Folk icon Odetta, whose influential music helped orchestrate the civil rights movement, died yesterday at the age of 77. Odetta had battled chronic heart disease and pulmonary fibrosis in her lungs for nearly ten years. [Reuters.com]

Perhaps the finest holiday-themed album ever made, A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector, is available for $1.99 from Amazon.com’s digital download store. Thanks to LargeheartedBoy.com for the tip-off. [Amazon.com]

Start planning your summer vacation early: Bonnaroo has announced its festival dates for 2009. The notorious music and arts event will be held from June 11th through the 14th, give or take a day’s worth of traffic in rural Tennessee. [Bonnaroo.com]

Art Brut’s Eddie Argos has confirmed that Frank Black, the multi-aliased legend from the Pixies, will be producing the band’s followup to It’s a Bit Complicated. While additional details are scarce, Argos’ recent blog post indicates that Black may join the band in Portland this week. [PitckforkMedia.com]

‘Tis the season for “Best Of” lists, and Ryan Adams is getting into the holiday spirit. While gearing up for his winter tour alongside Oasis, the songwriter found time to list his Top 10 albums of 2008, which run the gamut from Mariah Carey’s E=MC 2 to Metallica’s Death Magnetic. [Filter.com]

It’s extremely likely that Creed will be reuniting next year for “a lucrative 2009 tour.” Bah humbug. [Billboard.com]

Also riding the reunion train are The Specials, whose 30th anniversary is fast approached. Although founding member Jerry Dammers won’t be in attendance, all other original bandmates have signed up for the reunion, which will mark the band’s first official shows since 1981. [NME.com]

Alan Gordon, who co-wrote the Turtles’ chart-topping single “Happy Together,” died on November 22nd in Scottsdale, Arizona. A veteran songwriter, Gordon also contributed hit songs to the catalogs of Three Dog Night and Barbara Streisand. He was 64. [Variety.com]