Voice of an Angel

Joan Baez was born in Staten Island, New York on January 9, 1941. She began her singing career in some of the local coffeehouses and clubs after she attended Boston University. 

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In 1959, Bob Gibson invited her to the Newport Folk Festival. She quickly became well known because of her distinctive voice. I’ve never heard any female singer with a stronger and more consistent vibrato than hers. 

Baez began recording her songs and published her fist self-titled album, Joan Baez, in 1960. The album featured thirteen traditional folk songs including “Silver Dagger”, “Fare Thee Well”, and made the Billboard 200 in 1962. She later added three bonus tracks to this album including “Girl of Constant Sorrow”, “I Know You Rider” and “John Riley”. 

When people talk about folk music, the first person that likely comes to their mind is Bob Dylan. However, the “king” of folk music was just an unknown 19-year-old kid while Joan Baez was already the “Queen of Folk”. 

They officially met at Boston’s Club 47 in April 1963 and Baez was throughly impressed by Dylan’s talents in both singing and composing. She began performing with Dylan onstage, forming one of the most legendary stage partnerships. 

Their favorite duets included “Never Let Me Go”, “It Ain’t Me Babe” and the famous duet “With God On Our side”. I still don’t understand how Baez’s beautiful soprano voice fits so perfectly with Dylan’s sloppy and scratchy voice. 

As a hardcore civil rights supporter, most of Baez’s songs were about social and political issues.Part of the reason was probably because of her Mexican heritage (her father was Mexican and her mother was Scottish) and the racial discrimination she endured during her childhood. She sang “We Shall Overcome” at the March in 1963 organized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr in Washington, DC. 

In 1967, she sat in front of an empty military bus in Oakland, California and due to her “outrageous” act, she was arrested and had to stay in jail 82 days. During the jail time, she played guitar to comfort the scared kids who were also involved in the incident. Her jail mate described her as “wonderfully sensible and reassuring in what were essentially insane surroundings”. 

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Baez is 71 years old now and has been making music for more than 50 years. After Wednesday's Dr. Pepper Festival (an outdoor concert in Central Park), the New York Times admired her voice as “After two decades of public singing, Miss Baez’s soprano is as strong and distinctive as it ever was. Her chest tones are, if anything, richer and darker than a decade ago”.