Department of Good Stuff: Joan Baez

A Mighty Girl - Happy 74th birthday to legendary American folk singer, songwriter and activist Joan Baez! During her 55 years of performing, Baez has released over 30 albums. Her first three albums, "Joan Baez" (1960), "Joan Baez Vol. 2" (1961), and "Joan Baez in Concert" (1962) were chart toppers that went gold; her hit songs included "Diamonds & Rust" and covers of Phil Ochs's "There but for Fortune" and The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." Baez also helped to bring fellow musical legend Bob Dylan, a relative unknown at the time, to the public's attention by inviting him to perform duets with her on stage, including at the influential Newport Folk Festival in 1963.

Baez also has a long-standing reputation as an activist for human rights, environmental, peace and civil rights causes. She was very active in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and participated in many civil rights marches and rallies, including the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom during which Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech. In the mid- to late-60s, she became deeply involved in the peace movement during the Vietnam War period. Baez also played a major role in the establishment of US division of Amnesty International and took a year off from music in 1972 to organize its expansion to the West Coast.

In recent decades, Baez has continued to be actively involved in a wide range of social issues while recording numerous albums and performing widely. Her music remains an inspiration to many as it has been for over two generations.

Which gives us an excuse to play this extraordinary recording from the 1950s Harvard radio station, WHRB, where your editor spent more time than he should. This is Joan Baez' first on air performance. 
 
Joan Baez' first broadcast performance