{"id":1012,"date":"2017-07-01T21:32:41","date_gmt":"2017-07-01T21:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=1012"},"modified":"2017-07-01T21:39:26","modified_gmt":"2017-07-01T21:39:26","slug":"ftv-joan-baez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=1012","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Joan Baez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Joan Baez was a big part of the 1960s and played a major role in defining the entire protest singer genre. \u00a0I didn\u2019t like her. \u00a0I liked Donovan, Dylan and Arlo Guthrie, all artists who were supporting causes and writing songs very similar to Baez, but I could never quite get past her often prickly, preachy personality. \u00a0Apparently, I was not alone. \u00a0A recent <\/span>Rolling Stone <\/span><\/i>piece (<\/span>The Fighting Side of Joan RS 1285) <\/span><\/i>recalled a period in her career when, \u201cBaez had come to be seen as a humorless scold – to the point of being parodied more than once on <\/span>Saturday Night Live<\/span><\/i>, such as the 1986 fake game show <\/span>Make Joan Baez Laugh.\u201d<\/span><\/i> \u00a0Baez own assessment of that part of her life is pretty simple: \u00a0\u201cMy name was like a jinx. \u00a0It took years to get past that.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My opinion about Joan Baez evolved over time. \u00a0When I heard the song she now says is one of her finest creations, <\/span>Diamonds and Rust <\/span><\/i>(1975) from the album of the same name, I had already begun to hear more of her music and less of her politics. \u00a0I bought the album for my wife the first year we were married, but I played it almost as much as she did. \u00a0The title song covers what she considers to be the happiest part of her relationship with Bob Dylan and, she says, \u201cThe really, really good stuff comes from down deep and that was how strongly I was affected by Bob in the relationship and everything. \u00a0I\u2019d be stupid to pretend otherwise. \u00a0If the only thing to come out of that relationship was the best song of my life . . .\u201d. \u00a0She still had moments when her brutal honesty hits like a sledgehammer, but I began seeing a kinder, gentler side of Baez. \u00a0She wasn\u2019t beyond making fun of herself as in the time a reporter asked her if Steve Jobs was dating her because he had a serious Dylan fixation. \u00a0\u201cNo,\u201d she replied, \u201cHe is dating me for me, not for Dylan.\u201d \u00a0It still makes me laugh to hear her imitate Dylan in the middle verses of \u00a0<\/span>Simple Twist of Fate. \u00a0<\/span><\/i>The voice and phrasing are deadly accurate to the point where one has to check the album liner notes to see if he is named \u00a0as a special guest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Dylan certainly owes her a debt of thanks because many people think that his profile as a songwriter began a steep upward climb when Baez began performing his songs. \u00a0She doesn\u2019t hear from Dylan these days, but singer-songwriter Bob Neuwirth says that, \u201c… when Joan started interpreting them (Dylan\u2019s mind blowing songs), it went to another level. \u00a0They should give her the [Nobel] Prize!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps I couldn\u2019t connect with Baez in the 1960s because of the thirteen year difference in our ages. \u00a0As she was laying the foundation of her career singing folk songs, Baez was influencing a new generation of artists. \u00a0At that time, \u00a0I was digging in the pop and psychedelic music mines, unearthing and learning gems with a little less depth than her protest material. \u00a0She released her first album (<\/span>Joan Baez<\/span><\/i> 1960) at age nineteen and to everyone\u2019s surprise, it cracked the Top 20 album charts. \u00a0While her first albums were pure folk, they were influential enough to spawn a lot of new singer-songwriters. \u00a0Emmylou Harris says of the <\/span>Joan Baez <\/span><\/i>record, \u201cThat album was the reason I \u00a0picked up the guitar and the reason I\u2019m a singer. \u00a0There she was, alone on stage, completely composed and in control, \u00a0She emerged fully formed.\u201d \u00a0On stage, this was the image that Baez wanted to convey. \u00a0What she didn\u2019t want people to see was the emotional wreck she was backstage before she went out to perform. \u00a0I can see now the part of her personality that I didn\u2019t like was an outgrowth of her not wanting to let this weakness show through. \u00a0It took until 1990 for her to get into \u2018deep therapy\u2019 which means she spent 30 years fighting various phobias and her general feeling that her life, \u201cwas seriously dark and painful.\u201d That she was able to conduct a high profile career, \u00a0be deeply involved in a host of social issues during this period of time, and influence a new generation of artists speaks of a woman made of uncommonly strong fiber.