The Best of the Vanguard Years is a compilation album by American folk singer Odetta, originally released in 1999.

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The Best of the Vanguard Years
Greatest hits album by Odetta
Released	1999
Genre	Folk, blues
Length	68:41
Label	Vanguard
Producer	Tom Vickers
Odetta chronology
Blues Everywhere I Go (1999) The Best of the Vanguard Years (1999) Livin' with the Blues (2000)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link

The focus of the material is the music Odetta performed when recording for the Vanguard label.

Track listing

All songs Traditional unless otherwise noted.

1. "Midnight Special" – 3:21
2. "Cotton Fields" (Lead Belly) – 3:21
3. "Special Delivery Blues" – 2:37
4. "Rambling Round Your City" (Woody Guthrie) – 4:02
5. "Cool Water" (Bob Nolan) – 3:04
6. "Down on Me" – 2:55
7. "I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain/Water Boy" (Robinson) – 6:53
8. "Saro Jane" – 2:46
9. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (Julia Ward Howe) – 3:51
10. "If I Had a Hammer" (Lee Hays, Pete Seeger) – 1:53
11. "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" – 2:20
12. "Meetin' at the Building" – 2:35
13. "No More Auction Block" – 2:17
14. "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" – 3:22
15. "Spoken Introduction: He Had a Long Chain On" (Jimmy Driftwood) – 6:22
16. "Another Man Done Gone" (Vera Hall, Alan Lomax, John Lomax, Ruby Pickens Tartt) – 2:31
17. "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" – 2:05
18. "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor" – 3:21
19. "Livin' with the Blues" – 3:39
20. "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Cox) – 2:12
21. "House of the Rising Sun" – 3:14

Personnel

• Odetta – vocals, guitar
• Bill Lee – bass
• Milt Okun – conductor

Production notes

• Samuel Charters – compilation liner notes
• David Gahr – photography
• Jeff Zaraya – engineer