Re-wind a couple of decades There are few artists as true to themselves as Joan Baez – her life and music inseparable from the events and issues that shaped the 60s. Baez never let up, imploring her fans to engage in righting the wrongs she sang about.
1975’s Diamonds & Rust brought her moderate mainstream success, but her relentless outspoken activism was quickly alienating her from an audience whose radical tendencies had mellowed over time. During the 80s, Baez concentrated more on humanitarian work, so 1992’s Play Me Backwards was seen as a welcome return. This two-disc edition adds 10 demos of songs considered for the album sessions, including Dylan’s then-unreleased Seven Curses, but the original album’s 11 delicate, contemporary tracks more than hold up.
They marked Baez’ return to Nashville for the first time in 20 years – and she evidently sounded at home there. They present Baez as a less troubled soul, skilfully interpreting others’ songs as of old: Janis Ian’s sorrowful Amsterdam, Mary Chapin Carpenter’s reflective Stones In The Road, John Hiatt’s uplifting Through Your Hands and an exquisite cover of Strange Rivers, written by John Stewart – as much part of America’s folk fabric as Baez.
