Henry Oden (born February 8, 1947) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

musician from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Biography

Born in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, Oden grew up in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. His parents had migrated from the south to work in the shipyards, and Oden's father bought him a guitar from a

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a mail-order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001; its common nickname was "Monkey Wards". ...

catalogue when he was 15 years old. He was taught to play by

Robert Kelton Robert Kelton Jr. (January 1, 1908 – May 19, 1996) was an American blues guitarist and banjo player, influential in the development of jump blues and early rock and roll. Early life Kelton was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and learned to play ...

, a guitarist for

Jimmy McCracklin James David Walker Jr. (August 13, 1921 – December 20, 2012), better known by his stage name Jimmy McCracklin, was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. His style contained West Coast blues, Jump blues, and R&B. Over a career that ...

, and within a year he was sitting in on jam sessions around the local area; he would also play and sing in local churches. In the 1960s he was the bass player with Freddy & The Stone Souls, working with Freddie Stone Stewart, brother of

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (March 15, 1943 – June 9, 2025), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, was an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the development ...

, and backing many local acts such as Rodger Collins and

Fillmore Slim Clarence Sims (born November 7, 1934), best known by his stage name, Fillmore Slim, is an American blues vocalist and guitarist with five albums to his credit. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was also a known pimp in San Francisco, referred to se ...

. He was also a member of Loading Zone, and recorded behind the group's vocalist

Linda Tillery Linda "Tui" Tillery (born September 2, 1948) is an American singer, percussionist, producer, songwriter, and music arranger. She began her professional singing career at age 19 with the Bay Area rock band The Loading Zone. She is recognized as ...

when the group split up. In the 1970s, Oden toured for a short while with

Freddie King Freddie King (born Fred Christian; September 3, 1934December 28, 1976), also billed as Freddy King, was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King a ...

, and helped to develop the career of

Lady Bianca Lady Bianca (born August 8, 1953) is an American electric blues singer, songwriter and arranger. Lady Bianca has worked as a session singer, depicted Billie Holiday on stage, and since 1995 released six solo albums, three of which were nominated ...

. He returned to music in his own right in the early 1980s, working with

Mark Naftalin Mark Naftalin (born August 2, 1944) is an American blues keyboardist and record producer. He appears on the first five albums by Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the mid 1960s as a band member, and as such was inducted into the Rock and Roll Ha ...

's Blue Monday band, recording with

Clifton Chenier Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 – December 12, 1987), was an American musician known as a pioneer of zydeco, a style of music that arose from Creole music, with R&B, blues, and Cajun influences. He sang and played the accordion. Chenier won ...

, and touring internationally and recording with the

San Francisco Blues Festival The San Francisco Blues Festival was active from 1973 until 2008, and was located in San Francisco, California. It was one of the longest running blues festival in the United States. History Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the bl ...

package. In the middle of the decade he teamed up with

Joe Louis Walker Louis Joseph Walker Jr. (December 25, 1949 – April 30, 2025), known as Joe Louis Walker, was an American musician, best known as an electric blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. His knowledge of blues history is revealed by his u ...

, providing Walker with "Shade Tree Mechanic" (among other songs throughout the years). This relationship was spasmodic, and for a while Oden based himself in Canada, taking a degree in humanities. Over the years, Oden appeared with:

Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with a wide variety of audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby Wha ...

Pee Wee Crayton Connie Curtis Crayton (December 18, 1914 – June 25, 1985), known as Pee Wee Crayton, was an American R&B and blues guitarist and singer. Career Crayton was born in Rockdale, Texas. He began playing guitar seriously after moving to California ...

Big Mama Thornton Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter of blues and R&B. The ''Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul'' described Thornton by saying: "Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound fra ...

Mike Bloomfield Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American blues guitarist and composer. Born in Chicago, he became one of the first popular music stars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrume ...

Buddy Ace Jimmie Lee Land (November 11, 1936 – December 25, 1994), better known as Buddy Ace, was an American Texas blues singer, billed as the "Silver Fox of the Blues". Biography Born in Jasper, Texas, he was raised in Baytown near Houston, and began ...

, Curtis Lawson,

Bill Withers William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He is known for having several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), "Use Me ( ...

, Little Joe Blue,

Chris Cain Chris Cain (born November 19, 1955) is an American blues musician. He began playing professionally as a teenager in local clubs, at festivals, and at private events. He attended Pomona College. Cain received four Blues Music Award nomination ...

Percy Mayfield Percy Mayfield (August 12, 1920August 11, 1984) was an American rhythm and blues singer with a smooth vocal style. He was also a songwriter, known for the songs "Please Send Me Someone to Love" and "Hit the Road Jack", the latter being a song f ...

, Craig Horton,

J.J. Malone John Jacob (J.J.) Malone (August 20, 1935 – February 20, 2004) was an American West Coast blues, electric blues and soul blues guitarist, singer and keyboardist. His best-known sound recording and reproduction, recordings were "It's a Shame" ...

, Troyce Key, Cool Papa Sadler, Mississippi Johnny Waters, Big Bones,

Sonny Rhodes Clarence Smith (born Clarence Edward Mauldin; November 3, 1940 – December 14, 2021), known as Sonny Rhodes, was an American blues singer and lap steel guitar player. He recorded over two hundred songs. "I'm what you call a self-proclaimed Dis ...

Earl King Earl Silas Johnson IV (February 7, 1934 – April 17, 2003),
known as Earl King, was an American singer, guita ...

Johnny Adams Laten John Adams Jr. (January 5, 1932 – September 14, 1998), was an American blues, jazz and gospel singer, known as "The Tan Canary" for the multi-octave range of his singing voice, his swooping vocal mannerisms and falsetto. His biggest ...

Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur (born Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D'Amato; September 12, 1942) is an American folk and blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1973 hit song " Midnight at the Oasis" and h ...

and

Boz Scaggs William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was a bandmate of Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller in the Ardells in the early 1960s and a member of the Steve Miller Band from 1967 to 196 ...

. Oden has two releases under his own name, and he has appeared on numerous albums (his website discography lists 27). He appeared behind

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

in the film ''Survivors'', and he can be seen and heard on the ''Blue Monday'' videos, and with

in ''Poet Laureate of the Blues''.

Discography

*''Eclectic Blue'' (C.P.Time 001) (1990) *''Henry Oden'' (C.P. Time) (2006) *''You're Wrong For That'' (C.P. Time) (2010)

References

External links

Henry Oden official website
*''

Blues & Rhythm ''Blues & Rhythm'' is a British music magazine dealing with all aspects of blues and gospel music. Founded in July 1984 it is - along with its American counterpart ''Living Blues'' - considered to be the premier magazine for all aspects of resear ...

'' magazine no 36 (UK), Henry Oden interview by Norman Darwen {{DEFAULTSORT:Oden, Henry 1947 births Living people Musicians from Oakland, California American blues guitarists American male guitarists Songwriters from California West Coast blues musicians Musicians from Richmond, California Guitarists from California 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters