Joan Baez (Debut Album)

Long unavailable on vinyl, this quintessential edition includes Baez’s self-titled debut LP, Joan Baez. Originally released in October 1960 by the Vanguard label, the album went gold (and stayed in the bestseller charts for over two years). It contains the definitive versions of 13 traditional songs, some of them children’s ballads. Her delivery is crystal clear and confident. The album was beguiling enough to woo even conservative-leaning listeners.

Accompanied by The Weavers’ Fred Hellerman on second guitar, Baez gives a fine account of the most reserved and least confrontational aspects of the folk revival (including a startling version of “House of the Rising Sun”). She presents a brace of traditional songs (most notably “East Virginia” and “Mary Hamilton”) with an urgency and sincerity that makes the listener feel as though they were being sung for the first time.

The album opens with a song that was to become her signature piece for many years, “Silver Dagger”. In addition to the original masterpiece, this WaxTime collector’s edition includes 2 bonus tracks from early Baez sessions that were originally released in 1959 on the compilation LP Folksingers ‘Round Harvard Square.