Odetta at Town Hall
live album by Odetta

Odetta at Town Hall is a live album by American folk singer Odetta, recorded at Town Hall, New York, NY. At this time, Odetta was at the height of her career and performed an annual concert at the venue, typically in the month of April. It is not clear if this is her 1961 or 1962 concert performance. It could potentially be a compilation of her performances at Town Hall throughout the early 1960s. This album was first issued in 1962, as per the Vanguard Discography logs. The internet and some CD reissues will sometimes incorrectly report that this album was released in 1963.
The Odetta at Town Hall album and One Grain of Sand, were both released after Odetta had made the decision to leave Vanguard Records and start recording for RCA Victor in early1962.
“Odetta at Town Hall” enters the record as live album by Odetta. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Odetta, Town and Hall can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Odetta at Town Hall” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Odetta, Town and Hall provides the most credible route into that argument.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17059496. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1961, 1962 and 1963.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Odetta at Town Hall” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.