Joan Baez

Powerline's Scott Johnson reminds us that Joan Baez turns 71 tomorrow (Monday). His post likely reflects the feelings of many aging boomers: she's had the voice of an angel for over fifty years and a career diminished by political controversy. Through it all, OTR still loves the voice, the control, the diction, and the repertoire.

Johnson links to a video of Baez singing Love is Just a Four-Letter Word with Earl Scruggs and his son on banjo and guitar. It's a treasure to see and hear, but the  production values suffer, so here is the song taken from her 1968 album, Any Day Now: Songs of Bob Dylan.

And here she is singing forty years later at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2007. The song, Diamonds and Rust, recalls the emotions of her two-year relationship with Bob Dylan during the mid-1960s. Still the voice on an angel.