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As the mid-1960s segued into the second half of the decade, she began to include the music of Phil Ochs, Richard Farina and Bob Dylan on her albums and in concerts. \u00a0This was the golden period where she was anointed the queen of protest music (much to Dylan\u2019s chagrin) and Baez became the focal point of the anti-war and social justice movements. \u00a0At Woodstock, she spent some time telling the crowd about her husband David Harris\u2019s arrest and imprisonment for draft evasion (they divorced in 1973) before performing <\/span>Joe Hill<\/span><\/i>, a song about labor strife that name checks \u201cthe copper bosses\u201d who have him killed. \u00a0This was one of the earliest moments when I began to listen to what she was singing about, thus starting the initial thaw in my negative assessment about her music). \u00a0In her 1987 book (<\/span>And a voice to sing with<\/span><\/i>), she candidly discusses the how and the why of her relationship with Dylan becoming more distant. \u00a0She was not a drug person, so some of the friction came from that direction. \u00a0She spent much of the late 1970s and 1980s in what she calls her \u2018badass period\u2019 that she now says, \u201cWas a total failure.\u201d \u00a0She tried to rock up her style. \u00a0She dated Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead for a time and tried recording an album with the Dead. \u00a0Jerry Garcia\u2019s slide into heroin use deep sixed the effort but the non-druggie Baez wasn\u2019t aware of the impact the drug use was having on the sessions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0She began to rebuild her career with her 2003 album <\/span>Dark Chords on a Big Guitar<\/span><\/i> and 2008\u2019s <\/span>Day After Tomorrow<\/span><\/i>, with the second being nominated for a Grammy. \u00a0She still performs 60 concerts per year and has attracted younger fans including Rhiannon Giddens, Sturgill Simpson and Marcus Mumford. \u00a0When her voice began losing the top end a decade ago, she had to learn how to hit the high notes quickly before dropping to a lower register. \u00a0She began thinking it might be the time to stop singing, but her vocal coach told her, \u201cYour voice will tell you.\u201d \u00a0Baez keeps herself on a steady regime of water breaks every 30 minutes which she says has helped her retain her voice even at age 76. \u00a0\u201cAll those years you think, \u2018I want it to sound like it did 10 years ago,\u2019\u201d Baez says. \u00a0\u201cIt ain\u2019t gonna happen. \u00a0The upper register gets less and less power to it. \u00a0If the public has a problem with it, it\u2019s their problem. \u00a0I said, \u2018This is it, this is me.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What does the aging queen of folk do to pass her time? \u00a0This year, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. \u00a0She told the R&RHOF crowd that many of them probably don\u2019t even know who she is. \u00a0She admitted that even her own granddaughter didn\u2019t get who grandma was until she accompanied Baez backstage at a Taylor Swift concert they attended. \u00a0\u00a0She has one more album she wants to finish and perhaps one more world-wide tour as her music career winds down. \u00a0She is a mother and grandmother who likes to travel and spend time with her family. \u00a0She has converted her pool side room into a painting studio. \u00a0She prefers hanging paintings of friends, musicians, family, and social activists around her home instead of the usual golden records and awards. \u00a0She still takes no prisoners when it comes to her opinions. \u00a0In 2010, Michelle Obama requested \u00a0Baez sing \u2018<\/span>If I had a Hammer\u2019<\/span><\/i> \u00a0at a White House celebration of music from the civil rights era. \u00a0Baez refused, saying, \u201cThat is the most annoying song. \u00a0I told them, \u2018If I had a hammer – I\u2019d hit myself on the head, \u00a0Ain\u2019t gonna do it.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is always interesting to go back and assess one\u2019s \u2018soundtrack of their life\u2019. \u00a0I have found that it is equally interesting to look at the music I didn\u2019t like at certain points of my life. \u00a0In this case, \u00a0finding that I understand Joan Baez better now gives me license to rediscover the music she made when I wasn\u2019t a fan. \u00a0\u00a0She has been writing a new song about the politics of the present day (and she freely admits that she hasn\u2019t been able to write much new music lately). \u00a0At this point, it is a silly song that may only make it out on YouTube, but it just goes to show that once a protest singer, always a protest singer. \u00a0It seems like there will be plenty of material to write about this year and maybe, just maybe, she will find enough material to push out one more album before she hangs up her musical career.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Top piece video: \u00a0Hmmmm – at this moment, no videos of Joan Baez seem to be ‘available’ – so as long as we mentioned<\/span><\/p>\n

her working with the Dead, we will use the Dead instead! \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>