in 1962, the excellent Odetta and the Blues and Sometimes I Feel Like Cryin', the latter of which was her first album for RCA Victor, traded in the folk standards of earlier outings for material made famous by classic female blues singers like Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, and Ma Rainey. Odetta and the Blues was reissued in 1984, while Sometimes I Feel Like Cryin' saw its first digital release in 2014. ~ James Christopher Monger