The Joan Baez Country Music Album

The Joan Baez Country Music Album

Track Listings

1. Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

2. Brand New Tennessee Waltz

3. Outside the Nashville City Limits

4. Ghetto

5. My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains

6. Rock, Salt and Nails

7. Help Me Make It Through the Night

8. Long Black Veil

9. I Still Miss Someone

10. San Francisco Mabel Joy

11. Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South

12. Hickory Wind

13. Will the Circle Be Unbroken

14. Tramp on the Street

15. Carry It On

16. Gospel Ship

17. Little Moses

18. Banks of the Ohio

19. Engine 143

20. Pal of Mine

Tracks:

Songs Of The South: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Songs Of The South: Brand New Tennessee Waltz
Songs Of The South: Outside The Nashville City Limits
Songs Of The South: Ghetto
Songs Of The South: My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains
Love Songs: Rock Salt And Nails
Love Songs: Help Me Make It Through The Night
Love Songs: Long Black Veil
Love Songs: I Still Miss Someone
Love Songs: San Francisco Mabel Joy
Roots & Retrospects: Take Me Back To The Sweet Sunny South
Roots & Retrospects: Hickory Wind
Roots & Retrospects: Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Roots & Retrospects: Tramp On The Street
Roots & Retrospects: Carry It On
Old Timey Songs: Gospel Ship
Old Timey Songs: Little Moses
On the Banks Of The Ohio
Old Timey Songs: Engine
Old Timey Songs: Pal Of Mine

Customer Reviews:

Great Folk Songs and Traditionals!.......2005-05-23

I remember buying this album first in the late 70s on vinyl (it was 2 LPs I think) and I listened to it many times. Now it's one convenient CD and the album offers 20 songs ... 5 songs in each of the four categories: Songs of the South, Love Songs, Roots & Prospects, Old Timey Songs. This is my favorite Joan Baez album and I do like the folksy/country blend with the many excellent traditionals. There are no fancy arrangements, just simple and pure Americana music. If you like this album, you may also want to check out Lucinda Williams' "Ramblin' " album which is somewhat along the same lines, but a little bit more bluesy than this CD. I think most music fans will appreciate this Joan Baez Country Music CD album with so many great songs on it -- it's not easy to find these kind of songs on one CD.

mixedbag over 20 years of recording.......2004-06-23

This is a mixed bag. The last 5 recordings come from the days of Joanie being the folk artist, doing traditional songs, some with the great Green Briar Boys like Ohio and Pal of Mine from her very first album in 1960, 44 years ago! Others are from the first two folk albums where Joanie actually became one of the better Carter family pickers around like little Moses, Engine 143, and my favorite, Gospel Ship, all out the Carter Family repertoire.

Even on these songs Joanie really doesn't sing them as we who sing traditional, old time, or country sing them, but with her hard core note perfect world class soprano, and a tendency to melodramaticize things that are not Melodramic. I remember getting that 1960 albuym and discovering someone died in every single song!

Later, Vanguard the company she was with in the 1960s and 1970s tried to take all their artists in a country direction recording them in Nashville with some of the best studio musicians, not just old Joanie, but Buffey Saint Marie, Eric Anderson, and Doc Watson. Some of the best stuff on this CD for the general non Carter family or bluegrass fanatic comes from this period: the heart wrenching Hickory Wind and the equally great Rock Salt and Nails. Here the limitations of Joanie's vocal approach highly the stark, but sentimental lyrics of great songs, and really touch you. I sighed and stepped back just thinking of those two titles, even though I have been listening to them since the early 1970s. No one should be denied the experience of hearing them.

Curiously missing is Joan's best Nashville Album. This is what we used to call "The White Album" because it was a two volume white looking record looking surprisingly like the Beatles 1968 white Album, of Bob Dylan songs. It was recorded in Nashville. There is some great work on that album on fiddling and fiddling with sol fagio by the GREAT JOHNNY GIMBLE, and some really great arrangements of the Dylan songs by whoever was producing Vanguard's Nashville sessions.

Except for the two cuts with the Greenbriars, there is nothing on here that I would think of sounding really country, particularly in Joanie's voice. She tries but she is into something of her own which one either likes or dislikes. A lot of the Nashville arrangements are artful and interesting. This is for fans of Joan Baez or fans of some of the songs.
For Country get a country artist.

One of a kind.......2004-01-08

I love this album, if for no other reason than that it includes "Outside the Nashville City Limits" and "Hickory Wind." Ms. Baez's rendition of both songs is enough to bring tears homesickness to my eyes (even when I'm at home! ;o) ), without being overdone. Her voice is, as always, incredible, like chocolate silk, or clear, running water. I enjoyed the rest of the songs as well as the two aforementioned, but those two are really something special that I haven't seen in her other collections.

How country grew out of folk music.......2000-05-01

This is a compilation of tracks recorded by Joan in the late sixties and early seventies. It includes a mixture of contemporary songs of the time and traditional songs.

When originally released as a vinyl double album, each of the four sides had a separate theme (Songs of the south, Love songs, Roots and Prospects, Old timey). Many of the old songs remind me of the Carter Family or Roy Acuff and fans of those artists will love these tracks.

Overall, this collection is far more impressive than most country albums by non-country artists and I finish with two thoughts. Why was Joan's version of Green Green Grass of Home left out? And is there any chance that any record company will put together an equivalent compilation by Judy Collins, who also recorded a number of country(ish) songs during her peak years?

wasted money.......1999-06-19