Odetta’s One Grain of Sand the beatles In the fall of 1980

In the fall of 1980 Richard and Linda Thompson (of Fairport Convention fame) had recently been dumped from their record label and were on the verge of divorce

One Grain of Sand captures the social justice project that was Odetta's voice

When 20-year-old Odetta Holmes—classically trained as a vocalist and poised to become “the next Marian Anderson”—veered away from both opera and musical theater in favor of performing politically charged field hollers

the book brilliantly captures the raw magic and complex personalities of a group George Harrison called "the best band in the history of the universe

Transformer includes approximately 16 pages of black-and-white and color photos

Odetta’s One Grain of Sand the beatles In the fall of 1980When 20 year old Odetta Holmesclassically trained as a vocalist and poised to become the next Marian Andersonveered away from both opera and musical theater in favor of performing politically charged field hollers, prison songs, work songs, and folk tunes before mixed race audiences in 1950s coffee houses, she was making one of the most influential decisions in the history of both American music and Civil Rights. Released the same year as her famous