Joan Baez (born January 9, 1941 as Joan Chandos Báez) is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician, and activist whose contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest or social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 55 years, releasing over 30 albums. She is regarded as a folk singer, although her music has diversified since the counterculture days of the 1960s and now encompasses everything from folk rock and pop to country and gospel music. Although a songwriter herself, Baez is generally regarded as an interpreter of other composers’ work. In recent years, she has found success interpreting songs of modern songwriters such as Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter, Steve Earle, and Natalie Merchant. Her recordings include many topical songs and material dealing with social issues. She has displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights and the environment. (More from Wikipedia)
When Joan Baez took the stage at Live Aid on July 13, 1985, she addressed the crowd: “Good morning, children of the ’80s. This is your Woodstock, and it’s long overdue.” It seemed so obvious and yet I remember being surprised at her saying it. Joan Baez of course was there in 1969 – the full name was Woodstock Music & Art Fair – and she was there whenever peaceful protest was needed also.
And Joan Baez was there beginning in 1960 when the folk music revival was in its heyday; and she wasn’t political at all in the beginning. Folk music has always been fairly gender-balanced – besides Joan, Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell were leading lights who went on to have long careers. The folk groups often had at least one woman – there was Mary Travers in Peter, Paul and Mary, and Ronnie Gilbert in the Weavers.
Joan Baez was born in Staten Island, New York and is the daughter of a scientist father. The Baez family converted to Quakerism when she was a child, and Joan’s political bent basically continued the pacifism tradition of the Christian denomination. Joan saw a concert by Pete Seeger (who recently passed away) when she was 13, and she was strongly moved by his music.
Following her performance at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival, Joan Baez recorded her first album for Vanguard Records, Joan Baez, which was produced by Fred Hellerman of the Weavers. While not a big seller right away, it has been certified “gold”, as were Joan Baez, Vol. 2 and Joan Baez in Concert. Her early studio albums were mostly collections of traditional folk ballads and blues songs sung in her lovely soprano voice. However, Joan’s early concert albums were unusual in that they included new songs rather than traditional material or established songs.
Joan Baez in Concert, Part 2 (1963) included the first Bob Dylan songs that she recorded, “Don’t Think Twice, it’s All Right” and “With God on Our Side” – she says that the latter song is the first Dylan song that she learned. Joan Baez and Bob Dylan were starting to become closely associated with one another (and perhaps romantically) as the two leading folk artists of the day; a few months prior to the release of this album, the two had appeared at the 1963 March on Washington, and Bob and Joan were photographed together on the back cover of his album Bringing it All Back Home (1965).
My favorite Joan Baez song is “Diamonds and Rust” (1975) – she had already put together an incredible career, but I was stunned by the power of this song.
