Joan Baez Information Continued
Joan Baez' true professional career began at the 1959
Newport Folk Festival and she recorded Joan Baez, her first
album for a major company. The collection of traditional folk
ballads, blues and laments sung to her own guitar accompaniment sold
moderately well. Her second release, Joan Baez, Vol. 2, cam
out in 1961 and went gold, as did Joan Baez in Concert, Parts
1 and 2 (released in 1962 and 1963, respectively). From the early to
mid-1960's, Joan Baez emerged at the forefront of the American
roots revival, where she introduced her audiences to the less
prominent Bob Dylan (the two became romantically involved in late 1962,
remaining together through early 1965), and was emulated by artists
such as Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt.
During this period, as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights
struggle in America both became more prominent issues, Joan
Baez focused more of her attention on both areas, until
eventually her music and her political involvement became
inseparable. Her performance of "We Shall Overcome", the civil rights
anthem popularized by Pete Seeger, at Martin Luther King's March on
Washington permanently linked her with the anthem, and was frequently
highly visible in civil rights marches. Her performance of "Joe Hill"
is also anthological.
In 1969, Joan Baez' appearance at the historic Woodstock
music festival in upstate New York afforded her an international
musical and political podium. Her 1971 cover of "The Night They Drove
Old Dixie Down" (by The Band) was a top 10 hit in the United States.
In the mid-1970s, Joan Baez began writing many of her own
songs. Her most famous self-penned tune is "Diamonds and Rust", which
was recorded by Judas Priest in 1977. Joan Baez continued to perform
and record throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
In 2006, Joan Baez performed at the funeral of singing
legend Lou Rawls, where she led Jesse Jackson, Stevie Wonder and others in the singing of "Amazing Grace".
The same year, Joan Baez joined Bruce Springsteen onstage at his San Francisco concert,
where the two performed the rolling anthem "Pay Me My Money Down".
The title track of Springsteen's latest album, We Shall
Overcome, was popularized by Joan Baez in 1963 when she
performed it at Dr. King's March on Washington. The song went on to
become one of the most popular anthems of the Civil Rights
movement.
