JOAN BAEZ: WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND
There is a disconnect between the cover of Joan Baez’s 25th studio album, showing the 77-year-old folk queen beaming and radiant, and its 10 songs about mortality and war. Baez is a more playful character than is often painted (she is a wicked mimic of her ex, Bob Dylan), but her calling card has always been gravitas: earnest peace anthems, fearless campaigning in line with her Quaker background, not much in the way of personal candour. On what she has declared her final record, she finds a just balance between private and public personae through a set of well-chosen cover versions ably, if austerely, produced by Joe Henry; picked guitars, thrumming bass, dabs of percussion, the odd wailing saw. The years have added grain and intimacy to Baez’s magisterial voice, especially on songs centred on retrospection, regret and mortality. Joan Baez has as estimable a legacy as anyone who emerged in American folk music from 1960 onward, but sometimes a powerful legacy can be as much a burden as an asset. While she's enjoyed a long and eclectic career that's spanned six decades, to many Baez will always be the earnest, crystal-voiced activist she was in the early to mid-'60s, and much of her career since has been devoted to honoring what was good about her formative years without being chained to her past. Whistle Down the Wind is a portrait of an artist who, at the age of 77, has not given up on her muse or her ideals, and while it's subtle, it's also a deeply moving piece of work that demands attention.
Tracklist:
1.Whistle Down The Wind 2.Be Of Good Heart 3.Another World 4.Civil War 5.The Things That We Are Made Of 6.The President Sang Amazing Grace 7.Last Leaf 8.Silver Blade 9.The Great Correction 10.I Wish The Wars Were All Over
Lineup:
Joan Baez - vocals, guitar