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An Evening with Joan Baez

Joan Baez is a musical force of nature whose influence is incalculable. At a time in our country's history when it was neither safe nor fashionable, she sang about freedom and Civil Rights from the backs of flatbed trucks in Mississippi to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's March on Washington.

Her earliest recordings fed a host of traditional ballads into the rock vernacular—"House of the Rising Sun" (the Animals); "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You" (Led Zepplin); "Jackaroe" (Grateful Dead); and "Long Black Veil" (the Band), to name a few. In 1963, she began touring and recording with Bob Dylan—a bond that came to symbolize the folk music movement. After eight gold albums and six Grammy nominations, she received the highly prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. Just last year she stood alongside Nelson Mandela when the world celebrated his 90th birthday in London's Hyde Park.

Joan Baez continues to show renewed vitality and passion in her concerts and recordings with her mix of traditional ballads, blues, lullabies, cowboy tunes, Woody Guthrie songs and ethnic folk staples. Over the past five decades, during crucial moments in America's history, Baez's albums have served as critical barometers of our times.

This is Joan Baez's first appearance at Appalachian State University.

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